Retired,with Orphans,in Africa

American Paula Leen rescues AIDS orphans and feeds thousands in the crumbling African nation of Zimbabwe.

By Merikay McLeod

“When a beautiful little child comes to you and slips its hand in yours and laughs, what can you do but try and save that little one’s life?” – Paula Leen

Copyright 2009 by Merikay McLeodAll Rights Reserved

First electronic printing August 2009

Introduction

As a British colony, Zimbabwe was part of what used to be called Rhodesia.

In 1980, Robert Mugabe won the first general election of independent Zimbabwe and promised good things for the country’s future.

At that time, Zimbabwe was called the breadbasket of Africa. Its well-tended farms supplied an abundance of food for its own citizens and exported produce to surrounding nations.

For about 20 years, Mugabe managed the nation with care, but when white farmers and others voted successfully against increasing his powers, Mugabe began worrying more about holding onto power than serving well the citizens of his country.

Fearing a decline in his political fortunes, Mugabe launched a “fast track” land redistribution program which forced many white farmers – often violently -- off their land. Those farms were then redistributed mostly to black government officials who did not cultivate the land. As a result, large-scale food production in the country has almost entirely disappeared, and today the people of Zimbabwe are starving.

In a rural area near the village of Marange in the eastern Province of Manicaland, American Paula Leen, serves the destitute through her orphanage, ambulance service and feeding programs.This senior citizen’s ingenuity, dedication and hard work keep thousands alive in this nation steeped in death.

ITuesday, June 24, 2008

3:30 a.m. City of Mutare in the Province of Manicaland Zimbabwe, Africa

Paula Leen, a tall, white-haired American, chops potatoes and onions,

preparing what will be lunch and supper for the 30 children and three adults

who have taken refuge with her in this rental house.

She has already set out the porridge ingredients for breakfast and will

start them simmering in an hour.

The soft light from the kitchen ceiling lamp illuminates her chopping

board, while the rest of the house and the city outside sleep in darkness. This

early hour is the only time that Mutare, the fourth largest city in the central

south African nation of Zimbabwe, has electricity, and the cook-stove in this

hastily-rented house is electric, so Paula finds herself in the comforting

silence, preparing food for the day. If the electricity stays on long enough,

she’ll boil a few eggs to add some protein to the supper meal. These quiet

morning moments may well be the only peaceful time she has today.

Seven infants (four with AIDS) and a staff member are asleep in one

of the bedrooms. The other 23 children, from toddlers to sixth graders, are

ascatter among three other bedrooms and a large dorm-like room with its

own bath. Paula calls the dorm room “the annex.” She’s put the older boys

there. They’re sleeping on blankets on the floor. She and the other two staff

members share bedrooms with the children, whose little bodies are bundled

in blankets and sleeping bags.

A week ago, Paula and the others fled from her private orphanage –

Murwira Adventist Children’s Home -- about an hour south in a remote area

of Manicaland Province, to this rented city house, hoping it would offer

more safety.

Paula brushes her silver-white hair out of her eyes. At 74 she still has

more energy than most people her age. Despite all the challenges she’s faced

working independently in Zimbabwe for the past 20 years, running for

refuge is a first for her.

Since last March’s presidential election, in which Morgan Tsvangirai

received more votes than President Robert Mugabe (although not enough

votes to win in the three-candidate race…thus, the upcoming run-off

election), angry groups of Mugabe supporters have wandered the streets and

countryside beating people accused of “voting wrong.”

Although politics have never interested Paula, the rising waves of

violence concerned her staff, especially her head security guard, Lawrence,

who is a regional official. Nonetheless, Paula concentrated on feeding,

clothing and educating her orphans, and sharing food with nearly 2,000 other

hungry Zimbabweans living in the surrounding countryside.

But by May, nearly 3,000 teachers had fled the nation’s schools, their

empty classrooms taken over by the ruling party’s youth militias. American

and other news organizations reported that 50 people had been killed in

political violence during the two months following March’s election.{1}

On June 4, the government ordered an end to the humanitarian work

of CARE and other nonprofit groups, such as Save the Children and Mercy

Corps, which had been distributing food to the hungry. The suspension was

enforced because government officials said these organizations conspired to

cripple the economy and were using food as a political weapon against the

government.{2}

At that point, Paula faced a painful dilemma. For years she had been

sharing the produce from her 13 acres of gardens and orchards with needy

families living within 30 miles of her orphanage. Now she wondered

whether she may be arrested for such generosity.

“I cannot sit by and watch people starve,” she said. “Especially if I

have fruit and vegetables in the gardens.”

Lawrence diplomatically suggested that she think about going into

hiding for a few days or weeks.

Two days later, a contingent of American and British diplomats were

roughed up at a roadblock and the tires on one of their cars were slashed.{3}

Lawrence re-emphasized that Paula should go into hiding.

Lawrence mentioned hiding out again on June 12, when Zimbabwean

authorities confiscated a truck with 20 tons of American food aid for poor

schoolchildren, and later handed out the beans and wheat to President

Mugabe’s supporters at a political rally.{4}

Lawrence said he’d heard fearful threats regarding the orphanage.

“The thugs want you out of here so they can have the gardens and orchards,”

he said. “They’ll do anything. You should take the children and hide. The

other staff and I will keep the place safe.”

Paula tried to keep out of the fray and ignore the threats as she

focused on her orphans. All the while, groups of drunken young men,

swinging clubs and bicycle chains, wandered the area, beating whomever

they chose, burning people’s homes and stealing whatever appealed to them.

When Paula heard rumors that she was a member of the opposition

party, she could no longer ignore the danger. Rumors like this carried the

promise of violence and even death.

Lawrence insisted she take the children and hide. “If anything

happens to you, these children will once again be helpless,” he said.

Paula knew full well that if she didn’t take care of her orphans, no one

else would in a country where all were starving and full of fear.

The next afternoon, during a mob attack on a close friend, Paula took

action. She quickly packed blankets and pillows, dishes and silverware,

clothes and schoolbooks, pads and pencils, and everything she could think of

to help make hiding out a fun adventure for her orphans. Then she, three

staff members, the kids, babies and all the supplies piled high onto her

Toyota two-ton flatbed truck, and took off.

“Big Blue,” as she’d named the cabover flatbed because of its bright

blue color, had become the area’s unofficial ambulance, making three runs a

week to Mutare Provincial Hospital, with its flatbed full of the sick and

suffering. And, often, Big Blue would return from the hospital as a hearse,

hauling coffins back home to families who had no other way to retrieve the

bodies of their loved ones.

On this day, however, Big Blue became Paula’s get-away vehicle.

Leaving 20 staff to maintain the orphanage, Lawrence drove Paula

and the children to the hastily-rented hide-away house in Mutare. Paula kept

the children singing fun and lively songs for the entire drive to the city.

She’d learned long ago to keep the kids singing when they were in a car or

truck because, when they’re singing, they’re less likely to argue or fuss.

Now the rental house is bursting at the seams with little kids.

She and her staff keep them occupied with schoolwork, board games

and art projects during the day. There’s a back yard for them to play in, but

it’s hard to keep them quiet when they’re outside. So far, they’ve been fairly

well behaved.

As she watches the boiling potatoes, she smiles, thinking about how

loudly the children sing during evening worship. Their pure sweet voices

and eager enthusiasm are heart-warming…but the volume swells as they try

to outdo one another. Surely the neighbors know what’s going on in this

house, she thinks. But there is nothing more she can do…she simply trusts

that God will protect her and the children, and that the neighbors will not

betray this hiding place.

In three more days the Presidential run-off election will take place.

She’s hoping things will settle down once the run-off takes place.

President Mugabe is the only candidate in the run-off, since Morgan

Tsvangirai (pronounced Chahng-guh-RY) pulled out of the race two days

ago, saying Mugabe’s men were beating, torturing and killing his supporters.

He said at least 85 of his followers had already been killed.{5} So the

election outcome is known. Perhaps going through the motions will reduce

the rage and violence.

When it feels safer, she and the children will return to the orphanage.

In the meantime, Lawrence keeps in touch. When Big Blue brings its load of

sick people to the hospital, the driver also brings a detailed report from the

orphanage. Through a network of caring friends and supporters, Paula is

kept well informed.

As her knife click-click-clicks against the cutting board, efficiently

cubing the potatoes, she goes over all that she must do today once the babies

and youngsters are fed and the rest of the city rouses itself.

