December Pictures

Saying goodbye to my lovely MCC reps family:(

                                           Camp

December Reflections

I have sat down several times during the month of December to write a blog post, but my desire to be creative and inspiring in my writing has left me with writers block.  I still want to update friends and family on what has been happening in my life, so here is a bit of a mundane but hopefully helpful description of the past month of life in Zimbabwe.  

Goodbyes:

The past month has been a bit of a blur of goodbyes, preparations and Christmas Cheer.  I will begin by sharing about some of the more difficult goodbyes.  Early December I had to say goodbye to my amazing, incredible, wonderful MCC reps; the family that first welcomed us SALTers into the country, provided us with endless hospitality and supported us in our first 3.5 months of living in Zimbabwe.  It has been challenging to say goodbye to such an amazing family, but I do feel blessed to have known them and to have learned so much from them about living in Zimbabwe and working with MCC.  Fortunately, we have new MCC reps coming in early January and I know they will also be amazing people to work alongside in Zim.

Goodbyes will continue to be a common occurrence during my year in Bulawayo as volunteers at the Sandra Jones Centre come and go and work visas are not permitted and people can't stay in the country.  Young adults also continue to leave the country to study and work because the job market in Zimbabwe is not strong.  At the beginning of December I also watched my church community and host family lose a young man about my age, He was newly married and had a young son, he died after breaking his femur.  I had met this young man on a couple of occasions and can't quite believe that he died.

Camp:

I did something in December that I do not usually do because normally I am living in cold climates. I went with 16 of our high school girls from the Centre to a week long adventure camp. Logistically it was a bit of a challenge preparing 16 of our girls for camp because there were lots of things the girls needed for camp. I was one of the camp leaders but I spent much of the time getting to know our girls a lot better. It was a fun experience to be at a camp out in the bush. We climbed mountains, abseiled (also known as repelling), swam, paint balled, played games and worked at discipleship of 60 teenagers.  It was fun, challenging and beautiful to spend a week in nature. I was exhausted at the end of the week but grateful for the opportunity to spend this week getting to know our high school girls better.

Christmas Preparations:

December has also been full of preparations.  Christmas at a Children's Centre is extremely hectic, as all the children are on holiday from school which means they are at the Centre all day long.  All month the Centre has been getting ready for an event called Carols by Candlelight. On the 20th and 21st of December we held an event where the community could come and participate in variety of activities such as meeting many characters from the Bible, weaving, pottery, bread baking, dancing, face painting, a jumping castle, petting zoo and various other Christmas treats. It ended with a live nativity play and singing many Christmas carols all of course by candlelight! The event all went very smoothly and was a blast.  Most Zimbabweans do not do a lot to celebrate Christmas so this event was a fun way to get in a festive mood.
It has been a good and challenging month and the days have just flown bye! We also spent several days, along with the world, celebrating the life of Nelson Mandela. Watching endless news coverage and being thankful for his impact on healthier race relations and social justice in South Africa.  I am looking forward to a couple of days off of work and am grateful for the many friends I have here in Zimbabwe to celebrate Christmas.

May your Christmas be full of much love, joy and peace!
-Elena

Thankful

I am thankful for so many things today.  Every year on thanksgiving I like to compile an alphabetical list of what I am thankful for. This year I did this with some of the girls at the Centre. I thought I would also put a list together for all of you to read.

A-adventure
B-books and babies
C-cool nights
D-dreams and discernment
E-education
F-family and friends
G-God and gardens
H-home (thankful that I have many places and people to call home)
I-Internet (more so this year, because it keeps me connected to family and friends on other continents)
J-jogging
K-kindness
L-laughter and learning
M-mangoes
N-nature and new sights
O-opportunities
P-peace and papayas
Q-questions
R-rain
S-singing, sunsets and the Sandra Jones Centre
T-trees and tea
U-understanding
V-vegetables
W-water
X-eXercise
Y-You
Z-zebras

We have much to be thankful for in this life. I am continually thankful for your support and prayers during my year in Zimbabwe. Your thoughts and love mean the world to me!! Happy Thanksgiving.

Address!

For those of you who enjoy writing letters, here is my mailing address;)

Elena Nussbaum
MCC Zimbabwe
PO Box AC 680
Ascot
Bulawayo, Zimbabwe

Thanks!!

