Day 22 - The day of curdled milk

Well today was a pretty typical day in Zim. Let me explain...

We woke up to no power, which was to be expected now that Mugabe has left town. It seems Jonno wasn't in the know about the lack of power and Maddie and I laughed as he attempted to make some toast. Soon enough he realised that we were without power. 

Alex's african iPod

We headed out to the village yet again to see the girls that are becoming more and more like family every day. Lunch was a cracker today. Sadza and milk. But this wasn't just any milk. This was the chunkiest most sour milk I think any of us guys have ever seen. It was hard to tell the difference between the sadza and the milk! Even a number of the girls decided to stay away from the milk and just have sadza. Alex was brave enough to slop some on his plate but assures us he hardly had any and will be ok tomorrow. After the chunky milk and sadza lunch, Jonno got a game of cricket going. Using a tennis racquet as a bat, three sticks and a bucket for wickets we were ready to go. The girls had a blast catching onto the game quickly and we played for a good 2-3 hours. 

Sadza and (chunky) milk for lunch

Today was a big day for Deb and being the super busy lady she is we decided we would cook dinner for the family tonight. Well, for those who know me you'll know my skills in the kitchen are limited to say the least. So, it was up to Jonno and Alex to cook up a storm. The menu was chicken parmigiana with chips and Alex's chocolate mousse for dessert. We hit the local spar supermarket to get the supplies. In a supermarket that is like a corner store at home it took us forever to find the ingredients we needed for dinner. We finally found what we needed and headed home excited to cook for the family. 

The SJC cricket set

As Jonno and Alex got everything ready to start cooking we lost power...again. This didn't stop us. Alex was at home in the kitchen whipping up an amazing chocolate mousse while Jonno powered on with the rest of dinner and closely supervised me as I crumbed the chicken (very complex role) and washed dishes. It took a little longer than expected but we finally served up and dinner was a hit. We even had enough to feed Gogo and Prisca Deb's housekeeper's.

The SJC circket match

The picture doesn't do our dinner justice I promise!

We raised over $3000 for the Sandra Jones Children's Village before we left for our trip. You might be wondering what's happening with all that money? Well, before we made any decisions on how the money would be spent we wanted to get involved in the daily life of SJC and listen to the people who live there and work there on a daily basis to give us an idea of the real needs of SJC. We are starting to put a list together of both small and big items that we feel will benefit the centre long-term. As we make purchases we will let you know what they are and why we have dedicated your generous fundraising money toward that particular item. We can't thank you enough for your ridiculously generous giving and I can promise you that your money will go a very long way over here in helping to improve daily life at SJC. 

Sorry about the late blog as well....No power means no internet so I couldn't upload the blog on time! So, to all of you who have a morning ritual of reading the blog when you wake up, I'm sorry!

Andy