She has to shop for baby formula, milk and eggs. Although her

orphanage compound gardens produce beans, vegetables, fruit and grain, the

babies and children need much more, and she must find and buy the added

provisions. With prices rising twice a day and doubling every three days,

shopping is an exhausting ordeal.

She also must search for medicines and medical supplies such as

bandages, gauze rolls, sponges, pads, medical tape, syringes, IV supplies and

various medications for those who are ill. There are always children and

others who are ill. AIDS is everywhere, and the threat of cholera lurks

continually. With limited food, and hospitals depleted of supplies, any

problem – a broken bone, a difficult pregnancy, a cut or scratch – can

become a life-threatening emergency. Last month she had to find plaster for

an elderly man who had broken his arm. The doctor could set the arm, but

had no supplies to splint or cast it. So she found the necessary materials and

got them to the hospital on his behalf.

In Zimbabwe’s broken health system, whatever is needed must be

brought by the patient or patient’s family in order for the medical staff to do

their work. Because there is no food, hospitals don’t supply meals for their

patients, so Paula has to keep track of children and their relatives who are in

the hospital and make sure they get at least one meal a day delivered.

Patients may recover from an appendectomy and then die in their hospital

bed of starvation, if someone does not bring them food.

Paula also has endless paperwork – writing letters and reports to

donors, writing checks, organizing and recording expenses, clearing items

through customs.

But the busy schedule is nothing new. Paula Leen has been single-

handedly running and administering her orphanage for three years. Before

that, for about 18 years, she helped other service agencies in Zimbabwe and

Romania.

As the potatoes boil in their pot, she cleans peas and sets them to

boiling too. Back in Oregon where she grew up and raised her own family,

people loved fresh vegetables. She remembers tossing together large salads

for church potlucks, and piling relish plates with carrots, celery and radishes.

But here, people prefer everything cooked. Even at the orphanage, where

more than a thousand fruit trees produce fat bananas and sweet mangos, it’s

difficult to persuade the children to eat fresh fruit. And fresh vegetables?

Forget it. But Paula doesn’t mind the cooking. Since the danger of cholera

always lurks, boiling vegetables provides one more layer of protection for

her orphans.

As the sun rises, illuminating the streets outside, Paula sets out bowls

and spoons, and turns on the burner under the kettle of porridge.

The little ones start stirring about 5:30 a.m.

Benny and his sister Juliet are the first to wander into the kitchen.

“Auntie Paula, we’re hungry,” Benny says rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.

Paula bends down to give them both a hug. “You go wash up and

brush your teeth, and then come in and I’ll have breakfast waiting for you,”

she says.

The two head for the bathroom. Benny and Juliet’s parents both died

of AIDS. In Zimbabwe, one in four children are orphaned by AIDS. In this

African nation where 115,000 children are HIV positive, a child dies every

15 minutes of AIDS.{6} Juliet is HIV positive and she also has a hearing

problem. Fortunately, Benny is free of HIV. The two were brought to the

orphanage by an organization rescuing abused children. When they first

arrived, they were so underweight that Paula thought they were still toddlers.

Now they are full of energy, all smiles and wiggly enthusiasm. Soon

they are climbing onto their chairs. Paula sets warm bowls of porridge

before them, then offers a simple grace over the meal as the children fold

their hands and bow their heads.

Immediately after grace, Benny and Juliet eagerly dig in. Paula just

smiles. This is what keeps her going, seeing children who have suffered

unbelievable deprivation come back to life.

Even with the political unrest, the overwhelming inflation (more than

1 million percent a year in late 2008), and the ravages of AIDS, the children

can thrive if they have some caring, loving adults and decent food. Paula is

determined to give her orphans those basics, plus schooling.

Their trusting eyes, their bright smiles, the way they slip their little

hands into hers, she cannot imagine abandoning them.

Before Benny and Juliet are finished with their breakfast, the other

children are up, folding their blankets and trying to dress themselves. The

three staff members organize a bathroom line, helping the youngest wash

their hands and face and brush their teeth, and helping each child tie their

shoe laces, then sending them to the kitchen, where Paula dishes up porridge

and leads each child through a simple prayer of thanks.

The meal is filled with laughter and chatter. And as quickly as a child

is finished, a new youngster climbs into the chair for his or her breakfast.

The staffers also tend to the infants, changing their diapers and

bathing them, while Paula coordinates her breakfast program in the kitchen.

She’s pleased to see how eagerly the children eat, how happy they seem. She

remembers when so many of them were nothing but bones. Yet here, even in

hiding, they have happy dispositions and relatively-healthy little bodies.

Big Blue at the orphanage

Manyara, one of Paula’s little charges

II

How it all began

“I thought, I’ve got to get back and build an orphanage.” – Paula Leen, 1996

It’s as if Paula Leen’s entire life was preparing her for her work in

Zimbabwe.

The fourth in a family of five children, she, her twin brother, Paul, and

her other siblings grew up on an 82-acre farm in Amity, Oregon, about 40

minutes southwest of Portland. As kids they picked cherries, strawberries,

peaches, plums, blackberries and apples, learning the rewards of hard work

and at the same time enjoying the freedom rural life grants children.

On the farm she saw the productive results of planting seeds and

tending crops, and learned how to solve problems with the materials at hand.

As a child, Paula was fascinated by the mission stories she heard at

church. Listening to the colorful tales of far-away missions, she dreamed of

becoming a missionary herself. She envisioned helping the people in South

America. She even dreamed of running a mission orphanage.

But after high school graduation, marriage, two children and a

divorce, she settled into life as a medical secretary and, later, as a church

secretary, to raise her family. Secretarial work developed her organizational

skills.

An avid reader, in the 1970s she began reading books about Albert

Schweitzer, the German-French physician and theologian who established a

hospital in Lambarene (now Gabon in West Central Africa) and spent 42

years there serving the sick. Schweitzer became one of Paula’s heroes and

reading about him renewed her longing to help the less fortunate in foreign

lands.

She read how his friends, family and colleagues criticized his decision

to leave a successful university career to become a missionary, and was

impressed that he never faltered despite such disapproval. Many questioned

his laboring in a primitive hospital when he could have easily raised

abundant funds through lectures and organ recitals, thus supporting other

medical professionals to work in Lambarene. Yet Schweitzer insisted on

directly and personally serving the needy. He considered his medical

missionary work to be his response to Jesus’ call to become fishers of men.

He concentrated on service rather than conversion, and said, “The

only ones among you who will be really happy are those who will have

sought and found how to serve.”

Paula’s heart beat in harmony with both his example and his words.

Once her son and daughter graduated from high school and began adult lives

of their own, she was able to pursue her long-cherished dream.

In 1981, when she was invited to work in Zimbabwe as an

administrative secretary for the Eastern Africa Division of the Seventh-day

Adventist denomination, she jumped at the chance. Within days of the

invitation, she was heading to that Central South African country.

Zimbabwe, whose official language is English, is just a little larger

than the state of Montana. Landlocked, it is bordered by Botswana to the

north, Mozambique to the east, South Africa to the south and Zambia to the

west. Zambia and Zimbabwe share the world-famous Victoria Falls.

Harare, the capitol city, is in eastern Zimbabwe. Stepping off the

plane in Harare Oct. 9, 1981, Paula embarked on an adventure that would

change the course of her life and save the lives of countless others.

One thing she would say for years afterward is how surprised she was

to find so few jungles in Zimbabwe. She’d always imagined Africa full of

jungles, but Zimbabwe straddles an extensive high plateau with most of its

geography filled by granite mountains, rolling green hills and vast

grasslands. Although the Vumba Mountains on the eastern highlands

encompass rich rain forests, especially during the November-March rainy

season, Harare on its hilly plateau enjoys drier, milder temperatures.

From 1981 through 1985 and again from 1986 through 1989, Paula

worked weekdays as a secretary. But in the evenings and on the weekends,

she ventured out to see for herself what kind of lives everyday Zimbabweans

were leading.

Wherever she looked, she saw poverty -- children caring for parents

dying of AIDS, parentless families where the older children were trying to

raise their younger siblings, grandmothers overwhelmed with the care of

large numbers of orphaned grandchildren. Yet in the midst of all that

suffering, there was an innocent sweetness in the little ones that clutched at

her heart. Their large, dark eyes, their genuine smiles and their

overwhelming needs filled her heart with compassion and love.

