Day 39 - The First Farewell For The Lollypop Bandits

Today was a really miserable day with poor weather and our first farewell for the trip (with many more still to come).

Devine and I

The other half of the Addison crew arrived sometime in the last couple of days and today they all wanted to go out to Willow Park and see what the SJC is all about.  We left fairly early as we also needed to do some shopping afterwards.

We arrived at Willow Park at about 10ish and went straight to the see the babies downstairs.  As usual, the kids jumped on us as we walked in though the doors and were all full of smiles and giggles.  The Addison crew had the chance to take lots of photos during the hour that we were there (it felt like much less).

Before we went upstairs, Auntie Deb gave the other guys a quick pep-talk about what the SJC is, the sort of situations that the girls are from and what was going to happen when they went upstairs.  Going upstairs, the girls sung Kumbayah and played Hakuna Wakaita on the guitars.

We've been here for almost five weeks now and tomorrow we leave for a two week holiday up north at Victoria Falls.  Because of the timing of our trip and the starting date for school next year, today was the last day with the girls going to boarding school next year.  One of those girls was Devine, my adopted sister.  Saying goodbye was hard...really hard, and this was just one goodbye with many more to come in a few weeks.

The front of Hotel Rio

After we left Willow Park we stopped by Hotel Rio to see where the SJC want to be.  Hotel Rio is a hotel that is closing up because of the lack of people staying there.  It has not been doing well financially because when the new highway was built 15 years ago, people stopped driving past the hotel and thus stopped staying there.  The hotel is estimated to cost USD500,000 and is in a 'walk in' condition with furniture, linen, kitchenware, etc all included.  The benefit of owning the hotel is that they would have more space compared to Willow Park, everyone would be able to stay on-site and the SJC would be able to start putting programs in place to begin generating income for themselves.

Our supplies for the next two weeks

Leaving Hotel Rio we headed into town to fix a puncture (again), visit the bank and buy some lollypops (a.k.a. suckers).  We visited four people sitting on the street corner that were selling suckers.  At R1 each, we purchased every sucker that the four had with them - 138 in total.

We endeavor to keep the blog going over the next couple of weeks, however if we can't get mobile reception, please forgive us for our silence.

Thanks for reading,



Alex

Day 38 – Our American guest

So the Three Musketeers (As we have been referred to by some people in Bulawayo) have always wanted to take a few youth from Bulawayo Baptist to go see the kids at Sandra Jones Centre and today was that day. Elyse, from America, who we met at church agreed to come with us and spend some time with the kids.

We agreed to pick up Elyse in town and while we were waiting, I took a wander to buy some lollies. I found a lady selling lollipops (or ‘suckers’ as they call it here) for 12.5c each. 30 Rands later (just under $4USD) and we had plenty of sweets. We nearly bought out her entire stock after we found out how cheap her lollies were. We met up with Elyse and headed to Willow Park to see the little ones and the girls.

Firstly, we hung out with the little ones and played Frisbee, but the kids were more interested in Elyse’s tattoo on her arm. After a few hours of playing we headed up top to see the older girls and introduce them to our guest. With all the lollies that we bought, we scattered them throughout the area and had a scavenger hunt. All the kids got involved, even Gogo Rhoda.

Before we had Sadza and beans for lunch, we introduced Elyse to some games that the kids played such as 'Tap the brick' and a dancing game. We had planned to do a hike up the mountain but unfortunately the weather was not in our favour as it started to drizzle for the rest of the day. So we had to entertain ourselves and that mainly consisted of the kids stealing our thongs and having to chase them to get them back. 

There's not much else to report, today was pretty much a chilled hang-out day with the kids and our American guest.

thanks again for following us

jonno

L-R: Andy, Thando,Elyse, David, Nokubonga, Lisa, Aldo,Sarah, Luba

The kids posing for a photo[

Elyse and Evelyn

Alex wrestling the kids

Hairstyling

Buying candy from the lady

Day 37 - The day of the Nesquik porridge

Jonno mixing his porridge

Well, we survived our night out in the pitch black wilderness of Willow Park. Alex was in his element and slept like a log. Jonno and I didn't get a good night's sleep...I don't know what his excuse was but I forgot my pillow and although I had a sheet and towel replacement it didn't really make the cut and my neck was angry at me for the rest of the day. 

