Rev. Herbert Philemon Chikomo, 90, of Avondale, Harare, Zimbabwe, passed Monday, September 24, 2018. Herbert was born December 20, 1927, in Mhondoro, Zimbabwe. Friends and family members may attend the funeral service on Monday, October 1 from 9:00 to 11:00 a.m. Nyaradzo Funeral Home is handling arrangements in Harare.

Personal Profile

Herbert Philemon Jnr. Chikomo was the first born in a family of eight. Three of his siblings died at a tender age. Herbert, together with the remaining siblings did not enjoy fully the love of their mother who passed on when they were still very young. This family had to grapple with the crude village life under the care of their grandparents since their father was away for most of the time as he was working in Bulawayo.

Education

He did his Sub A and B at Nyangwene Primary School in Marirangwe. He then went to Shirichena Primary School for standard 1 and 2 before proceeding to Sandringham Primary where he completed standard 3 6. During his primary education, Herbert Chikomo carried out menial tasks in surrounding farms in return for his school fees. Due to his determination and profound intelligence, Herbert was awarded a bursary to further his secondary education at Dadaya High School. He always cherished other prominent members of the society and drew much of his motivation and inspiration from them. He eventually enrolled at St. Augustine Mission where trained to be a qualified teacher.

After graduating from St. Augustine, Herbert Chikomo was eager to put into practice what had always existed in him as a dream and passion for years; he would enjoy spending the day working with students at Gloag Ranch, one of the Presbyterian Schools in Bulawayo. Being a school teacher during such a time was regarded as a great achievement.

Call to full-time Ministry

While teaching at Gloag Ranch, Herbert sensed God's Call to full-time Ministry of Word and Sacrament. The irony of it, barely a year and a half when his siblings were beginning to enjoy the proceeds from his teaching career, the young man was listening to a voice that would subject him to poverty according to some of his friends and family yet God had destined him to be a teacher of faith across nations. In response to the calling, he enrolled at the then Epworth Theological College, now United Theological College (UTC) where he got much of his ministerial formation. Herbert Chikomo was amongst the first three ministers to train at this institution since it opened its doors in 1954. He then graduated in 1956, in the inaugural graduation ceremony for the now much-esteemed college.

Ministry and Marriage

It was during his second year at UTC that the young promising minister tied the knot with a beautiful lady by the name Alice Denga who belonged to the Methodist Church. At the time Alice was working as a teacher at Marshal Hartley School. Following the dictates of the Bible, two shall become one flesh," Alice joined Herbert in his final year of theological training.

Post-Academic Training and Ordination "Life at the mine"

After graduating from UTC, the couple was deployed in Shabanie now Zvishavane, a mining town where he would serve his probation prior to ordination. At the end of that year 1956, he was ordained to become a full-time minister of the Word and Sacrament. This did not just add the title "Rev" to his name but also meant an increase in his commitment to God and responsibility for God's people.

During those days segregation and tribalism were the order of the day in mining towns. Rev. H. P. Chikomo recalled how black people were regarded as second-class citizens with clearly defined parameters which they were not allowed to bypass. They were relegated to the margins of the society were they lived in 'compounds'. The Chikomos also coexisted with the rest of the compound society. They had a one bedroom cottage with a small dining and kitchen. They used the public community ablution facilities. This presented potential serious health challenges to this young family, but true to Christ's promises, "He sustains his servants...until the very end of age" (Matt. 28:20) In order to buy groceries from upmarket shops Alice would pretend to be a maid sent by her white mistress, wearing an apron. The couple was blessed with their first child, Julian Nhamburo in November 1956. During this time Mrs. Chikomo was teaching at Gresham School in Zvishavane.

Ministerial Upkeep

As Herbert Chikomo ministered in Zvishavane, one would be misguided to think that he was well to do and properly looked after. Well, this could only happen if he were ministering to the owners of the mines; alas, he was merely preoccupied with shepherding the black "boy" of the day and their poor families who served as cheap mine workers. No one knew that they were living on meager resources, or even knew what a stipend was. Nonetheless, like true Africans, they understood the concept of living and working together. The Ubuntu concept is the one that sustained Rev Chikomo's ministry at Shabanie. These marginalized class of citizens would earn rations of maize meal, beans and dried fish "bakayawo" as a monthly salary from which they also reserved portions for their minister and his family. Some members with a few shillings would bring them to church as offerings, and life went on with Christ being preached year in and year out.

