Chengelo

I am at Chengelo school in Mkushi province. Have survived 4 days almost. Only done 10 periods of teaching tho so not much. today was really very little but i am surprisingly tired. went to mkushi with delwyn and others thismorning to get our passports stamped. then bought shetenges at the markets and came back to school before lunch time. in the afternoon i supervised 2 classes watching macbeth - unfortunately the playboy version - so the dodgy version of my LEAST favourite shakespeare. gutted. the kids weren't too keen on it either.

went to 'round the world' club after school and hannah and i did new zealand - made anzac biscuits and pois and showed them pictures and even sang some maori songs and the national anthem. they were primary kids which was cool cuz i'v only been doing secondary classes and a bit of variety is always fun.

tomorrow is sports day and i'm give 4th place - not so thrilling - but apparently the athletics here are simply amazing. very fast runners or so the rumours say. so that should be impressive. and i think i have a ride to kabwe tomorrow night. lavinia - one of the 6th formers - lives there and her father picks her up tomorrow evening. will call brad and greer tomorrow and see if i could get picked up from lavinia's house... worth a shot.

last night of term effectively and not a lot happening. might go to bed soon as have to be at breakfast at 6.45am. fun. hopefully more options than toast and porridge as am so sick of white bread.

in kabwe again. can't remember exactly when i last posted. after kamatipa. before kalalushi... i think. only 5 mins left on computer so must hurry. kalalushi was where we stayed three nights ago now. we went out to the middle of no where - even by african standards - to visit a mill. plan A was to stay the night there. fortunatly we'd already reverted to plan B before we arrived - that was to stay at Oliver and Emely's in Kalalushi. I don't even know the name of the place with the maize mill. but basically it's an economic disaster. and no one's quite sure what to do. plenty of ppl pour money into africa. doesn't seem to help much. probalby cause much of that money ends up in the pockets of ppl who need it like they need a bullet in the head. 25% of world vision money doesn't leave nz apparently. and at least that much again gets spent before it gets to the villages and families. could be rumours.

anyway, 2 minutes, enough rant.

back to oliver and emely's for nshima and feasting. then rather than the bed roll i'd been dreading we got to share beds. someone else was missin their bed but i was releived. have to go.

deep dark africa

deep - because it is 40 minutes on a road that is impassable much of the year, after an hour of a road that is just plain dangerous and scattered with police check points and pot holes and truly insane drivers

dark - because there is no electricity

africa - because there can be no place quite like this. well, not this (being where i am now, an internet cafe in ndola) but where we were the night b4 last - kamatipa village. and tonight will be much the same - kalalushi village. My slightly odd waterbed at GLO Ndola is wonderful for base camp inbetween semi-sleepless nights on a bedroll on a dirt floor, shared with maize stores and probably rats and snakes, in a grass roof hut.

cannot quite believe ppl live their whole live like this. and many never see the ocean! so glad to have been born in nz. it is stunning. so much water. everything is so much more difficult here. dry and hot in day, cold at night. colder than anyone expects. roads are insane - almost as crazy as the drivers. overloaded trucks everywhere. saw two on side of road on way here thismorning - one had rolled down a bank - they were restacking it while the driver was cared for - sitting on the grass 10m away. other one had broken down. less damage fortunately. the rolled one was a sight.

long line for computers so must leave this short.

ndola

Yesterday we came to Ndola. From Kabwe. So I haven't got to a computer for a few days and don't have nearly enough time to catch up all.

Saturday - Remainder of team arrived in early afternoon. We all loaded up in van and drove up to Kabwe - arriving after dark. Driving after dark in country is quite different experience - so many people walking down roadsides and you see fires everywhere - burning off scrub to prevent worse fires. There are also little stalls and huts on road sides and just a little way into the bush. Arrived at Maplehurst Farm - near kabwe - in early evening. It was great to see Brad and Greer again.They've moved here with their 2 children (a baby and a toddler). It was great to see familiar faces as most of this team know eachother from Levin - me and Bridget aside.

