psalm2004.com

I have been learning the game as it has changes from day to day.

Since I have arrived I have been able to work my way through the middlemen to find the people that are real desperate for for-ex and get the most of our dollar.

But because an individual can only withdraw $5,000,000 ($3.00 CAD) per day, most everything has to be bought via wire transfers, as cheques aren’t accepted most places. The shortage of cash should be solved for the time being when the government issues the new currency it has been showing on the news. They have dropped a few zeros, so maybe I can fit $20 CAD worth of buying power in my wallet instead of my two front pockets.

Yea, I can feel rich, I spent $1,654,000,000 the other day. I have $2,100,000,000 in the bank, and I am making a wire transfer of $816,756,500 in the morning, not to mention I have $56,000,000 in my pocket right now.

With money issues sorted out the next challenge is building material or should I say the complete lack of. With for-ex worth so much here on the parallel market that any goods that can be exported are, which means you have to have the right kind of politicians as friends to get any building material, and the right connections in the neighbouring countries. But since almost all the cement that is available in Southern Africa is going to South Africa for construction due to the 2010 Fifa World Cup we have to make the right friends we need to get cement for the job at least started.

I get online a several times a week, but it is real slow, so computer multi-tasking is a must to keep from wasting time waiting for e-mail to download.

We have been working at getting two containers of material cleared for a team from Builders without Borders that is here to build one of our churches orphanages in Kadoma. And while we wait for customs to be cleared as we do most of the time we have been building a back up water system for where my family will be staying. This included cleaning out the old well, building a cover to keep the leaves and frogs out, then installing a pump, plumbing and wiring to the house. Now we are fabricating a reservoir tower to put the 2,500 litre reserve tank on which will automatically supply water at a consistent pressure to our house regardless of the daily inconsistencies of the contaminated city supply. The level of contamination can be disputed, but the amount of diarrea it produced from me alone when I accidently drank from the wrong container might be an indication.

We finally got the containers to Kadoma, but the one of the cranes that were supposed to unload them broke down on its way from Harare so we had to find another crane, which will be here on Saturday so we can unload them from the trucks. Not to mention the Truck owners and I had a bit of an argument when they tried to force me to pay two and a half times the normal charge for their trucks to sit for the extra two days before we can unload the containers.

The property developer that we had purchased the land for the Church from has been putting in water lines which is great, but they also moved the survey pegs for our property in the process so we couldn’t even lay out the fence for the property. So the fence drawings sit idle and materials will have to be stored till the developer re-surveys the land.

Immigration finally found our Visa application file, but the news was not very encouraging. The application had been turned down, after all the work and waiting we have two options. One is to make and appeal letter as we found out from a connection in the immigration dept. that our case had not been represented well to the Labour Board. So the appeal letter needs to address the issues that were not represented i.e. That we aren’t here to take away Jobs from Zimbabweans but to give them jobs and to train them as well, and that my position here is directly connected to the flow of finances for the project from Canada. The other option is to re-apply via different approach as an investor. So we are going to meet with our Immigration contact next week to get his advise in the matter and then proceed from there.

In all the challenges we face daily I feel alive here and that this is exactly where God has work for me. It is like life in Canada has been boring for the last six months and now I have found what I have been missing. To see the orphans that really need help and how different people from all nationalities, and walks of life have been willing to give to help them in the true form of religion. What started out as a trip to get a church project started, preparing a place for my family, and hunting down a visa, has me re-directing my efforts for now to help some of our ACOP churches with developing their orphanages in place of staring the church project. But it all has been evident that this is the work God has had for me for this time. And strong relationship has been built with the local church again as well as another organisation that wants to partner with us in the construction of the churches and orphanages.

blessings,

Steve

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Africa can change you. It gets under your skin. Surely enough it did change mine and Steve’s. God knew that this is what he called us to do. He blessed us with abandunt blessings, and called us to use the blessings to build God’s kingdom; and to help the vulnerable ones in this small world.

Shalom,

Grace and kids for Steven Kostamo