They stayed at Shabanie for a year before moving to David Livingstone High School where Rev. Chikomo served for four years 1957 - 1961. He was appointed as chaplain/ minister at David Livingstone Memorial and Nthabazinduna respectively. The latter was an African Extension Congregation AEC under the oversight of Makokoba Congregation.

It was clearly evident that Rev. H.P. Chikomo had his 'ministry in the shoes'. From the time of his ordination up to retirement, Sekuru Chikomo covered the width and breadth of Zimbabwe and the African Region as well as abroad in the United States of America. In 1958 Rev. Herbert and Alice were blessed with their second born, George followed by the third, Farirai in 1960. After serving at David Livingstone, Rev. Chikomo and family moved to Mufakose, Harare(1961 -1964) were at that time there was only one ordained minister by the name Rev.Kanyowa he was ministering at the then Harare Presbyterian Church now Mbare. Mufakose was just developing as a new suburb. This opened up an opportunity for church planting. Members who had relocated to Mufakose from Mbare became part of the first group of people forming what started off as an African Extension Congregation under City Presbyterian Church. Therein Mufakose, their fourth child, Simba was born in (1962).

Rev Chikomo was instrumental in the establishment of the Highfield Congregation where he would carry out pastoral work using a Solex motorcycle. His passion and zeal were to develop this new congregation to be self-sustaining. After his tenure at Highfield Rev.Chikomo handed the button to the late Rev. Richard Makoni who would then take the ministry forward. In 19 66 the couple was blessed with their fifth child, Tsitsi.

After serving the Highfield community, Rev. H. P Chikomo became the first General Secretary of the, then, Christian Council of Rhodesia (CCR), now Zimbabwe Council of Churches (ZCC) (1965 - 1971) and he also served as secretary of the Rhodesian Christian Conference. This position subsequently made him recognize that the African initiative of formulating the ecumenical venture was a very significant factor in the process of creating a forum for Inter-Racial Dialogue. During his office tenure, key initiatives such as the Christian Care have started; taking care of the victims of political violence, ex-detainees, and restricted. True to this, Rev. Chikomo looked after former Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe's mother (Bona) while he was away in detention. Rev. Chikomo also made several strides to source for academic scholarships for the less privileged. As a matter of fact, he played an advisory role in the pre-independence era to such an extent that he was approached to become Prime minister during the time when key political leaders like Robert Mugabe and Joshua Nkomo were in detention. Interestingly, Rev. Chikomo turned down the offer citing that he was called to be a minister of the Word, not a political leader. Subsequently, Bishop Abel Tendekai Muzorewa accepted the offer and assumed the office of Prime Minister.

After a successful ministry under the Christian Council, Rev Chikomo and family moved on to Mhondoro, his home area where he became the first chaplain. He had earlier on realized the need to establish a school to promote better education for all. His vision gave birth to Presbyterian High School which was a landmark establishment because prior to this, there were only two schools in the Mhondoro area, et al, St. Michaels and Sandringham which were several kilometers away from the rural community. To establish this school, the reverend took advantage of being a homegrown minister, to approach local Chiefs: Mashayamombe, Nyamweda, Chivero, and Rwizi to be granted permission to develop a school in the area. This was after he hand sourced funding for the building project. To this day Presbyterian High School acknowledges his sterling efforts. The current chaplain, Rev. Masenda and the school administration together with the Schools Trust named one of the A' Level girls dormitory after Herbert and Alice Chikomo in 2012 as a way of honoring them.

Pre Zimbabwe Independence Experiences

Rev. Chikomo vividly recalled the fateful time when he found the school gripped between two forces; the white Rhodesian soldiers on one hand and the liberation fighters "comrades" on the other. According to him "Whilst the white soldiers tortured us for providing food to the black fighters, our own black brothers would also give us a hard time by asking for favors which were sometimes unethical and far beyond our reach. For instance, at one point they "magandanga" came and signaled that they really envied one of my only two daughters, Farirai. "We will come and get her because she is beautiful and intelligent. She will serve a good purpose for our bush radio broadcasting." They said. Even as he worked with the oppressed black people at heart, his life was still endangered. Fellow blacks on their own would make false allegations against one another. The Presbyterian Church was perceived to be a white "man's church" funded by Westerners hence he was exposed to frequent political tension at the school. Consequently, the school was forced closed and would only resume operations after the independence. As a result, Rev. Chikomo and family moved to the United States of America where he ministered for two years.

