Day 9

Day 9 - A day of beautiful weather, clear skies and soaring temperatures.

Today was the day of the concert that we were performing at, the one that we weren't able to practice properly for because of the lack of power.  The concert was being held at a place called Mawabeni, about 50Km south of Bulawayo (See the Google Maps link to the right).  However, for those of you bound by schedules, punctuality and run-sheets - today would have been nothing short of hell for you.  Let me start from the beginning.


The following was the proposed timeline for the day:-
7:45AM - Pick up the SJC school bus from SJC office
8:00AM - Leave YFC office and pick up girls from Willow Park

Giant Chongololo

9:00AM - Arrive at Mawabeni, setup band while counseling was done with some of the kids
10:00AM - Perform for 2 hours
12:00PM - Finish and packing up
12:30PM - Leave Mawabeni and drop off girls
2:00PM - Drop bus off at SJC office


The day started off with the biggest Chongololo we'd seen yet, at a length just shorter than my handspan and as fat as my index finger.  We just couldn't resist taking a photo of it.  It was discovered by one of the girls this morning on their way to the car.

The girls all dressed up

We needed to be at the SJC office at 7:45AM to pick up the SJC school bus and meet Abraham at the YFC office to leave by 8:00AM.  That was all well and good except for that the fact that the bus was 45min late and out of fuel - T.I.A. (This Is Africa).  Stopping at a petrol station on the way into town, we were second in line for the only diesel pump at the station and the guy in front was filling up every jerry can in Bulawayo (at least it felt like it...).  We had arrived at the YFC office at 9:00AM.

Leaving Bulawayo, and picking up the girls on the way, we arrived at Mawabeni at 10:30AM.  The other two vehicles arrived just over an hour later.

Dodgy wiring on Jonno's keyboard

We setup the band in a small undercover area.  The setup used was an Australian WHS minefield with several pieces of electrical equipment being wired up in a similar fashion to Jonno's keyboard - T.I.A.  Once we had finished setting up, the concert started at about 1:15PM, with the soundcheck happing on the fly.  It should be noted that due to the questionable wiring on the two power extension cables linked together, we lost power a couple of times throughout the performance.

My sister stealing the show

The concert started with introductions and revision from previous weeks, with the soundcheck happening in the background.  Once the formalities were out of the way the girls were asked, completely out of the blue, if they would perform a song before we played.  They obliged by singing Hakuna Wakita uJesu which resulted in us throwing the run-sheet out the window.  They stole the show and it was awesome!

There was a grey line between
'stage' and 'audience'

Following the girls' performance were a few testimonies and a message, most of which was in Ndebele.  Although I couldn't understand it, it seemed to be quite effective and quite a good message.

The concert had finished, we had packed up, left Mawabeni at 3:00PM and dropped the girls off a Willow Park.  It was at this point that we unexpectedly became a taxi service for the teachers needing a lift into town.  However the police officer at the road block didn't seem to like this idea.  As I didn't have a passenger list and the bus has 'School Bus' written on the side, I must therefore be carrying students and not teachers; even though the passengers were clearly too old to be students.  Go figure - T.I.A.

The bus never made it back to the SJC office this afternoon...

Today was an incredibly awesome day.  A day that can only be experienced in Africa.

Alex