She wrote to friends in the U.S., asking for used clothing and cash

donations. On the weekends, she distributed the clothing to needy families.

Some of the clothes they could wear, and some they could sell to earn

money for food. With the cash donations she received, she bought food for

the children and baby formula for the infants.

From one end of Zimbabwe to the other, this dedicated woman with

her tender heart, made friends and established contacts with others caring for

the needy. Although soft-spoken and gentle, at 5-foot 9-inches, her presence

commanded respect.

She realized with horror that AIDS was wiping out an entire

generation, leaving a tidal wave of orphans in its wake. “This country is

going to need hundreds of orphanages,” she thought.

In 1989, suffering from deep vein thrombosis, Paula returned to

Oregon where she spent several weeks recovering. Although she enjoyed the

chance to visit her now-adult children, other relatives and friends, she could

not get Zimbabwe out of her heart. Here in Oregon, people ate three good

meals a day. The big food problem here was the struggle to keep from

gaining weight, not the struggle to keep from starving.

Here in the U.S., people drove cars and had televisions. They shopped

in grocery stores filled with food and retail stores filled with clothes and

shoes and an abundance of other products.

In Zimbabwe, bony cows and goats wandered the countryside, and

children scratched among the bushes for something to eat while their

parents, aunts and uncles lay dying of AIDS.

Paula found herself especially moved by the plight of the children. “I

just cannot bear to see the children and the oldies suffering,” she said.

In 1990 at the age of 56, after recovering from deep vein thrombosis,

she went to work for the Swedish International Development Agency in

Zimbabwe. A small SIDA stipend enabled her to travel throughout the

nation teaching basic health, nutrition and sewing classes. This work brought

her even closer to the suffering people.

For two years she received the SIDA stipend, and when it ended, she

continued her work, drawing on her own modest savings. Social Services

employees would alert Paula to the neediest families and she would teach

sewing and basic nutrition to the adults, hoping they’d be able to earn

enough with their new skills to keep their children alive and maybe pay their

school fees.

In 1993, she became acting director of International Children’s Care

in Romania, placing orphans in private homes for adoption. Based in

Bucharest, her work included weekly visits to about 60 families, bringing

them clothes and food. Before long, she’d enrolled an additional 180

families for the clothing and food distribution program. She liked the work,

but could not bear Romania’s icy roads and cold weather, so in 1996 Paula

returned to Oregon.

That June she celebrated her 62nd birthday, the milestone age at which

she could begin receiving Social Security.

As most Americans approach their 60s, they start thinking about

retirement – the trips they’ll take, the golf they’ll play, the long-deferred

hobbies they’ll pursue. Some consider volunteering at the local library or

senior center, but few imagine moving halfway around the world to serve the

poorest of the poor. Yet, that’s exactly what Paula Leen did.

“I kept thinking, I’ve got to get back there and build an orphanage,”

Paula said.

Now that she was receiving a monthly Social Security check, small

though it was, she felt a certain freedom. She was sure that she could return

to Zimbabwe and get by on Social Security while she helped the poor.

She prayed for guidance: “Lord, if you want me to go back, please

provide the funds to get me there.”

A few weeks later, while visiting her sister in Idaho, a friend of her

sister’s dropped by. As the three women chatted, the friend grew interested

in Paula’s descriptions of Zimbabwe. The friend asked all kinds of

questions about the needs there, and when she rose to leave, she pulled out

her checkbook and wrote a check, announcing, “This is for your work in

Zimbabwe.”

Paula was stunned. This looked like an answer to her prayer, yet she

hesitated. She longed to return to Zimbabwe, but she had to make sure she

was doing the right thing. She prayed again; this time, saying that she’d

work up the courage to ask a friend in Portland for financial help and if that

woman gave her enough to get back to Zimbabwe, she’d know for certain

that that’s where God wanted her to be.

When she made the phone call and received a check large enough to

pay for her flight back, Paula knew where she was headed. Taking the two

donation checks and what was left of her life savings, she returned to

Zimbabwe. It was November 1996 and Paula was 62.

The first project she took on was helping improve a small, private

school run by a local couple in Manicaland Province. Marewo School was

about 86 km (52 miles) southeast of Mutare and about 45 km (28 miles)

from the Mozambique border.

Located in a drought-prone area, the school was surrounded by wide

grassy fields and occasional hills with picturesque granite rock formations.

The school needed everything. The classrooms were unfinished. There were

no school supplies. There was no water system.

Paula immediately designed a plan and began implementing it. First

she hired local people to help build a water system. Under her direction, an

earthen dam was built to catch and hold the rain, taking advantage of a

seven-acre area of slanted rock where rainwater could flow naturally into her

dam. She designed the dam with a spillway so that, when full, water could

pour into a lower dam. Eventually, thanks to Paula’s ingenuity, five dams

were created from the yearly overflow. The saved water could be used to

grow food, instead of rushing away in a yearly flood as it had in the past.

Paula fenced the campus, to keep the ever-wandering cows and goats

out.

Interestingly, Paula’s efforts came to the attention of a woman

halfway around the world who could help support the work in Zimbabwe.

Karen Kotoske, a dental hygienist, and her attorney-husband Tom,

had been helping remote Indian villages in Mexico for 16 years, when they

learned of what Paula was doing in Zimbabwe. The Kotoskes, who live in

Palo Alto, California, south of San Francisco, had incorporated Amistad

Foundation in 1980 to serve the Huichol Indians of the Sierra Madre

Occidental Mountains in Mexico. Through Amistad, Huichol villages had

received water systems, school libraries and kitchens, dental clinics and

solar light projects, among other things.

One warm summer evening in 1996, Karen took a leisurely walk

through her neighborhood and crossed paths with a neighbor doing the same

thing. The two women stopped to chat. And the neighbor said that her son

had just married the daughter of a woman in her 60s who was helping a

small rural school in Zimbabwe. The neighbor described in detail the dams

Paula had designed and how she was funding school supplies out of her own

meager pocket, and the pockets of her friends.

Intrigued, Karen Kotoske got in touch with Paula, and after listening

to Paula’s loving-concern for the children of Zimbabwe, decided that

Amistad Foundation would expand and include Zimbabwe in its fundraising

efforts.

Karen said she would spread the word about Paula’s work, and would

funnel donations directly to her without taking an administrative fee.

“We will do all we can to support you,” Karen promised. And just like

that Amistad Foundation became Paula’s American partner.

In the next Amistad Foundation newsletter and in its annual report,

Paula Leen’s efforts were featured. Donations began flowing her way.

Zimbabwe reached its economic peak in 1997, with a Gross Domestic

Product of $25 billion in Zimbabwe dollars and widespread employment.

However, serious drought in 1992, 1993 and 1995 had greatly reduced rural

incomes and Paula saw the results in the surrounding poverty.{7}

Still, her efforts were making a difference. The dams she’d designed,

worked well. And once the rains filled them, Paula stocked them with fish as

a source of protein for the students, teachers and surrounding families.

Paula harvested seeds from local trees and began planting orchards.

She planted Papaya and Banana because they are fast growing and can begin

producing fruit within eight months. She also planted Mango, Guava,

Elderberry, Mulberry, Avacado and Tangerine trees, sugar cane and some

indigenous trees, using dam water to irrigate their growth.

It pleased her to see nearby families planting their own gardens close

to the dam.

Because there were six villages in the general area, she designed a

plan where each village would be responsible for a plot of trees, tending the

plants and reaping the benefit of their fruit. But the project did not succeed;

too many adults were sick or uninterested.

By the dams’ second year, local women began using the waters to do

their washing.

As Paula’s work and careful supervision transformed the school

grounds, more and more people came to the campus seeking work or help.

The needs of these rural people were far more extreme than what Paula had

seen in Harare. Here people were in rags, shoeless, malnourished and sick.

The scourge of AIDS continued killing, creating an ever-growing ocean of

desperation.

Longing to put down legal roots in the land where her emotional roots

hand grown deep, Paula applied for an unlimited residence permit. She knew

the paper work would take years to wend its way through the government’s

labyrinth, but without the permit, she was required to fly back to Oregon

every six months or so and re-apply for a part-time residence permit or a

tourist visa. She had used her quick trips home to contact friends, relatives

and donors, asking for used clothing and funds to keep the work going. If

she couldn’t afford to go to Oregon, she’d simply cross the border into South

Africa, and apply to return to Zimbabwe. An unlimited residence permit

would allow her to stay where her heart was at home, overseeing the

improvements on the school campus. So she filled out the required forms

and applied. It would be years before she would learn if the permit had been

granted.

