When I left off writing in June 2014, (98 - Time to Ponder & 99 - When All Seemed Promising), we had begun our move back to Harare. Having seen the need for indigenous-led congregations in the largely neglected rural areas (formerly Tribal Trust Lands) we turned our focus to the Church Growth Support Centre in the industrial section of Harare.
Tom Deuschle’s ministry at Rhema in Harare had acquired an IBM AT (the first IBM personal computer with a hard drive). It had been donated by Rhema Bible Church in Johannesburg, South Africa. I had spent the years of 1980-1983 selling and programming the personal computers for small businesses in Louisville. This computer had some malfunctioning software installed on it that was supposed to streamline managing the business and membership of Rhema. It was pretty unwieldy and of limited use to the administrative staff at Rhema. Tom knew of my familiarity with microcomputers and asked if I could do something about it. I cleaned up the programming and added new functionality that did not require the users to do anything other than make selections from a menu of options.
I also created a database with a list of 500 churches in the surrounding countries (Zambia, Mozambique, Botswana, Malawi and rural Zimbabwe). These were fledgling African churches currently without trained leaders or support from mission organizations or the prominent European/American ministries. I sent out a letter soliciting students. Tuition and housing would be gratis. They only needed to pay for their travel and personal expenses. I created the curriculum to be completed in one year. In the end, we ended up with about 12 students—a good start for a first class.
I taught from 8:00 until noon 5 days a week, spending the afternoons doing administrative work. The students spent their afternoons helping refurbish/maintain the campus buildings and grounds. There was a lot of painting inside and out and roofing had to be replaced as it had developed many leaks over the years as Salisbury Evangelical Bible Institute (SEBI) after its American missionaries left with in 1979 with the beginning of the transition from the white minority to African majority rule. The place was a mess and we had only the US$500 donated from Rhema-South Africa to do everything. Rhema-Harare would only invest their prestige! Tom had to get credit for everything without actually contributing to the effort.
But we were loving every minute of this! On weekends Pegi and I were part of the worship team at Rhema. The music was the best part of Rhema and what seemed to really attract the most attention. Bonnie Deuschle’s voice and song-writing were the heart of the ministry. [Of course, Tom was at the center of everything. I wonder if he knew that people really came to hear Bonnie rather than him?]
Pegi was radiant on the stage with her smile and her tambourine. It soon became apparent that there was another reason for her radiance — After 10 years of marriage, she was pregnant. Everything seemed to be coming together for us. God was blessing us and we were ecstatic. We moved out of our apartment in Avondale to a nice furnished home in Marlborough—just a few minutes away from Tom and Bonnie’s home. We were pleasantly settled in to a comfortable life with a new car (a used Peugeot 404 with a temperamental but usable air conditioner), a life filled with meaning and preparing for the birth of Abigail expected in June of 1986.
We were so happy and fulfilled! I titled this chapter, “Harare Having Any Fun Yet?” — a pun for “Are we having any fun yet?” Yes, we were having a lot of fun!
A few weeks into the school term, after my morning classes, I was informed that I had a visitor waiting for me in my office. Waiting for me was an African gentleman in a coat and tie who had some questions about the school. It was not unusual to have visitors to the newly refurbished campus and I had been having a series of meetings with the leader (“Apostle”) of an indigenous church group of over 100 churches in Zimbabwe. He was wanting to send his young pastoral candidates to our school. Not only would this fill up our dormitory and classrooms, but he would also be contributing financially.
I thought that maybe today’s visitor might be one of his church “elders.” He began asking about the school and then about my role there. I explained that I was volunteering as the Dean and lead teacher, but not drawing any salary or living expenses, since I was in Zimbabwe on a temporary visitor’s visa. He revealed that he was an official from the Ministry of Imigration. He insisted that I follow him in my car to his office where I could make a statement in writing.
This was not a happy moment. I wrote my statement and he informed me that we would not be allowed to renew our visitor visa any longer. We had been using visitor visas for 3 years, making renewal trips to South Africa every three months. We were in the process of trying to get a residence visa like we had in 1976, but when he heard that Pegi was pregnant, they slammed the door shut on us, saying that we would have to make that application from the USA. We would have to leave the country before Abigail was born. The undercurrent here was that if Abi was born in Zimbabwe, she would automatically be a Zimbabwe citizen. That would entitle us as her parents to get a residence visa.
March-June 1985 was the period when Mugabe passed a law that allowed him to to declare anything legal or illegal. Parliament had also enacted a series of actions to eliminate whites from the country under the guise that they were opposed to the new government. We were unaware of any of this as we NEVER read the local papers or followed any type of politics! How could we have been so uninformed? We were so occupied with ministry that we didn’t even read the the local newspapers!
None of our “friends” white or black advised us that any of this was going on. It is likely that the crackdown that led to this visit of Immigration was a result of this anti-white pressure. Pegi was 34 weeks pregnant when we came back to the US after having just met an Indian Christian businessman who had an “in” with the Minister of Home Affairs. He assured us that would be able to facilitate our residence visas while we were in America.
Okay, this wasn’t fun, but it seemed as if God was working on a solution for us. We could make a trip back to the States, have the baby and return a few months later with everything in place. Yeah, that was optimistic thinking!
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