Kamwamba!

…Or for those of you who don’t understand Tonga – Hello!

Here I am blogging all the way from Zambia!

I’m having a lovely time. We started off in Capetown where we visited all the main sites: Table Mountain (where we lost dad – it had to happen and it was good it was so early on in the holiday and we were able to get it over and done with!) Cape Point, The Cape of Good Hope, Robben Island and The Victoria and Alfred Waterfront (where I ate a very dodgy fishcake which made me ill all night and meant I had a day off sight seeing).

The sites in and around Capetown were amazing. In my relatively short life I have had the great opportunity of seeing many beautiful sights but I don’t think any have been as beautiful as those I have seen around Capetown. No amount of photos or words could actually describe how beautiful the scenery is there. Again you just marvel at God’s creation and just are full of absolute praise and awe of him that he created something so amazing and beautiful.

Last Tuesday we traveled to Zambia and back to Chikankata via Jo’burg. Richard and Heidie were most surprised that our luggage managed to make the connection and get to Zambia – I was very relieved! I did not fancy wearing the same clothes for another 2 weeks!

The first morning we woke up to hearing a lot of commotion up near the hospital so Heidie, mum and I quickly ran out (me still in my jym-jams under instruction from Heidie) and dad following on behind having to get out of bed and dressed. Anyway, it turns out that this man who was on the run from the police for axing his wife a couple of night before had been tracked down to the hospital and the people were all surrounding the man wanting to do “community justice” by stoning him! Richard was telling all his staff to get back to work – unaware that his wife and family were also watching and enjoying the entertainment from afar! Anyway, Richard locked the man in the laundry for his own safety until the police came for him. I asked Richard what would happen to him and he said that once he was in prison he would probably die either of hunger as he would rely on someone to bring food in for him or from some incurable disease. Well the story reached the front page of the Zambian Times so we're famous because it talked about the angry crowd (us) and the hospital administration (Richard).

So some excitement! We spent the next couple of days chilling out. We put the cot up in the nursery which was very exciting! Heidie is getting very big – we think she is going to have a giant! She certainly eats as though she is going to have a giant. I was most distressed one day in Cape Town because I was wearing my beautiful new smock type top which is very fashionable in the UK and we visited a shop called Baby City to buy some baby stuff; we were all wandering around and the shop assistant came up to me and asked if she could help me! I was mortified! I am never wearing that top again and I must lose some weight!

We picked Suz up from the Airport on Saturday and on Sunday we traveled to South Luanga to the National Park there where we had a few days on Safari. We stayed in the Mfuwe Lodge which was amazing. Each of the rooms were little huts which had a veranda overlooking the river where alsorts of wildlife live. The bathrooms all had a gorgeous sunken bath which also looked over the river (no curtains or anything!) It was so beautiful – well so I thought until we got to our beds after our evening meal on the first night and found a plague of frogs and spiders in the bathroom!!! I did not like it! There was much jumping and screaming and a few naughty words – I have to admit! I had a shower with a frog! It’s just not something you expect to experience. Anyway, we found out the next day that apparently - contrary to what Suz and I thought – it is better to turn the lights off at night because the lights on attract the spiders and frogs whereas we thought they would prefer the dark! So the following evening whilst we were out we kept the lights off and when we came to our beds, the room was very much less crowded. Richard (my saviour!) kicked out the one cheeky frog and also the Scorpion – YES SCORPION!!!! - from the room. It was just a wee one but if I had stood on it I would have been very unhappy! So I slept a lot better that night as I didn’t feel that I needed to be on night watchman duty. The next morning we woke up to still find the room quite empty of undesirable creatures apart from the mother of all frogs in the bath! Now as much as I would be happy to find the man of my dreams – against the advice of many of my friends – I ain’t kissing no frogs to find him! Ming Mong!!!!

The safari was brill. We saw: elephants, puku, impala, zebras (we even saw a zebra crossing – the road!), giraffes, lions, buffalos, hyenas, hippos, storks, cranes, herons, baboons, waterbucks, bushbucks, snakes, and so the list goes on. We traveled home Tuesday on the smallest of planes. It was so small we could see out of the front window! That was fun.

So Heidie picked up Ronaldo their new dog on Wednesday. She is beautiful. Just a 3 month old puppy. Richard decided on the name and then found out he was a she. We have been really battling against calling her a him and Suz has been the gender monitor. We did decide to call her Molly to see if that makes any difference but we felt too many people now knew her as Ronaldo so it would confuse her and everyone else. So she’s back to Ronaldo. Although I am not particularly a dog lover I must say I am loving her. She is very cute. She has left a few “jobs’ around the house and thankfully there is no carpets so it’s easier to clean up. She cuddles up to you and it’s lovely.

Last year I was very sheltered from the hardships of this place but have been exposed to them a bit more this year. We don’t always have hot water so we have to jump in the shower when there is some. Often there is no water during the day so the deal is that when we go to the toilet we don’t flush for number 1’s but we do flush for number 2’s and we use the antibacterial hand gel to wash our hands. I don’t brush my teeth with the tap water; I use the borehole water which has been filtered to do that. This is only a little thing compared to the realities of everyday life here and the people do really well to cope and make the most of life. For most of them, they have known no other. I am so proud of Richard and Heidie with the way they handle all the struggles of this place.

And for me, someone who hardly ever gets unwell – I have had 3 diseases! I have had food poisoning, a cold(which I thought was Malaria) and now a little poo bug which has made it’s way around the family except for dad. I have coped very well I think and hopefully will not be unwell now for a long long time.

For the next few days I’m chilling out and working on getting rid of my stupid strap marks! Mum and dad are doing the meeting at Chikankata Citadel tomorrow. Richard is vetting it to make sure it doesn't go on for 3 hours which is quite usual for meetings here (good grief!) Tuesday we’re going to Livingstone to show Suz the Victoria Falls and I think go on a Sunset cruise which I’m excited about. And then we’ll be home. That’s sad!

Finally, one bit of very very good news – I HAVE SOLD MY FLAT!!!! Yippee!!!!

Laters!
cx