April Adventure

Saturday, 14th

On the way back from the missionary retreat in Zimbabwe, we welcomed Sara at the Livingstone airport at 12:20 and had an uneventful trip back to Choma.  It’s good to have this much of the family together for a while.

Sunday 15th Macha

Sara’s first visit to Macha where her great grandfather and great grandmother, Myron and Adda Taylor, met and were married in 1911.  Great message at the Macha church by Pastor Mafelomale, lunch with the Books, dinner with the Thumas and overnight with John Spurrier who also took us through the Macha Hospital.

Monday 16th Macha

Fine tour of the Malaria Research Institute.  The work and commitment of these people is incredible.   

How many of us would put our arm in a mosquito-filled cage and donate our blood to these little devils for the purpose of research?  It’s done regularly here. 

Wednesday 18th Lochnivar National Park

Early start to the park for an overnight bird-watching trip in an area that is noted for its variety of birds. We made good time as far as Monze but then the dirt road to Namwala was terrible and we had 25km to travel.  Imagine our delight when at 14km we saw a sign to Lochnivar. Heading off in that direction it wasn’t long until that road began to deteriorate.  Yes, we were told, you’re heading in the right direction. 

 But when things got worse and the answers to our questions providing less assurance than before, we finally turned around and continued the full distance to the stated turn-off and then another 18km over much better road but stretches under construction which made for some interesting driving.  

Arriving at the Park entrance we spent half an hour while the officers decided what our rates should be and copying all the information down twice for the receipts.  Then we were informed that they didn’t have any maps of the park so he gave verbal directions for the main road all the way to the lake where we planned to camp - 21 more kilometers!

Finally at the lake we were greeted by a vast expanse of water - as far as the eye could see and around its edges the greatest variety of birds we’ve seen anywhere.   

 

The rest of the afternoon was spent walking the edges and identifying one new bird after another. Then back to the van which was our “camper” for the night.  As we were making supper, Sara spotted a Hippo watching us from the lake.  

 It never came out, but we did keep a watchful eye knowing they were around.

Thursday, 19th Lochnivar National Park

While cooking our traditional pancake breakfast, a flotilla of large, fiberlass canoes powered by one outboard engine came ashore and unloaded a large number of people and crates of fish.  

 Before long more canoes arrived with more fish, then trucks and a bus arrived.  Here we had stumbled upon the twice weekly voyage across the lake in order to send fish to market and to buy goods or catch a bus.   That pretty well ended the bird watching in the area so we drove to some other spots along the lake and continued to enjoy the scenery and the variety of birds.

Saturday, 21st

We Skype with Tim, Jess and Kyden while they are all getting haircuts at Jen’s in Etown. 

Kyden did great for his first haircut and a good time was had by all.
Photo by Tim Wingert

Monday 23

Busy packing for our Zimbabwe trip so we went to the PB Lite restaurant at the Choma Museum for dinner but the electricity went off just as we were arriving.  No problem, they said, because they also cook with gas.  They did, however, borrow our headlamp to prepare our meals which were superb.

Tuesday,  24th

Left at daybreak to give us plenty of time crossing the borders and enjoying the Zimbabwe side of the Falls.  As we came onto the Victoria Falls Bridge, we took note of the sign which said, “No Stopping On the Bridge” which we were careful to observe even as we went quite slowly in order to enjoy the view.  Apparently not fast enough, for the next thing we knew we were confronted by an armed officer who demanded to see Gene’s license, then instructed us to park on the far side and walk back. He accused Gene of stopping but then accepted his word that we saw the sign and were only moving slowing to enjoy the great view.

Amadeus Gardens provided a wonderful, relaxed setting  and after unpacking for the night we headed off to the Falls.   

We stood amazed at the Devil’s Cataract cascading in massive waves just before plunging over the brink to the bottomless abyss. (We could never see more than about halfway to the bottom due to the incredible mist.) The half mile path through a true rainforest provided occasional good glimpses of the falls, 

almost always attended by a rainbow, 

  and also gave us good soaking.

On our way back to Amadeus, having taken a detour to get around a parked train, Sara suddenly said, “There’s an elephant!”  We stopped, backed up a bit and, sure enough, there it was right along the side of the road. 

Back at Amadeus we ordered dinners of chicken, steak and Zambezi bream and split them among the three of us.  Delicious.

Wednesday, 25th Bulawayo

Early start Wednesday for Bulawayo - four and a half hours away.  The trip was uneventful even with 3 police stops and lots of monkeys on the road. We found ourselves into center city with no problem and were immediately impressed with the orderliness of traffic flow and the respect which pedestrians give to vehicles - neither of which exist in Choma where new traffic patterns are invented everyday.

 

Down memory lane to the Baptist Church where Gene attended services while at boarding school, then to the large swimming pool, Milton Junior where he boarded, and Coghlan where his sister Lois attended.

