A-Z: Andersons in Zimbabwe: Eyes4Zimbabwe at Besa Primary School

Monday, October 9th, we went with Reeve Nield and helpers to the Besa Primary School to help hand out donations for Eyes4Zimbabwe. Reeve and Lolly put together the bailed clothing and reading material donations for many school children in Zimbabwe. We took 3 truckloads full of donations. The Besa Primary School includes Early Child Development and Grades 1-7. The school has about 2,500 children and 97 teachers. It was quite a task organizing all the children to single file through a line for the handouts. This time the teachers all helped hand out things and organize the children in age groups, which was very helpful. We find the children very gracious and respectful and it's a delight to meet them. The first Photo below and last photos are courtesy of Ciaran Coghlan at https://ciarancoghlanphotography.pixieset.com/guestlogin/eyes4zimbabwe/?return=%2Feyes4zimbabwe%2F

Over two thousand school children in uniform stood at attention to sing for us at Besa Primary School before we gave out donations. It was like "Christmas" for them! 2023.10.09

We gave out toy wooden cars donated by an elderly couple "Tim's Cars" from Utah. Eyes4Zim gets boxes of these handmade wooden cars, which delight the children. They also received a piece of hard candy, a Family Home Evening magazine, and a t-shirt (girls) or a pair of shorts (boys). Even the teachers received a piece of clothing, cars for their children, a magazine, and a Book of Mormon. Reeve gives the teachers over 40 a pair of reading glasses. I gave out the Books of Mormon, and being a missionary, took the opportunity to tell them about the ancient record and how it was another testament of Jesus Christ. The school was very gracious and we loved when the children sang to us.

2,500 children from ages 2-12 all in uniform, 2023.10.09

Happy beautiful African children sing and clap for the visitors as Reeve Nield leads them in a song.

The only scary heart-wrenching thing was while driving there we almost got hit by a head-on! There are some crazy drivers here; disobeying all the traffic laws here. There was congested traffic going the opposite way on the 2 lane highway. One truck full of people in its open bed decided to drive up the wrong side of the road to get ahead of all the traffic. We were following Reeve and another truck, which had their beds packed full of bags of donations. Bruce didn't see the truck coming straight for us until it was almost in front of us. Luckily both cars swerved in the knick of time! We continue to say our prayers about not getting hit or hitting anyone while driving!

We made it home in time to shower and make it to the construction site by 1:00 p.m. We were just in time to see Talent and teach him about the Law of Tithing and Fast. He is scheduled to be baptized on October 28th and is beaming with joy! We love all the workers on the temple site and have become very close to many. Persuade came by twice and helped Lottie with her Shona pronunciation. He's been texting William, which has been fun to have our "firstborn" meet our new "last born" as he tells us; at least our new adopted son. The sister missionaries also came by to pick up litter or rubbish every Monday on the temple site street front. It's been a wonderful service project. They got in the "trenches" today and helped Persuade with the shovel and axe! At least they tried it for a photo.

Here are Cairan's beautiful professional photos of the Besa Primary School: https://ciarancoghlanphotography.pixieset.com/guestlogin/eyes4zimbabwe/?return=%2Feyes4zimbabwe%2F