I’ve enjoyed two great hikes in the past few days. On Thursday, three leaders of the West Michigan delegation to AU this week wanted to climb Mt. Chiremba. That’s the mountain behind the Old Mutare Mission that Bishop Hartzell climbed in 1898, and it’s where he had his vision of a great educational enterprise being planted for all of Africa. Larry Kies and I volunteered to be their guides for this climb, so we all started up the mountain about 10:30 AM. After an hour of some tough climbing, we were at the top, and the view was magnificent. This picture shows them with me at the top, and behind us is the Old Mutare valley with the AU campus in the distance.
The Michigan delegation left to return to the States the next day, but I believe that those who climbed Mt. Chiremba were really glad they made the effort!
Saturday afternoon, Mr. Choi (the Korean Instructor at AU) and I hiked to Tsvingwe, and then on to the St. Augustine Mission two or three kilometers beyond Tsvingwe. We’ve done the hike to Tsvingwe a number of times before, but this is the first time we ventured beyond it. Following the path through the fields and then on up to the top of the ridge where the Mission is located was a nice exercise, and the view from the top was very nice. (Unfortunately, I forgot to take my camera with me.) We stayed for a few minutes, but had to turn around for the two-hour hike back to campus in order to get back before dark. The twelve-mile hike (round-trip) was a bit tiring, but we both agree that we want to do this again another Saturday with an earlier start so we can have time to do some exploring of that area when we get there. Maybe I’ll have a picture from the hike to show next time!