Milton Junior School

Coghlan

Then we headed  off to check in with Jake Shenk.  On our way there we pulled to the side of the road to check our directions and upon starting off again there was a horrible bang, the car lurched and we came to a sudden stop.  Here we had driven up over a 16” concrete pylon - the last in a row at the side of the road.

It was lodged firmly under the car and we could neither move forward nor backwards without fear of damaging something.  A call to Jake, just a few blocks away, brought him and a helper with pick and shovel to dig out the obstruction.  We finally had to jack up the car in order to get enough room to remove it. Other than a bent protective plate over the fuel line (!), everything was OK. After lunch it was off to the Theological College of Zimbabwe and Youngways Guest House. We tried, unsucessfully, to find the old YWCA, but did manage to get to the very familiar Bulawayo Railroad Station.

We spent a delightful evening with Jake and Nancy, sans electricity, surrounded by almost every species of game that can be found in Zimbabwe - a testimony to Jake’s passion for hunting.

Thursday 26th Matopo

In the morning it was off to the Matopos park and Rhodes Grave at Worlds View.

 

We saw only some monkeys and hippos as far as animals are concerned, but we reveled in the incredible beauty and variety of the Matopos kopjes - from giant monoliths to fantastically balanced boulders on top of massive rock piles.

Arriving  at Matopo Mission we first stopped at Rock View which used to be the bishop’s residence and where we spent our first night in “Southern Rhodesia” in 1949.

When we went to check-in for the night we learned that they were expecting us to be there only for a day visit and then head on to Mtshabezi for the night.  Nevertheless, Mrs. Knight, a teacher at the school, lodged us in the home of a teacher who was away in Bulawayo.  On entering the house we found ants by the millions, food left in the dining room, half-spilled bags of corn meal on the floor and a room offered to Sara that had a mattress on the floor and about half the room filled with ears of maize.  Gene took a look in the kitchen and forbade Sara and Darlene from entering.

Leaving the house for a while, we toured various houses, the old church and the Bell Rock where Gene was able to find the same handholds he used to employ to get to the top.

But this was as far as he went this time.

(No, he's not standing on the rail. It's just the camera angle)

We cooked dinner on the back of the Isuzu, fixed up a bed using a complete set of bedding which we had packed for emergencies such as this, and Sara attempted to sleep on a sofa.

Friday 27th Mtshabezi

When morning arrived we were more than happy to be up and away after  breakfast, again on the back of the Isuzu. However, we learned that a young man, Sitje, wanted to go with us to Mtshabezi Hospital.  We had met him the previous evening and he tended to talk a lot, seemed to be a bit disconnected in some ways, and we envisioned a difficult journey.

Well, it turned out to be absolutely wonderful. He had enough English to point out things along the way, answer questions, offer commentary on places and people but never obnoxious.  He was thoroughly delightful and we were grateful for his company.

The drive from Matopo to Mtshabezi is one of a kind.  When the road was first proposed by the missionaries, government officials said it couldn’t be done - and one can easily see why.

At many points the road is literally on granite slabs, particularly at the “escarpment” where the road drops down several hundred feet.  Very careful driving is mandatory.

But the challenges of the road were more than made up for by the scenery - more Matopos kopjes in never ending variety of shape, size and color.

We stopped at a large cave with some excellent “bushman paintings” and then Gene and Sara climbed to the top of the enormous monolith while Darlene relaxed with some reading and Sitje took a nap.

Arriving at Mtshabezi we dropped a grateful Sitje off at the hospital and drove to the mission site,

past the doctor’s house, past the “outstation” house in which we used to live and on to the main mission where, again, Gene pointed out former haunts and homes from his earlier days there.

These included the shops, main station house, our first home at Mtshabezi and the old church.  We drove down to the bridge across the river which used to be the main road onto the mission and were surprised just how much sand had filled in beneath it.

Then it was on to the Ekuphileni Bible Institute where we met the newly appointed administrator, Mr. M.T. Ncube, were given an excellent tour, a good supper  including butternut squash, rice, potato salad & cabbage salad, chicken, and beef. We then found our rooms and bedded down for a most comfortable night.

Saturday, 28th

In the morning we were treated to a breakfast, specially prepared for us, at the Secondary School and after some more hiking around, headed off to Wanezi by way of Mbabala and Filabusi.

On our way we noticed the old “strip road” running along side the newer full width tarmac. We were glad for the change!

At Wanezi we immediately drove down towards the dam and found a shady place on a rock outcropping for our picnic lunch. We then headed back up to station complex and found Gene’s  first home at Wanezi in 1949.

 He remembers arriving there after dark to an unfinished and unfurnished house and simply sleeping on the floor.  We were then privileged to  have a tour inside the main mission house which was much smaller than what memory provides.

