Independence Day

I continue to meet friends I have come to know over the years. Among others Alec, Raymond, Diven, Teddy, Brian and Malomweete have come around to see me at my house, sometimes joining me for supper. Many other people I have greeted around town and at church.

Tuesday was Independence Day and Ireen rang me. Unfortunately there was a problem and I was unable to hear her. When I visited her shop later in the week she presented me with another shirt – one she intended to give me to celebrate independence day.

Last Sunday Teddy drove me to Pemba where I met with Soloman and the children. Obadia has his lovely smile back and Emmanuel was also in good form. Maria is staying with an aunt and came to meet me, but before I leave I will visit her at the knew home.

The weather continues to be hot – often reaching 36 ℃ or 37℃ , at midday the sun is directly overhead.

Best is preparing to be called to the bar in a little more than a week. He asked me to join him for the celebration – fortunately I packed my suit in case! It will be a great privilege to see him finally become a fully qualified lawyer after all these years. I first met Best as a secondary school student in 2005!

 

With love and prayers,

Chris

What a Privilege

I am very fortunate. I have had the opportunity to spend the past 20 years visiting Monze and making friends. I feel very comfortable walking around the streets and through the markets. Everything is familiar. Cattle in the High Street is far from an unknown feature! At this time of year the cows seem to be allowed to wander in search of food. Today they found some nice green grass at Truckers!

The odd shower of rain has fallen in recent weeks. Here and there a few blades of grass have appeared. Usually this happens at the edge of the dust path. If more rain falls this grass gradually encrouches and if it continues it eventually becomes hard to realise that there wasn't a grass path all along!

Stalls are beginning to sell mangoes, but as I said to a boy eating one the other day “ if it doesn't cover your face with yellow juice it isn't a mango!” - he knew what I meant! The mangoes are not yet ripe – they are white inside and hard. I will wait awhile and get my face properly covered!

The sun is high at this time of year – at midday it is almost directly overhead. A little light rain has cooled the air this evening. Lisa switched on the hot water the other day which was a bit of a surprise. The cold water tap for the shower doesn't produce much more than a drip! The hot water is too hot, so showering is now quite an art! I told Lisa that I was happy to just have cold water, but apparently the switch for the geyser also controls the security lights! The solution seems to be get everything I can from the cold tap and then enjoy a couple of minutes before the hot water comes through, then almost turn the hot water off and finish with the dribble from the cold tap to cool me back down! Here you learn to adapt to the facilities!

I have a steady stream of visitors. Unfortuntely Jennipher showed some of her clients where I live and some call around. It is never a good idea to have people calling around, hoping for money. Unless they are people I know well I try to avoid giving cash. This can be very difficult, because I know that most are in real need. I have an added problem this year, because my funds are being used to support my major project and there is little or nothing spare. So even good friends in need are having to go without.

Euphrasia came earlier. She used to work at PIZZ school many years back, but became sick. She is much better now and she makes woollen mats for sale. She always gives me one as a present. I have a collec tion of mats around the house at home. I have bought a few to bring back for stalls in the past, but there doesn't seem to be a market in the UK.

Nelson is about to sit his final exams at the university of Zambia where he is taking a degree in social work. He is hoping to find sponsorship to do a masters degree in the UK or possibly Canada. So far he has done very well, getting excellent marks. He works when he can to try to cover the university fees. He came from Lusaka for the weekend to see his mum and say hallo to me.

I have had the delight and privilege to see a number of young people develop and get qualifications enabling them to move forward in life. With a bit of encouragement and a little support here and there, I hope that I have been able to make a positive difference. Not many people have been given the opportunities I have and I am very grateful.

I left a couple of pieces of chitenge material for Ireen yesterday to make into new shirts for me. She has made me at least one shirt everytime I have visited since 2004 – that's a lot of shirts!!.

The way that babies and young children are carried in Zambia seems eminently sensible and suits both mother and child. A length of chitenge material is wrapped around the child and tied around the mother's waist providing a secure fastening for the child keeping the bay in close contact with the mother (grandmother or sister) Our slings and carriers are no match. The baby can easily be moved from back to front for feeding and it is obvious that the babies are very content to be carried in this way.

Tomorrow I will visit Soloman in Pemba - about 30 Km from Monze and hope to catch up with Emmanuel, Obadia and Maria – children that Jennipher had adopted.

With love and prayers,

Chris

Reflections on Monze 2023

I have spent more time reading and sitting in the garden than I am used to. This is probably not a bad thing, though, in the world we live in, apparent inactivity seems to be frowned upon. I often think that people are too busy rushing around to have time to think! I don't know how you can make good decisions unless sometimes,you have the time to ponder. Well I have had plenty of time!!

