African Escapade's: Day 59

So here's a little quiz for all those who've been following the blog for quite some time

Q1: Who wakes up first out of us 3?
Q2: What do we always eat for breakfast?
Q3: What did we watch on tv today?

Answers at the bottom of the blog

'Our last Thursday in Zimbabwe', We all thought it, but none of us wanted to utter the phrase.
We awoke and greeted the slightly cold morning in the usual fashion, Alex awake first, then Andy then me. We had brekkie and were ready to start the day. Unfortunately, we didn't have episode 11 of 'Fringe' so we were still left on a cliffhanger. Luckily we had some important errands to do in the morning, or else it would have been another slow and boring morning.

We headed to the Sandra Jones Centre office and met Debbie where she gave us our important mission should we choose to accept it. We chose to accept it and our mission was to find school uniforms for Sam and Shamiso, two girls from the SJC village who were starting public schooling at Townsend School (where Lisa Taylor goes) for the first time next week. Our 3 hour shopping endeavour was about to begin.

We picked up the girls from their abode and drove into the city to find their school uniforms. The cool thing about public schooling is that there are quite a few shops that sell their uniforms so we decided to head to a place called ESATS, where we purchased the numerous amounts of plates and cups some time ago. The girls received their uniforms and after trying it on were getting quite excited for public schooling, I'm sure. Alex purchased their matching hats, socks and a few backpacks and we were ready to buy the next item on the shopping list, shoes. But before we did that, we needed to extend our Visas for another 5 days so we wouldn't be classed as illegal immigrants.

After having our passports extended to the 29th Jan when we clearly stated we fly out on the 25th, we hopped into the van to hunt down some school shoes. Getting new shoes and clothing is a rare thing for the girls and seeing the looks and excitement on their faces when they received new shoes and uniforms, well, you can tell they really appreciate it. Lastly, we needed to buy some book covers for their massive amount of exercise books they use at school. I found a lolly shop nearby and to my amazement they sold blocks of Milo chocolate for 15 rand, just under $2USD. I snatched up 5 packs and handed it to everyone once they finished purchasing the school supplies. Andy, and Alex especially, were shocked and infatuated when I gave them their chocolates. I'm pretty sure Alex finished his before I was halfway through mine.

It was around 12pm and we had a bit of time to kill before we departed for SJC at 1pm. There was an idea floating around that we should have some Chinese for dinner at the only chinese restaurant in Bulawayo (I'm pretty sure) with our American friend Elyse and our good mate Shakes. The text was sent and a few minutes later we had confirmation. Dinner was on like donkey kong.

1pm rolled around and we headed out to SJC. It's been a few days since we last visited so it was really exciting to see the girls again. We just caught them when they had finished school so majority of them were still in their school uniform. The really great thing about SJC is not only do they provide a safe environment for girls who have been in abusive and neglected situations, but SJC also provides education for the girls. SJC hires teachers for most grades, teaching a range of subjects, so the girls can receive quality education and not miss out due to their isolation and the closest school being ages away. We were greeted with many hugs and we were given a tour of their classrooms with much excitement.

We purchased a deck of cards from the shops for 50c so we thought we'd bring it along and show some games to the girls. We introduced them to the game 'Cheat' where the winner is the one who discards all their cards by any means necessary, even if that means lying/cheating. The older girls loved the game as they got to test their lying and cheating skills on each other. We also played a few games of 'Snap' before we had to go and pick up Debbie's kids from school.

Dinner time arrived and we drove into town, met up with Shakes and Elyse and headed to the Chinese restaurant called 'Shangri La'. The restaurant had some authentic ornaments like lanterns and artwork and really brought about an oriental atmosphere. Well done guys. The waiter came over and asked us what we wanted to drink. I asked for chinese tea, the waiter said they didn't have it. To me, that's the equivalent of a video store saying they don't have movies. We each ordered our mains and heaps of rice, enough to supply a chinese family for a week. We ate and talked and talked and talked. So much so that the waiters had to turn off the fans and lights to give us the sign that we needed to go. The time was 9:45pm. It was brilliant hanging out and talking to 2 young adult Christians who are both passionate about and serving for the Lord.