Throughout 1999, political and economic upheaval continued.

Without consulting Parliament, President Mugabe deployed 11,000 troops to

support President Laurent Kabila’s war in the Congo. This act alone began

draining millions of dollars a day from Zimbabwe government coffers.

As people’s standard of living continued to fall, urban labor groups

and rural low-income groups pressured the government for assistance.

In September of 1999, trade unionist Morgan Tsvangirai established

the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) as an opposition party to

President Robert Mugabe’s dominant ZANU PF party. ZANU PF stands for

Zimbabwe African National Union (Patriotic Front). To weaken MDC’s

appeal, ZANU PF followers unleashed a campaign of violence. Beatings,

killings and house-burnings took place throughout the country.{8}

Persons suspected of supporting the MDC, including teachers, civil

servants, health workers and laborers in the manufacturing sector, were

singled out for assault or intimidation. Many were killed.{9}

1999 was also the year that Mugabe initiated a “fast track land

reform” program to transfer 4,000 white farms (with or without the white

owners’ approval) to black ownership.{10} The fast track program resulted in

numerous violent land seizures. Presumably, the farms would go to black

citizens who would continue to work them and produce the abundant

agricultural output Zimbabwe was known for. But it soon became evident

that the farms were not being worked. Soon vast agricultural stretches

became fallow. As the large farms failed, unemployment increased, adding

to the nation’s economic woes.{11}

A natural catastrophe added to the nation’s woes. In 2000, a rare

cyclone, Cyclone Eline, roared through the Bunga Forest of Eastern

Zimbabwe, destroying 13 percent of forest cover.{12}

Despite all the political and social turmoil, Paula concentrated fully on

developing the campus, tending orchards and gardens, and caring for the

school children. While she struggled against poverty, buying school supplies

for the students and teachers, the government struggled with the growing

economic crisis. In July of 2001, the national finance minister announced

that foreign reserves had run out and warned that the country would suffer

serious food shortages. Contributing to the crisis, the World Bank and other

Western organizations reduced their aid to Zimbabwe because of President

Mugabe’s land seizure program.

In response to the growing crisis, the government printed hundreds of

trillions of Zimbabwean dollars, resulting in hyperinflation that has

continued plaguing the country and its citizenry ever since.

By 2002, nearly 3,000 white farmers had been forced off their farms

under a national land-acquisition law. By August, 93 percent of Zimbabwe’s

commercial farmers had been ordered to leave their farms.{13} Government

officials announced in November that the land-grab was over. Three million

acres had been seized from white farmers. Those large, corporate farms that

had supplied a cornucopia of produce and grain to the people of Zimbabwe

and surrounding countries, would soon be nothing more than vast dried-out

weed beds and the crisis of hunger and disease would increase.

Despite such national problems, 2002 was a special year for Paula. It

was the year she received her unlimited residence permit. Because she could

support herself on Social Security and therefore was in no danger of taking a

job away from a Zimbabwe citizen, she was issued the permit. At last she

felt secure in her African home.

By this time, she had put six years of hard work into the Marewo

School and had seen astonishing success.

Now, Paula decided to strike out on her own and build the orphanage

she’d always dreamed of. With Amistad Foundation raising awareness about

her work, and a somewhat reliable stream of funding coming through, and

her unlimited residence permit in her hand, she felt confident about pursuing

her long-cherished dream.

When the regional chieftain heard she was leaving the school, he

urged her to start her orphanage in his area, and even offered her 20 acres for

her project. The 20 acres were just a couple of miles from the school she

had so carefully revived, near the village of Marange where the local clinic

is located.

The sloping acreage was bare, nothing but reddish-brown sand and a

few scrubby bushes, but to Paula it was full of potential. She accepted the

chieftain’s offer and began again, from scratch, to create an inviting oasis for

orphaned children. It was 2002 and she was 68.

Again she hired local workers and started the transformation. Step

one: terrace the sloping earth so that fields of maze, sorghum, millet,

chickpeas and peanuts could be planted. Step two: fence the 20 acres to keep

wandering cows and goats out. Step three: plant orchards of papaya,

bananas, guavas and oranges. Step four: start the voluminous government-

required paperwork for operating an orphanage.

Paula designed a compound that would, within a couple of years,

include 13 acres of gardens and orchards, five buildings and 14 wells.

As Paula laid the foundation for her orphanage, back in Palo Alto,

California, Karen Kotoske changed the name of her nonprofit charitable

organization from Amistad Foundation to Amistad International.

“We thought the new name was more reflective of our expanded out

reach,” Karen explained. “We were no longer exclusively supporting work

in Mexico. Now, with Paula’s orphanage, we had projects stretching from

the mountains of Mexico to the sandy grasslands of Zimbabwe.”

Little did Paula know, when she started Murwira Adventist Children’s

Home that she was taking on the responsibility of keeping an entire

geographic area alive. But as Zimbabwe’s economic, health and educational

systems disintegrated, thousands of people living in Manicaland Province

turned to the orphanage for help. And Paula did her best to supply their

need.

Paula holds baby Ashlyn. Ashlyn’s mother, suffering from TB, holds her 9-month old son, who is suffering from malnourishment.

III

Murwira Children’s Home

“I feel like I have a tiger by the tail and I can’t let go. I need someone to take over before I collapse, but I can’t let those little children die,” -- Paula Leen

Murwira Children’s Home welcomed its first orphans in 2005.

For three years Paula had worked to make sure the place was ready

and inviting, and that all the government requirements were fulfilled. The

dormitory, built with sun-dried bricks from the area, was brightly painted.

New, white metal bunk beds were made up with colorful sheets and

blankets. Mosquito netting hanging from the ceiling ensured the children

would sleep in comfort. Closets held new and gently used shirts, dresses,

shorts and slacks. New flip-flops sat waiting for little feet to slip into them.

The compound also had other new, earthen-brick buildings -- a

kitchen, a bathroom building, an office, guest quarters and storage buildings

for clothes, food and other supplies. A carport sheltered Big Blue and other

orphanage vehicles. The entire campus was fenced. One guard gate stood at

the entrance. Another guard gate stood watch near the gardens and orchards.

While political unrest roiled the nation – in March 2003, a widely-

observed general strike was followed by a brutal government crackdown {14}

and in June the government arrested Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the MDC

opposition party – Paula had concentrated all her efforts on preparing for the

orphans.

She and her staff had planted more than 1,000 fruit trees, and sewed

the garden beds with vegetables, melons and grain. They hand-dug wells that

would guarantee enough water for the gardens, orchards and orphanage use.

A staff of 30 would help her tend the crops and care for the children.

And now, at 71, Paula Leen was finally making her long-cherished

dream of a mission orphanage come true. However, the reality of operating

an orphans’ rescue haven in a disintegrating nation turned out to be far more

difficult than Paula could have imagined.

From the moment she opened the front gate of Murwira Children’s

Home, she was inundated with hurting, needy children. Their little faces

often streaked with tears and filled with fear, the children were brought by

social workers, police officers, even relatives and neighbors.

Two of the first were Kuku and Manhu, brothers whose parents had

died of AIDS. The youngsters were about 3 and 5, full of energy, running

around, kicking a soccer ball Paula had for them and shouting. Within hours,

more youngsters arrived. And the next day, more children came -- girls,

infants, boys, cousins, siblings – from infants to 12-year-olds.

They arrived suffering from malnutrition, pneumonia, malaria and

HIV/AIDS, among other things. Some had broken bones. Many had been

physically and sexually abused. All were hungry.

But once they were fed, most of them became little engines of noise

and activity. Paula loved the sound of children playing.

Murwira Children’s Home had room and government permission to

house 35-40 youngsters. All beds were filled within days, and Paula and her

staff began lavishing love and attention on the children.

Food and caring attention went a long way in convincing the

youngsters that they were, at last, safe. Three reliable meals a day, clean

clothes and adults who smiled at them and dispensed frequent hugs,

transformed their lives. With firm and loving attention, Paula and her staff

helped the children settle into a structured life where they bathed each

morning, enjoyed three meals a day, had school classes and play time. She

also taught them Bible stories and fun gospel songs like “Jesus Loves Me.”