In the 20 years that I have been coming to Monze many things have changed. There were no mobile phones in Monze in 2003! There were no ATMs in Monze in 2003. Now we have entered the Internet era and I can connect from Truckers to anywhere in the world. I can send emails, talk via various means – including using video through Zoom, Skype, WhatsApp or Facetime. There are now supermarkets throughout the town, new restaurants, including PIZZA Express, even some new tarred roads around town.

However, the ladies selling tomatoes and onions still line the streets – many carrying their wares on their heads and the lads still transport goods around the town using their wheelbarrows. Stiil finding change for K50 (about £2) can be a major undertaking.

There is no evidence that the poverty has gone. There are still many mud brick houses with corrigated roofs held down with rocks and breeze blocks. In some ways things seem to have become worse, despite apparent increases in funding, it seems that the only way to get medicines these days is to take your prescription to a pharmacy and pay the market price. I understood that simple medicines used to be provided by the hospital.

The Jacaranda trees are becoming a bit bare having shed most of their petals like a carpet of blue confetti on the ground. The Flamboyant trees however are living up to their name with their bright orange/red blooms. I passed a tree in the garden and the fruit looked vaguely familiar! I hope that the mangoes are ripe before I leave for the UK!

Chris

Meeting Friends

I took a taxi for the shortest of rides – it takes less than 5 minutes to walk to Truckers, but I couldn't face dragging the bags even that distance after my journey from the UK. I was greeted on arrival by Lisa and another maid who both gave me a hug.

Arriving at 14.30 meant that I had a chance to sort myself out a little in the afternoon. There are a few essentials that need to be bought – tea bags, cornflakes and milk being at the top of the list.

I am about 50 yards from the main road. As soon as I reached the road I was greeted - “Hallo Chris, when did you come!”

I usually buy a bottle of water in Lusaka before catching a bus. I hadn't a chance this time, so with the temperature in the mid thirties it was essential that I grabbed a drink. Food Royal is very close so that was my first port of call. A tropical Cabana and two samosas would bring me back to life.

There are some small grocery shops very close – there is also Choppies which is a big supermarket I usually avoid. I also noticed that the market seems to also have arrived on the side of the road. I prefer to give the ladies selling vegetables along the road my custom whenever possible. In fact I managed to pick up most of my grocery needs for the next week without travelling more than a few hundred yards.

It was then back to my accommodation for some serious tea drinking!! I let a few people know of my arrival – including of course my wife Dilys.

I arranged to meet Diven later for a meal – again at Food Royal – cooking could wait till tomorrow. I was about to leave when Diven arrived – an hour late!

Thursday gave me the chance to pop along to the market and pick up some spices and meet a marketeer from the church. Brian came over from his stall by the “robots” to say hallo and I weighed myself on my friend's scales outside the old cathedral.

Since I arrived Best has shown me the preparations he needs to make for being called to the Bar. I will be in Zambia at the time and he asked if I would attend – fortunately I packed a suit in case. It has been a long journey with many twists and turns since I met him as a secondary student in 2005.

Teddy came around and told me how his retirement is going – though he doesn't seem to have fully extracted himself from the hospital. I gave him his birthday present – a Fedora hat in the stle of Indiana Jones!!

I have spent some time observing the birds in the garden – lesser blue eared starlings are common and spectacular – especially in flight. I have already finished my first thriller! You have a lot more time without the TV!!

Today I went to Our Lady of the Wayside for mass. It was lovely to hear the singing. The beautiful harmonies – often unaccompanied, and the volume from the whole congregation is a joy. I took the chance to bring a bible from Truckers and marked the readings before mass. I thought I was going to be anonymous - even though there was no other white face in the church! However, right at the end of mass the priest apologised for nearly forgetting to welcome me.

I met a few more friends after mass. Obert's father told me that Obert's wife gave birth to a baby boy this morning!!

I had not intended to go to st Veronica's Small Christian Community meeting today because with temperatures in the thirties – it hit 37 yesterday! - I don't want to do too much – at least until I am better acclimatised. In the event there was no meeting today.

I have had a lazy day doing a little family history research on the computer, chatting to Dilys and spending time in the garden.

Chris

The Journey

 

My bus was scheduled for12 noon from Cheltenham.

I decided that I had plenty of time to go to mass before setting off. The church I go to most frequently now is Sacred Heart's church in Charlton Kings – about 2 miles from my house. There is a pleasant walk which takes me through Cox's Meadow - an open space which was developed a few years back to provide a water catchment area to prevent local flooding.

The weather has been remarkably warm for October – with temperatures in the low 20s – I would soon be experiencing such low temperatures only in the middle of the night! My walk was very pleasant and I arrived at church feeling refreshed. It was great to be greeted at church by my good friends Mary and Dominic.