Enjoying the strawberry nesquick porridge

We headed up the hill and after the stomach lining of the cow was for dinner the night before I was doing a lot of questioning in my head to what we were in for at breakfast. On the menu was porridge. This is not the typical porridge you would see at home. Bernice poured a cup of dry powder on my plate and I didn't know if it was a joke or what. I kept moving on in the line and my dry powder was quickly joined with a cup of hot water. I turned and saw Alex mixing his plate and quickly caught on the I needed to mix my water and nesquik like powder together to make the porridge. I don't know if it was my mixing skills or what but the porridge tasted good! If I had to explain it was like strawberry nesquik flavoured sadza. We also had two BIG watermelons left over from the Christmas party so we took one out for morning tea. Well, like the Christmas party the eating of watermelon quickly turned into another big watermelon fight where Jonno and I came off second best. 

Kimberley and Memory feeding Jonno watermelon

Today was also Lisa's 16th birthday. For all of you committed blog readers out there you would know from previous blogs of the birthday tradition out at SJC. The birthday girl is drenched in buckets of very dirty water from the rest of the girls. Lisa did everything she could to avoid it. From jumping out her window and running to the babies home to walking around holding a little baby as an insurance policy to stop the tradition. Well, she didn't succeed...The baby was removed from her arms and she gave up from running being rewarded with buckets of water mixed with grass, dirt and anything else that could be found. 

Lisa's first birthday present

After Lisa washed herself off we headed home where she was spoilt with gifts that didn't involve buckets of dirty water being thrown on her. Lisa said this has been the best birthday she has had so far. After a bit more of a slow paced afternoon we headed of to the Wawn's for a bri (barbecue). After some tennis, pool, table tennis and soccer we were all pretty hungry and ready for dinner. The food was seriously amazing and I'm pretty sure we all left there a few kilo's heavier. 

Our trip is almost over, which is hard to believe. With under 4 weeks to go our time in Zim has flown and is quickly passing by. We've done so much but at the same time it feels like so little. Thanks so much for being a part of our journey through the blog. You've stuck by us for so long now, don't stop now! 

Andy 

Day 36

Apologies for the late blog but rest assured, there is a very good reason for it.  We spent the night at Willow Park where the Internet is non-existent.

We spend the morning yesterday packing for our overnight trip to Willow Park.  We planned to put a movie on the big screen, which meant that we needed to pack glowsticks, laptops, projector, popcorn and cake (it was Kudzai's birthday on Sunday and Lisa's today).

It had been arranged with the Scorziells' that we could use their speakers for the movie in exchange for some IT help.  As an added bonus, they threw in a wonderful lunch.  I though it was a pretty good deal...

African tent pegs

Coming home, we finished packing, picked up Lisa, Devine, Kimberly and Charlene and drove out to Willow Park.  Once we arrived, we unpacked the tent and discovered that we were missing tent pegs.  This is was not a huge issue as T.I.A. and we just fashioned some out of sticks.

Dinner last night was one that we had not eaten before - Sudza, oil and amalusu (cows stomach lining).  Jonno and I didn't mind it but Andrew definitely wasn't fussed.  Following dinner we sung Happy Birthday to Kudzai and Lisa and pulled out the ice-cream and cones left over from the Christmas party on Friday.

It occurred to me that the candles that we purchased are not tall enough for the African's version on Happy Birthday.  I say this because by the time that everyone is finished singing Happy Birthday, the candles are completely spent.  Below are the entire lyrics for what was sung to Kudzai and then separately to Lisa afterwards.

Happy birthday to you (x2)
Happy birthday dear ____

Dinner

Happy birthday to you

How old are you now? (x2)
How old are you now ____?
How old are you now?

I am __ years old now (x4)

You look like a monkey (x2)
You look like a monkey ____
You look like a monkey

May the dear Lord bless you (x2)
May the dear Lord bless you ____
May the dear Lord bless you

Andrew and Jonno got The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe playing in the dining hall while I started cooking the campfire popcorn.


Last night was a great night which everyone seemed to enjoy.

Day 35 - R and R (Rocks and rain)

A cool coloured lizard at Matopos

Today was another big day as we were joining the Addisons and others to check out the Matopos, an enormous national park filled with these unique rocks. I know what some of you are thinking, 'wow, rocks. I can see that back in Australia' (insert sarcastic tone), but oh man, these rocks are amazing and I don't think any photos that Alex or I took would do any justice at the brilliance of these rocks. I on purposely didn't mention Andrew because the guy brought his camera but not the battery. 

