Friends in Zimbabwe

At Christ Church we have supported Artpeace, a group of rock sculptors in Zimbabwe, since 2010. Our connection comes through a member of St Andrew’s URC, Walton and Weybridge, who has supported their cause for many years.

Our support started with a week-long exhibition in 2010 when we turned the church into an art gallery and raised £20,000 by selling their sculptures. The money went right back to each individual artist for the amount that their work raised. The first photo gallery gives a good impression of the scale of this event.

As the economic and political conditions in Zimbabwe spiralled downwards, tourism all-but dried up and the sculptors were no longer able to sell their sculptures to tourists. As a result they descended further into poverty. We kept receiving regular updates through the Walton and Weybridge URC member and soon the Elders and the congregation decided that we had to do something to help. We had seen photos of children catching mice for their meals and were told that insufficient food was the main problem. We therefore decided we need to help them feed themselves.

For the last 10 years, we have sent money to Artpeace every year to buy maize seed and fertiliser. The artists all have access to some common land where they are able to grow some plants. Maize is a really good, nourishing basic staple which doesn't require much farming knowledge and which is easily harvested. Some years have been tough because of localized drought or too much rainfall causing floods. Other years have been amazing, yielding bumper harvests which have fed the families and their relatives for another whole year. We are told that almost 300 people benefit from the annual planting. (see second photo gallery).

In addition to this essential food support, we have also provided pesticide when the maize fields were attacked by "army bugs", sent money for excavating drinking wells, for new sculpting tools and financed trips to the quarry where they get the rock for their word. Some of their work is sold through St Andrews URC, Walton and Weybridge and some is sold in the gift shop at Southwark Cathedral.

We are conscious that we may not always be in a position to provide the level of funding to Artpeace which we have provided in the past, so St Andrew’s URC Walton and Weybridge have started to investigate ways of sustainable farming in order to help the artists to become more self-reliant. They have recently been in touch with an organisation called Foundations for Farming (FfF), a registered non-profit organization specialising in training small-scale farmers to adopt long-lasting, simple soil conservation practices. FfF is based at a model 15 hectare farm on the outskirts of Harare. The station has accommodations and a training centre for crop trials, training, and research. 

 

The artists were sceptical at first – but they were encouraged to attend a two hours ‘Vision Session’ at one of the Foundation’s stations in Domboshava, financed by a donation from St Andrew’s. The artists were very impressed. They took notes and learned a lot. A follow up three days training course is vital. We therefore decided to allocate the £350 which we raised at the Family Barn Dance on 16 March to help fund places on this course for the artists. We see this as a start towards trying to enable the artists establish a more sustainable future.

 

We regularly receive What’s App photos and news updates from the artists. There's also a newsletter every 2 months. We include them in our prayers and they too pray for us. They may be far away, their problems are truly existential. Our congregation is fully committed to continuing to support Artpeace and we feel a responsibility towards them. We think of them as friends in need.

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There's also a  newsletter every 2 months. We include them in our prayers and they too pray for us. They may be far away, their problems are truly existential. Our congregation is fully committed to continuing to support Artpeace and we feel a responsibility towards them. We think of them as friends in need.

Read our latest Artpeace newsletter ( May 2025) here.