January 12, 2010

I had some Yahoo messages today from my online friends in Zimbabwe. They are in the process of being removed from their farm and have packed up what they can to take to friends in Mutare for the time being. Hannes, Fiona, and their two children have spent their lives building the farm and dreading the day they will be removed in Robert Mugabe's "Land and Farm Reclamation" program to aid the poor African farmers. In actuality, only white farmers are being targeted, the land being given to his ministers and their families. No one actually farms the stolen farms and Zimbabwe continues its slide into a third world nation. What was once a thriving country with a 97% literacy rate has now declined into a world of poverty, hunger, disease, and corruption by the man and his pals who at one time were seen as the "face of the new Zimbabwe". There is no law for these farmers who kept workers working and the economy moving along; the law IS Mugabe, the courts ineffective. Even the church has remained quiet and many heads of churches have become the recipients of the land theft. Our prayers are with this and the other families who now face uncertainty in both where they will live and the loss of everything they worked for. In other news, Haiti was dealt an enormous blow with the earthquake that ravaged the island.

Our dear friends Lane and Kate were there last year to help with a physician group and while there saw such giving and loving people who were desperately poor. This certainly didn't help any. I hope they receive help from the rest of the world.

I'm going to have my hand fixed once more: the carpal tunnel has invaded my middle finger. So on Jan. 18, I'll go and have another round of "release". It is so sore and I can't bend nor straighten it out. It came on so suddenly. Annoying that it is on my right hand but I'm looking forward to having my hands work again.

I love Pearls Before Swine.. Click on the comic to read it.

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