Dear Dad

There's something about the world you paint with your words that brings an indescribable peace into our lives. There could be hurricanes, earthquakes and tsunamis all happening at the same time and just a word of assurance from you would strangely fade it all.
You have the extraordinary ability to summon courage from depths within us when we forget we have any.
From the very beginning; you have believed in 'beyond average' ; inspiring us to keep reaching for the very best.

Thank you for your strength.
Your hard work.
 Your words... every uplifting text; every moment of laughter, every shot in the arm, all of it; even those 4-page letters from back then😁. 
Thank you for your great, sacrificial love; an uncontestable standard for true fatherhood. It all means much more than a blog post can convey. God chose you for us and mummy; and we will eternally be grateful.

Happy birthday Daddy!!
❤❤❤

Don't skip Saturday!!!

I saw this post by Max Lucado and I loved it so much I had to archive and share :

"Jesus is silent on Saturday.  The women have anointed his body and placed it in Joseph’s tomb.  The cadaver of Christ is as mute as the stone which guards it.  He spoke much on Friday. He will liberate the slaves of death on Sunday.  But on Saturday, Jesus is silent.
So is God.  He made himself heard on Friday.  He tore the curtains of the temple, opened the graves of the dead, rocked the earth, blocked the sun of the sky, and sacrificed the Son of Heaven.  Earth heard much of God on Friday.
Nothing on Saturday.  Jesus is silent.  God is silent.  Saturday is silent.
Easter weekend discussions tend to skip Saturday.  Friday and Sunday get the press.  The crucifixion and resurrection command our thoughts.  But don’t ignore Saturday.  You have them, too.
Silent Saturdays.  The day between the struggle and the solution; the question and the answer; the offered prayer and the answer thereof.
Saturday’s silence torments us.  Is God angry?  Did I disappoint him? God knows Jesus is in the tomb, why doesn’t He do something?  Or, in your case God knows your career is in the tank, your finances are in the pit, your marriage is in a mess. Why doesn’t He act?  What are you supposed to do until He does?
You do what Jesus did.  Lie still.  Stay silent.  Trust God.  Jesus died with this conviction: “You will not abandon me to the grave, nor will you let your Holy One see decay” (Acts 2:27 NIV).
Jesus knew God would not leave him alone in the grave.  You need to know, God will not leave you alone with your struggles.  His silence is not his absence, inactivity is never apathy.  Saturdays have their purpose. They let us feel the full force of God’s strength. Had God raised Jesus fifteen minutes after the death of His son, would we have appreciated the act? Were He to solve your problems the second they appear, would you appreciate His strength?
For His reasons, God inserts a Saturday between our Fridays and Sundays.  If today is one for you, be patient.  As one who endured the silent Saturday wrote:  “Be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord” (James 5:7 NKJV)."

Me : THIS IS TOO GOOD!!
God is not a man! I've also always wondered why the Resurrection was not a very public, like boom, in-your-face you religious Jews and cruel Roman soldiers and everyone else who didn't believe, I'm alive, kinda way. Why didn't Jesus appear to all the doubters; maybe in the sky in a glorified, magnified image so all could see He really was alive and had all the power in the universe?
He's always proven that His power is still powerful even in obscurity. As subtle as the sun rises in the morning and its light covers the earth, the glory of the Lord is revealed. Even when all seems silent, He's working.

All we have to do is believe.

Faith is more powerful than sight.

The bloody sandals

My friends and I had been drinking beer the morning of that day. Drinking was like a ritual before we go do our job. We were somewhat prestigious, in our intimidating red and brown Roman soldier uniforms.

My wife was particularly miserable when I left the house just after sunrise. She even hadn't baked the bread I ate for breakfast every other day.
 She had seen Him, you know; this Nazarene who claimed to be the Messiah and spoke against Rome. She said she saw Him touch a man with deep, heavily-stenched, fly-infested leprosy wounds and restore his skin to that of a baby. She said He showed everyone great love.
We laughed about it, my friends and I. Simeon even joked about how he hoped we would crucify all that love to a tree that day.