Lisa stuck in between rocks

Alex standing, Keryn jumping 

Andy getting crushed

L-R: Madi, Andy, Lisa, Becky, Jonno, Aldo

So we departed the Addisons house around 11am and convoyed in four cars to the Matopos, about an hour's drive. Upon entering the national park, we had to line up at the blockade and pay the entry fee. While Debbie, Des and Pete sorted out the entry fee, us guys casted our eyes to the left where we saw a man sitting on a bench with his trusty AK-47 by his side. I guess his job is to shoot at anyone who avoids paying the crazy tourist prices. Deb comes back and tells us that she got us in as locals (a cheaper rate) and gave us the heads up not to say 'G'day' to the guards. Andy and I started practicing our Zimbabwean accents but I don't think it would have fooled anyone. 

The memorial for British men

After driving through the gates and avoiding eye contact with the guards (let's be honest, I don't look African) we drove for another 15-20mins along bitumen and then dirt roads to reach the tourist spot to climb the boulders. The route we took was surrounded by unique shaped rocks on either side and was just a taste of what was to come. We reached the tourist bit only to be met with another fee to climb the mountain. We had to pay $10 to climb the mountain, $4 if we were locals, but we had no I.D to present, only some awesome Ndebele phrases we learnt back at Sandra Jones Centre, but come to think of it, the only phrases we know are 'Thank you for being my wife', 'you think with your bum', 'you are beautiful' and 'goat', which probably wouldn't go down well with the sales clerk. 

After paying the fees, we followed the trail up the bald hill towards the large boulders and memorial at the summit. The summit was just amazing, nothing that I had ever seen before. Massive yet somewhat lonely looking boulders spread throughout these bald hills and these boulders are massive. We had a ball climbing them. There are several memorials at the top, but there is one big monument dedicated to some British soldiers who died during a battle with the local tribes. Looking out into the distance we could see the mountain ranges as far as the eye could see. We could also see the storm clouds rolling in. Deciding it was best to leave before the storm approached, we headed back down the hill to where we parked the cars. 

Unique rocks 

The convoy left the tourist spot and we drove to find a nice picnic spot for lunch. Unfortunately all the secluded and good spots were taken so we had to find another. We found a nice area and pulled out the chairs, food and drinks ready to enjoy each other's company. And then the rains came, torrential rain. It bucketed down and we had to flee into the cars, leaving behind chairs and drinks. We sat in the cars for 20mins waiting for the rains to relent, but it never did, it just continued to drench us. Some brave people went out to pack up the rest of our things and we were out of there, destination: anywhere but here.

Roads become rivers

We drove back the same way we came in, dirt roads first and then bitumen. The 20min journey turned into 40mins due to the gushing waters flooding the roads and us praying that we didn't get bogged. Alex did a brilliant job navigating through the waters and we need to give a big shout out to our wheels 'Curtain Wondervan' who defied the odds by keeping up with the 4 wheel drives going through the treacherous waters. We were told by the car behind us that the water was so high and our van was so low that our exhaust pipe was underwater in some areas. We were looking in awe at the sheer amount of water bucketing down and flooding the roads. One cool thing that Deb pointed out was the water cascading down the bald rocks creating a temporary fast-flowing waterfall. Another crazy sight was seeing cars drive into the national park, the place we were desperate to avoid from the flash flooding. One guy even drove in in a sedan. I'm sure he'd wish he had a 4wd. 

We got out of there, back onto the the main highway and headed back to Des and Pete's to finish our lunch on their front lawn in the sunshine.

Thanks for reading

Jonno

Day 34 - Christmas Day

Today was 'the' day. The day that all kids can't wait for and unfortunately most adults dread. It was Christmas Day. Before we all went to bed Debbie made a bold statement saying that she was definitely going to be the first one up Christmas morning. When I arrived at the lounge room this morning Maddie and Stef were bunked on the couches claiming that they had beaten their mum. Deb showed up about 30 minutes later claiming that she was actually the winner saying she had been up since 5am....who knows who actually won! We sat around the Christmas tree admiring the reindeer prints left after their busy night and eventually opened a couple of presents each before heading off to church. 

The breakfast we made for Deb's birthday

Church was packed for the 9am Christmas service with Christmas greeting and cheer filling the church. Pastor Jeff reminded us of the reason for Christmas and it's relevance to us today considering it is over 2,000 years since Jesus' birth. Jeff's wife Tammy shared a great Gospel Christmas message to the kids and we were also fortunate enough to witness an Italian family sing a Christmas song in Italian and a young girl sing 'O Come All Ye Faithful'. 

