HWANGE, the coal mining town.

I know many of you are interested in the building progress at Hwange and in some of the problems people face in Zimbabwe today.

On Saturday June 17, I made the long drive (520 miles) to Hwange, stopping in Bulawayo to check on the building progress and proceeded to Hwange Sunday morning.. Preached there that morning. The congregation now meets there under the shed which Zilawe had erected last month,

Bro. Zilawe carried the two 10 ft by 10 ft huts and other material to the church site in our 4-ton truck. These, together with a third hut already there, will be erected to provide one room to store cement and tools and material, and the other two for someone to live in while protecting the property.

On Monday we began the work of setting out the building - setting the levels, the bench marks for floor levels and the foundation trenches. This was a time consuming task with our simple tools - a tape measure to set measurements and to set everything square, and a long hose pipe for a level. Fill the hose pipe with water, make sure there are no air bubbles and with patience you can set your levels from corner to corner.

The members of the congregation - both men and women - came out in good numbers every day to do the work of clearing rubble and vegetation from the site The men will dig the foundation trenches. The majority of the men work for the mine and came in their time off to work at the church site.

I taught a Bible class four evenings in Bro. Ncube’s house. Then on Friday I made the long drive home.

The round trip, including mileage done in Hwange itself, totaled 1,218 miles using about 220 litters of diesel ( about 52 gallons) at 90 cents per liter (or about $3.80 per gallon) = $198,. The 4-ton truck used by Zilawe will have used more than 300 litters

As you can see, The distance to Hwange makes the difficulties and cost of building increase.

However to hire a contractor would cost even much more.

The only bricks available in Hwange cost approximately $150 per 1,000 and we will need at least 60,000

Because of the increased cost of fuel we have to somehow cut down on the number of trips necessary to oversee the work.

We plan to do the work this way: (1) The members of the church will dig the foundation trenches. (2) We will have to send someone from here to direct the pouring of the concrete with the aid of the members and (3) hire local bricklayers to build up the foundations to floor slab level. (4) Pour the concrete floor slab. (5) We will then erect the steel columns and the roof trusses and apply the roof sheeting. (6) Then we will hire local bricklayers to build up the walls. (7) After that will come the glazing, hanging of doors and (7) installing the plumbing. We will also have to make a septic tank.

The fuel situation here makes life difficult with constantly escalating prices and shortages. However, I am able to "import" my own fuel. I send US$ to this company who imports fuel and they supply to me. I just paid for 4,000 litters of Diesel. I am only able to collect it from this one service station in Harare. That means we have to carry extra fuel with us when we make long trips such as to Bulawayo and Hwange. When fuel is available at various service stations the price is close to US$5 per gallon.

Women’s Camp Meeting.

The women had an excellent Camp Meeting in May. It was difficult to get an accurate count but there were 350 women plus some infants. Two were baptized and there were 36 restorations. The meeting lasted three full days. Joy’s lesson - by request - was to teach on "Who is Satan?"

Gospel Week in Binga. First week of June. Three of our preachers went to a new place, Lusulu in Binga - (Binga is an area somewhat like a County) about 550 miles from here. There are five small congregations there who requested our help. Some of the attendees came by donkey cart 150 kilometers to the meeting.

Inflation here has exceeded %1,000 and is expected to reach %2,000 by the end of the year. This makes life extremely difficult especially for the poor. It also affects much of the church work but the Lord continues to enable. Your prayers have done and will avail much.

Robert & Joy Garrett