Kids

On the weekend we travelled to Buhera, a rural region south of Harare. It was wonderful to dip into rural African life. We were welcomed into Kumusha (a Shona understanding of a real home) and were treated to feasting and living with the Tadzeushe family. The Tadzeushes are Lembas, an ethnic group with Jewish heritage (you can look it up, it's incredible), who showed us amazing hospitality. While we were staying in Buhera one of the goats had twins and our kids adored her kids.

The drought in Zimbabwe has hit families incredibly hard and the reality was in sharp focus in Buhera. Failed crops, family members moving to find work and a much simpler life were all around. The patience and strength of Zimbaweans, surviving and even thriving, is beyond my understanding.

On Monday we made the nine hour trek back home. When we finally reached Harare we had cargo that included three Maynard sisters, a trussed-up chook, two goats (one alive, one not (much to Abbey's disgust)) and sacks and sacks of farm produce.

Kamikaze Chameleon

Abbey was playing on the rocks recently when this delightful creature fell from the tree above her and landed with a 'Thud!' on the rocks behind her. Abbey thought the chameleon's GPS was on the blink so she ushered it back up the tree. A short time later she returned to the rocks and heard a familiar 'Thud'. The chameleon had made a second attempt to crash tackle Abbey but missed. We chatted with him for a while then relocated him to a shorter tree with no rocks below! 

Fresh Cut Grass

Yesterday as I began teaching the girls I was very aware that two ladies outside our home were also beginning their working day. The ladies were using hand scythes to trim the grass between our building and the next. Bent over, they would take a handful of grass and cut it through. This was repeated.

During the day I read with the girls, took them to morning tea, did a science experiment, took them to watch an athletics carnival and we cooked pikelets together. We definitely enjoyed our balanced diet of activities for the day but I found it hard to reconcile it with the hard, repetitive work of our friends outside. While we were flitting from one thing to another they would pause, straighten up, beam and greet us warmly. Afterwards they would return to cutting.

As we finished our day of learning the ladies also packed up to head home. It was pretty confronting to sit our day of activities alongside their full day working hard in the sun. More confronting still to think that the mower I use at home would achieve the same acreage as these two hard-working ladies in less than five minutes.

We were expecting these sorts of contrasts in Zimbabwe but it still gives me a jolt. In fact I still get plenty of jolts per day.

At last...we spotted one!

Feathers

On Saturday we went looking for birds near the driveway. We saw yellow finches and blue finches and many other cute birds. There also was a little bird with a red stripe on its belly and a hooked beak. It was amazing. This morning I saw a giant grey bird with a very long neck. It was funny. It was taller than Bridie. I also saw another funny bird I called it a singlet bird (see picture) because it looked like it was wearing a singlet!

Running, Driving, Smoking

Hi!
Recently there was a sports carnival, and it was great!! There was amazingly fast running, and five schools came, each in their own broken, smoking bus. They all were leaning out the windows, whacking the side of the bus and singing at the tops of their lungs. One kid who was running had had a motorbike accident the week before, and he was running like a wounded elephant, but he was winning! But then the teachers pulled him out of the race. Actually, the disputes were more interesting than the races. When the race ended, a whole crowd of people started yelling at each other!! It was crazy! No one was hurt but the arguments were lively and hilarious.

Later, I went and played in the only car faster than Reverend's Hilux. The trough! Eddie ( The little dude grinning his head off) is an amazing "driver" and he is also a policeman with a "gun". It is so cute to see him "driving" using a stick as a steering wheel.
A few days ago there was a fire in one of the houses and all Eddie's clothes, toys and shoes are burnt up now. He was really sad. It was kind of scary. Mr. Hunda came sprinting into our house and borrowed our fire extinguisher and sprinted off. Dad grabbed our other fire extinguisher and sprinted off too. I wondered what was going on and followed them. When we got there, smoke was pouring out of the windows and Mr. Hunda went in and extinguished the fire.

Abbey

African Kindy

We went to the Early Childhood Development Centre (EDC) and played with the kids. It is like an African kindergarten and the kids looked so cute. I could hear them chattering in Shona, but I couldn’t understand them. Edie was adorable, and when we went in he yelled “Marungu, Marungu!” then “Guitari! Guitari!”. Suddenly, all the kids came up and patted the guitar. After that we played on the equipment and sang ‘Hop little bunnies’, ‘Old Macdonald’ and ‘Zoo’. When we sang ‘Hop little bunnies’ they hopped so hard that all the dust in the carpet was stirred up and it was hard to see without getting something in your eye. You can see the children being 'bunnies' in the picture (see if you can spot Bridie and I!). We are going to the EDC every Thursday and I can’t wait to go again.

Abbey