SWRadio has been a great partner in the International Day of Prayer, and now their work is gaining international attention through CNN. Continue to pray for their work as they seek to broadcast true journalism around the world.

(CNN) — Radio journalists broadcasting news about Zimbabwe have turned to texting their bulletins via mobile phones.

In order to beat the censors, journalists from SW Radio Africa have decided to text headlines to listeners after radio signals were jammed.

“It’s really only with full access to information that you can promote democratic principles,” says Gerry Jackson, the founder of London based SW Radio Africa.

Following the 2000 shut down of her Capital Radio station, Gerry Jackson left the country for London. Using short wave transmission and the Internet, she began broadcasting SW Radio Africa.

Her attempt was successful until 2005, when the government of Zimbabwe began using Chinese technologies to jam the broadcasts.

Read more…

Proverbs 29 v 2 “ When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; but when the wicked are in power, the people mourn.’’

Gift Tandare was shot and killed today in a high density suburb of Harare. Morgan Tsvangirai Lovemore Madhuku, Nelson Chamisa, Mike Davis, Elton Mangoma were tortured in custody.

Arthur Mutambara and Tendai Biti are missing.

In Highfields, the police last night were assaulting ordinary citizens in the suburb for allegedly supporting opposition politicians and the organizers of the rally. It is reported that several people were injured during the melee instigated by the State.

As the nation mourns another lost life, the people of Zimbabwe and the international community are urged to continue rallying behind the cause for a democratic and prosperous Zimbabwe.

Please be praying for all those unjustly arrested, that they will be released and be out of harms way. Pray for the family of Gift Tandare in their mourning. Pray for the police- that they will open their eyes to the wrong that they are committing and that they will cease from their actions of harm against innocent citizens. Pray for Mugabe as he plans on staying in power until 2014. Pray for Zimbabwe…

God Bless, Peter

Note: this is an opposing view to the UNICEF Report found HERE.

UNITED NATIONS, February 26 — When does foreign aid serve to prop up a dictatorship? This question was raised earlier this year at the Executive Board meetings of the UN Development Program, concerning UN aid in North Korea. But the question appears to similarly arise in the wake of an announcements Friday and earlier this month concerning expanded programs in Robert Mugabe’s Zimbabwe by the UN Children’s Fund, UNICEF.

Mugabe’s long descent from participant in the Zimbabwean independence struggle to dictator is widely known, certainly to the senior leadership of UNICEF. The UN commissioned a report by Anna Kajumulo Tibaijuka, head of the UN’s Nairobi hub, on Mugabe’s mass eviction in 2005 of 700,000 perceived political opponents, called Operation Muarambatsvina / Take Out the Trash (or, “Drive Out the Filth”). Virtually none of the families evicted were re-housed, according to follow-up reports.

READ MORE…

UNICEF Humanitarian Action Report [Zimbabwe], 2007: Read It
UNICEF Zimbabwe Feature Story: Read It

UNICEF Zimbabwe Feature [Excerpt]
In a rundown pole and dagga hut – where a torn blanket has been turned into a door and the only piece of furniture is an old paraffin lamp – Miriam Madzinga lives with her six younger siblings. They sleep side-by-side, partly through necessity (it is a one-room shack) and partly to ward off the cold.

Miriam welcomes us into their home as her half-dressed younger brothers play ‘tsoro’ (a local version of draughts) in the shade of the hut, while her young sisters help with the cooking. A bitter wind blows dust into their plates and eyes.

Miriam and her little brothers and sisters live at the heart of Buhera, two hours east of Zimbabwe’s capital, where maize is burnt dry and HIV decimates communities. Although she is just 16 years old, Miriam is head of her household. Her father died in 1998, and her mother four years later.

UNICEF estimates that 100,000 Zimbabwean children live in homes like Miriam’s – child-headed households. “I have just walked more than 4 km in search of water,” says Miriam. “Now it is time for cooking, bathing and cleaning.”

READ MORE…

We have the great pleasure of being able to post some of Duane’s poems on our site. Take a minute to read them, or download the MP3 file to listen!

Pray today for the almost 1 million orphans living in Zimbabwe. Pray that no little ones will be left uncared for and in harms way, and that God will provide more orphanages to meet the growing need. Thank God today for those individuals who have devoted their lives to caring for these little children.

