From January 2006 , however, in the light of terrible loss and suffering hope was born as many churches belonging to the UCEBI longed to be the answer to the prayers of the suffering people, as someone from Zimbabwe expressed it.
When we returned to Italy, back then, we wondered what we could do with our resources which, compared to the enormous need, were very limited. At the most we had five loaves and two small fishes for five thousand people.
We trusted them to the Lord who used them, as always, in an amazing way.
Our journey through the Harare churches of Emmanuel and Glen View where two wells for drinking water have been dug, into the Tafara suburbs where a nutritional centre for children has been started and a distance adoption campaign is in full swing, was undertaken in the midst of smiling faces, hand shakes and hugs.
Everything was filmed by Luca Bemportato, under the efficient and loving guidance of Lucia Cuocci the director of “Protestantism”, two new travelling companions who have worked on the programme about this journey.
The visit to the Sanyati hospital and the country surgeries of Goredema, Mtange and Nanyunga and the meetings with the staff of various outposts made us realize how serious the problems still are but also allowed us to meet people who have been uplifted and have once more found something to thank God for.
The visit to the Gweru Seminary (the theological college with about a hundred students) and the meeting with the Executive Committee of the Zimbabwe Baptist Convention were stages on a journey of hope and newfound gratitude to God for the Italian Baptists which He had somehow put on their pathway. But we too were grateful as, although we monitor regularly and seriously the aid we send, what we found in people and in places, far outweighed our expectations.
It was clear to us that God has multiplied our efforts to an unexpected extent.
This is what we want to convey to all the sisters and brothers in our churches. May God alone be glorified.