On the 3rd Day by Joshua Love

The emotional impact of our day at the clinic weighs heavily on all our minds, hearts, and spirits. Penny went over first thing this morning to help with the last group of patients to be served before the doctor leaves to drive the almost three hours back to Harare, where he will meet with more patients. The need for medical treatment exceeds the resources of the clinic. People will have to be sent home, and some will die because they have no "tablets", food or shelter.

No matter how many times we talk it through and try to come to terms with this situation, it continues to overwhelm our emotions. There is so little we can do in the limited time we have here.

The rest of the day has been allocated for casual time with the children. There are almost 150 children in residence, and a massive community of support, that includes staff, volunteers, and locals who come to seek help for themselves, too.

Mitulski describes the community here as similiar to a medieval abbey and Mother Jean as the Abbess. With her sisters and workers she has created a small village with an independent, matriarchal government.

We took time in the afternoon to sit with her and listen to the history of her work. She tells a story of a prophesy that came to them from a woman about the land on the side of "Cut Off" mountain and the precepts that would guide their work. The woman prophesied that they would build a holy community based on "7 Cares".
1. Care of the disabled
2. Care of the terminally ill
3. Care of the caregiver
4. Care of the spiritualy ill
5. Care of finanaces - self sufficiency
6. Care of God's bounty - the land
7. Care of the new order - an inclusive community

Each of these "Cares" would direct their actions to continuing the work of Christ. They were to serve children, worship God, and prepare the way for the 2nd coming.

The solid, and self-assured way that she shared these stories made each layer seem clearer than the last. We talked for a couple of hours with Mother Jean about how they built this thriving community from a patch of unwanted land. After Rhodesia was overthrown and became Zimbabwe, allocations of land, much like the US homestead acts, were given out. The land all around Mother of Peace went quickly but no one wanted this particular corner because of its history as a leper colony. The stigma of that disease led to the naming of the mountain, Mutemwa, a word that translates to "Cut Off" in english.

The woman who delivered the prophesy saw this forgotten and unwanted land between two twin trees as the exact spot for the coming work. She told them where the chapel belonged and how it would be the seat and center of the community.

In the beginning it was nothing but thorny trees and brush. Mother Jean came to the land with a small handful of people and they looked for ways to be useful. They cleared and piled rocks for later use, created paths and made room to birth this mission. Mother Jean laughs as she thinks back to those first four years in a trailer. Her joy over God's blessing to her family and the children overflows and touches each of us.

As the first children began to come to them, they knew the prophesy was valid. The first child came in 1995, severelly physically disabled. The hands and feet were turned in. Doctors at the mission hospital said the child wouldn't live more than 6 or 7 months. The child actually survived 22 months, as Mother Jean and her group poured their love into the tiny body and spirit. The 2nd child came in 1996. She was testing HIV+ for the first few years but turned up HIV- by the third year. In 1996 there were 6 children. By the next year, the word was out to all the surrounding communities that there was a place for the orphans.

People asked Mother Jean why they took in the "AIDS" orphans. She told them that they were orphans, not "AIDS" orphans. They took in children who lost their parents to accidents, disease, and all sorts of causes, but no orphanage in Zimbabwe at the time would take in the children orphaned by AIDS. So Mother of Peace would take them and make a place for them. Many of these children are themselves infected, approx 25 percent, some by birth and others through sexual abuse.

The individual stories of the children rearrange the internal landscapes of our hearts. Mercy, Gerald, Manuel, Spence, Tanai, Moses, Emanuel, Joseph, Veronika, Cephas, Jeremiah, Vincent, Casper, Hilda, Peter, Michele, Nyasha, Pheneas, Chido, Ventu, and so many more are the living inheritors of the prophesy. Anthony, Memory, Patrick, David Shepherd, Perpetua, Gift, Petronela, and dozens more did not live long lives but their brief journeys are no less important to the manifestation of this mission. God called them home and calls us to witness their lives and hold up the work they accomplished in their own time. These babies, children and teens survived just long enough to open the hearts of their caretakers. Like the pebble in the pond, their ripples then moved out into their village and eventually across the ocean to all of us.
Mitulski calls us to see that we stand on the edge of their 93 graves and face the sin of neglect. Many of these children would have lived had they had medicines that we have had in the US for years.

Bishop Flunder felt the call to serve this community halfway around the world. Her visits to Africa inform the work she does in the United States. She shares the stories of these children as guideposts for greater healing and movement in all the communities she touches.

She then reached out to the UFMCC and a new joint mission to support the work of Mother of Peace began. One of the most evident lessons of our time is the need for sustained support to work in tandem with the project-based donations that people offer.

By the end of the third day, Dr. Scott has left the compound. We are filled with stories and shared moments. The children continue to flow freely amongst us. Some of the members of our group are bringing into question our own accountability.

On a personal level, I am working through some very old and ingrained racism and classism. I see in ways I have never been able to before the intricate ways that my own history still keeps me locked into racist behaviours and choices. I am grateful for the lesson. I see that there is much work to do on my own heart. The greatest eye-opening of this time is the recognition that I have received far more than I could have given, learned more than I taught, and grown beyond my most extreme hopes. As far I am concerned, Mother of Peace has offered "care to the caregiver."

Zimbabwe sings to us as a group. It wakes us up with drumbeats and joyful songs. Its people lull us into healing with their peaceful and passionate lyrics. It calls us out of our laziness with crys in the night. It overeflows our sense of happiness with its collective music, the rythmns of life as God has called them into being.

The power of this day for me is that it is still changing me. After yesterday, I was certain I had nothing left to wring out... and then today came. A child smiled. A spiritual leader told me a story. I caught a song in my heart and I found another little bit of learning that God had placed inside me.

Joshua Love
MCC Program Specialist
HIV / AIDS