Playing and singing were two favorite activities, as the kids competed to

play the hardest and sing the loudest.

Children who arrived with nothing, not even clothes, found

themselves welcomed.

Baby Masvita’s father and grandmother brought her to the orphanage.

She was six months old, the youngest of eight children. Her mother died of

AIDS and TB. Her father, with no job and seven other children to care for,

couldn’t afford formula, clothes or anything for the baby. He brought

Masvita, who was suffering from TB herself, and asked if Auntie Paula

could take his little girl.

Paula tenderly bathed Masvita and dressed her in clean diapers and a

colorful cotton set of baby clothes. She and her staff were able to feed

Masvita a little baby cereal with vitamins and then they took her to Mutare

Provincial Hospital. Paula made sure that Masvita had food during her

hospital stay, and when the baby gained strength, she returned to the

Children’s Home.

As weeks became months, Paula rejoiced at the resiliency of the

orphans. They were thriving. Whenever she stepped out of her office, they

would shout, “Auntie Paula! Auntie Paula!” and come running to hug her

legs, hold her hand, beam up at her, giggling and laughing.

This eager, open outpouring of affection filled her heart and gave her

energy to continue. Whatever problems the politicians were causing one

another, she knew this was the calling of her life, and she was determined to

give her all to these innocent little ones.

Located in the Marewo region, at the edge of an open grassland area,

the orphanage sits between a large green mountain with granite

outcroppings, and a woodland of scrubby trees that are home to baboons and

snakes. Looking east toward Mozambique, the view is filled with pretty

green hills. Murwira Children’s Home is about two miles from Marange

Village and its small medical clinic. It is about an hour southeast of Mutari,

three hours south of Harare. Surrounding the orphanage are miles of rolling

hills and wide vistas of grassland and bush with scattered shrubs and trees.

The orphanage has no electricity. Water from the wells is pumped by

hand. Any after-dark reading or writing is done by candlelight or by hand-

held solar powered flashlights.

As Paula concentrated on the orphans, she realized that they and their

needs were but a grain of sand in Zimbabwe’s vast desert of pain and

suffering. All day long men and women came to the orphanage asking for

work or food or a ride to the hospital. Hour after hour she and her staff

handed out clothing or food.

And as the weeks passed, her Big Blue became an area transport,

taking people to Mutare Provincial Hospital on Mondays, Wednesdays and

Fridays. Sometimes there were so many sick people to be transported that

Big Blue made more than one roundtrip a day.

Paula’s concern for the suffering motivated her to launch a more

comprehensive outreach. She hired social workers to visit homes in a 30-

mile radius from the orphanage and report on the needs observed. The round

mud and wattle homes with their wood-thatch roofs were often filled with no

one but children. If there was a table, stool, or bed, the family was among

the “well off.” Paula’s workers tabulated more than 400 orphans in the area,

yet her orphanage could only legally accept the 35 – 40.

However, in response to what she learned, she quickly established

four feeding centers where destitute children, AIDS widows and the elderly

could come and receive one meal a day.

“I may not be able to keep them from being hungry, but I can keep

them from starving to death,” she said.

She also started a food and clothing distribution program for the

neediest families in the region. Along with vegetables and fruit from the

orphanage’s gardens, she would distribute soap, cooking oil, clothing and,

sometimes, medicines to those households most in need.

Men with families to support begged for work. Paula hired many to

collect leaves and bring them to the orphanage to be used as mulch in the

gardens and orchards. In return, she paid a small amount of cash, gave the

men produce from the gardens and, when she could, distributed clothing that

the men could sell to get more money for food. She believed that paying

them for leaves was in a small way preserving their dignity more than a

simple hand-out would. And by using the leaves for mulch, she continued to

enrich the soil in her gardens and orchards.

It became very clear very quickly that Paula was operating a rescue

mission for an entire rural region. Her work was desperately needed. A

national government report that had been released two years earlier, in April

2003, estimated that there were 780,000 AIDS orphans in the country, and

that HIV/AIDS affected 34 percent of all households. The report also

forecast that 56 percent of Zimbabwe’s rural population would need food aid

for the rest of the year and into the future.{15}

Yet, Paula and her staff rejoiced as their orphans gained strength and

confidence in the well-structured, loving environment they’d created. For

most of the children, it didn’t take long for their youthful exuberance to

burst forth. They were all lonely for attention and cuddling and Paula and

her workers were pleased to give them both in abundance.

One afternoon a weeping mother brought her disabled, skeleton of a

daughter to Paula, seeking help. The girl, Panashe Gwamura, was eight years

old, but only weighed 28.6 pounds. Paula’s tender heart broke as she tried to

get the girl to eat peanut butter, porridge, milk and vitamins. The mother, an

AIDS widow with several other children, had been afraid to bring the girl

earlier because a relative had stolen from the orphanage and the mother

thought that Paula would turn her away. She came at last, in desperation.

Paula’s staff took the girl to the local clinic for evaluation and medical

care. All Paula could do was shake her head. How could she have ever

dreamed up such a scenario? The suffering here was beyond anything she

could have imagined back in Oregon when she was reading about Albert

Schweitzer and dreaming about her own orphanage.

Late one Friday night, a police officer arrived with a tiny, naked baby

boy who had been found under a bush. Totally covered with mosquito bites,

the little one looked as if he’d been exposed to the elements for several days.

Paula immediately bathed the babe and smoothed soothing cream on

his irritated skin, then clothed him in clean cotton pjs. Because he had a

fever, she drove him to the clinic. The next morning, the clinic asked her to

take the baby to Mutare Provincial.

Within a few minutes, a crowd of sick and crippled were lining up at

the orphanage gate, asking for a ride to the hospital. Paula had nearly 20

passengers sitting about on Big Blue’s flatbed, as she drove the hour to the

hospital.

As often was the case, on the return trip, Big Blue became a hearse,

bringing back two caskets holding the bodies of women who had died at the

hospital.

A few days later, when Paula drove back to the hospital with her Big

Blue load of sick people, she learned the little baby boy had died.

Despite the heartaches, the first year of Murwira Children’s Home

passed quickly and with much happiness as the orphans grew and thrived.

Likewise, purposeful activity filled 2004. Funding coming through Amistad

International seemed reliable, and Paula’s ingenuity and sunup to sundown

work ethic kept her children fed and happy. Her four feeding programs kept

more than 1,000 others in the surrounding area fed as well.

But between May and July in 2005, a government “clean up” program

added thousands of needy to the region.

Called “Operation Murambatsvina” (“drive out the rubbish” in

Shona), the government financed program demolished shanty homes and

businesses throughout Harare and other cities. As bulldozers razed shanty

homes and police burned shanty shops, hundreds of thousands of displaced

citizens fled into the countryside.{16}

Homeless, possessionless, and hungry, the displaced overwhelmed

their relatives or friends. Homes quickly ran out of corn meal, the staple

food of the rural areas. The displaced found themselves foraging amid wild

plants for food. Suicide skyrocketed and malnutrition settled in as the

normal state of being.

The displaced--the poorest of Zimbabwe’s urban poor—had been

among some of President Mugabe’s loudest critics. Now that they were

homeless, hungry and scattered, their voices were effectively silenced.

All Paula knew was that there were more hungry mouths to feed. Late

at night while others slept, she would sit at her desk with her flash light and

battery-powered laptop computer, writing email reports to Amistad

International and to her list of donors, pleading for help.

And the funds came in.

By December 2005, the UN humanitarian chief Jan Egeland described

Zimbabwe as being in “meltdown.” Inflation continued to roar. Riot police

routinely broke up anti-government demonstrations by kicking and beating

the demonstrators. Basic systems – health, education, electrical, water –

were failing.

Still Paula worked to clothe the naked, feed the hungry and alleviate

suffering wherever she saw it. Afflicted with arthritis and Lupus herself, and

beginning to feel her age, Paula began praying for volunteers who could

come and help her with her outreach programs.

“To me, Paula is a saint. She is the American Mother Teresa,” says

Karen Kotoske, executive director of Amistad International. “She’s caring

and loving, a dynamo even when she’s tired. She’s intelligent and creative

and can think of a number of ways to solve a problem. She’s living and

working in a country that’s in total chaos, and she’s keeping hundreds, even

thousands alive. And her orphans are thriving. You should see their bright

little faces, their eager smiles.”