In 1979 the Rev. Herbert and Alice Chikomo, and their children arrived in Davenport, Iowa and became a cherished part of First Presbyterian Church (FPC) life. This was a period of blooming love, knowledge, and respect for this congregation. The Chikomo family fully participated in the life of FPC, with Rev Chikomo as an Associate Pastor and Mrs. Chikomo as a choir member. After the Chikomos completed their Davenport stay nine months later, their next U.S. experiences were in the Twin Cities and Des Moines.

In 1980 the Chikomos returned to Zimbabwe just after Independence. Rev. Chikomo became a minister without charge for about a year yet he served as interim moderator for St. Columbas and Dangamvura in Mutare. During that time Mrs. Chikomo was teaching in Chinhoyi and was later transferred to Kambuzuma.

Eventually, Rev. Chikomo received a call to serve at the City Presbyterian Church in Harare where he became the first black minister to serve. Interestingly, The Rhodesian Prime Minister, Ian Smith and the Chief justice were among those influential people who were members of this congregation at that time. "Carry on preaching what you are preaching minister never mind us, politicians, we are a different species." Ian Smith would keep repeating these words after the service, on several occasions. It was at that time when church attendance was a preserve of the white population. He was not allowed to lay hands on white children during baptism. He was only allowed to preach whilst the white elders of the church did all part of the liturgical part of the worship service including officiating sacraments.

Whilst at City Church Rev. Chikomo realized that there was so much racial imbalance. In order to remain relevant to this community, Rev. Chikomo extended an invitation to Rev. Sturgis Poorman to come and serve as his assistant. This repaired relations within the church and aided a number of outreach programmes. Together, Revs Chikomo and Sturgis developed congregations such as Chitungwiza where Sekuru Chikomo would later serve for seven years. Also under Rev. Chikomo Sturgis was able to establish a congregation in Kuwadzana where the Rev. Jonah Masaka would later come and minister. Sturgis and Herbert were a formidable force, they worked together and lived together and coincidentally they went to be with the Lord on the same day 24 September 2018 Over and above the different congregations mentioned, Rev. Chikomo also established some congregations and went as far as finding stands, building structures and engaging in evangelism. Sadly, some of these stations suffered a natural death, for instance, the Harare South church.

Leadership Contribution to the Church

Twice, Rev. Chikomo was the moderator of the Synod of Zimbabwe during the time when there were two Presbyteries namely Matabeleland and Mashonaland. In 1986/87 Rev. Chikomo got the recognition of assuming the office of moderator of General Assembly.

Retirement

In 1991 Rev. Chikomo moved to South Africa where he served at St. Mangoose. There he left the profound legacy. Up to now, the history of St. Mungo's Presbyterian Church in Braynston,  (Johannesburg South Africa) cannot be complete without mentioning the role played Rev. Chikomo. It was at this particular place where Rev. Chikomo would retire from full-time ministry after four years of pastoral work (1991 - 1994).

Even after his retirement, he continued to offer pastoral services where the need arose. To say the least, around the mid to late 90s he was convicted to go and serve at St. Columbas congregation in Zambia. He also had the opportunity to stay at Justo Mwale for quite some time. After a period of four years in Zambia, he returned back to Zimbabwe where he would later work with the Dzivarasekwa church. Today, members of the said congregation acknowledge the positive contribution made by Rev. Chikomo during the process of acquiring a church stand.

The Chikomo family had so many happy moments to cherish yet still they went through some unbearable experiences which posed more questions than answers. Losing all of their sons was not an easy reality to accept but with the Lord on their side, they managed to endure the pain and move on with life in ministry. Rev. Herbert Philemon Chikomo leaves behind wife Gogo Alice Chikomo, two daughters, Farirayi Chikomo and Tsitsi BergmanNee Chikomo (ERIC BERGMAN) and four grandchildren, Cathrine Chikomo-Nota (Simbarashe Thompson Nota), Christian Chikomo, Kudzai Bergman and Tendai Bergman. He also lived long to see his great-grandchild Dalitso Nota. He was preceded in death by his parents, his sons, Julian Nhamburo Chikomo, George Teurayi Chikomo, and Masimba Joseph Chikomo.