Ups and Downs

Latter-day Saints in Zimbabwe have persevered through times of great hardship.

From 2007 to 2009, the nation experienced drought, record-setting inflation, a cholera outbreak, and related poverty and social instability. “It was really a challenge. Because people were suffering, and there was not enough,” Nyikadzino Madzonga, then serving as the president of the Chitungwiza Branch, remembered. “You could go with a wheelbarrow full of money to buy a box of matches.” Members of the branch who had food items would bring them to church, and Relief Society members would visit families and identify those who needed this assistance urgently. In Mutare, district leaders reported that when they visited member families, bringing food and other staples, sometimes they arrived to find children with just a pot of boiling water for a meal.

In 2012, the supermarket chain in Bindura where Plaxedes Nyasondo Nyanhamo had worked for many years suddenly closed. “I had a son in boarding school. We were still renting. I didn’t have anything else to do at that time,” she remembered. “I had challenges in paying my tithing and eventually dropped. I didn’t have money to take care of my family.”

In the wake of losing income, Plaxedes felt intense pressure. “I was affected temporally and spiritually,” she recalled. “You cannot even concentrate, so you die spiritually, bit by bit.” She decided to start a business cooking food. She sold her clothes and with $20 bought mealie meal (ground corn), meat, vegetables, tomatoes, and an onion. She cooked them in four big pots with the assistance of her sister and niece. “It was a 100% profit,” she said. “For the first time I got $40. Then I had to take that $40 again, rebuy whatever was going to be used. I was learning. … I would pray unto the Lord that he would guide me.”

In 2014, she joined the Starting and Growing My Business group with the Church’s self-reliance program. She learned about separating business funds from family money and keeping records to know whether she was making a profit. One milestone in her business came when she had to hire several employees. Another was a catering contract for a local church’s three-day conference with over 600 people in attendance.

With well-trained employees and a strong accounting system, Plaxedes became able to leave work in order to participate in Church activities. “I’ve put so many things into practice,” she said. “I do record if there are any shrinkages. And I do record everything that I do: paychecks, receipts. … Now I’m able to pay my tithing.”

“God would never put us in a situation that He would know we won’t be able to pass through,” she reflected. “Even in business, it won’t go along smoothly—sometimes the ups and downs. But we have to persevere and have faith in Jesus Christ, that He will pull us through.”