Later that afternoon; a huge crowd had gathered at Pontius Pilate's place, for the judgement of the Nazarene. He stood queitly, like a lamb.
Then Pilate brought out one of the worst criminals we had imprisoned, Barrabus. Even in chains that bastard spat out so much venom, flashing his grotesque, crooked smile.
We were surprised however, to hear the crowd shouting that he should be released instead of the Nazarene, in spite of all the horrible crimes they knew he had done.
And yet the Nazarene never showed an inch of loath towards him.

Where were all the thousands He had allegedly fed with two fish and five loaves though?

Pilate then ordered that we whip Him in front of the crowd as a form of punishment.
The worst of the whips had been selected.
From the very first lash, the iron hooks at the end of the leather whip tore through His back, cutting His flesh. And yet we didn't stop. Cracking His ribs, scratching His lungs, splashing His blood...

His blood splashed onto my left sandal.

I watched my friends stretch their elbows in exhaustion, afterwards, as they laughed about how weak He had been for someone claiming to be a King; and yet I could not get over the fact that his blood was on my feet. And that after all the torture, He had looked at us like... like He knew us.

When He was dragged away to be crucified;  He was cursed, spat on, forced to carry a painfully heavy cross with a body already so broken.

I looked up at his bruised, bleeding body on the cross, suspended on nails and I could not imagine how excruciating the pain must have been. I turned my gaze down to my sandal, to His blood, on my dirty sandal. This was no ordinary blood.
Fear gripped me as the heavens closed and darkness covered the earth. The ground shook violently. We had never seen this before. Clearly, this man on the cross was not just another man.

When I got back home; earlier than usual, my mind still couldn't comprehend exactly what had happened, but I was sure, we all were, that something of unfathomable magnitude had happened that day.
My devastated wife fell to the ground when she saw the blood on my feet.

"His blood," she said amidst tears, "His blood washes away all the sin of the world."

I sobbed silently.

Three days later; the news of his body's disappearance spred throughout the country.

All Roman soldiers were ordered to search for the body and bring it back. But I wouldn't. I vowed to myself that these same feet on which holy blood had splashed, would never again go on unholy missions.
The One the world thought was dead; is Alive!

" It’s in Christ that we find out who we are and what we are living for. Long before we first heard of Christ and got our hopes up, He had His eye on us, had designs on us for glorious living, part of the overall purpose He is working out in everything and everyone."
(http://bible.com/97/eph.1.11-12.msg)

