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Answer to the travel picture on Home Page: Lake Superior, Minnesota, USA

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There are many ways to begin a safari adventure in Zimbabwe, Africa.

You can start with a cold drink overlooking the Zambezi River.

Or, if you’re lucky, you can start by being introduced to the local economy at the immigration desk.

We had flown from Johannesburg to Victoria Falls, excited about seeing one of Africa’s great natural wonders and, of course, getting closer to the wildlife. What we didn’t expect was our first close encounter with the country’s unofficial wildlife: the cash-hungry immigration officer.

At immigration and customs, we were informed that the fee for a visa was US$30 per person.

Fair enough.

We reached for our cards.

“Cash only.”

No problem. We had some cash.

What happened next was interesting.

The officer took the $30 per person, and rather than placing it into some official-looking cash box, receipt tray, or government till, the money appeared to make a direct journey into his pocket with no receipt or any sort of record.

Perhaps Zimbabwe has developed an innovative new form of contactless payment. Contactless for the government, anyway.

Now, I should stress this was our personal experience and observation, not a scientific study of Zimbabwean immigration. But when a government fee goes into a person’s pocket rather than through an official payment process, it leaves a memorable first impression.

And so, before we’d even seen a single elephant, we’d already encountered what might be described as our first example of Zimbabwean “wildlife.”

Once we’d cleared immigration, our private guide, Brighton, collected us and set off for Hwange Safari Lodge.

The journey was supposed to be about 170 kilometers. And it took more than three hours.

Why?

Imagine a road that has been introduced to several large potholes. Then imagine the potholes have been allowed to reproduce. That was our drive, which was so rough that we wondered whether we were traveling to the safari lodge or participating in an endurance event.

Brighton, who seemed unfazed, explained the area has a large coal mine owned by the government and operated by Chinese interests. The enormous trucks for transporting coal cause a lot of damage. To repair the road, the government awarded different sections of the road to a few groups that didn’t have the necessary skills to repair it. And the government had no system to track the progress of the work progress.

(Please come back next week for Part 2)

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A credit card advertisement featured the slogan, “Don’t leave home without it.” It was a remarkably effective reminder because everyone has one or two things they know they must take along whenever they leave home. Women may have an advantage because they are accustomed to carrying handbags stocked with essential items. Yet even they may forget something when switching to a different bag. Men who do not have a habit of carrying a wallet may even forget their driver’s license. In this era, the one thing most urban dwellers must take with them when they go out is a mobile phone. Without it, staying in touch with the outside world becomes difficult, and even getting around can be hampered.

As for what we wear, ancient China had a coming-of-age ceremony for boys known as the guan li, or capping ceremony. At the age of twenty, a young man was considered an adult. When going out, he was expected to have his hair neatly combed and, if he came from a well-to-do family, to wear a hat. Ordinary people were expected to wear at least a headscarf. Girls had a corresponding ceremony, known as the ji li, at the age of fifteen. Their long hair was gathered into a bun and secured with a hairpin, signifying that they’d reached adulthood and were ready to assume the responsibilities expected of them by their families and society. In Europe and America, until around the time of the Second World War, men and women were expected to wear hats when going out. Failing to do so was considered impolite and even a sign of poor upbringing.

I once watched a documentary about a tribe living in the Amazon rainforest. When adult men went out, they wore nothing except a cord tied around their waists. Although it did little to cover the private part, going without the cord would, from a cultural perspective, be considered shameless and unworthy of a member of the tribe.

So what should we wear when we leave home? In the Bible, the apostle Paul, who lived in the first century under the Roman Empire, mentioned fundamental clothing. Wherever we go, we must be clothed to be regarded as human beings, distinct from animals. Yet what Paul emphasizes is beyond literal clothing, and more about our character and conduct.

To clothe ourselves with Christ Jesus (Romans 13:14; Galatians 3:27) means to model our character and behavior on His, so that wherever we are, we carry His life within us. We speak and act as He would, adopt His values when making judgments, and see the world from His perspective. Accepting Jesus as Lord of our lives is like taking off old clothes: we abandon our former bad habits and sinful behavior, then put on new clothes, embracing a new mindset and doing what is good (Ephesians 4:22–24). As Christians, we should continually demonstrate compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience, forgiveness, and love (Colossians 3:10–14). And when we need to stand against the forces of evil, we must put on our military gear: truth, righteousness, the gospel, faith, salvation, and the word of God (Ephesians 6:13–17).

The everyday habit of getting dressed illustrates an important biblical teaching: faith is not just one part of life. It encompasses our entire lives. As followers of Christ Jesus, we cannot limit our faith to religious activities on Sundays, praying and studying the Bible only at church, while spending the rest of the week speaking, acting, and behaving like non-believers. If we do, it is as though we wear clothes for only a short time and spend the rest of our lives naked. Would that not be even more pitiable than having no faith at all?

May Christians encourage and support one another in continually clothing ourselves with Christ, wherever we are, whether at home or out in the world.