I would probably be reading a crime thriller that I had saved particularly for the journey, but inexplicably I gave it away on Monday evening! So, with 8 hrs to kill, here I am!
On Saturday I went back to Pemba to meet with Solomon and the children. In fact it turns out that Maria is living 10 – 15 km from Pemba in a rural area. There is a school nearby. Teddy drove me and was surprised just how far we had to drive (though we could have cut some of the distance if we walked for a bit.)
We met with Emmanuel and Obadia and received some school reports. Not surprisingly Jennipher's death has disrupted all of their lives and they have been impacted by the trauma.
I went to mass at Our Lady of the Wayside on Sunday as usual. We had a visiting choir from Lusaka which made the church even more packed than usual. A kind couple moved to the edge of a bench to give me room to sit. I wouldn't have relished a 2 ½ hr service standing! At the offertory I was asked to join those with offerings. Each Sunday one or two groups bring their offerings at the procession dancing as they go. I think that because I was in the official St. Veronica's chitenge shirt I was entitiled to join – they were also a bit low on numbers! It was the first time that I have taken part in the offertory dance – despite going to the church for so many years.
The service was lively and reached a crescendo when a second offertory was made of gifts brought by the Lusaka group. Our Lady's choir danced down the aisle before making a guard of honour for those bearing gifts from Lusaka. Plenty of dancing and hollaring created a joyous scene.
After mass I was told that st. Veronica's Small Christian Community would be meeting at Truckers today! 10 members arrived in the afternoon for prayers and presented me with gifts to take home.
My last day is always a day to say goodbye. I had a steady stream of visitors including Obert who
brought me a box of mangoes. I decided that I would take 10 with me and give the remainder away. They are quite heavy and will travel to Cheltenham in my hand luggage. I had promised to bring some back for Cheyenne who says she loves mangoes – I still claim that she has never tasted a real mango. I hope they travel ok. I don't think they were fully ripe when plucked from the tree on Monday.
On Monday evening Mr and Mrs. Sianga had agreed to take me to Family Safari. I am not very keen for animals to be kept in captivity, but thought it would be interesting to see the place and so it turned out.
Their are a limited number of animals in the park. Two zebras share an area with some ostriches, emus and an antelope or two. They have a reasonable amount of space to roam. A more docile ostrich and emu seem to have the freedom of the park and mix with the guests. There is a pool where 4 or 5 crocodiles hang out. Apparently they are fed once a week because they take a long time to digest food. The guests are told that anything they throw into the crocodile enclosure they will be asked to retrieve themselves!
There are four lions in an enclosure. They don't seem to show any signs of stress and even respond to the guide's call. In fact their seems to be a good rapport between the guides and the animals. They say that the crocodiles come for food when the railings are banged – still they will receive a big reward! I was glad that the animals were not in cages and seemed to be well treated – would I prefer them to be in the wild – probably. Does Family Safari give them a better life? I don't know.
After seeing the animals we went to the poolside for our meal. There is a swimming pool with fountains as well as a hotel with accommodation. A very different view of Monze compared with the rest of town or Freedom Compound!
Yesterday was the start of my journey back home. On Monday I booked the 9.30 Shalom bus from Monze Bus Station. At about 8.30 I had a call to tell me that it would be leaving at 11 hrs and to be there prompt. I left Monze at 13hrs apparently on the 9.30 bus!
I arrived in Lusaka at 17hrs and at Longacres Lodge twenty minutes later. Probably because of my late arrival, things were not quite as usual. I wasn't shown my room and had to carry all my luggage. I wasn't provided with a towel and the linen cupboard was locked when I asked if one was available!
In practice none of this really mattered. I had a large container and a jug in the bathroom. This reminded me of our visit to Manila where we were asked if we knew how to take a bath!! We were surprised by the question until we were presented with a large tub of water and a ladle in a type of wet room. The principle at Longacres Lodge is similar! There are no plugs for the bath so you fill the large container and pour jugs of water from it over your head and body. As for the towel, I haven't bothered to dry myself after a shower other than to stop water dripping from my hair. I had a lovely cold “bath” and was dry within a few minutes – even though the temperature had dropped below 30 ℃ to 29℃.
I needed more liquid so I went to the bar. I found they had no Mosis (a Zambian beer not a small insect). I enjoy the local brew and was disappointed – this was far more serious than the lack of a towel!
I got up at about 5.30 for the next leg of my journey.
I have so far had two flights. The first going south to Harare, Zimbabwe – Robert Magabe International before coming here to Jomo Kenyatta Airport Nairobi. With Kenneth Kaunda International in Lusaka the airports celebrate three important figures in the fight for independence. I will fly from here to Charles De Gaulle airport in Paris.
The sun has recently set and night will come very quickly. Nairobi is very close to the equator and I think it is about 8,000 feet high.
With love and prayers,
Chris
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