HARARE, Zimbabwe — “Turning threats into opportunities” is how Gaylord Kambarami, the General Secretary of the Bible Society of Zimbabwe, describes his response to the troubles gripping Zimbabwe.

The present crisis, due to unstable market prices, land requisition, and anti-government feeling, has not just materialised overnight. 1997 was a difficult year for Zimbabweans, but the challenge for the Bible Society was to complete its distribution, and Mr Kambarami was pleased that Scripture stocks were exhausted. “We ended 1997 having distributed all the Scriptures we had received,” he said.

It was a year of centenaries: the Presbyterian Church celebrated 100 years of ministry in this country and the Bible Society gave the church 200 Shona Bibles for free distribution: “How do you recuperate the cost of these Scriptures?” asked the Rev Max Chigwida, Presbyterian Church Moderator. “At least now the people know where to come for their Bibles,” he added, and also said how pleased he was to witness the people’s eagerness for the Word of God.

Thanks to funds raised by Methodists in America, the Bible Society was able to produce a special edition of the Shona Bible marked ‘Celebrating 100 years of Ministry’; 9,000 copies of this edition were presented during the United Methodist church celebrations at Old Mutare Mission in eastern Zimbabwe. One elderly woman, Mrs Nkomo, remarked: “This copy of the Bible will see me to heaven, and then will remain here as a reminder for the next generation of my Christian faith.”

Methodist Bishop Jokomo said the Bible Society had done a wonderful thing for his church: “I can already see changes taking place in the lives of my congregation as a result of the distribution of these Bibles among them,” he said. 

Also celebrating 100 years, the United Baptist Church (UBC) distributed 2,000 specially-printed copies of the Gospel of John at Rusitu in the Chimanimani area. The General Secretary of the UBC said: “All of us here are witnessing the 100 years of the church; but none of us will ever witness another hundred years. However, we will all be witnesses in heaven to the next hundred years if we read and follow the Bible.”

More Gospels of John were made available to Scripture Union (SU) for distribution at their summer camps. The Coordinator of the camps, Mr Nyatsambo, said: “This has been a great year for us. The Bible Society has provided us with more than 20,000 Gospels of John which was the book we were studying at the camps. We are hoping the Bible Society will provide us with a similar quantity of Mark’s Gospels for 1998 youth camps.”

Many people are experiencing hardship throughout the country and this often affects families, who cannot afford to pay school fees or buy school books. Added to this, many of the elderly rural folk have never learnt to read, either in their mother tongue or in the official language, English.

In order to help the Ministry of Education with its ‘Reading Culture’ project, which was launched in the Goromonzi District in 1997 – where literacy is promoted in villages and rural communities by providing appropriate materials for schools and to villagers – the Bible Society provided 10,000 New Reader Portions for distribution by the Ministry of Education, and a spokesperson stated that not only were they pleased with the gift but that the materials fulfilled all their expectations for literature being used in this project.

A further 10,000 New Reader Portions will be provided for this project during the current budget year. “After the Ministry had given out the Portions, our distributors visited the area and saw several elderly people with the New Reader Portions, carefully going through them under the shade of the village tree,” said Mr Kambarami. 

In another effort to help alleviate the poverty experienced in some areas of Zimbabwe, the Bible Society targeted two areas most affected by seasonal poverty, the Beit Bridge region, one of the hottest places in the country, lying below sea-level on the northern side of the Limpopo River which marks the boundary with South Africa, and Matebeleland North, also suffering seasonally from excessive dryness.

St Bernard’s Secondary School in Beit Bridge was provided with 300 RSV Bibles, a course book that many students cannot afford to buy. Mr Dzapasi, the headmaster, commented: “The pass rate in this subject should be phenomenal. Will you please continue to help those people who are in need, whatever is within your means.”

In Matebeleland North, the Word of God Mission is a relief agency which also supplies Scriptures to poor people. Through this mission the Society supplied more than 1,000 Bibles and New Testaments and 3,000 Portions, all with discounts. Mission Director John Prescott expressed his gratitude to the Society and spoke of the impact the Scriptures are having on people in these depressed areas:

“Once again we are grateful to God for protection and provision when the future seems harsh and many are concerned about survival. We see the strength that God’s Word brings to people from all walks of life, and we are amazed at the continued demand for the Scriptures. We realise that the only true stability – political, economic, social and personal – is that which is based upon the rock of faith, and the demand for the Bible proves that many people feel the same way,” Mr Kambarami said. (WR 329/23 - 3.98)