My random 24

I picked out just 24 moments from a large pile of memories because today happens to be my 24th birthday🎉🎊.
I can only choose the moments my brain's memory storage allows me to access and i think that's from around 4-5 years old.
Okay, so, first will be the day i went for the last vaccination injection at our local clinic with my friends. I have no idea why it stands out but for some reason it was fun getting pricked together and then talking about it all the way home😁.
On second place is the day i lost one shaking tooth to a stalk of sugar cane. I must've just removed the tooth, rinsed up and kept chewing with the remaining few, like a bawse. Those that were there might disagree but that's okay.
I'll skip to preschool graduation for the third. I had a full-permed head, with a red '2-piece' outfit and I remember standing in my long gown, holding the graduation certificate and a gift box of toys and feeling like i'd made it in life. 🎓🎀. Lil' one sure had no idea what was in store for her.
My first day of grade one deserves a spot. This time with a fully-chopped, almost bald head and a light-green new uniform for Chamarare primary school, i was ecstatic. There was just something cool about wearing a uniform for the first time😆. Many years later i'd be so eager to get rid of it.
The first assembly that day will be the 5th moment. We stood in lines in front of our classes facing the flag pole. I was very excited. The idea of having my lil' hands beaten (or the classic hitting of finger tips with a duster) for misspelling 'dangerous' had not occured to me yet.
Cleaning up those hands after eating one too many mulberries is definitely memorable coz that was sort of an emergency. Showing up at home with hands that look like they had been dipped in purple paint all day could owe you a beating. And water wouldnt help remove the stains😭; we had to rub them off with green, unripe mulberries. (Look at us being scientifically-inclined at such a young age😎)
When i was in grade 2; i was one lil' titan man. I prayed in church in front of hundreds of people while standing on a bench; recited full Bible stories and verses and was confident enough to sing without worrying about pitch transitions.
I'm also going to insert here the time my friends and I cut out a white cloth and made our own bandanas those days when they were reigning😁. We'd just watched the last episode of Taina where 3LW sang 'no more' and we felt so fly imitating the moves with the crayon-coloured 'bandanas' on our heads. (Awesome childhood friends i had)
On number 9 will be the day i failed a Shona exam for misspelling 'hanzvadzi'. Mxm. I can't be blamed really.
Ten. In 3rd grade, we did a Sunday School drama in church where i gave an Oscar winning performance, singing a song crying real tears. I should totally seek out my long lost acting talent.
The slightly scary moment i'm about to write will take the eleventh spot. One sunny afternoon as i was washing dishes after lunch; i suddenly lifted up my head to meet a long snake glued to the window right in front of me. Yup. It was outside though. Snakes were not rare at all; we basicaĺly co-habited😆. I screamed all the way back to the sitting room where the rest of my family was.
5th grade began the adventures of 'boarding school at nine years old' (dramatic music). The details are on my other blogpost with that title. (#12)
Number thirteen will be the day i perfomed 'Mari ndiyo musimboti' by Mai Charamba in front of the class, using cut out pieces of paper as money and staging up a performance so impressive i won the lil' talent contest we were having there.
I'll give the next 3 spots to boarding school moments ranging from singing while beating trunks in our dorms; having mummy visit with my then newly-born baby brother and all the whooping my teachers gave me through the years.
Number seventeen, the school trip to Victoria Falls. It was soo much fun. When we got back, (#18) we had to write about what we saw and my essay won (kid's been writing for a while😉). It's still mysterious to me what I did with the prize money though. I'd be a lil' consoled if i at least bought 'milko' chocolate with some of it but there's no trace of it in my memory right now😞.
Oh my last day at Gokomere CPS when we got our grade 7 results and i found out i had 4 units will be my nineteenth. Now i was sure i had legitly made it in life.
Number 20 and 21 will be  given to adjusting to high school life and disliking the first two terms. Blaa. I just remembered history class learning about homo sapiens and Ramapithecus? 😁. That's the only subject i had very close to a 100% at the end of the year.  Clearly evolution stories and this story-lover got along very well.
 Twenty two; (Angelic opera) is the day i got born again at 14. Beautiful beautiful day it was, my goodness. There are some details on the kind of experiences that followed in 'Fun in the furnace.' I started seeing life in a whole new way man.
23 & 24 are just two numbers which wouldn't do justice to the inumerable moments in-between that I'm truly grateful for. I have cried, both ugly and silent, and laughed at myself and talked to myself and walked through the whole alphabet of crazy and learned to look at myself through my own eyes. But above all, I have never been without the presence of the Almighty and that. makes. every. moment. worthwhile 🙌.

I would like to hear about you guys' outstanding childhood memories as well. Be free to share them.

A letter to mum

The same hands holding me in this picture have solved the most complex mathematical and life problems. They have have nurtured pilots, engineers, doctors, computer scientists and all sorts of geniuses. They have defied the odds.

You didn't have to give us a million dollars for us to appreciate you mum; you've given us the greatest gift of all - love.

Love is you holding us when we're miserable; guiding us when we're misdirected and whooping us when we've misbehaved.

Love is you giving yourself less so we could have more.

Love is you working hard to make others'  dreams come true.

Love is the way you love us.

Love is you and dad.

If ever you want to look at life and wonder where the trophies of all your strivings are; look at us, mum. 

We know what determination looks like; never giving up.

We know what it means to set our minds on something and go get it.

We know what it means to defy the odds, coz you've done it.
We are who we are because you've given us the opportunity to be.

Thank you.

God chose the very best for us.

Happy Birthday Mummy!!

We love you more than words can say.

Yours gratefully,

Your children.

Pelagia Majoni ; scientist on the rise...

It is commonly said that there are three kinds of people in this world ; those that make things happen, those that watch things happen and those that have no idea what goes on.
This post is about one of those accomplishing great things and she's only 18!
Here's Pelagia Majoni's story in her own words...

