Photo by Molly Harrell

Francie Brown Markham | Mission Worker

“I feel at home from the moment I arrive there.” Francie first visited Zimbabwe in 2001.  A retired teacher, she was smitten.  “I have never seen students more eager to learn.  Often, there can be five children to one textbook.” 

She’s made three trips back, her fourth scheduled this month.  In Columbia, she frequently speaks about Zimbabwe, wearing a traditional dress made by a Zimbabwean friend. 

She’s also collected truckloads of goods and organizes women here to help girls there. “Often girls cannot attend school during their periods. There were few feminine hygiene products on the shelves, and they were very expensive.  I had the idea that we could sew washable sanitary pads for the girls at Hartzell High School.” 

Francie likes her solution because it’s sustainable and affordable, but she’s also excited that Always and Tampax are tackling the problem “because it puts women's dignity on the front burner.”

Want to help in Zimbabwe?  Francie’s suggestions:

• You can email her at britlit@sc.rr.com for a list, then help to collect needed goods.
• You can email her for the pattern and organize a group of friends to sew sanitary pads.
• You can send monetary donations (tax-deductable) to Trenholm Road United Methodist Church, 3401 Trenholm Road, Columbia, SC 29204; on check write  for "Zimbabwe Project."
• You or your group can sponsor a child through the Old Mutare's Fairfield Children's Home for $30 a month at www.fosakids.org.   This covers school fees, uniforms, food, salaries, textbooks.
• Also, she says,  “Zimbabwe needs our prayers.”

More from Francie:

On Current Events in Zimbabwe
Even now, almost one month after the "democratic" elections in Zimbabwe, the results of the presidential and Parliamentary elections have been withheld from the Zimbabwean people themselves and from the world. What has been released is a shocking wave of unwarranted violence against  many who voted against Robert Mugabe.

True democracy is a right of all Zimbabweans, so I pray for fair and just election results. Also inflation has hit 100,000 % in Zimbabwe and that needs to be brought back under control. All farm land should be planted, so that Zimbabwe can become Africa's bread basket again.

On Getting There
I fly into Harare, Zimbabwe's capital. I have spent most of my time in eastern Zimbabwe near the Mozambique border in Old Mutare and at Africa University.  My last trip in November of 2006 took about 64 hours, including layovers and overnight flights. Since I cannot sleep on planes, I was exhausted before I began the mission work itself.  

On the Work She Does
On my various trips I have taught in the high school, organized a girls' Bible study, repaired furniture, painted, shared in cultural exchanges, studied and taught Zimbabwean literature, researched future mission projects, traveled to various mission communities, lead a mission team, organized and published an American/Zimbabwean student poetry collection, organized and led teacher training, and worked in their computer lab.