It is just on a month since I returned from a very happy visit to Zimbabwe. Here are some of the highlights.

The pig project is at the top of the list. The pigs are flourishing and increasing numbers are being sent to market. This is producing a steady income for Tariro. The land on which the pigs are raised is filled with beautiful crops, some of which feed the pigs, some of which are sold locally. With good crop rotation and pig manure, we use no artificial fertiliser. It is a beautiful area, hot and wet, so the vegetation is green and luxurious and the mountains of Nyanga are impressive from this valley.

The human factor is important, too. Chengetai is the manager of the project. He is a delightful, cheerful young man whom I have known since he was a happy but empty-headed boy in an orphanage. He has now found his place in life and is doing a good job. I was delighted also to meet Tinashe again. In January, he was a very unhappy looking teenager looking for somewhere to go. Tariro sent him to the pigs and he is now so happy I hardly recognised him. Soon he will start a course of welding. Then Lameck, Tariro’s star agricultural graduate, having passed out top of his College, has spent three months helping with the pigs and has now found a job as a farm manager with retired bishop Chad Gandiya. We hope to develop the project to make it more profitable but also to be a centre to which Tariro youngsters can come for short or long periods to experience this new way of life together.

One of my favourite days was when we drove Priscilla and Willard from Shurugwi back to school at Daramombe, doing in three hours what normally takes them fourteen by bus! Priscilla is about to write A levels and seems set to do well. Willard comes from a very abusive home, now broken up. He kept us entertained for hours from the back of the car telling stories of boarding school life. Knowing his sad background, it is wonderful that he can now be such a nice, entertaining and well-balanced teenager.

Another pleasant experience was visiting another, newer pig project, which is set up in a government school in Tsvingwe near Penhalonga. The elections delayed everything but the school has done a great job preparing the pigsties, laying on water and selecting a group of youngsters to help. The pigs have just arrived and it will be lovely to see this grow into a means of supporting the girls and boys in school.

Then there was the very moving Memorial Service Tariro has at the beginning of each September. Children remember their parents, died, lost or never known and pray for them. This time we had seven girls from the Shearly Cripps Home to join and the letters they read out to their parents at the end of mass were incredibly moving. This ritual has proved really helpful in allowing the kids to grieve for their losses and then move on. It is also a lovely occasion since many of the ‘graduates’ come back with wives and children, which of course especially wonderful for those who don’t have families of their own. The number of beautiful Tariro ‘grandchildren’ is growing steadily!

The election of president and parliament happened just before I arrived. It was not a happy affair as it can be clearly shown, with modern digital means, how the results were altered to suit the governing party. Economically and politically, Zimbabwe is still in a bad state. However, Tariro shows how much is going on below the radar. We are not alone in this. The people of Zimbabwe are rebuilding the country from the grass roots. It is an exciting place to be.

So thank you all for your support and your prayers. Despite our pigs, we still need to provide most of the funding from here and our bank balance has sunk rather alarmingly. Some Harvest gifts have helped push it up again, and we are hoping that Christmas gifts from individuals and parishes will give it another boost. I shall be off to America in November where some generous people are already supporting us.

There is much in today’s world that is really depressing, or even frightening. ‘Tariro’ means HOPE and gives hope, not just to the youngsters but to all of us who help them. Please do enjoy that hope which you share in creating.

Nicolas Stebbing CR