It is the orphans, after all, who keep Paula Leen going.

Overall view of Murwira Children’s Home campus.

Playing tug-of-war on Christmas day at Murwira Children’s Home.

IV

Help from Australia

“We’re in a wicked world, but there’s a lot of beauty here.” – Paula Leen

As Yvonne Wyer, a middle manager in the Australian Federal

Government, approached her 59th birthday in 2005, she began feeling

restless. A South African by birth, she’d led a full and rewarding life in

Australia and now she wanted to give something back to the world. She’d

always dreamed of helping the women and children of Africa and felt that

now, at this stage in her life, she could actually take some time to do that.

Writing to an old Zimbabwean school friend, she asked if he could put

her in touch with anyone helping women and children in that troubled land.

He sent her three names. One of them was Paula Leen’s.

Emails sailed back and forth between Yvonne and Paula. Yvonne was

fascinated by Paula’s messages, filled with love, caring, humility and a

commitment to service.

“She sounded amazing,” Wyer said. “Her compassion was something

I thought I could learn from, and to top it off, she thought I was a young

chic!”

Wyer arranged a five-month leave from her government position, and

in May, 2006, headed for Murwira Orphans Home. What she found there

would change her life. The needs were unrelenting and intense. Death was a

daily, sometimes hourly companion, whether it was children dying of

malnutrition and AIDS or the elderly dying of malnutrition and cancer.

The official estimate at the time was that 8,000 people a day die in

Zimbabwe from AIDS or other diseases. And Zimbabwe has the shortest life

expectancy in the world – 34 years for women, 37 years for men.{17}

Despite the surrounding despair and suffering, Wyer enjoyed playing

with the orphans, helping them with their lessons, making sure they washed

up before breakfast and again right before going to bed, listening as they

said their prayers and always, always assuring them of her love.

She found herself driving Big Blue to Mutare Provincial Hospital to

deliver the sick. Then she’d drive to the market and bring back provisions

for the orphanage. And she helped Paula distribute clothing and food to the

hungry in the surrounding countryside.

“The incessant suffering was appalling,” she said. “But whenever I

was becoming overwhelmed, I’d observe Paula for a moment or two. She is

probably one of the most empathetic people I have ever met. She really

understands the people’s suffering and needs, and she is always willing to

help. Even when she is exhausted, she will help. She just gives and gives

and gives.”

During Yvonne’s stint as a Murwira volunteer, Paula flew home to

Oregon for 10 days, during which time she saw her doctor, contacted friends

and donors and took a much-needed break.

While Yvonne managed the orphanage in Paula’s absence, she

realized the horrendous inflation Paula was struggling under.

One day Yvonne had to buy three bottles of an AIDS drug that the

local clinic needed. She was able to purchase one bottle for $3 million (in

Zimbabwe dollars) but it was the last bottle at the pharmacy. The other two

had to be ordered. The next day, when the two bottles were delivered, the

price had risen to $8 million per bottle. Even though Yvonne spent two

hours visiting every chemist in town, the price was firm at $8 million. And

in another day it would be more than that.

“Trying to work with a realistic budget under these circumstances is

impossible,” she said.

By the time Yvonne’s volunteer stint at Murwira ended, she had a

dream of her own. Upon returning to Australia, she established the ZOPOM

Foundation (Zimbabwe Outreach Program and Orphanage – Murwira) under

the umbrella of the Global Development Group.

“One does not walk away from what one sees on an hourly basis at

Murwira,” she said. “ZOPOM was founded with the aim of supporting the

life-giving work Paula provides so many vulnerable children and women in

Zimbabwe.”

Since founding ZOPOM, Yvonne has organized extensive fund-

raisers to send cash, food and medicine to Paula.

“Saving lives has become our top priority,” she said. “Paula takes care

of the most vulnerable in Zimbabwe – children, mothers and grandmothers. I

have spent many hours speaking with people who tell me that Paula has

given them hope. I have seen elderly women walk for 30 kms (about 19

miles) and more to ask for Paula’s help. No matter how tired Paula is, how

short of cash, I have seen her take her own belongings, food and medication

and use it to help these people. Because of her humility and self-sacrifice,

we want to do all we can to support her and her work.”

ZOPOM in Australia and Amistad International in California provided

a stronger support network for Paula as she continued to struggle against

increasingly difficult odds.

In October 2006, Paula made another trip to the U.S. This time to

accept a Woman of the Year Award from the Association of Adventist

Women. Attending the three-day AAW conference in Seattle, Washington,

was a welcome break for Paula. While there she continued to spread the

word about the needs in Zimbabwe.

Yvonne Wyer introduced Paula at the awards banquet.

The awards program described Paula and her work like this:

“Although in fragile health, Paula Appley Leen chooses to live in rural

Zimbabwe using her abundant resourcefulness to battle hunger, poverty and

illness among the poor in a politically and economically unstable country.

For Paula, to see a need is to meet it head on. This is a truly remarkable

Christian woman meeting extraordinary challenges with resourcefulness and

compassion.”

Paula enjoyed the conference and the awards banquet, yet the easy

abundance in America – grocery stores filled with food and produce,

restaurants with endless menus, people spending money on just about

anything they want or need – stood in stunning contrast to the lives her

orphans lived. She found herself feeling out of place in such a rich and

lavish world, and yet she was deeply grateful to have her work (and her

orphans) recognized.

She prayed that the increased visibility of her work would result in

more donors. The one lesson she had learned after all these years was that

she cannot do it all by herself. She needs donors and volunteers as much as

her orphans need food, clothes and love.

V

Rescuing youngstersas the nation collapses

“For Me, I prefer to have one boss – God.” – Paula Leen

Amistad International, ZOPOM, and the Woman of the Year Award

trained the spotlight on Paula’s work, and she began receiving not only cash,

food and clothing donations, but also a stream of enthusiastic volunteers

ready to work with her at Murwira Children’s Home.

Volunteers arrived from the U.S., Europe and Australia eager to work

beside this American grandmother whose vision of saving Zimbabwe

orphans inspired them.{18} Some volunteers helped with construction

projects, some did mechanical repairs on Paula’s various vehicles or helped

in the fields. Most did whatever was needed at the bustling compound.

Margo Rees, a retired legal secretary from Florida (USA), spent three

months at Murwira in 2006 and 2007. Among the tasks she undertook was

organizing the children’s clothes: making sure each child’s name was

written on his or her garments, and sewing new skirts for some of the girls.

“Because supplies often ‘walked away,’ we would have to bring daily

supplies to the cook each morning for that day’s meals,” she said. “We’d

bring cabbages and carrots and tofu and bread to the kitchen. And we also

brought the women, who do the washing, their daily ration of soap powder.”

When school is in session, volunteers spend much of their time

transporting the children to and from their classes. The volunteers drive

everyone to school in the morning, then return at noon to bring the younger

children home. Then return again at 4 p.m. to bring the older ones home.

“The littlest children who are not yet in school have some simple

classes at the orphanage, but mostly what they do is play and cuddle with the

adults,” Margo said. “When Yvonne (Wyer) was volunteering at the

orphanage, she did some pretty strenuous things with the kids, taking them

on hikes up the mountain and things like that. I didn’t. I let them play in my

room, look at my magazines and I cuddled them. They need lots and lots of

personalized attention because of what they’ve been through.”

Margo described putting together “care packages” for destitute

families in the bush. “We’d hear of some family with a lot of children and

no parents or no food and we’d bundle up clothing and food and cooking oil,

and then go off to deliver it,” she said.

Margo said that delivery often meant hiking for miles out in the brush

until the family was located.

No matter what skills the volunteers brought to Murwira, few arrived

prepared for the desperate world they were entering -- a world where

children have literally nothing and where death is a daily occurrence. For

some, the experience was so overwhelming they became physically ill. For

others, the experience was eye-opening and mind expanding. Although they

also struggled emotionally with the devastation that is “normal” life in

Zimbabwe, they returned home determined to spread the word and raise

funds for Paula and her orphans.

And the orphans kept arriving.

Ten-year-old Brenda’s mother had died of AIDS years ago. Her

father, who also had AIDS, sexually abused the girl for five years after her

mother’s death. But when her father went to jail for stealing, Brenda was

brought to Paula. Miraculously, she tested negative for HIV. The sweet girl

studied hard and got good grades, despite the fact that she was five years

behind in her classes. Brenda also enjoyed helping with the younger

children.