We then checked in with Patience Manzini, the overseer’s wife who made us feel very at home and the accommodations were excellent.  Others joined us for dinner (and breakfast) including Pastor Ncube and wife, deacon Moyo and wife and Stephen who manages the complex water treatment facilities at Wanezi.  Sleep was sweet.

Sunday, 29th

After breakfast,  Patience got out some hymnals and wanted to sing.  We sang two songs then she asked “Which one should we sing?” That’s when we caught on that she wanted us to sing in church!

We eventually settled on “O God You Are My God” with Sara doing signing.  Attendance was very small in church since students were away.  There is very little community outreach on the part of the church because the farm is large and the only  people who are close enough to come to church are workers on the Wanezi farm or students.

Following another fine meal at Manzini’s we were on our way back to Bulawayo. We encountered several police checks but no problems at all. Jake and Nancy’s son,Doug, came to the house to let us in.  We stowed our gear then went out to Pizza Inn and had pizza and ice cream.

Monday 30th Livingstone and Victoria Falls, Zambia

Long drive back to Zambia. Again, several police checks but no problems on the road or at the border crossings. Arriving at the Zambia side of the Falls around 3:30, we had plenty of time to view the spectacular mists, water, rainbows - all to the constant thunder of tons of water falling a long, long way.

 Many more Victoria Falls photos on Sara's facebook page

Sara and Gene went down to the Boiling Pot while Darlene  hung out at the top. We were welcomed at Chantors Guest House by all of the staff who helped us settle in comfortably, and, as ususal, provided a good dinner.

Tuesday (Labor Day)

Picked up some gifts and postcards in Livingstone then drove to the airport where Sara
boarded the familiar SA49 for Johannesburg and we came back to Choma.  The next day we learned that Sara also had a safe journey home.

Thus ends another family adventure.  We’re just sorry that Tim, Jess and Kyden could not have been with us, but that will have to wait for another, very much anticipated, time. 

The Nicest Little Outhouse in Zambia*

*Until proven otherwise and we welcome challengers!

 

 

In addition to our work with finances and the guest  house, there are some surprising opportunities to share ideas that will enhance the lives of people here.  One of them is our model “composting toilet.” 

We started out on this project because of the unreliable water supply to the Guest House.  If water is off, we have our own backup supply and we can carry from the hand-pump not too far from the house.  But providing water for the Guest House - particularly for flush toilets would be a problem and there was no adequate outside latrine that could be used.

In our orchard stood a small, dilapidated building about the size and design of a pit latrine but it was being used for junk storage. 

However, it was apparent that if cleaned up a bit it could be restored for use.  So we went to work removing the junk and having the walls re-plastered inside and out, painted and a functional toilet seat installed.

While we were working on this project, Ron Herr shared a concept for the re-cycling of human waste called “Humanure.”

Now the proper disposal of human waste is a major issue in both urban and rural settings and there a a number of governmental and NGO efforts at educating people on these issues. ( “One Family One Toilet” is a take-off on the national slogan “One Zambia, http://humanurehandbook.com/manual.html One Nation.)  The “Humanure” concept involves the sanitary collection, transport and composting of human waste with an added benefit that the pit latrine does not smell (come and check ours out sometime and  you will see - it’s true).

Here’s how it works.  Instead of a pit dug in the ground, there is a 20 litre (5 gal) plastic pail under the seat.  

 Whenever the toilet is used, the user throws two handfuls of crushed, dry leaves or grass (of which we have plenty) down the hatch.  This adds carbon to the waste and begins the process of making compost of human waste.  This also reduces - practically eliminates - any unpleasant odor.  (We have experimented with putting Eucalyptus leaves in the bin to actually add a sweet odor.)

When the pail is nearly full, it is removed and the contents dumped on the compost pile which accumulates, produces heat and ultimately destroys pathogens making the resulting compost safe to use for fertilizing.

Aside from the building itself, we have attempted to use materials which are readily available to rural, village folk.  The compost bin is constructed of 4 live Jatrophia trees at each of the corners.  This is done instead of using wooden poles which would be quickly consumed by termites.

Horizontal sticks are placed on the inside of the trees, log-cabin style as the compost pile builds.  They can easily be removed a year from now when it is time to empty the bin and put the compost to work in the garden. (Yes, it's quite safe by now). Leaves are readily available in the bush and a couple of 20 liter pails are easily acquired.

This has been a wonderful asset to the guest house and from time to time we have opportunity to show this off to visitors and encourage their use of the concept and give them a handout from the Humanure project (Joseph Jenkins, Inc., 143 Forest lane, Grove City, PA 16127 USA; www.josephjenkins.com.).

You can read more about the Humanure concept by visiting their website at http://humanurehandbook.com/manual.html