Alex, the gingerbread house expert

After church we ventured home and finished off the unwrapping of the Christmas gifts. The stand out reaction was Lisa when she received a large poster of Justin Bieber. She screamed like it was her last breath and fell to the ground with the poster locked in her arms as she kissed it...yes, she really did kiss it, numerous times! Once we had finished unwrapping the many Christmas presents we started preparing for a BIG Christmas lunch with over 20 people due for the feast. We swam, ate, shared stories, ate some more and all the Christmasy lunch things. A great time was had by all! After lunch, Jonno, Alex and I were invited back to Des and Pete's for a game of Monopoly. The game went for no less than 3 hours and in the greatest comeback from almost complete bankruptcy, Jonno and I somehow managed to win the game...and I know I don't have a good track record in playing fairly, especially in Monopoly but I can honestly say we won fair and square. 

Christie with her electric guitar

Lisa with her beloved Beiber poster

I hope you all had an amazing Christmas and took time to consider the real purpose of Christmas. We give gifts to represent the perfect gift God has given to us....Jesus. He wasn't sent out of obligation, or sent to condemn us for our sin, but sent out of God's compelling love for us. So, Jesus was born as a child, and was later sent to die on the cross for our sins, so that we may be reunited with our God and be in relationship with Him. That is the greatest gift of all. A gift given out of grace and love and one that will never perish or diminish in value. We hope you all had a great Christmas with those that you love and above all remembered the reason for the season! 

Andy

Day 33 - The Land of the Ultimate Op-Shop

Happy Christmas Eve.

As typical males, we'd left the bulk of our Christmas shopping to today - the day before Christmas.  With today being Auntie Deb's birthday and there also being the urgent need to finish the gingerbread house, it was going to be a crazy day.

We got up early, wrapped our birthday gift for Auntie Deb and shopped for the ingredients that we needed for the breakfast that we were cooking this morning (again, typical males).  As per tradition, just as we were about to turn on the stove top the power went out.  Regardless of the lack of power, we charged on cooking french toast with bacon, banana and maple syrup.

Following breakfast, Andrew and Jonno headed out to run some errands and do some Christmas shopping while I stayed at home to finish the gingerbread house.  Two hours later Andrew and Jonno drove in with no christmas presents (they'd spent two hours at the butcher sorting through an order).

Pete and Des and their family arrived for a short gathering for Auntie Deb's birthday, and they were shortly followed in by the Scorziell's.  These families didn't stay long as everyone had something to do to prepare for tomorrow.

Once everyone had left, the three of us and Lisa headed to the Bendover for the fourth weekend in a row. Previous trips to the bendover had proven to be quite fruitless which meant that none of us was thrilled about being there again.  As mentioned in previous blogs, it is not uncommon to find mountains of clothing at the bendover.  What we haven't mentioned is fact fact that you can actually dive through the second-hand clothing.

Once we'd finished diving through the clothing, Andrew had found a couple of outrageous shirts and the Christmas shopping was complete.  We headed back home where we wrapped our presents, had dinner and finished the gingerbread house.


Alex

Day 32 - PARTY + watermelon fight

Today can be summed up with one word, 'PARTY!'

Our day started with an early breakfast consisting of our good friend Toffee Syrup. From there we had to do a few errands to get ready for the Christmas party at SJC (Sandra Jones Centre) at 2:00pm.

First stop was Haefelis to pick up 120 donuts kindly donated by the owners, the Wawn family. After a 20min delay due to a pronunciation error by the staff (we said we had an order for Sandra Jones, they thought it was for Sandra Johns) we were carrying 5 trays of donuts out the store. I'm sure we got quite a few looks. Second stop, the fruit market. We needed some sort of fruit to counteract the large dosage of sugar the SJC kids will receive from eating the donuts so we were asked to by 5 watermelons. Each watermelon weighed approximately 12kg or more, so we had the equivalent of an adult in the car in the form of watermelon. Third stop, the local supermarket to buy sausages for hot dogs and bread rolls. By now, our car, Curtain Wondervan, was jammed packed with groceries. We headed home, geared up the van with more stock and then we headed out to Willow park for the 2pm party. Due to so much groceries  being in the car and with the combination of the rocky drive way to SJC, I was sitting on the floor the entire trip making sure no donuts would fall over. I had to do some convincing to Andy and Alex that all donuts would remain intact and none would be eaten when we reached Willow Park.

