More visitors and lots of travel and Happy 60th!
On Sunday the 7th of September we were joined here at Chidamoyo by Nicki, Justin and baby Noah and Tom came to visit to follow up on the schools program that Major is helping with in our area. They spent 2 days visiting the projects they have in our area and dedicating a new school, Devare. We have 4 schools in our area that their organization, ZRSDP, have helped with and we are thankful for their support and help to improve schools in are area. We were happy to meet Nicki and Justin's first child Noah who was 4 1/2 months old. Congratulations to them!
On Friday the 12th of September we welcomed Bart, Cathy and Jennifer Holdener when they landed from Sacramento, CA in Harare. Cathy and I met in 1975 when we began our nursing program at University of California in San Francisco. We both started work at Sutter Memorial Hospital in Sacramento when we graduated in 1977 and both bought houses in the same housing development in Sacramento. All my years I have been in Zimbabwe I have been bugging her to come and visit and so I was so excited when her family finally said YES!
They arrived at 9:30 p.m. and the next morning we were up at 4 a.m. to leave at 7 a.m. for Victoria Falls. Sue and Gene and Sylvia and her sister-in-law Mollie, the Holdeners and I spent 3 nights in Victoria Falls and then went on for 3 nights at The Hide for a safari.
We enjoyed so much our time together and seeing animals and just a relaxing, wonderful time together. We had our own private camp at The Hide and we all enjoyed it! We flew home on the 19th of September and drove immediately home to Chidamoyo where we arrived at 1:30 a.m.!
Having only 1 day at Chidamoyo to show Cathy and family my home was quite a whirlwind. They travelled with Major out to Batanai to see my rural village after seeing the hospital and the rest of us unpacked and repacked to get ready for our next adventure!
At 6 a.m. on Sunday the 21st of September we left for Kariba to begin a 7 night trip on a houseboat on Lake Kariba. There were 14 of us--all my friends who were invited to celebrate my 60th birthday! Cathy and family, Sylvia, Gene and Sue, Major and his wife Patience, Ben and Karen Pennington (missionary friends from Masvingo), Dave and Becky Altman who are teaching at the Bible College in Harare this term (they used to be missionaries here in the late 80's to late 90's), and Gladys Jongeling who celebrated her 77th birthday on the trip!
We had a 2 story houseboat with a small sitting pool, 2 smaller boats to go fishing and game viewing on, a cook and helper and a captain. Off we went for our adventure. We moved to a new place on the lake each day. One night, 10 people left to spend the night at Rhino Camp and enjoy a 1 day safari.
Major and Sylvia and Jenny spend a lot of time fishing each day. Jenny caught a 10 1/2 pound Tilapia (bream). Everyone was so excited and we got to have fish 2 times to eat! What fun!
We saw a lot of different animals and just enjoyed relaxing, talking and being together. We ate plenty and played games and read. Gladys and I enjoyed celebrating our birthdays while on board. What a great time we all had and sad for it all to come to an end.
We received sad news on Monday the 22nd of September, that our fellow missionary, Marcia Kay Thomson died in the US after a year struggle with cancer. Marcia was 76 and spent 51 years in Zimbabwe helping at Mashoko, the Bible College and our Print Shop at Masvingo.
After we got off the boat on the 28th of September we drove straight to Harare to see off the Holdeners on the 29th and Sue and Gene and Sylvia on the 29th. We took everyone shopping at different places before they left. Wow, the time went by so fast. It was so great to have special friends here to celebrate my special birthday!
Tom, Justin, Noah, Nicki and Major
Bart, Cathy and Jennifer Holdener
Group on boat cruise on the Zambezi River
Cathy and Kathy
Jennifer, Bart and Cathy at Vic Falls
Mollie and Sylvia in Vic Falls
Group on Safari at The Hide
Holdener's at Chidamoyo Hospital
Group out game viewing on Lake Kariba
Out game viewing at Kariba with Patience, Sylvia
Major fishing off the boat
Gene and Major and elephants in background
Group out fishing on Lake Kariba
Hi Kathy
ReplyDeleteMy name is Rino Simone and I used to be the neighbour of Gladys Jongeling in Avondale in Harare. Over the years we have lost touch (I am now living back in Italy) and I would love to catch up with Gladys and talk about what we've been doing for the last twenty years.
I can be reached at cipembere@alice.it . I would be really grateful if you could pass this onto Gladys for me.
Thank you so much,
Rino
Gladys Rose Jongeling. September 23, 1937 – December 8, 2018.
DeleteGladys Jongeling’s family moved west out of the Dakotas to Oregon where she was raised. The family were outdoorsmen, enjoying hunting and fishing. Gladys excelled in school, playing the piano and the accordion. When her mother worked long hours, Gladys often spent weekends with her aunt Rusty who was in medical school in Portland.
Gladys became a devout believer in Jesus at an early age and followed His calling faithfully her entire life. After graduating as a medical technologist, she went out to Mashoko Mission Hospital in Southern Rhodesia and worked there, doing endless malaria slides. The mission children from this era and later remember her with great fondness because she consistently spoke to them as people, not as children. She was the only adult who refused to be called by the Auntie honorific and was always merely “Gladys.”
