News and Views

For three decades, skilled servant leaders from the Baltimore-Washington Conference have traveled to Zimbabwe to build relationships, support schools, and serve alongside our United Methodist siblings in ministry. This summer, 15 participants, including Chief Administrative Officer Erica Robinson-Johnson and the Rev. Doug Robinson-Johnson of Community UMC in Crofton, returned to Hanwa Mission with a renewed commitment to education and opportunity. Throughout their three-week journey, Doug will be sending "Postcards Home," sharing glimpses of the people they meet, the work they are doing, and the ways they are witnessing God at work.

Postcard one:

Fifteen Volunteers in Mission from Baltimore-Washington Conference churches, Community UMC in Crofton, and Nichols-Bethel UMC are currently serving in eastern Zimbabwe at the United Methodist Hanwa Mission School, where they are helping complete a new quadriplex that will provide housing for teachers.

It is my privilege as pastor of Community UMC to participate in this VIM partnership with the Zimbabwe West Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church alongside my wife Erica.  Our Biblical theme for our three-week mission is from Paul’s mission among the Galatians, “Let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap a harvest, if we do not give up.” (Galatians 6:9)

During our first days, we toured the primary school, administrative offices, and nearby secondary school. By the time we arrived, nearly 400 students had already begun the long walk home, many traveling two to eight miles before returning to work on their farming compounds. The next morning, a tractor pulling dozens of eager students arrived with uniformed, eager students.

The need for education here is vast, but the village's remoteness makes it difficult to attract and retain teachers. The secondary school has gone three years without a math teacher.

Together, leaders from the Zimbabwe West Annual Conference and ZIMVIM recognized that quality housing would help change that reality. Through Mission Shares, the Baltimore-Washington Conference has invested $60,000 over two years to support this teacher housing initiative. Already, we see how the promise of this housing has led to a new hire!  A new math teacher!  The harvest!

Postcard two:

The Zimbabwe Volunteer in Mission Team continues its work in a rural village outside of Harare.  We met a young man named Innocent who was schooled in the Hanwa Mission School and is now enrolled in medical school.  The team bought him the requisite scrubs and lab coat he will need and presented them to him.  Rev. Erica Robinson-Johnson offered a prayer of dedication over him.

Since 2008, ZIMVIM teams have invested in primary and secondary facilities to allow students like Innocent who had been meeting under trees and in old former tobacco farm huts to study more safely in sturdy new school rooms.  The success of other students like Innocent would not have been likely without investment from Annual Conferences and dedicated United Methodist members.

Postcard three:

(July 27, 2026)

A few days ago, the Zimbabwe Volunteer in Mission team visited a newly completed computer lab at the Hanwa Mission School and was given a tutorial on the digital smart board, which students can access from smart tablets at each seat.

The tutorial was given by a paid instructor who was once a student at Hanwa in the days when students learned under shade trees on what used to be a tobacco farm. The instructor has gone on to earn a certificate in computer science and felt compelled to give back to the community that raised him. I felt compelled to invite ZIMVIM team member Raigan Reynolds to sit with Andrew to help share his story.

This computer science classroom and the adjacent science lab where the interview was done are much more sophisticated than other classrooms in the primary and early secondary schools. These reflect investment over the past several years by the Baltimore-Washington Conference and Community UMC Crofton members and friends who wish to increase the likelihood that secondary school students will remain inspired to learn and compete in a difficult marketplace. As Andrew shares in his interview, the temptation for graduates is to simply return to subsistence farming or for young women to marry prematurely.

Tomorrow, team members will meet in small groups with schoolchildren to learn about their stories and dreams. We feel excited and honored. I’ll share what we learned in my next postcard! God is good!

Postcard four:

(July 30, 2026)

Each morning, the ZIMVIM team gathers for devotions that were prepared in advance by a home prayer team at Community UMC in Crofton, MD. Today we gathered in a circle at sunrise on campus, sharing words of wisdom from our Lay Leader, Barbara Julian. She reminds us of the first United Methodist volunteers who arrived in Moponagwe, Zimbabwe, 28 years ago. She writes, “We become seeds. We grow hope, light, and love for each other. These active, Christ-centered connections are visible to others and reveal Jesus’ nature and grow deep roots.”

Yesterday, 400 primary school students enjoyed a ZIMVIM-sponsored fun day as respite from testing. Our team enjoyed the opportunity to paint faces and blow bubbles!

At the end of each day, around 6:30, we eat a meal similar to what the children receive: a traditional corn porridge dish called Sadza, which is used to eat other items on the plate such as greens and stewed chicken.
After dinner, we reflect on what the Spirit has revealed to us through what we have seen, heard, and felt. On this particular night, I offered thanks to God for something that felt sacramental. The gentle brush of paint on the cheek or forehead was a sign of God’s blessing. Hope, light, and love for one another! We learned from the headmaster that many children in this rural community come from unsafe homes. This simple gift of play and paint helped young people understand what nurturing community looks like, and how safety and love feel. Jesus’ nature is revealed! What a privilege!

Postcard five:

(August 3, 2026)

“When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them and healed their sick. As evening approached, the disciples came to him and said, “This is a remote place, and it’s already getting late. Send the crowds away, so they can go to the villages and buy themselves some food.” Jesus replied, “They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat.” -Luke 14:15-16

(Pictured) ZIMVIM members Ephraim Sidney and John Scaggs join Yambasu Project workers planting red peppers at Hanwa Mission School.