"I am amazed at the inexplicable way I have changed. From being a hopeless poor girl to being this person whose life inspires thousands.
During the era of economic hardship we would sleep on an empty stomach, in a roofless plastic house. I would walk for two hours to get to school only to be kicked out for late fees payment. I got used to it but l knew this was a passing season.
My family situation has made me realize that there are some things which you cannot change but for those things that you can change, give them your best shot. I decided to live my life like someone whose future was predictably bright treating problems as opportunities to do great. I am often surrounded by sickness, energy shortages, yet these things inspire me to think about what I can do to contribute to a better world. I often think about solutions grounded in science, research and innovation.
When l was fifteen, I participated in a national climate change essay competition because I wanted to know about global warming and ozone depletion. In my essay l suggested that growing potatoes in buckets saves space and provides a sink for the excess carbon dioxide in the atmosphere as potatoes photosynthesize. I was surprised when my essay came out second nationally, because everyone had told me I was wasting my time as students from well-resourced schools often won such prizes.
 Winning a national competition motivated me to continue looking at other challenges in the energy sector. I started working on a cheap sustainable source of electricity. I came across a section in a German potato magazine which stated “in 1917 Henry Ford tried to make a car run using potatoes but was unsuccessful.” This stirred up my curiosity. Whilst researching about potato power I carried out hundreds of unsuccessful experiments, trying to generate energy from potatoes. After fourteen months, I finally came up with a thirty day life span battery from decayed potatoes.  After excelling in seven national Science fairs I presented my battery at Eskom International Science Fair in South Africa and I won a silver medal. Then, I became the first Zimbabwean to participate and win an award at Intel International Science Fair (ISEF) and to have an asteroid named after her by Massachusetts Institute of Technology.  I received a second category award.

I never imagined that one day the girl who used to sleep in a plastic house, with no electricity would one day be searchable on Google.
What matters to me most are not the prizes but the knowledge and experience I have gained from participating in several competitions. The countless failures did not deter me from trying one more time. Despite missing over sixty lessons visiting the research facilities I always came out with the great end of term results in my stream because I worked extra hard.
My love for Science keeps growing, and if given an opportunity, I will demonstrate that even African girls can have their names in the Science halls of fame. Currently l am working on putting the potato battery into practical use in my community. My next research is centered on preventing nuclear explosions using basic Physics principles.
In as much as l love Science, I also host motivational sessions where I counsel and inspire my fellow students. I was elected to serve as an honorable junior Councillor for the country’s capital city because of my zeal to serve the less privileged children in my community.  I also have leadership positions in the Science and Debate clubs. As the prefect in charge of all the clubs at school I emphasize on commitment, hard work and teamwork.

I’m inspired by my mother and my family and my community. They work really hard.  I want to one day help my community. Steve Jobs, Marie Curie and Benjamin Franklin are my role models. I also look up to Albert Einstein."

" Where do you see yourself in 10 years?"

"I see myself having finished my master’s degree and now doing full time research work.
I will be a very successful Scientist making world changing discoveries.
I also see myself with more money and bringing my dreams of making sure that there won’t be any street kids in Zimbabwe. I will have built many great homes even for old people.
I want to change my country for the better.

I believe that the sky is just the beginning."

👏👏👏
May you continue to bless the world, Pelagia, with the limitless greatness that's within you.  Thank you for inspiring other African children to join you from the sidelines to the very front lines of ground-breaking history-making.
The future belongs to those who believe and work towards the fulfillment of their dreams!

January 1st, 2018

Strength.

           Courage.

                     Faith.

                             Joy.

I've heard that time was established so we could live life in doses. Growth and progress can be assessed with each period.

If accomplishing your goals through each year is like climbing a mountain,
on December 31st ; whether you'll be standing at the top, the bottom, or midway; how will you view your journey?

Success may be defined as giving your best to whatever assignment is placed on the plate in front of you. If you can define your effort as the best, then you're successful.

"Nothing is as big as it is, it's only as big as you think it is."

Mountains appear huge from the ground, but if you were to view them from up high, they're just like a dent on the ground. It's all about perspective.

Maybe your own mountain is not yet directly in front you, and needs you to be patient. Well, the Bible does say those that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall 'mount up on wings' like eagles. So, you may make it to the top faster than those mounting up on legs, patient one.

Surrounded by the mist of clouds, I sat on Mount Ai-Petri, in Yalta, and the feeling of joy for having made it there was greater than the exhaustion.

Whether you'll be using your faith to climb mountains in 2018, or to move them, enjoy the process.  The view at the top will be worth it.
May slippery stones and snares be removed out of your way. But if it so happens that you come across them, may you always find the strength to get back up and keep moving😊.