Psalm 82:3-4
Give justice to the weak and the fatherless; maintain the right of the afflicted and the destitute. Rescue the weak and the needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked.”

Johnny Fernandes grew up in Zimbabwe. He has now started an organization called “A Wall for Social Consciousness“, which benefits the children at Hatcliffe orphanage. Here is an excerpt from an article he wrote, after a visit back to the orphanage in Zimbabwe.

AIDS. Starvation. Violence. Triple-digit inflation. I close my eyes, trying to conjure up pleasant memories of my formative years spent in this beautiful land of beautiful people. I remember running around barefoot, playing soccer from sunrise to sunset during school holidays. I remember sitting up in the mango trees with my cousin Theo, enjoying juicy sweetness. I remember the blazing sun and elephants, hippos and mosquitoes. I remember my parents‚ home, always open to friends and family, filled with noise and laughter. I remember toothy grins and friendly faces. I remember the greeting on the streets, “Yes shamwari” [”Yes friend”].

I smile now, temporarily forgetting all my troubles. I know what makes any visit home so special the sense of togetherness, of camaraderie, the feeling that we all share in each other’s joys and sorrows, the feeling of being constantly surrounded by good friends and neighbours. I dig up some photos that I took in Hatcliffe, and I‚m instantly transported back to the red earth of my Mars. My planet has life.

Green grasses and sprouting shrubs, strutting chickens, and thorny Acacia trees. I hear the garbled words of 60 children all speaking at once, and the united shrieks of delight as my camera flash goes off.

I see Takunda, the signs of his Downs Syndrome blurred by the joy of being embraced by adoring arms. Such love, such caring, surely is not learned. It is an innate quality nurtured by vigilant grandmothers and aunts, shared meals around the fire, and wise tales of baboons and magic. It is a quality that grows alongside mealie stalks and spinach plants, a quality that grows with each trip to the water well and each pass of the football.

I will see my children‚ tomorrow. I will run with them and chase chickens again, and when we’re tired we‚ll sit together and drink bright green Cream Soda from metal cups. I will listen to them sing songs and watch them do somersaults, but I won’t say goodbye.

These children are stars, waiting to be launched into the heavens. Their energy is boundless and their resilience well tested. And now they need my help!

I am fortunate to have shared in a small part of their lives, to have laughed with them and to have learnt from them humility, appreciation, sacrifice and the real meaning of community.

From Aaron:
We received this note from a Zimbabwean pastor a few weeks ago. After receiving his approval, we are posting his message. Those of us on the IDOPZ Lead Team sincerely hope that it will generate discussion which will remain civil and not hostile. Already amongst our team, this note has generated considerable debate. Also know that we are using a pseudonym as we have in most stories. Thank you for contributing your input through our Comments at the bottom of the page.

Everything that you say on your webpage is true. But I think that in the midst of the darkness you have overlooked the light.

At this time in Zimbabwe we have an openness to the Gospel that is unique and encouraging. I am aware that the situation is making people turn to Him at this time, but what a privilege it is to be here working for Him in the fields.

We have a government that is basically pro-church. The churches have a freedom to preach the gospel anywhere that must be the envy of Christians in most nations. (I acknowledge that if the church gets involved in politics it gets wacked - helps us keep our focus!). The church here, with its many weaknesses, corruptionsand disunity, is noticeably getting stronger and stronger. The group we have been ministering to - the Tonga people - have moved out of their classification as a least reached people group in the last few years. That is Good News.

We have a government that abhors abortion and homosexuality and actively promotes ‘family’. The incidence of AIDS is significantly dropping.

I fear that a new government will swing to the West, adopt its culture to get its money and aid. We will then have to put up with the scenario we have in South Africa, increasing crime, increasing AIDS, increasing tolerance of gross sin, accompanied by a slow but inevitable closing of the doors to gospel.

When you pray please pray with God’s heart and not human understanding. Wealth, comfort and stability are not our goals. The situation has opened the doors for us that we have never had before. Pray that the church will be so empowered by God’s Spirit that our witness will be such that His name will be glorified, His Kingdom will come and that His will will be done in Zimbabwe. Pray for the Manifest Presence of God in our midst so that those that cannot afford doctors will be healed, that those that have no food will find their jars and bowls never empty, that those who have sought solace with the demonic will be released to the glory of His name.

Matthew James, Pastor