Six months later ....

Well a few hurdles arose with keeping up with this blog, the main one being the lack of internet, and then like an avalanche one thing led to another and suddenly it's February!  July was already written, but the entry for the rest of the year will be brief ...

  

July

Trip to Lake Kariba

To celebrate our birthdays at the end of May we booked the next bank holiday weekend away over the end of June and beginning of July, and we could celebrate Tori’s birthday too.  Having chatted to our VSO friend Famke about the lakeside village of Sinazongwe where she is living and working, we decided to stay there.  On further investigation we found a lodge which had just opened on one of the many tiny islands on Lake Kariba, so we booked the bank holiday weekend.  We both remember hearing about the Kariba Dam when we were at school, it was built during the 50s and 60s and now forms one of the largest man made lakes in the world, at 22 miles wide by 140 long.  Only a couple of hours from Choma, so it had to be visited really.  The journey there was quite an eye opener, especially the last 12 kilometres which were unmade and very potholey – makes for a very bouncy ride reminiscent of some sort of fairground ride ...

ent

Sinazongwe Road traffic

The main road into the village was an eye-opener– when would you ever find children waving at a passing vehicle – just for the novelty of it.  They waved and smiled, the goats, hens and cattle wandered about, and the pedestrian traffic far outweighed any vehicles.

What a view - our pool and the nextdoor island on Lake Kariba

Back to the 21st century ... on our arrival we were whisked off on a speedboat on a 40 minute trip to Chikanke Island – along with another couple, who were friends of friends coincidentally (thanks art group) and their 17 year old son.  From the minute we arrived we all hit it off well and spent most of our time chatting by the pool (yes a pool wo) or at the bar or over dinner, and the delightful young South African couple who were running the lodge could not do enough for us.  

Spot the Fishbourne man

We all had our own thatched lodge complete with screens instead of glass overlooking the lake, and the stunning sunrise pouring in the windows was a joy to behold every morning.  Our individual wood burners were lit every late afternoon for our showers, which were ... just like home!  Fabulous.  We had the four poster style mosquito net we have become so used to (nothing less will do now after all that hard work) along with what seemed like a 7’ bed, covers decorated with beautiful wire work animals, lovely wooden furniture and our own verandah with table and chairs perfect for more relaxing.  We were warned though, not to wander out of our lodge during the hours of darkness – the elephants often swim ashore from the neighbouring island and are not so good to bump into in the night.  Although there was plenty of elephant dung decorating the path we didn’t see them that closely thank goodness.  We did hear the hippos during the night though – they make a noise somewhere between barking seals and barking dogs.  We were told they were a male and female with a baby of one week old, and they travel together. 

The weekend rolled by all too quickly with big hearty brunch breakfasts and lively delicious dinners enjoyed whilst discussing everything under the sun. We went for a sunset cruise in time to enjoy a sundowner on board while watching our first elephants – whoop!  They were busy eating away at the trees, and we also plenty of hippos, crocodiles and the symbol of Zambia the fish eagle – magnificent creature.  The tiger fishing trip was fun – it’s all about the chase isn’t it???  Tiger fish are black and white stripes, funnily enough.

A sunset game viewing cruise on the
 capenta fishing rig

We had a very quick chat with Tori on her birthday in London – a million miles away from a lake in the middle of Africa!  Not so long now until we seen her – only the month after next now!  We just can’t wait to have her and the others here to show them where we’ve been living and what we have been up to all this time.  

On our return, fortified and refreshed by our weekend away, we got stuck back into Choma life again.

The Library

Rahem and I had dreamed of the children using their own school library just as we do at home.  We wanted them to visit it class by class, choose a book from their own age level and sit down and read it, as well as some reading out loud to the rest of the class.  Well we completed this with every class by the end of July before the August break, so that was really rewarding.  We have encouraged the headmaster to establish a library session every week for each class, so we hope that is established in September.  We will stand back a little and see if they can establish this, and then we can go and help them in the library rather than run it.

Two of their favourite books - they just love to pose

The Site

Jane and Mrs Mbawe with the carpentry students

For some on site training Paul asked if the carpentry students could come and spend some time on houses 1 and 2 to help fit fascia boards to the roof.  The entire class of 11 came up and worked hard all day, so as a thank you Paul decided to ask Mrs Mbawe to cook up a nice dinner for them.  She spent the morning in the Chodort kitchen (a brick shed with a charcoal fire, the usual) cooking up a beef stew complete with grisly knuckles, vegetable relish and, essentially, nshima.  Jane helped to dish this up and although there were only eight plates the first user quickly finished up, cleaned the plate mysteriously and returned it for the second user.  Mmmmm.

Work inside house one was moving on and very nearly finished - Paul's deadline was September - realistic because he was aware of the limitations with ensuring the finished quality was what he was after.  The kitchen cupboards were in but still needing worktops and doors, and the floor of the whole house still needed to be tiled.  House two was having the walls and ceilings decorated at the same time, and the floor and wall tiles being laid.

Choma Life

The garden meanwhile was looking good and producing something we had never seen growing before - bananas.  We were quite fascinated by these - a very exotic flower with deep red waxy petals and thick stamens growing in layers between them.  The flower becomes elongated along the stalk, eventually producing many layers, or bunches, of bananas, growing upside down.  You learn something new every day.

The first two bunches of bananas -
 the local, short stumpy ones

Because the preschool is situated within Chodort Jane would pop in quite often and see the children - to a raucous welcome of "Auntie, Auntie ..."   and all running up to me - so very sweet.

Jackline with some of her preschoolers

By the end of July when the schools broke up for the holidays Rahem and Jane made their last visit of term, and we had the whole of Grade 1 in to choose a book and read it to themselves and out loud to everyone.  They loved it - long may it continue.

These three just would not stop posing

Rahem and the library building behind
 the little darlings

Well July soon came to a close and the schools closed for the holiday month of August.  The (oft renewed) deadline for finishing our new house, imaginatively named House One, was the end of September, so that was Paul's next focus on the site and that too was when Lizzie, Tori and Joe were coming out on holiday, which was the next big event, eagerly anticipated.