2:00pm rolled over and Ando, Aldo and I were setting up for the Christmas party. Alex and I prepped the hotdogs and Andy was setting up the projector and screen for his photo presentation. Des and Pete Addison, along with their son-in-law, Neil and his family, arrived next and helped out with the prepping. Debbie and her kids, Stef, Madi, Becky and Christy, along with Lisa, were next to arrive with the all important Christmas presents.

We spread the word to all the girls and all the little ones that it was now party time and soon we were inundated with kids all nicely dressed, and staff from all directions. We sat them down and after the usual meet and greet we tucked into our hotdogs, while watching Andy's photo slideshow. It was a great atmosphere with everyone viewing and reminiscing while looking at the photos and laughing at the weird poses they pulled. The next treat the kids received was a can of soft drink. For some of the little ones this was their first taste of this sweet nectar from the heavens, but for most this was definitely a rare and special occasion. The kids were truly getting into the party now, since we fueled with soft drink. Keen to get these energetic kids active, Debbie organised a game which involved everyone sitting on a seat in a circle plus one extra seat. The goal of the person in the middle is to sit on that spare seat while everyone else is shifting along trying to deny that opportunity. It was sometimes chaotic, with kids squeezing up on seats, therefore many spare seats appeared for the person in the middle to sit on, but all in all it was great fun for everyone.

Ando and Big Al then split the kids into 2 different age groups and they then organised another game involving the kids holding hands and using their strength to try and pull each other into a chair without touching it themselves. I'm sure the older girls enjoyed the game being able to test their strengths against each other. After the game, you could see everyone rubbing their sore wrists.

The gigantic watermelons were next to be served. These watermelons are so massive that 2 1/2 melons was all that was needed to feed approximately 70 people. Again, watermelon is a rare/ first time for these kids. What's also a first time for these kids is a watermelon fight. Debbie spat the first seed and then it began; seeds were being spat anywhere and everywhere, Andrew filled his mouth with dozens of seeds and called it his '12 gauge shotgun' which was soon to be expelled at some girl's face. Soon, watermelon itself was the new ammunition and it was hurled at unsuspecting people. The grounds were littered with watermelon and Andy and I were saturated in it. Aldo somehow got out of being attacked. I can assure you the kids had a brilliant time and now have first hand knowledge and experience in how to eat watermelon and how to use it as a weapon.

We all headed inside for the highlight of the day, the presents. Debbie talked to the kids and firstly reminded them the meaning of Christmas, that God gave his Son as the ultimate gift for us and that Christmas is about giving. A big shout out to Debbie and the staff from SJC who had tirelessly organised gifts for each child throughout the year and today was the big day when each child received their present. Debbie, one at a time, called out the name on the present and Alex handed the child their gift and then their photo would be taken by Pete and Neil. When each name was called all the kids would clap in jubilation as they know how exciting it is for them to receive a present. A very simple yet touching gesture. That's how close these kids are with one another.

The last treat of the day for the kids was plated and served; donuts with chips and lollies. The kids were delighted and enjoyed everything on their plate, you could just tell. Since we had 120 donuts, the children were only to keen to have seconds.

The end of the Christmas party arrived and the kids excitedly marched up the hill to their home carrying with them their presents and plateful of spare donuts and lollies. a lot of the girls stayed behind and helped Andrew, Alex and I clean the grounds of watermelon. Thanks to the girls, a 2 hour job was done in half the time.

So, I did mention that today could be summed up with one word, 'Party', and it didn't end there. It is Pete and Des Addison's 40th Anniversary as well as their birthdays so a surprised party was organised for them by their kids, when they returned home. It was a great night, which brought a tear to Des' eye when they were presented with an album with messages from loved ones.

I just want to personally thank Debbie and the staff at SJC for organising today. To see the amazed reactions from the kids and staff when they received their gifts and to hear from Rhoda (one of the staff who looks after the girls) that this has made her Christmas, you can really see that Debbie and the staff at SJC's tireless work has been received with much gratitude and appreciation. Another big big thank you to the people who have donated their time and finances. Without your donations this party could not have taken place. It is my first time seeing this Christmas party, and seeing all the kids and staff having a fun and great time and with the grounds filled with laughter, well, it can only be described with the word 'wow'.