Paula was particularly pleased when she saw the tender hearts of the

older children like Brenda. Outside the sheltered compound of the

orphanage, violence was common, so nurturing tender hearts inside the

orphanage was one of Paula’s top priorities.

As inflation and unemployment soared throughout the country, and

food shortages became common, more and more infants were abandoned.

Many of them simply died from exposure or starvation. Some of the lucky

ones were brought to Paula’s orphanage.

Twin 10-month-old babies who were dumped at a factory outside

Mutare, were brought to Paula. They were abandoned without a change of

clothing or even a bottle. But when the social worker brought them to

Murwira, Paula and her staff lovingly bathed and dressed them, and made

sure their hungry little stomachs were full.

The most shocking for Paula were the babies abandoned in public

toilet pits. One baby boy, rescued by police when they heard crying coming

from the toilet, had mouth, nose and ears filled with maggots. Luckily, the

baby had been placed in a bag before being dropped down the toilet. The bag

provided some protection.

A few weeks under Paula’s care, and he was a bright, rolly-polly little

toddler, enjoying life with the other children.

Yet, while Paula’s orphans thrived, the nation continued its downward

spiral. Dysentery and cholera swept Harare in December 2006 and January

2007 as a result of tainted drinking water.{19}

By now, Zimbabwe’s inflation rate was 8,000 percent per year and

unemployment was at 80 percent and climbing.{20}

Electricity and water systems throughout the country grew unreliable.

Sometimes the systems would not function for hours and sometimes they

would not function for days.

Since the orphanage has no electrical power, and supplies its own

water from its own wells, the disruptions did not affect the campus. But the

disruptions affected everything else, from homes and businesses to hospitals

and schools. And as the power cuts added more stress to every-day life,

violence grew.

In one city, after two days without running water, the water system

began to operate, but what came out of the tap smelled like sewage and was

the color of urine.

In February 2007 the national government announced a ban on all

rallies and other demonstrations. The ban was to last through May.

However, MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai and his followers continue

to gather. In March, riot police disperse one of their gatherings, shooting one

man to death and beating Tsvangirai so severely he had to be hospitalized.

By May 2007, power cuts up to 20 hours a day were normal in some

parts of Zimbabwe.

In October, bakeries throughout the nation closed their doors, and

families suddenly found themselves without bread.{21}

With food and fuel shortages, rampant inflation, AIDS, cholera and

unemployment, Paula’s orphanage became a magnet for every needy person

and family in the region. Daily, people gathered outside the gate, looking for

work, looking for a ride to the hospital, looking for food or clothing. And

Paula and her staff and volunteers did their best to meet the ever-growing

needs.

But the gardens and orchards only produce so much food. As hunger

increased, Paula noticed that produce was being stolen from her fields.

“We knew that orphanage staff were doing the stealing because the

dogs we have for guards at night never barked. So it was people they knew

coming in over the fence taking the fruit and vegetables,” Paula said. “But

15 of our own workers have reported that they have no food at home at all,

so I cannot report the loss from our gardens.”

During her drives to Mutare Provincial Hospital, Paula had seen the

desperate lengths people were going to in search of food. When they could

no longer find anything to eat, the hungry would dig through fresh cow and

horse dung in search of undigested kernels of corn. The treasured kernels

would then be washed off, cooked and eaten.

By 2008, the Marange clinic and Mutare’s Provincial Hospital had run

completely out of supplies. Many doctors and nurses had left the country,

but a few remained, working under impossible circumstances to care for the

sick. Because Paula and her supporting foundations have contacts in South

Africa and other nearby nations, they could sometimes find medical supplies

not available within Zimbabwe, and in that way support the medical

professionals still working in the area.

Despite Paula’s determination to ignore the political turmoil, the

various crises and conflicts simmering throughout Zimbabwe, affected her

work, making everything more difficult as the needs grew.

And when people began whispering that she was indoctrinating the

sick and hungry of the region against President Mugabe’s party, she knew

she had to go into hiding. As the run-off election approached, the rumor that

Paula indoctrinated the sick while she drove them to the hospital grew. Her

top security guard, Lawrence, urged her to seek refuge for herself and her

orphans.

Throughout Zimbabwe, people accused of supporting the opposition

were being beaten and killed.

“If anything happens to you, these children will be at the mercy of the

merciless,” Lawrence had said.

Paula and her staff whisked the children into what they hoped would

be a safe house in Mutare. Lawrence and other staff members stayed at the

orphanage to tend the gardens, and protect the place against vandals.

On June 22, a few days after Paula and the children went into hiding,

the wife of Harare’s newly elected mayor was beaten to death for supporting

“the opposition.” Her face was so badly bashed that even her own brother

could only recognize her by her brown corduroy skirt and plaited hair. At

least 85 activists nationwide had been killed by now, as the country

approached the run-off election.

According to the Los Angeles Times, by June 22, 3,000 opposition

supporters had been beaten and seriously injured by supporters of the ruling

ZANU PF party.

It was June 22 that Morgan Tsvangirai pulled out of the run-off

election and took refuge in the Dutch Embassy in Harare.

VI

Enduring and serving

“If you concentrate on negatives and how you are being persecuted, you’ll give up. You must concentrate on the positives.” – Paula Leen

Thursday, June 26, 2008The hiding house in Mutare

It is impossible to keep the house tidy. Even a large house like this

one, with five bedrooms, cannot contain or control the energy and

enthusiasm of 30 orphans under the age of 12. Paula and her staff struggle

to keep the children occupied with games and art projects. And each child is

responsible for folding up his or her sleeping blanket. But cooking and

cleaning and trying to keep the kids reasonably quiet while they’re all in

hiding is a fulltime task.

Paula wonders how long they will need to stay here in Mutare.

Despite being in hiding, and in the city, an hour from the orphanage

compound, she must continue directing her food and social care projects,

soliciting donations to fund them, and reporting to her donors on how the

work is going. Each week, when Big Blue arrives at Mutare Provincial with

its load of sick and suffering, a complete report on the orphanage and its

outreach programs is delivered, and through a network of trustworthy friends

in Mutari, Paula is kept informed.

In addition to caring for her precious orphans, Paula continues to

spend her days searching for the provisions needed at the hiding-house and

the orphanage, as well as the money to pay for them. She finds herself

tethered to the telephone or (when there is electricity) the laptop computer.

Tomorrow is the national run-off election in which President Mugabe

is the only candidate. Once he is reinstated, will anything change? Will the

violence lessen so that she and the children can return to the orphanage?

Since the first round of national elections last March, shortages of

basic goods have worsened, public services have come to a virtual standstill,

and power and water outages have continued daily.

Sunday, June 29

Today President Mugabe was inaugurated. The Southern African

Development Community rejected the election as not representing the will

of the people. Observers of the Pan-African Parliament also condemned the

election and criticized the violence and intimidation leading up to it.

But religious commentators on ZTV state television read Bible

passages to back the proposition that the country must unite around one

leader anointed by God.

A prayer at the inauguration said it was a “divine day” for Zimbabwe

and called for God to grant Mugabe “divine authority that only comes from

you.”{22}

Monday, June 30

Paula received word that it is safe for the orphans to return to

Murwira. And since their school term is about to start again, it is important

that they return. However, because she is white, and because the gardens and

orchards she has so carefully cultivated could be construed as a farm,

Lawrence urges her to remain in hiding.

Happily she and the other staff members bundle up the kids and

babies, along with their bedding, and when Big Blue arrives, load everything

and everyone onto the flatbed. Then she waves to the staff and blows kisses

to the orphans as they head back home.

She realizes anew that if it weren’t for her and her helpers, these

children would have no home, and she offers up a prayer of thanks.

Tuesday, July 1

Zimbabwe’s incredible inflation continues to destroy buying power.

Last Friday, bread cost $10 billion (Zimbabwe dollars) a loaf. This morning,

it was $60 billion per loaf.

Paula used to buy 10 or 15 loaves each week for the orphanage. Today

she can buy only three. In an email sent to Amistad International today,

Paula wrote, “I went to check about material for blankets. Two weeks ago it

was $7,900 billion per meter, but today it is $79 billion per meter.”

