The first I opened was a lovely wooden carving. An African farmer... with a sheep on his shoulders. The penny dropped: the good shepherd. I mentioned before that Stephen is in hospital and this felt like a message to me, so I sent the shepherd to "visit" Stephen at the John Radcliffe as we continue to pray for his recovery.
After that... well, I had to take a look at a stone one too, didn't I? So I chose a second parcel, entirely at random. You can see below what I found. Words fail me to describe how beautiful this is. And to think it has been made by someone living in desperately poor conditions (John Simpson has sent me more about the artists and their lives and I will post some more of this another time; but believe me when I say people are having a very tough time in Zimbabwe).
Getting involved with this project is proving very exhilarating and also very humbling. It's certainly turning for me into something that goes well beyond just putting on an exhibition. Let's say "Praise the Lord" and leave it at that for now because the beauty of this carving speaks much louder than any words of mine.
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