SunnyMoney sends
field teams to schools in rural areas to sell solar lights. We have our own vehicles but one of them in
particular, the 'White Bus', has seen better days and chose my final week to
break down in Ndola. Not only did the bus contain a load of unsold
solar lights it also contained a new recruit, someone who'd only joined the
team that Monday. Needless to say,
stranding her in Ndola was not what we'd planned
for the induction so we set about finding a way of getting the team and
products home to Lusaka.
We managed to
call in a few favours with our local mechanic, Baldys, and one of his team set
off at 4am the next morning to collect the van and team - not quite AA service
but very good for Zambia. The added
twist to this challenge was our Operations Director, Sarah, was on vacation in Canada so we
had no means of accessing funds to pay for any help, hence the use of a
friendly mechanic who thankfully agreed for us to pay later - phew! It may seem an easy task typed up here but
believe me, solving this little incident took up a good 2 days of our time.
After all that
stress, I had a final Nshima lunch (Musonda cooked my favourite relish -
sausage) with Karla's cakes for dessert (choc brownies and lemon shortcake -
yum yum) and went home to pack for a week's R&R in Livingstone.
As I flew into
Livingstone the following morning I was greeted with a very different view to
my previous visit. Since the rainy
season had passed, gone was the towering wall of spray visible from the air,
making the falls alot less prominent on the horizon. I was picked up by the friendly and reliable
Jollyboys crew and within the hour was lounging by the pool in the afternoon
sun - perfect!
I had made no
plans for Livingstone this time as I had covered alot in my previous visit and
was really only there to wind down before the journey home to England. However, I did a few activities on and off
land, including a 5 star breakfast on Livingstone Island
which was now open.
It was quite a
treat and, despite my vertigo, I managed to stand right on the edge of the
falls for a spectacular view of the water cascading down.
On the way back
on the jet boat I saw elephants wading across the top of the falls which was
truly breathtaking. Unfortunately I
couldn't catch it on camera as we were whizzing along in the water at the time
but the image is etched into my brain.
I was also lucky
enough to have a Game Drive
on my own which allowed me to practice my photography unrushed in the late
afternoon sun. Here are a few of my favourites:
One of the less
appealing things I saw in Livingstone was the Jollyboys cat picking up a pretty
sizeable lizard in it's jaw, chomping off and eating its tail and then spitting
out the body to let it flail about on the concrete. Yuk!!
You can tell
it's now time to go home as the Winter has really set in. I had to take my hat off to the optimistic
American girls at Jollyboys who, despite it being Winter and very cold in the
morning, were sitting in bikinis around the pool at 8am, wrapped up in wool
blankets. Every time the sun tried to
pop out and add some warmth they would whip off the blankets, cream up and try
and soak it up for the whole ten minutes until it popped behind a cloud again
:)
This is in stark
contrast to Donna at the Dutch Reformed Church who has been wearing a woolly
hat, gloves and 2 jumpers for the past month claiming it's perishing. You can
tell the locals think it's cold as the ice cream man has disappeared. He used to walk through the streets of Rhodes Park
with a fridge on wheels, ringing a hand bell, waiting for children to run out
from their compounds and buy his Parmalat ice cream but I suspect he's now
switched to selling hot water bottles and thermals at the traffic lights!!
Now as I sit
here reflecting on my time in Zambia
I feel very privileged to have experienced so much. The work's been hard and challenging but the
people have been brilliant and the sun's heat, well I wish I could take that
home in a bottle. However, the top 5 things
I'm looking forward to about home are:
1. Seeing my
Nephew Noah who apparently is outgrowing his clothes rapidly
2. Catching a London bus and having
space to breathe and a soft seat rather than a wooden bench under my bum with
my cheek pressed to the minibus window and my head glued to the roof
3. Having a long
hot soak in my bath
4. Walking
barefoot around my flat on squishy cream carpets rather than dusty floors
5. Having a
dishwasher for the cooking pots
I have loads of
things planned for my time in London....Wimbledon, The PROMs, BBC Audience tickets to radio
recordings, teaching Noah to swim, rundle spundles with my sis and Noah, Mum's
birthday celebrations.......
However, I've
only got 5 weeks before I head off again, this time for Asia
madness. I'll posting from London about my prep for
that little adventure so see you soon folks!
