One of my favourite people at Eden is Lameck Guveya. He was the foreman of the building crew before we arrived so I was introduced to him right away and began working with him. He has obvious leadership skills and knows how to build, but there is much more to him than that. Guveya has a deep strength of character and a drive to better himself and his situation. He is only 29 years old, but has the maturity of someone 10 years older. When we first arrived he was going to a church sect that encourages polygamy and he was under a lot of pressure to take a second wife or mistress. He had been spoken to by the leadership at Eden about the dangers of attending this sect and adultery, but was fighting with the pressure. I began meeting with him, talking with him and sharing my struggles with him and praying together and he stopped attending his church and began going to a church led by one of the Eden men. His faith is growing steadily and he has a deeply rooted joy and faith that is obvious when you get to speak with him alone. Guveya often prays all night and fasts for my family and our immigration situation. He tells his entire church to be fasting and praying as well. They will often go up the mountain to pray all night, and then he is at work the next day on time. I received a message from him a month ago saying that he had been fasting for two days and praying for our immigration process.
Guveya isn’t one to talk freely with others because he doesn’t trust Shona people to not gossip, but he opens up to me. He has ambition, which I encourage, and he wants to open a small shop at Eden near the medical clinic so that he can make more money to support his family and build his mother a better house. He and I have talked about his business plan and one day he asked me for a loan of $200. Carole and I decided to give it to him and he paid it back in full on the day he said he would. He used the money to go to Beitbridge, a town on the border with South Africa, where he bought goods which he brought home and sold for a profit. I’m hoping that he pushes forward on his plan and I will continue to help him with it. Guveya and Maria have three children of their own and they also look after three Eden children in their home. He uses his own money to buy extra food for the kids and grows extra vegetables in his field to give to Eden. Lameck is the kind of person I want to pour into because he is so humble, doesn’t want a hand out and wants to do everything he can to help others. I asked him what he was going to do on Christmas day and he said he would be working in his field because his family needs the food and so does Eden. The photo was taken on Boxing Day just before we left Eden. I can’t wait to be working with my Shona brother again!