The Joys of Jogging

The Joys of Jogging

I love being active and am so thankful for the many opportunities I have had to jog and walk during my time in Zimbabwe, so far.  The area around the Sandra Jones Centre has two roads that are perfect for early morning jogs.  One of the roads that I jog on at 6am is also the same road that many of our children and many other children walk on to get to school.  Many mornings I go running by myself but people join me on my run.  Sometimes the children from the Centre want to run with me and other mornings children join me that I have never met before.  It is quite impressive how far some of the children can run especially in their dressy school shoes.  The other route that I have started running on I can go further and this is a more major road with nice big sidewalks.  I often find other runners on these paths, which is exciting to find some jogging camaraderie.

One week it was really cold (which occasionally happens here) and so I did not get up early to run I waited until the afternoon when it was a bit warmer.  The older girls were home from school by the time I went jogging.  That cold week the girls started to ask if they could come with me.  Ever since that week, each day I have girls asking me if they can go running with me.  When the girls come along we never run the whole time, we run a little bit then walk a little bit then we run again.  It has been a great way to help the girls at the Centre get exercise but even more important it has been a great time to build relationships.  While we walk we often talk, laugh and relax together.  It is also a good opportunity for the girls to get away from the Centre and the stresses of school work.  I am so thankful for their excitement and enthusiasm for being active.  I hope it continues during my time here.  

During the weekends with my host family, I have enjoyed finding places to safely walk.   It takes me about an hour to walk into town which I enjoy doing when I am meeting up with friends.  My host mom has also began jogging with my around the neighborhood once a weekend.  One of my friends and I also often try to meet up on Sunday's to go for walks because we live close to each other on the weekends. 

I am SO grateful for all the people who have joined me in being active in Zimbabwe!   

-Elena

Pictures of Family, food and friends!

Here are a few more pictures of my life in Zimbabwe.  The first three pictures are from several weeks ago when I made pizza for my host family.  Fortunately my host mom had a clay pizza plate to bake the pizza on it worked perfectly and was so delicious! 

Here is my host Families Living room/Dining room where we spend much of our time together. 

Afternoon Tea at Nesbitt Castle with some co-workers!

Here is my BEAUTIFUL host sister before her Leavers Dance

My host parents and sister

Day to Day Life

Several people have asked me what I do on a day to day basis here in Zimbabwe, so I thought I would dedicate this Blog post to sharing about my schedule.

Monday through Friday I live and work at the Sandra Jones Centre.  This is what a typical day looks like:

6:00ish-Wake up and go for a run

7:00-Get ready for the day

8:00-Work Starts

8:30-Staff Devotions

9:00ish-I help teach preschool (which mainly consists of attempting to get 3 and 4 year olds to sit still, not hit each other, to sing a few songs, to learn about and be animals and color and play with play dough.

10:00-Tea Break!  

10:30-Possibly have more pre-school (depending on whether or not we are pulling our hair out) possibly take the kids outside to play.

12:45-Lunch and Primary Age Children come home from School

2:00-4:00pm-Tutor 1st grade to 6th grade in English and Math.  I tutor with another volunteer, we lead book groups, math games and one on one ipad math and english games.

4:30 or 5:00pm-Walk/Runs with Primary and High School girls

6:00-Supper

7:00-One night a week I lead meetings or bible studies with the high school girls. I also occasionally help the high school girls with homework in the evenings.  Some evenings I go to my room and clean or wash some of my clothes and other nights I try to skype with people from home or catch up on my e-mailing and blogging (if we have power!)  

10:00-Usually by 10pm I am in bed although I wish it was earlier.  If I can keep my eyes open I try to journal and read, but usually my eyes are ready to close.  

That is a typical day but my schedule varies a lot.  Other activities that often fill my day include: peeling potatoes, answering the phone, going on home visits (which means looking for and tracing family members of the children at the SJC), playing with children, handing out plates of food at meals and helping to lead choir and drama with the older girls. There are other things I hope to get involved with as well.  Life is busy, there always seems to be things to do.   I am still learning how to best care for myself and take breaks, it is not always easy when there is so much work to be done.  

The weekends are a nice break from the hectic work week.  I try my best not to bring any work home on the weekends, but it has occasionally happened.  On the weekends I spend time with my host family, meet up with my friends Petronellar and Devon in town, explore town or the countryside, go to weddings:), make pizza for my family, go on walks and read and relax as much as possible!!!  

Hopefully that gives a good idea of what my life looks like these days.  I wish I had more time to blog and keep in touch but you can see that life is busy!

Love from Zimbabwe, Elena

Home and Highlights!!

I have two new homes!

