Hey ho.
Well this has been another incredible week, so much going on, but loving it all. It’s going so quickly! We didn’t have water yesterday, so had to adopt the bucket flush system, which is always nice. But it’s back on today.
At the beginning of the trip we decided to set a date each month where we should go out and treat ourselves. That day is today! Woo hoo. We’re in Sakubva all day but this evening we’re venturing out to an African imitation of Nandos, one of my most favorite places to eat. I know it’s going to be different, maybe not too great, but it’l still be a nice change. We’re celebrating Jennifers (a girl in my team) 3 year anniversary with her boyfriend, and mine and Josh’s 1 year and 1 month. We spotted a really dodgy old school cinema in town as well, so we’re going to watch a film afterwards as well. It’s the equivalent of 50p to go, and we’re gonna watch ‘deep blue sea’, a film that was out about four years ago apparently!! Ha ha. Some things are so cheap out here, and other things are just ridiculously expensive. For example I went to buy a roll on deodorant yesterday, and the cheapest was 6 squid! How crazy. I’m just going to have to smell. Four showers a day for me!
Last Friday was really good, kids club went well (it’s called Animal Kingdom), and so did Bushwackers (straight after for 10-13 year olds). They’re a bit of a handful, but it’s good to take on a challenge! We’ve definitely noticed a huge difference between doing the white kids work and the black kids work. All the kids are great, but the kids in sakubva and places get so much more excited and involved. Both groups are needy though. Youth was after that, and that was great. I’m now coordinating the worship for that, which is quality. It went really well, and they’re so grateful as youth has really been struggling recently with stuff like that. So I’ll be in charge of worship every week.
Saturday was day off, so we just chilled out, no dips into the lake this week. We had a brie in the evening (a bar b q basically). That was lush – probably the best steak I’ve ever had. I savored every moment. It’s funny, sometimes you get really great English style food, and other times you’re feasting on Sadza and cabbage all week! It’s bizarre. Sadza is basically thick cold stodgy porridge stuff. Not that great but pretty substantial. It was a good night, really relaxed which was nice after a busy week.
Monday was really cool. We were at Fairhill orphanage, and the guy asked us to paint the swings and play stuff that was just outside. It’s really old rusty stuff, so we had to sand it all down and give it a nice white wash! Unfortunately all the paint he had was white and pale green, so currently it’s looking pretty clinical! We’re going to see if we can get some other colours, to make it a little more welcoming. We gave them some money to buy some cement today to actually fix these swings into the ground. They were pretty chuffed.
It was the Downs syndrome school as per Monday afternoon. That was great. I’m loving that so much now, I reckon it’ll be so sad to leave those guys. Quite a lot of them board at the school, which finishes at 1 each day, so they’re left on their own for the rest of each day, with an occasional check up from some workers. Last week we walked in and they were absolutely running riot, with Francis pulling all the kids clothes off and shouting at the top of the voice. Its just great spending time with them, they definitely haven’t seen love in a while.
Tuesday was cool, we were with Simukai. That’s a really great day as well. We play loads of games with the ex-street kids. It’s really exciting to see them stabilized, and know that they’re being taken care of. It’s a right mission playing a couple of hours of bench ball and stuff when it’s hitting the late 30’s in temp! I can’t quite get my head round the fact that you’re all so cold. I’m not rubbing it in – I actually miss being wrapped up in big jumpers and scarves. It’s really tough in this heat – as I mentioned before, October is called suicide month. I’ve now read into that a bit, and apparently the rate of people committing suicide out here increased during this month, because the extreme heat just added to their problems and things just got too much I guess. Don’t worry – I’m not near that stage yet.
We’re still only seeing the occasional insect, which is nice. Still no sign of mosquitos though, haven’t seen one yet. We keep getting told that they’re definitely on their way with the rains though. Last night Jenny (the girl I’m sharing a room with) walked in to see a gecko just chilling out on her mosquito net! How cute. It soon scurried onto the wall and down by the bed though. They’re harmless. We wondered why the beds were sitting a couple of inches away from the walls when we moved in, but we now know why. You have to give the geckos and wall spiders room to move!
So that’s about it for now. I hope everyone is doing good. Just to let you know, as far as we know the post strike is still on, but we keep getting told that its off when its actually not. So we’re going to try and find out for sure, and I’ll let you know ASAP when it’s safe to send post again. If anyone would like my address, either email me or ask Josh or someone. My mobile is working fine now, if anyone wanted to txt. I just have to reply on a different number, but there’s no problem texting my usual number. That’s not a hint, just a suggestion! It’s just a bit tough when you’re not getting any post through! Hopefully it’ll start moving soon.
Well take care everyone, don’t do anything stupid like freeze over or something.
Love you all, miss you,
Rebecca x