Alison Warner / 3 August 2010
Two months ago, I was fortunate to visit the Diocese of Matabeleland in Zimbabwe with the Bishop of Kingston and his wife. We were offered hospitality wherever we went - In people’s homes and often outside - and given food and drink – sometimes twice in a morning. And before each meal, someone came and washed our hands with water, which is at a premium in Matabeleland.
We were welcomed as special guests. The arrival of strangers is a big deal and we were offered friendship by everyone we met.
Being in Zimbabwe was a humbling experience and a privilege. Humbling because many of the people we met people have so little but are happy and share what they have with others. There is a lot of poverty and some people have little to eat..... they’re concerned with the day-to-day problems of their lives. And yet their faith and love of God is so strong. It’s as if they are drinking the water of life that Jesus is offering the Samaritan woman at the well but she doesn’t recognize it.
The political and economic situation in Zimbabwe has created a situation where people can’t get clean water and proper sanitation, and they are feeling the terrible impact of the government’s lack of investment. Matabeleland is an arid part of the country, and hasn’t had rain for a long time. The government’s failure to give the local communities the resources they need to access water is making things worse. They need drilling machines to make new boreholes as well as repairing the old, broken ones.
The lack of repairing boreholes in Zimbabwe has meant people can’t grow their own crops, which has increased their poverty and sense of injustice. This lack of water has made people’s lives poorer as they struggle to find enough food to feed their families with.
While we were there, Bishop Cleophas, the Bishop of Matabeleland and Bishop Richard blessed & commissioned two boreholes. At Insuza, the commissioning was a big occasion and over 200 people walked from the local villages to celebrate the first water from this borehole. The headman in the village gave his blessing and there was a service of celebration. People came and drank the first cups of water from the pump, and the cattle and donkeys came to drink out of the trough.
And the children entertained us with singing and dancing in their national dress, As they danced, they mimed watering the ground so that vegetables would grow. Theyknow the value of water is so important for their future.
Today’s passage from Isaiah reminded me that the people and even the animals struggled for survival in that harsh desert. They enjoyed the blessing of water and gave thanks to God for it.
The metaphor of thirst is repeated throughout the scriptures. We have all had times when our hearts have felt dry and arid, when our prayer life felt distant and disconnected from God. We have all been thirsty on a physical level, and we know how incredible that first drink of water tastes. This is like our spiritual life. When we feel dry and empty God comes back into our lives as living water. The Samaritan woman at the well naturally thought Jesus was asking for fresh water. But he was speaking about “living water” symbolically, as a source of spiritual refreshment.
In Isaiah chapter 43, God calls the miracle of water “rivers in the desert”, and that water in the wilderness will be present in abundance. For the desert tribes of Israel, the life-giving presence of God was closely linked with the image of the life-giving presence of water. Water is essential to life, and in one sense, water is life. Where there is no water, there is no life.
When the Archdeacon talked about the book of Isaiah, he said the material showed a deep interest the political, social, moral, theological and economic issues of the day. And that an important element of the message was the time and care that had gone into getting under the skin of contemporary society. Whether it’s the people in Zimbabwe or Palestine or the lonely in south London, members of this Isaiah Community can offer friendship and love. And this comes from our own individual understanding of the issues that will allow us to get under the skin of the people in our local communities.
When working in Africa and the Middle East and Eastern Europe, I was always impressed by the simplicity of people’s lives in the face of disasters, terrible poverty and injustice. For me justice means equal treatment of others and standing up for what is right. In our Isaiah Community we must go out and fight the injustices that we see around us every day.
Come to the waters, all you who are thirsty;
Children who need water free from diseases, women who need respite from labour and searching;
Plants that need moisture rooted near the bedrock, find here a living spring.
O God, may we thirst for your waters of justice, and learn to deny no one the water of life. Amen
Alison Warner
We were welcomed as special guests. The arrival of strangers is a big deal and we were offered friendship by everyone we met.
Being in Zimbabwe was a humbling experience and a privilege. Humbling because many of the people we met people have so little but are happy and share what they have with others. There is a lot of poverty and some people have little to eat..... they’re concerned with the day-to-day problems of their lives. And yet their faith and love of God is so strong. It’s as if they are drinking the water of life that Jesus is offering the Samaritan woman at the well but she doesn’t recognize it.
The political and economic situation in Zimbabwe has created a situation where people can’t get clean water and proper sanitation, and they are feeling the terrible impact of the government’s lack of investment. Matabeleland is an arid part of the country, and hasn’t had rain for a long time. The government’s failure to give the local communities the resources they need to access water is making things worse. They need drilling machines to make new boreholes as well as repairing the old, broken ones.
The lack of repairing boreholes in Zimbabwe has meant people can’t grow their own crops, which has increased their poverty and sense of injustice. This lack of water has made people’s lives poorer as they struggle to find enough food to feed their families with.
While we were there, Bishop Cleophas, the Bishop of Matabeleland and Bishop Richard blessed & commissioned two boreholes. At Insuza, the commissioning was a big occasion and over 200 people walked from the local villages to celebrate the first water from this borehole. The headman in the village gave his blessing and there was a service of celebration. People came and drank the first cups of water from the pump, and the cattle and donkeys came to drink out of the trough.
And the children entertained us with singing and dancing in their national dress, As they danced, they mimed watering the ground so that vegetables would grow. Theyknow the value of water is so important for their future.
Today’s passage from Isaiah reminded me that the people and even the animals struggled for survival in that harsh desert. They enjoyed the blessing of water and gave thanks to God for it.
The metaphor of thirst is repeated throughout the scriptures. We have all had times when our hearts have felt dry and arid, when our prayer life felt distant and disconnected from God. We have all been thirsty on a physical level, and we know how incredible that first drink of water tastes. This is like our spiritual life. When we feel dry and empty God comes back into our lives as living water. The Samaritan woman at the well naturally thought Jesus was asking for fresh water. But he was speaking about “living water” symbolically, as a source of spiritual refreshment.
In Isaiah chapter 43, God calls the miracle of water “rivers in the desert”, and that water in the wilderness will be present in abundance. For the desert tribes of Israel, the life-giving presence of God was closely linked with the image of the life-giving presence of water. Water is essential to life, and in one sense, water is life. Where there is no water, there is no life.
When the Archdeacon talked about the book of Isaiah, he said the material showed a deep interest the political, social, moral, theological and economic issues of the day. And that an important element of the message was the time and care that had gone into getting under the skin of contemporary society. Whether it’s the people in Zimbabwe or Palestine or the lonely in south London, members of this Isaiah Community can offer friendship and love. And this comes from our own individual understanding of the issues that will allow us to get under the skin of the people in our local communities.
When working in Africa and the Middle East and Eastern Europe, I was always impressed by the simplicity of people’s lives in the face of disasters, terrible poverty and injustice. For me justice means equal treatment of others and standing up for what is right. In our Isaiah Community we must go out and fight the injustices that we see around us every day.
Come to the waters, all you who are thirsty;
Children who need water free from diseases, women who need respite from labour and searching;
Plants that need moisture rooted near the bedrock, find here a living spring.
O God, may we thirst for your waters of justice, and learn to deny no one the water of life. Amen
Alison Warner
