a picture iof lucy with a rather surprised looking kid at "Just Kids" in Harare where we went to look around the orphanage and were highly surprised to see how good it was compared with my sightings in Kenya and Lucys impression of the rest of Africa. did not spend more than a day there as they seemd far to well equiped to need us!
this is a pic showing lucy and i at Goremonzi visiting the preschool set up by Jackson and Marie under the SEED project. we were sitting in on their sunday service and had the chance to join in on some songs and listen to Roberts fantastic translation of the preaching! met the lads from the gardening project who were fun to meet but not quite as keen on the actual gardening part as i got the impression that their leader was! one of them sported a highly fetching harry potter tshirt which caught our eye. they invited us to their easter celebration conferance (lasting 4 days) to which we attended an afternoon much to their pleasure. im not sure that i would have lasted the whole hog though, and im sure that we wouldnt have survived off the mutumbo stew!
this is a pic in the back garden of the Nazombes during our easter kids party (read down for more details on that fun event!) while they were running the first race. this was prior to the egg and spoon, sack race and popcorn eating contest all lof which provided much amusement for both us and the kids!
Wow. That is almost all I can say. Wow.
Today we went to the falls for the first time and were blown away (fortunately not quite literally!) they are SO BIG and SO AWESOME I was amazed and thinking to myself that I couldn’t wish to be anywhere else or to do anything else (pretty lucky seeing as all the activities are rather on the expensive side here being the tourist magnet that it is!)
There is a great walk that takes you to various points where you can see the falls from different angles getting progressively more adventurous and wetter as you progress. Luckily for our belongings someone warned us in the morning about this so we had packed our things inside plastic bags inside our rucksacks, as we were COMPLETELY drenched! The view was amazing and the experience matched by none other (apart from when we went to see Uluru as a kid maybe…) so we did not mind the water at all. Especially as it is very hot here so one can dry off very quickly!
Have taken lots of photos, unfortunately not the patience to load them right now but they still are still a poor reflection of the experience itself.
The experience made me think how possibly can such a thing exist, when looking at something of the sort I don’t think that one can question gods input into our earth! I feel very lucky and privileged to have seen another of the seven wonders of the world.
Hehehe that was a great experience, just like either stepping back in time or into Harry Potter! The train was an old colonial beast run on diesel taking us the distance between Bulawayo and Vic Falls. Despite being warned of its dangers – possible break down, sleeping gas, robbers… we thought what the hell, when are we aver going to get a chance to ride though the night through Zimbabwe for a mere 4 pounds!
Even from the train station the adventures began (or when did they actually stop you might ask and I think you might have a point!) we were harmlessly chatting to a couple of guys at the café when one of them was unsurepticiously pulled over. When we questioned him he said that a member of the CIO (Zimbabwe CIA) had been asking him what we were talking about and whether we were reporters! Then another man, obviously not trained well in his acting skills, came and sat right next to us, completely obviously eavesdropping our every word! And this is not the first time that I have been mistaken for a reporter – in Gueru another guy asked me if I was there to monitor the elections. On the one hand we thought that it might have been beneficial to say that we were as we would have been sure to have gotten top notch security!
We booked first class, on Lucy’s insistance, I was begrudging about the extra pound, of which I was mightily pleased when the following morning I investigated third. So we had a cabin to ourselves, there were two bunks, a fold out sink (no water though), a cupboard, rack for our bags, fold out table, mirror, window, lights (but they didn’t work, and many other fascinating gadgets. Then much to our surprise, as we set off we were given sheets and blankets!
Despite the ‘luxury’ we were careful and kept the door mostly locked, especially after one guy in the corridor said ‘so shall we make a baby’ to me while passing our door! The train was incredibly slow and stopped in the middle of nowhere for no apparent reason for hours at a time but that was quite alright as we kept the window firmly closed and were able to get a good nights sleep!
In the morning I watched the sun rise and saw monkeys on the line which was ultimately fab. And got chatting to various males as Lucy is not a morning person. One asked to take me down the train to meet his brother, which I accepted, it being light at the time so probably not dangerous. The train was FAR longer than I expected and got progressively worse as you went toward the front. The cabins turned into four bed, then two benches, then no cabin, falling apart seats, holes in the WOODEN floor through which you could see the track, a hole as a toilet, missing doors and people strewn everywhere sleeping, selling bread, maize, sorting and washing greens, platting hair, just a hive of activity! But I was pleased that Lucy had insisted on first class as we would not have gotten a wink of sleep there, probably have got raped and had our belongings (the many of them) stolen in about half an hour.
I wish they had these trains from Cambridge to Scotland, they are much more fun than National Rail!
one of the many one day activities that we have done here was to spend time with streets ahead, a street kid project that has a centre in town for kids to come to, wash clothes, cook food, play sport, but eventually seeks to sent them home.
the imediate thing i notaced was that the place didnt smell. that putrid smell that eminated from PGH i cannot quite describe appart from the fact that it follows you all the way down the street. architecturally the place was also of a much higher standard, large storyed blocks interspaced with grass and trees, a kids playground and people strolling happily. the place could have been adenbrookes really!
ther was even a seperate childrens department with an xray, theatre, outpatients, waiting room...all the necesaries. plus more than enough staff dispite the poor pay (nurses getting less than 12 pounds per month) and all the cases we hear of doctors leaving for greener pastures over the boarders.
what was the most surprising unexplaned question though was the lack of patients- instead of the 1000 beds being full wards were empty. mens had 8 staff and 2 patents. there was only one delivery that day. and ICU with 2 patients... it was misterious and the doctors, nor the nurses could explain it. there is another general hospital but it is suffering similar problems. patients do have to pay but the rates are very low. where are all the sick people going?.?.?.?
this is a pic of us in Harare Zimbabwe where i arrived on friday and Lucy arrived on saturday. although i am sad to have left kenya, very sad in fact, all of my sentences begin with 'back home in kenya...' to the extent that i am sure that everyone is boared, i am excited about our new adventures here.