Mennonite Weekly Review

Zimbabwe’s central bank issued a $200,000 bill this summer. Which sounds impressive, but not in a good way. At the unofficial exchange rate, it’s worth a little more than one American dollar. It will buy a quart of gasoline or a two-pound bag of sugar.

At least that’s what it bought two months ago when the new note first came out. With inflation running at 7,600 to 10,000 percent, it could be worth much less by now.

Life in Zimbabwe has gone from bad to worse: The 400 percent inflation of 2003 now looks not so awful by comparison.

That was the year when Zimbabwe’s Brethren in Christ Church hosted the 14th Mennonite World Conference assembly. Because of that memorable gathering, Zimbabwe holds a special place in the hearts of Anabaptists around the world. And even if we had never visited there, concern for hardships endured by 34,000 of our fellow church members ought to command our attention, our prayers and our action.

MWC participants went home four years ago with a promise not to forget the BIC Church in Zimbabwe. A visit by an eight-member MWC delegation Aug. 16-29 helped fulfill that vow.

They heard Bishop Danisa Ndlovu voice his people’s suffering and faith: “In the oppression we are in, where our dreams for our children have crumbled and families are lost, we must vow to draw closer to God, who is our hope and our peace.”

Delegation member John Byers of Mount Joy, Pa., was impressed with the people’s persistent faith. “I did not hear one hint of ‘Where is God?’ ” he said in an interview. “Rather, it was ‘God will see us through.’ ”

Could we be as generous as the Zimbabweans? At their annual conference, BIC members “gave to church plants in Mozambique, even when dollars were few for personal use,” Byers said. The church invests most of its time and resources in giving aid to orphans and widows of AIDS victims.

We can support Zimbabwe’s Anabaptists as they set an example of determination and faith. Byers suggests beginning with prayer. We can pray that people will have the strength to do daily tasks: waiting in lines and searching from store to store for food, enduring power outages, walking 15 to 20 minutes one way to get water.

Donors can support hunger relief in Zimbabwe through the BIC Church. Contributions can be made by credit card online or by check to BIC Church Offices, 431 Grantham Road, P.O. Box A, Grantham, PA 17019, designated for World Hunger Fund-Zimbabwe. One third of the MWC delegation’s $15,000 gift to the Zimbabwean BIC Church came from this fund.

Also, North American BIC officials suggest foreign governments should seek to persuade Zimbabwe’s neighboring countries to restrict trade. That might push 83-year-old President Robert Mugabe to ease the repression and corruption that have driven his country into chaos and poverty. Americans can urge their members of Congress to advocate this international pressure.

Zimbabwe’s crisis is a man-made disaster. One analyst describes Mugabe’s disastrous policies as inexplicable except that they enrich a select few. Many might find it just as hard to explain the hope that sustains the Brethren in Christ. We know its source but are still amazed.