Ironically, the German company that supplies the paper used to print

Zimbabwe’s bank notes, announced today that it is immediately stopping

delivery of the paper.

“Our decision is a reaction to the political tension in Zimbabwe,

which is mounting significantly rather than easing as expected,” said Chief

Executive Karsten Ottenberg in a prepared statement. {23}

To help keep her mind off the inflation nightmare, Paula turns her

attention to cleaning the house. Hundreds of little finger and hand-prints

must be washed from the walls, windows and doorsills, and all other

surfaces must be cleaned.

When the house is in good enough shape to turn back over to the

owners, Paula will find a small apartment in which to stay.

Wednesday, July 3

The 53-nation body (African Union), Africa’s most authoritative

group, called for Zimbabwe to create a unity government with Mugabe and

Tsvangirai both serving in leadership capacities.{24}

Thursday, July 4

Paula emails Amistad International, “The situation here continues to

grow more desperate and prices are doubling about every three days.

“A little child that we brought to the hospital a couple of weeks ago

suffering from starvation, died. We were taking food to her and her mother

every day and the child was improving, but she took a turn for the worse.

This little girl, only 5-years-old, was her mother’s only child. The poor

mother, a widow, did not have enough money to feed her daughter. I know

she will not have the money for a coffin, so we will find that someway.

“I am so worried about all my workers. When the prices double every

three days, I cannot pay them enough to keep body and soul together.”

August 17

Zimbabwean negotiators have the basis for a power-sharing

agreement

August 29

The ban on international aid groups is lifted.

November

Paula emails Amistad and ZOPOM:

“We are hunkering down now into strictly survival mode. Most

hospitals have closed down, including Parirenyatwa in Harare and Harare

Hospital. Here in Mutare, the hospital is only responding to extreme

emergencies since they have no meds, there’s a lack of staff and there’s no

food for the patients.

“Strokes, malaria, broken bones, gunshot wounds, flu, diarrhea, burns

etc. are no longer considered emergencies.

“Food is extremely scarce. I can look at our own workers and see how

many have lost weight.

“If donors can send mealie meal, flour, oil, soap, beans and soy

chunks, dried milk and formula, we’ll be very grateful.”

In February 2009 Mugabe and Tsvangirai form a unity government

with Mugabe as president and Tsvangirai as Prime Minister.

Paula writes that all the trees are stripped bare of their leaves, as

hungry people try to use them as food.

July 20, 2009

It has been more than a year since Paula and her orphans fled to

Mutare to escape the violent threats surrounding Murwira Children’s Home.

Although the threat of violence has lessened somewhat, Paula remains in

Mutare, visiting the orphanage once or twice a week, but spending her

workdays in an administrative capacity.

Despite daily problems, her small city apartment has electricity and

telephone service, allowing her to search for provisions more efficiently than

from the orphanage. Also, her apartment provides some safety in the

dangerous world of Zimbabwe.

Although the government announced seven years ago (November

2002) that the land grab had ended, as recently as this month, a farmer was

violently evicted from his land. The farm, Devonia, which supplied seed

corn to the nation for a South African firm, Pannar, was taken from its white

owners Dennis and Liz Lapham, and “re-distributed” to a local official.{24}

Because of such continuing unrest, the threat of violence toward a

white woman “farmer” is still a possibility.

Paula’s age and poor health hamper some of her efforts, but she

continues working 10-12 hour days, searching for provisions and

medications needed by her orphans or the other destitute people in the

region. She prays that people around the world will open their hearts and

send contributions to help ease the suffering in Zimbabwe.

Inspired volunteers come from throughout the United States, Europe

and Australia to help serve beside her.

“I pray all the time, Lord, you tell me the way because I don’t know it.

You’re the only one who knows the future,” she said.

She continues to oversee the cultivation of gardens and orchards and

the nurturing of the many orphans coming to Murwira. And once or twice a

week, she gets to be “Auntie Paula” to her beloved orphans.

“As it looks now, things are extremely discouraging. But you know

what? We serve the Creator of the universe who can do anything, and I keep

praying that God will relieve some of the suffering and death. It’s extremely

hard for me to turn my back on someone who will die if I don’t help them.”

VIIHow you can help

“Christians are called to follow Jesus and do as he did. Zimbabwe is as close as we can get to the kind of world Jesus lived and worked in. It is not a call for easy discipleship.” – Paula Leen

To donate to, or learn more about Paula’s work, contact the following:

*Agathos FoundationP.O.Box 778Everett, WA 98206-0778USA

Agathos Foundation Emergency Fund Drive for Paula’s Ministry:www.active.com/donate/zimbabweappeal

*Amistad InternationalP.O. Box 455Palo Alto, CA 94302Phone: 650-328-1737Info@amistadinternational.orgwww.amistadinternational.org

*ZOPOM9 Roebuck St.Red HillACT 2605AustraliaEmail: info@zopom.org

To learn more about being a volunteer at Murwira Children’s Home: rifenbark@aol.com

VIII

Footnotes1 – May 8, The New York Times article, “Violence in Zimbabwe disrupts schools and aid” by Celia W. Dugger.

2 – June 5, Yahoo! News article, “Zimbabwe suspends aid groups, detains diplomats” by Nelson Banya.

3 – June 6 The New York Times article, “Zimbabwe releases detained Western diplomats,” by Celia W. Dugger and Graham Bowley.

4 – June 12 The New York Times article, “American aid is seized in Zimbabwe” by Celia W. Dugger.

5 – June 22, Los Angels Times article, “Opposition candidate pulls out of Zimbabwe election,” by a Times staff writer.

6 – Statistics taken from Amistad International’s 2007 annual report, “Notas.”

7 -- November 17, 2003, article in Sokwanele, posted online.

8 – U.S. Department of State’s Feb. 23, 2001, report on Human Rights Practices in Zimbabwe (posted online at: http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2000/af/852.htm)

9 – U.S. Department of State’s Feb. 23, 2001, report on Human Rights Practices in Zimbabwe (posted online at: http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2000/af/852.htm)

10 – From “White People in Zimbabwe” posted online at Answers.com

11 -- “Systemic Crises, Conflicting Interests & State Failure in Zimbabwe 1997-2004” by E.A. Brett, Development Research Center, London School of Economics, posted online.

12 -- CABI Abstract posted on the Internet at www.cababstractsplus.org/abstracts/Abstract.aspx?AcNo=20043043541(CABI is a not-for-profit science-based development and information organization established by a UN treaty level agreement among 40 countries).

13 – August 8, 2002, letter written by Cathy Buckle, Zimbabwean social worker, writer and former-farmer, at her Website www.cathybuckle.com

14 -- Human Rights First/Advocacy Alert, March 25, 2003 (on line)

15 -- Zimbabwe Emergency Food Security & Vulnerability Assessment, April 2003. Posted on line at www.sarpn.org.za/documents/d0000470/Zimbabwe_VAC-A

16 -- June 11,2005, The New York Times article, “Zimbabwe ‘cleanup’ takes a vast human toll,” by Michael Wines. And August 3, 2005, Voices of America News.com, “South Africa encouraging as to Zimbabwe loan,” an interview with Percy Makombe.

17 – April 10, 2006, Medical News Today.com article, “Zimbabwe Life Expectancy Lowest in the World.”

18 – For information on volunteer opportunities with Paula Leen: rifenbark@aol.com

19 – May 2, 2006, The New York Times article, “How Bad is Inflation in Zimbabwe?” by Michael Wines. (A sidebar to this article said inflation is being driven by chronic shortages of goods and uncontrolled government spending.)

20 – May 1, 2007, Washington Post article, “Corn up nearly 700 percent in Zimbabwe.”

21 – Oct. 2, 2007, The Guardian article, “Bakeries close their doors as collapse in wheat production adds to crisis,” by Chris McGreal.

22 – June 30, 2008, Los Angeles Times article, “Zimbabwe braces for the worst.” Also posted on SFGate.com June 30, 2008.

23 – July 1, 2008, AP Business Write article, “German firm halts bank note sales to Mugabe regime,” by Matt Moore.

24 – July 30, 2009, email from Joy Butler, administrative assistant & fundraiser for Adventist Health System-Africa, forwarded from a friend of hers in Kenya who knows the Laphams.

“I’m so tired at times I feel sick, but I can’t leave the children who are starving.” – Paula Leen

One of the starving children brought to Paula’s orphanage.