Our first Zambian Christmas!

We had a great rest of our trip in Zimbabwe. It was sad to say goodbye to Jona's Uncle and Auntie but we were able to be there to celebrate Uncle Des's birthday before we left and we took them out for a nice meal at 'Hillside Dams' restaurant.

From there we travelled to Victoria Falls and had booked in at the 'rest camp', when we arrived they said they had lost the key to the chalet that we were going to stay in :-S BUT instead they could let us stay in a family sized lodge for the same price! We felt very blessed :-) The rest camp was basic but lovely. They had a pool and a restaurant. We had a great 3 days at Victoria Falls looking round the tiny town, chilling and of course seeing the Falls!

Then we decided to make the lonnnng trek back to the school in Chingola. We had decided (if possible) we would try and do it all in one go to save the hassle (and cost) of one more nights accomodation.
Our journey started at 6am crossing the border back into Zambia and the first leg of our journey went relatively smoothly, it took us 7 hrs to travel to Lusaka. But once we got to Lusaka we realised that we had missed the connecting bus so we had to try and search around for another decent coach to take. There were lots of sellers hassling us to get on their coach etc and in the end we got so fed up with all the hassling that we just bought a ticket which 'claimed' to take us all the way to Chingola (another 7ish hrs) and would be leaving very soon. Well...very soon meant another 1.5hrs of sitting on a hot bus with lots of agitated customers! There's a lot more to the story but all in all it was quite a nerve racking, packed full journey. We thought we would arrive in Chingola around 11pm but then realised that the bus didn't even go to Chingola so we had to transfer on to another coach which was full to the brim with luggage and people in the aisles etc. We finally got home at 2am and were sooo relieved and thankful to God to be back and safely!!
When we told our local zambian friends which bus company we had used they laughed and said they would never step foot on those buses! eek. But it was certainly an African experience!

We have had a lovely quiet christmas here at the school. We were lucky that our friend lent us a few decorations and we used our house plant as a christmas tree!! :-)
We thank God that although we missed home and our families we were able to spend the day with friends who also remained on the school site for Christmas. We were also happy to have a traditional turkey lunch and then a less traditional braai in the evening! A bit too much food for one day but a really great day!!

School term doesn't begin until the 10th January so we still have a bit of time to relax and get ready for the new term :-)
Thanks to everyone who has sent cards, parcels and christmas merriment- it is hugely appreciated and so good to hear from those at home. Lots of love. Jona and Kerry x

Christmas Adventures!

We have made the lonnnng journey from Livingstone to Bulawayo. We left ZigZag last Monday morning and safely made it across the Zimbabwean border. It was amazing to walk across the adjoining bridge between Zambia and Zim and see a glimpse of the Falls!

When we got to the other side we had originally planned to take a nice comfortable coach to Bulawayo but we discovered that they only ran on Tuesdays.eek. So instead we had to travel African style in a ‘commuter minibus’ or as the locals say “a chova”. Quite an experience! Never seen so many people crammed in the back of a minibus for nearly 7 hours!! We were a bit nervous as our luggage was thrown in a trailer on the back with a flimsy covering on. Others had warned us to keep an eye on our luggage. When we arrived luggage was all intact but everything soaking wet from the rain!

 When we arrived we were met by Jona’s Uncle Des and Aunt Mercia- they’re such a lovely couple and so welcoming and hospitable! They had set up their spare room for us and we immediately felt at home J

Since being here we have visited Jona’s childhood home (which the family still own but rent out); it was great to hear all of Jona’s memories of growing up there. 

We also visited his secondary school (CBC) and heard more stories. He says that things are much the same but just a lot more run down than they used to be!

We have visited Jona’s school friend; Ben De Klerk who still lives in Bulawayo. He is married now with 2 kids and it was great to stay a night with them and also attend their childrens christenings.

Last night we visited friends that Jona used to go to church with. A lovely family who told us a lot about the struggles they had experienced here in the tough years.

Overall we're having a great time here in Zim. We are travelling back to Victoria Falls this Friday and plan to stay there for 2 nights and then straight back to Zambia for Christmas with friends at Amano.

We wish you all a MERRY CHRISTMAS :-)

Jona and Kerry xxx 

Christmas Travels

We finished the last day of term at school on Friday with a Christmas concert performed by pupils from all of the grades! It was a brilliant performance and both Jona and I felt really privileged to be a part of Amano School

Straight after the concert on fri morning we caught a lift with a family from the school who were catching a plane in Lusaka and we needed to get to Lusaka so we could then make our journeys towards Zimbabwe for the Christmas hols. It was a 7 hour drive to Lusaka but it was great to get a lift in an air conditioned, comfortable car with good company :-)
We had previously booked a guesthouse in Lusaka so we could stay the night before heading down to Lusaka but were quite gutted when they rang to say that they had given our booking to someone else! We weren't best pleased but the manager said he would book a guesthouse somewhere for us at the same price and would escort us there once we arrived! Long story short but basically even the second guest house had given our booking to someone else. It seems whoever shows the money first gets the room! It was getting pretty late and we were tired but thankfully the manager then phoned and made another reservation at another guesthouse round the corner. We arrived to find a verrry basic guesthouse. Our room didn't even have proper running water, no mosquito net, a towel with blood on it.lol. But it was fine for just one night and was conveniently right next to the bus station for us to catch the bus to Livingstone on Saturday morning.
We had another 7 hour bus journey to Livingstone. We were thankful for air conditioning and lots of wee breaks :-) Finally arrived in  Livingstone yesterday and we're staying at a B&B called 'ZigZag'- it's really lovely with a pool and great food

Today we went into town and visited the David Livingstone Museum which was fun :-) We plan to come back to Livingstone to visit the Falls but tomorrow we will make our way to Bulawayo to visit Jona's Step Uncle and other friends. He hasn't returned to his home town in 10 years so we're really excited!
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