This weekend, 15 members of the United Methodist Zimbabwe Volunteers in Mission team traveled three hours from the Hanwa Mission School, where we have been finishing a housing quadriplex for teachers, to United Methodist-affiliated Africa University, 11 miles northwest of Mutare, Zimbabwe. A guide taught us that this first private university in Zimbabwe was chosen by African bishops because in the 1980s, Zimbabwe was the breadbasket of Africa. However, hyperinflation shortly thereafter devastated the country. Only recently has inflation slowed to single digits, and signs of poverty are everywhere.

We toured the AU facilities, visited new agricultural initiatives, and worshiped together with students and faculty from 24 African nations,

(Pictured) AU Chaplain Eunice Marima and Reverend Erica Robinson-Johnson greet students after worship.

In her sermon at Africa University, Rev. Erica Robinson-Johnson offered the message “You Feed Them.”

“The word Matthew uses to describe Jesus' response to the crowds in today’s story is σπλαγχνίζομαι. This Greek verb shows up throughout the New Testament and means “to be moved with deep, gut-wrenching compassion.” Derived from splagchna (the internal organs or bowels... "guts"), it describes an intense, visceral empathy that shakes a person to their core and compels them to take immediate action. [Have you ever felt like that?]

Jesus feels the pain of the people who have traveled far because of their faith in him, and he cannot turn aside. And his compassion does not stop with their healing... he also wants to be sure they are fed. Jesus sees the people are hungry and he calls his disciples to do something about it. “Don’t send them away, he says, “you give them something to eat.”

Team members shared their own stories of gut-wrenching compassion after visiting the Fairfield Children’s Home to offer mission-stitched crafts from the USA and a hearty meal. The home houses almost 50 orphaned children in groups of 10, each receiving love and care from a house mother. We learned that house mothers have not received payment for this caregiving since September of 2025. And the children eat mostly porridge and bread. Why? Donations have fallen steeply here following disaffiliations from the United Methodist Church. Our feast offered a glimpse for our team of what is possible, and a commitment to truly follow Jesus’ teaching: “you feed them.”

In her sermon, Erica reminded us of Africa University and the United Methodist Church’s refusal to turn aside in the face of suffering.

“Bishop John K. Yambasu of Sierra Leone was instrumental in starting an initiative to improve food security and strengthen farm communities across this continent. Through the UMC General Board of Global Ministries, a plan was developed to eradicate hunger and improve the economy of farm communities across Africa. Yambasu presided at the initiative’s first meeting in Johannesburg in 2018. Two years later, bishop Yambasu died in a tragic traffic accident, but the work continues, and the initiative and funding streams were named after him. Now you will see new greenhouses, and battery systems for chickens are being built through the Bishop Yambasu initiative right here at AU… and in many other places across the continent. The goal is for sustainability for communities to feed and provide income that lasts.”

We know we will soon be traveling home to Maryland, and the task before us is to root ourselves in that same gospel call by strengthening our commitment to joyfully offering our local church mission shares and by loving boldly through second-mile giving to the Fairfield Children’s Home through Advance #11713T. We invite others to join us.

Postcard six:

(August 13, 2026)

Primary school teachers of the Hanwa Mission School in Zimbabwe were invited to join our Community UMC Crofton, MD Volunteer in Mission team for a farewell dinner. They were asked, “Why did you come to this school, and why did you stay?” A new student teacher reluctantly stood and answered, “I didn’t have a choice. The government directs us to the need.” And then she joked, “I thought I was going to die!”

The school here is unlike schools most student teachers might expect to serve. No electricity or indoor plumbing in the classrooms nor in the teachers’ homes. It’s easy to understand why a student might despair over the appointment and quit. But concern for the welfare and potential of the hundreds of rural children in this area is compelling. Some teachers have served here for over 30 years. They love these children. And now so do we, both the children and the teachers.

Our team was asked the same question, why did we choose this three week mission? Some responded emotionally that they felt called to return to the motherland. They and others also spoke of a strong sense that God opened the door in miraculous ways they couldn’t refuse. That’s how I feel. As pastor of the Community UMC of Crofton, I understood that our church’s koinonia – the Apostle Paul’s word for a deep, loving partnership in the Gospel – includes both local and international community. As our mission leader, Charlie Moore, has said, “God sees no boundaries separating people.” I had to go. And to be honest, I felt like I was going to die when I learned about my call to this mission. I like my creature comforts and despise the inoculations these kinds of missions require. And my body doesn’t respond well to culinary challenges, you know?

But this year’s teacher-focused project was particularly compelling. Because of our work and the generosity of the Baltimore-Washington Annual Conference and others who helped us reach our goal of $120,000, we were able to build four homes for teachers—a duplex—so young teachers could actually envision their future alongside these children and their families. But then fundraising brought an additional $40,000, which allowed us to renovate dilapidated housing for headmasters of the secondary and primary schools! One morning, while eating with the headmistress of the primary school, I asked what improvements she expected. “There are holes in the walls where rats come and go. And the wall is about to collapse.” She didn’t mention that the renovations would also create additional bedrooms and crucial indoor plumbing. “It’s just amazing to me that people in the USA care this much about us over here.”

It’s too early to say what that care will look like in the years ahead, here at Hanwa. ZIMVIM has built a dozen school classrooms, administrative buildings, and houses here over the past three decades, and there are visions of this becoming a boarding school at some point. The United Methodist Church in Zimbabwe will be the ones to discern how that may come to fruition. But we know the God who spoke these words through the Prophet Jeremiah in the ancient Near East is the same God speaking to us all on behalf of children in Zimbabwe and their teachers and families, “For I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Jeremiah 28:11.