So thank you again for taking the time to read this blog and commenting.

Jonno

Debbie explaining a game

Photo with the girls

Des and Pete making a speech at their party

Curtain Wondervan serving us well

Alex flexing his guns while holding hotdogs. A typical Alex move.

Innocent and Kiki eating the gigantic watermelon

Donuts, chips and lollies ready to be eaten

Sharon with donuts, Tanya with her present

Watermelon fight

Day 31 - 26 impromptu Christmas carols

Today began in a very laid back fashion. Alex had to get started on his competition standard gingerbread house and I needed to work on a powerpoint to show the girls at the village. So we hung around home for the morning and got on with each of our tasks before heading out to visit the girls.

Yesterday's sunset from the mountain

Alex was making great progress with his gingerbread house, so much so that he told us to leave us behind and tell the girls that he was unable to visit them today because he was "winning". So, Lisa, Jonno and I headed out to the village without Big Al but we decided to get some lunch first from the string pie shop. The first time we got pies from there Jonno found a very chewy piece of meat, which turned out to be string, hence the name "The string pie shop". Jonno raced in to get our pies and I was approached by our mate "the cursing guy". He has been awarded this name after he cursed us last time we encountered him all because we didn't want to buy any of his trinkets. Today he was on top of his game and accused me of not liking black people because I stopped talking to him. I quickly pointed to Lisa who is black and was in the front seat next to me, which was my trump card that won me our little conversation.

Rhoda with a new cooking pot

After we got lunch and sadly departed our friend "the cursing guy" we ventured out to Willow Park. I was with a group going with photos while Jonno showed his tea party skills with a group of younger girls. I never knew tea parties could be dangerous but apparently they are. Jonno heard a scream and Memory had sliced her pointer finger very cleanly with a piece of tin. Dr Lee cleaned up the wound and referred Memory onto Dr Debbie who patched up the wound, gave a motherly hug and sent Memory on her way.

Alex, the gingerbread house expert

Tonight Jonno, Alex and I were invited to play in a family and friends Christmas party hosted by a friend of Debs. We had no idea of what was going on, which is completely normal around here. We showed up at 6:30pm (the start of the party) for a 6:00pm practise and were met with 26 Christmas carols that were to be played all in a couple of hours with no practise...good luck!  Alex and I stumbled our way through the incredibly long list of Christmas songs and Jonno somehow managed to sweet talk his way into only playing a couple of songs and happily stood and watched Alex and I pretend to play along for the majority of the night. It was a good night though and the food was excellent. As we were eating some super delicious ribs Alex asked us, "Do you guys have bones in your ribs?" Understandably we were all a little confused by the question assuming that bones being in ribs would be common knowledge but it appears we were wrong!

'Playing' at the Christmas Party

We have already shared with you how we have been able to bless the girls and staff at SJCV so far with the generous donations many of you have given and we are so lucky to be able to be entrusted with that money to invest it where we feel it is needed most. This Christmas, with your generosity we have been able to bless 15 staff members from the Sandra Jones Children's Village with a Christmas bonus. These people don't just give the usual 9am-5pm in this job. From what we have seen so far on our trip, they give their all to these kids asking for very little in return.

Tomorrow we are having our SJCV Christmas Party, which we are all really excited about! It's going to be a really special day for everyone involved so make sure you check out the blog tomorrow to see what happens at the Christmas Party!

Thanks for your continued support and prayers. We really are blown away by the number of blog readers out there!!

Andy

Day 30 - The Undiscovered Wal-Mart

Last night was an early night for everyone last night - as ordered by Auntie Deb.  By early I mean really early, which didn't worry me at all as I was asleep on the couch at 8:30.  However, despite the fact that it was an early night for everyone, we still managed to have a late start this morning with a specific few individuals not waking until 8am.

We waited around for a short while this morning to write out our shopping list for today.  However before we had left, Auntie Deb arrived back home with a boot full of gifts for her staff.  Once the car was unpacked and the presents sorted, we left for our shopping adventure.

Most of the shops in Bulawayo are small and very specific in what they sell, and the supermarkets are no different.  This time around we went to a shop called 'OK-Mart' on the outskirts of town.  I had never heard of this shop before, nor had I ever been there.  OK-Mart is what I imagine Wal-Mart to be like.  The building was bigger than Capalaba Bunnings and they stocked EVERYTHING.  Electronics, stationary, clothes, food, gym equipment, and the list goes on.  It is truly unlike anything else in Bulawayo.  Better still, there is staff inside to push your trolley around and direct you to the aisles of products that you are looking for.  It was the fastest shop that I've done to date...