My home during the week is at the Sandra Jones Centre.  I share this home with 70 children and youth as well as a couple of SJC staff.  My room is on the second floor of the centre along with the teenage women.  I have my own room where I sleep, seek privacy and occasionally do some work. My room has a large window that overlooks the SJC grounds.  I eat most of my meals in the dining hall, eating Sadza at most meals.  I spend much of my time outside playing with children or inside tutoring, helping with homework, playing games, leading bible studies, building relationships and trust.  It is hard to believe that I have been at the Centre for five weeks already.  I have learned a lot but have so much more to learn.

My second home on the weekends is amazing! I have a host mom, dad, sister and brother, much like the composition of my own family. They are a wonderful, fun, kind, helpful, interesting family and I feel comfortable to relax, read and be myself in their home.  My host sister is 17 and my host brother is 13 and they include me in their various life activities.  I also get to help cook and my host mom wants me to teach her how to cook some of my favorite dishes.

It is hard to believe that I have been here in Bulawayo for over a month.  Time does fly.  I have to admit that during my first month there have been a lot of ups and downs.  I have struggled at times knowing my roll, finding my way and being myself with new friends.  I recognize that these are many of the struggles that accompany being in a new place and starting a new job and making new friends.  While there are struggles I want to end this post by sharing some of the highlights of my first month in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe:  

1. Sunsets are indescribable.

2. My MCC Reps are Awesome!

3. Early Morning Jogs (never thought I would LOVE running in the morning).  Usually many children run with me on their way to school....whether I know them or not. 

4. Learning how to be a tutor in math and English.

5. Learning about the culture and more specifically about gender issues in Zim.  

6. Holding Babies and getting hugs everyday from small children.

7. Spending time with past IVEPers!

8. Getting to know my host family.

9. Discovering the city.

10. Morning Tea, Evening Tea,  Always drinking Tea!

Life has been busy, but I will try to post more regular updates.

Love from Zimbabwe, Elena

Here are a few pictures of my new living spaces...

 The Entrance of the Sandra Jones Centre: Above

 My Week Day Home: The Sandra Jones Centre

 My cozy bed in my bedroom at the SJC

My desk and refrigerator in my room at the SJC

 View from my window

My cozy bed at my host home

Pictures!

Finally posting some pictures even though my ipad is being difficult. The pictures are from our MCC retreat in Kariba and a trip with some friends to a wildlife refuge. We also stopped to take some pictures with the Welcome to Bulawayo sign:)

Blog

Dear family and friends,

I have been in Zimbabwe for an entire week!  It is amazing how fast my time has gone so far.  I am not sure how to best describe the first week because so much has happened, here is my attempt at a summary:)

After 2 days of travel Devon (another salter) and I arrived in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe on a Friday afternoon.  After smooth  but long travels we were happy that are bodies were finally present in Bulawayo.  The first two days were spent with our amazing MCC reps and their family.  We rested, ate food and were taken on some tours of the city and even to our places of employment for the next year.  It was fun to visit the Sandra Jones Centre and see where I will be living and working during the week, a little overwhelming too, but I mostly feel excited.

On Sunday we left for our MCC team retreat in Kariba; a beautiful location in northern Zim.  It took a very long time to get there as Kariba is near the border of Zambia.  It was worth the long drive, Kariba was beautiful. We stayed in a lovely house with views of the mountains and Kariba Lake. During our retreat we spent the mornings learning and sharing together, the afternoons exploring and the evenings were filled with games and laughter.  Our afternoon  explorations took us to a Dam Wall on the Zambezi River, to a Game Park and on a Boat Trip. We spotted Zebras, Hippos, Elephants, Crocodiles, many birds and my favorite, the Baboon!   My childhood dreams were fulfilled as I spotted baboons in the wild.  If only I could bring one home:)

In the next few days we will be doing our in-country orientation. It will be a lot of information but I am sure will ultimately be extremely helpful.  I wish to be in better touch with you all but I have been very busy this first week and have not had much internet access.  As I get a bit more settled in I will continue to discover the best ways to stay connected with you all! I truly miss you all and am deeply grateful for your continued thoughts, prayers and support from afar.

Much love from Zimbabwe
Love, Elena

p.s. I will post pictures when I can figure out how to post them!

Zimbabwe!

In just a few weeks, on August 14, I will be going to MCC SALT orientation in Akron, Pennsylvania and then to Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, on August 21,  for my 1 year SALT term!

If you are interested here is the website of the Centre where I will be working:  http://www.sandrajonescentre.org/

Also, listen to some current news from the Zimbabwe elections:
 http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=207458043