Believing she could be of more use in medical work and in the church beyond the bush mission hospital, Gladys took a government job in Bulawayo in 1965. During her years there she taught classes of medical technicians, many of whom went on to excel later and elsewhere, around the world. She was also very involved in the church and in a large Sunday School program attracting hundreds of children.
In 1976 Gladys was asked to move to the Godfrey Huggins School of Medicine in Salisbury. As chief medical technologist in physiology she helped shape a generation of doctors. Gladys was also pgreatly involved with the Greencroft Christian Church during her years in Salisbury and Harare and, as elsewhere, her home was always open and often the scene of gatherings of friends and associates.
After her time at the University, Gladys worked for private labs for a time, reorganizing and administering. Then in 1990 she was asked to be the administrator of Chidamoyo Christian Hospital for an interim period. When Gladys left there it was to work with Food For the Hungry in Beira, Mozambique as the country began to heal after many years of war.
Leaving Food for the Hungry, Gladys “retired” to Juliasdale (1998??) where she oversaw the planting of thousands of grapevines to establish vineyards. This work ended due to political and social changes in Zimbabwe but Gladys remained happily in Juliasdale very much involved in the community and the Church of the Good Samaritan.
Throughout her life Gladys has been known by her friends as loving and generous but with an ever ready tongue, vocally calling a spade a spade. She could not tolerate pretense and challenged it whenever she met it. She will also be remembered for her quick and often rowdy sense of humor and her faithful devotion to Jesus and work in His Church.
Gladys passed away peacefully in Borradaile Trust Hospital,
Marondera, Zimbabwe, about 4 weeks after a stroke.
Gladys is preceded in death by her mother, Vivian, and father and her older brother, Richard "Dick," and her beloved Aunt “Rusty,” Dr. Dorothea Weybright. She left no close relatives but will be missed by innumerable friends in almost all walks of life and all parts of the world. Her particular influence was felt and remembered far and wide. Her work for the Kingdom of God will also expand for generations.
Do you have Gladys Jongling's address? My father is an old friend of her's from Oregon and would like to send her news from home. My email is hwelch@comcast.net
ReplyDeleteGladys Rose Jongeling. September 23, 1937 – December 8, 2018.
DeleteGladys Jongeling’s family moved west out of the Dakotas to Oregon where she was raised. The family were outdoorsmen, enjoying hunting and fishing. Gladys excelled in school, playing the piano and the accordion. When her mother worked long hours, Gladys often spent weekends with her aunt Rusty who was in medical school in Portland.
Gladys became a devout believer in Jesus at an early age and followed His calling faithfully her entire life. After graduating as a medical technologist, she went out to Mashoko Mission Hospital in Southern Rhodesia and worked there, doing endless malaria slides. The mission children from this era and later remember her with great fondness because she consistently spoke to them as people, not as children. She was the only adult who refused to be called by the Auntie honorific and was always merely “Gladys.”
Believing she could be of more use in medical work and in the church beyond the bush mission hospital, Gladys took a government job in Bulawayo in 1965. During her years there she taught classes of medical technicians, many of whom went on to excel later and elsewhere, around the world. She was also very involved in the church and in a large Sunday School program attracting hundreds of children.
In 1976 Gladys was asked to move to the Godfrey Huggins School of Medicine in Salisbury. As chief medical technologist in physiology she helped shape a generation of doctors. Gladys was also pgreatly involved with the Greencroft Christian Church during her years in Salisbury and Harare and, as elsewhere, her home was always open and often the scene of gatherings of friends and associates.
After her time at the University, Gladys worked for private labs for a time, reorganizing and administering. Then in 1990 she was asked to be the administrator of Chidamoyo Christian Hospital for an interim period. When Gladys left there it was to work with Food For the Hungry in Beira, Mozambique as the country began to heal after many years of war.
Leaving Food for the Hungry, Gladys “retired” to Juliasdale (1998??) where she oversaw the planting of thousands of grapevines to establish vineyards. This work ended due to political and social changes in Zimbabwe but Gladys remained happily in Juliasdale very much involved in the community and the Church of the Good Samaritan.
Throughout her life Gladys has been known by her friends as loving and generous but with an ever ready tongue, vocally calling a spade a spade. She could not tolerate pretense and challenged it whenever she met it. She will also be remembered for her quick and often rowdy sense of humor and her faithful devotion to Jesus and work in His Church.
Gladys passed away peacefully in Borradaile Trust Hospital,
Marondera, Zimbabwe, about 4 weeks after a stroke.
Gladys is preceded in death by her mother, Vivian, and father and her older brother, Richard "Dick," and her beloved Aunt “Rusty,” Dr. Dorothea Weybright. She left no close relatives but will be missed by innumerable friends in almost all walks of life and all parts of the world. Her particular influence was felt and remembered far and wide. Her work for the Kingdom of God will also expand for generations.
Corrections or details are invited on this thread and stories are welcome.