We had the Gospel reading about Mary and Martha. Fr. Mark concentrated on the fact that Mary was worrying about so many things. This resonated with me. Particularly since Covid, I find myself stressing about the most trivial things. I was about to travel 5,000 miles where there would many potential challenges!

Dilys picked me up after mass and before long I was at the bus station. (The car started, no flat tyres etc.!!!) We arrived at Heathrow on time after an uneventful journey. My plane wasn't due to take off for 4 hrs so I had plenty of time. The first job was to transfer to terminal 4.

As I headed for the lift a young lady was a bit confused as to how to get to terminal 4. I suggested that she came along with me as I was heading there myself. The process is quite straightforward – if you have done it several times, have no problem with the English language and can cope with limited signing! I don't think the lady was sure that I knew what I was doing, but she continued to follow my lead as we wended our way towards the Heathrow Express. I picked up some tickets and we took the train to terminal 4. She was heading back to Tunisia and the check in desks were in area E as were those for Kenya Airways. Feeling rather proud of myself I took her into the queue for Kenya Airways!! Fortunately I realised very soon that there was a barrier between the two sets of check-in desks and was able to guide her back into the correct queue.

I really believe that the Lord is behind my work in Zambia, like Mary I worry about so much. He tries to teach me that most issues are trivial or can easily be overcome – there were many examples as I filled my cases before the trip, such as items that I needed but didn't have time to buy which just appeared in front of me at the appropriate time. In the best times my relationship with God is one where there are plenty of jokes and laughter. I am regularly brought down to earth when my head gets too big!!

Check in was straightforward except that I was told to take my soft bag to another conveyor belt which I was told was very fast! It seemd that this belt was specifically for oversized items. I think that the way I packed my bag made it wider than normal! Anyway the bag vanished without a problem!!

As usual new boarding passes were printed despite me printing some at home. Security was straightforward, though I felt the need to go back to make sure that I hadn't left anything in my tray. I sat down and checked that I had my passport and boarding card only to realise that somehow I had lost my boarding card! I could only think that, despite checking, it must have been left at security in the tray. The security officer hadn't seen it, but said that they would print another card at the boarding gate.

Of course there was no problem and I relaxed once I knew that it could be easily resolved. My flight to Nairobi set off at about 6.30pm as scheduled. I had an aisle seat since there was little to see during the night and I was able to get up and down without disturbing anyone. I tried to dose a little but with breakfast at 1.30/2.00 am BST there is little chance of sleep. We touched down at 5 am (3 am BST)

On the flight to Lusaka I had booked a window seat. I felt bad asking a lady to move so that I could have my seat. I explained that I was hoping to see Kilimanjaro. I had judged correctly and was on the correct side of the plane . As we approached Kilimanjaro – not long into the journey - the sky was completely covered with cloud. However, the peaks in the Kilimanjao range emerged beyond the clouds providing a spectacular and memorable view.

We arrived at Lusaka on time at 9 am. With the new terminal, extra staff and equipment I was through immigration and customs and out of the airport building before 9.30. A taxi driver was waiting for me and yes the price had gone up to K600 – a little under £25.

I approached the Intercity Bus Station with trepidation, but before we could turn in, a guy put his head through the driver's window and said “Shalom to Livingstone” – exactly what I wanted. We easily kept other offers at bay. I asked what time the next bus left – it was almost 10.30 am - and was told 12.30. I agreed, but another guy said that the 9.30 Shalom bus was just about to leave if I was ready. Before I knew it the cases were on their way to the bus and I had my ticket. We left just after 10.30am!!

Other than having to sit next to a guy who hardly fitted on the two seats leaving me less than half a seat!! the journey was uneventful. Despite greatly improved roads it still took us 4 hrs to reach Monze. However getting to Monze at 2.30pm must be a record.!!

Chris

My preparations for my next visit are well underway. I will be setting off for Monze on Tuesday - 20 years after my first visit. In 2003 British Airways ran direct flights to Lusaka, now I have to make at least one stop enroute. I will therefore fly to Nairobi Tuesday night and continue to Lusaka on Wednesday morning. I catch a taxi from the airport – there are no buses available. The drivers have a set price, so haggling no longer works! On recent trips the price has been K500 – about £20 at current rates. (it's always cheaper in the other direction!)

I don't look forward to catching a bus at the international bus station in Lusaka. My taxi gets surrounded by people wanting to guide me to particular buses – most of which are going “now now” . This means that the bus will leave when it is full – which could be in 3 or 4 hours time. There seems only to be one company which keeps roughly to a schedule, but it is a fight refusing other offers.

With luck I will get to Monze before dark – probably about 30hours after leaving home!

In two days – on Saturday – my son Andy is doing a solo parachute jump to help launch the new charity we have to fund PIZZ School. Donations can be made using this link.

https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/ParachuteJump4Pizz?utm_id=1&utm_term=bnYrpNB9d

Best wishes,

Chris