Bulawayo, Zimbabwe--The Mennonite World Conference's next global assembly is scheduled to be held in Zimbabwe in 2003. Larry Miller, MWC Executive Secretary, and Ray Brubacher, Director of Special Projects for MWC, visited Zimbabwe from October 27 to November 2 to assess the venue and to talk to the local people about the possibility of having this event take place in Bulawayo.After listening to many voices, Miller and Brubacher will be reporting to the MWC Executive Committee, which will be meeting in Europe in August 2001, about plans for the Assembly Gathered in Zimbabwe and the Assembly Scattered events planned for other parts of Africa.
Miller and Brubacher met the local Brethren in Christ church leaders who will be the hosts of the Assembly. They also met with representatives of the Bulawayo city council, airlines, travel, hotel and accommodation agencies, the Chamber of Commerce, the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation and the Theological College of Zimbabwe.
The MWC emissaries were assured that with prior planning the travel agents would be able to manage the transportation of large numbers of people to and from Bulawayo by air and land. The acting mayor of Bulawayo, Councilor David Ndlovu, welcomed the idea of hosting the Assembly and very positively conveyed a willingness to be of all possible assistance to make MWC feel at home in Zimbabwe.
Miller and Brubacher visited the Zimbabwe International Trades Fair Grounds, where the gathering is scheduled to be held, and they looked at the various options for accommodation and possible meeting places for smaller gatherings. They also interviewed a number of local people for the positions of national coordinator for the Assembly and representative on the music committee.
Since Zimbabwe has experienced political and economic turmoil recently, MWC is continuing to monitor the situation and to keep a lookout for possible alternative settings if the conditions in Zimbabwe should happen to worsen.