Following out shopping experience, we headed out to Willow Park for the afternoon/evening.  As today had been a perfect day, we decided to try our luck with a sunset photo from the top of Rocky-Top Mt.  We left at 4, had a short time with the younger kids and then raced up the mountain to catch the sun before it set.  Coming back down we ate dinner with the kids (sudza and kapenta) and spent some time hanging around upstairs.

As we were leaving we noticed just how dark it actually becomes out at Willow Park.  There are no outside lights on the site, just those inside the buildings.  It is because of this that it becomes really dark outside - the sort of dark where you can't see your hand in front of your face.  Yet, people walk in these conditions and they do it regularly without a torch.

Friday is the day of the SJC christmas party and it's shaping up to be a really great day.  It is only because of the donations made that this sort of event is able to be put on.  In a time where money is tight, and a country where you can't always get what you want, putting on a christmas party is the last thing on SJC's radar.  However because of the donations, SJC are able to treat the kids to foods that they'd be lucky to have a couple of times a year, to a party that some kids have never experienced before and, for some kids, receive the first christmas present in their life.  Thank you!


Alex

Day 29 - Soccer under the African sun

It was a real late start this morning, which did not go according to plan. The late morning was caused by watching 'In Time' (which Andrew bought for $3.50 yesterday) til midnight. Our plan today was to start early and do many hours of Christmas shopping for everyone, because we didn't really know Bulawayo CBD and where to shop. We also had a soccer game planned with some kids from SOS at 2pm, but more on that later.

So brekkie was at 9:30am and then drove to Video World where we were shortchanged on tv series yesterday. Alex laid down the law and by 11:30am we got our missing series of 'Big Bang Theory'. Racing the clock we headed to the CBD to start some christmas shopping. It looked like everyone in Bulawayo left Christmas shopping to the last week because the streets were jammed packed with cars and people on the footpaths.

Buying for others is hard, but buying for each other was easy once we headed to Edgars (a high end department store like MYER). We all pointed to what we wanted and we bought it for each other. Simple. While waiting for the others to browse the shelves, I had a conversation with one of the staff members. I started answering her questions saying we were from Australia and we were here helping out at the Sandra Jones Centre at Willow Park. She then asked me what I thought of the prices at Edgars. Pointing to a $35 pair of shorts, I said it's quite reasonable for us Aussies and then I posed the question to her. She told me that there was no way she could afford them on her $70 weekly wage. After living costs and transportation to work, there was no way she could buy that sort of clothing. Then it struck and reminded me how blessed I am growing up in a country like Australia and a life that I've never fully appreciated. When telling Andrew and Alex about my conversation I'm sure they concurred.

Roads jammed with cars

Footpaths jammed with people

Edgars

Bulawayo Baptist Church

Soccer

So we had to cut our shopping short because we had a soccer appointment at 2pm. We picked up 2 extras from Bulawayo Baptist (Shakes and Moses) and then headed to S.O.S Orphanage as we were invited to play a friendly game of soccer with them. Andy was extremely keen to play some soccer. I on the other hand, was quite nervous when Shakes told Alex and I that these guys from S.O.S have been in numerous fights during some competitive matches, but we both put on our shoes and ran out onto the field. It was the 'guys from S.O.S' verses 'Team Aussies and friends'. In all seriousness, it was a great friendly game. Alex was in defence and was like a brick wall, clearing the ball every time it came near our goals. Andrew and Shakes led the attack and scored many goals, even Andrew's nose scored a goal after the ball deflected off the goalie straight to Andy's unsuspecting face. The kids from S.O.S were really friendly and quite competitive but in a good way. I would love to go back there and verse them again.

After more than 2 hours of straight soccer in the blazing hot sun, we headed back to Bulawayo Baptist for a spontaneous jam session with some of the music team from the church. Andrew was on drums, Alex on acoustic guitar and I was on keys. We did an awesome rendition of 'I can sing of Your love forever' in a hip hop feel with Shakes doing some rapping. It worked out really well and sounded amazing.

We came back home to no power and to some delicious dinner thanks to Debbie. It truly hit the spot after such an energetic day.

Thanks for reading and commenting!

Jonno