Sunday - went to Kabwe Gospel Chapel - where the Salisburys go. Everyone moves to the music - not a lot at this church - but kind of like i always do when i'm singing - just moving with the rhythm. It was a different week - in middle of a conference - so next sunday might be very different. After church went to Tuskers for lunch and had fabulous pizza. Then back to the farm and a couple came to tell us their story. they have a bible school in kabwe. they have 12 children - only 2 of their own. Amazing family!

Monday - Morning at farm, practise setting up tents, learnt to change tyre on vans, repacked and said goodbye to Suttons then on the road again. Restocked with snacks and clean water for few days stash then drove on to Kapiri Mposhi for lunch at a take aways - petrol station place. Little kids were begging for food and money as we came out - we'd just been eating and put our change back in our bags. This kid wants to sell us a stone to smooth our feet with - to assist his hunger. Ouch.

We all piled back in the van feeling awful despite our delicious lunch (thank god for ice tea) and drove on to Ndola - to GLO where we relaxed with some Zambians who live and work there. They cooked us a fantastic feast and i took a little of everything but (shocking cultural insesitivity alert) couldn't finish it. I've lost my apetite while i've had this coldy-fluey thing and i thought id be sick if i ate any more. They didn't mind but i won't be able to do that very often.Tried nshima and it's not bad. Couldn't eat much - very starchy. Also had 'rape' and an asortment of pretty western food - potato salad and cabbage, chicken, beef, mince. even cake for desert. so much for fasting.

Thismorning we had breakfast and did a mini bible study together, prayed for eachother, then Rebecca, one of the Zambian's who work at GLO, came and told us her story. Another amazing story. Sure to be one of many i hear in then next little while. We have just come into the town for lunch and then to some places visiting thisafternoon - including Isubilo where i may return to at the end of the tour.

So hungry - more later

goodmorning africa

hello from africa! it's 20 past 6 and i can't sleep. plus i feel bad because if i do then i'll keep bridget awake with my stupid cold. I had garlic 'peri peri' sauce on my steak last night - hoped hot garlic would frighten away my bugs - to no avail as yet.

meanwhile, i've figured out the timezone thing... just. i'm (GMT+2) 10 hours behind nz (GMT+12) - 6:30am here = 4:30 pm there. So i'm saturday morning and they're saturday night. haha, more weekend left for me!

we're going up to kabwe thisafternoon. In the meantime i want to read and repack - ick, suitcases.

yesterday was amazing. john took bridget and i into lusaka - into the city. driving here is a free-for-all. it's truly insane. packed mini busses, blue taxis, utes with people loaded on the back, bicycles, learner drivers and four wheel drives all driving and honking as fast as they can, nudging up pretty close to other vehicles to suggest which direction they're going - rather than indicating. then everytime you stop (which is a lot - well it was yesterday as this is a holiday weekend - shall explain later) these young guys walk up to your car windows and try and sell you things - all sorts of things - tangerines and cell phone face plates, electronics, jewelery - all sorts - even towels and hand painted cards - john got five for 5000 kwacha - about US$1.

the public holidays on monday and tuesday are unity day and heroes day, respectively. unity day - for african unity, and heroes day for war and revolutionary heroes - i think that was what rodwell said anyway. he's one of the guys that works at the guest house we're staying at.

after john had done his erands in the city we went to the craft markets. at the car park there were these girls with baskets of bananas on their heads - perfectly balanced. and no small basket of bananas either. they're so thing but their necks must be extremely strong. the markets were cool. i got wooden giraffes for mum and a really cool pen holder - both of which i may have to lend to the suttons so i don't have to carry them around for 2 months. all the sellers point to their shops and promise a good price. john told us to half their price and barter - fun! got the giraffes for 50 000 kwacha - about NZ$15! in NZ you'd pay up to $200!

after the markets we went to the Zambian equivalent of CAA for John to get more log books (he's a pilot), but the man with the key was not there. hehe - apparently this is common.

then on to manda hill - a mall. you could forget you were in africa - well, perhaps if 9 of 10 shoppers and staff weren't black. until this point we'd probably seen 2 other white people. but there were quite a few at the mall. we couldn't get money out as the lines were long and the machines kept braking so, running up a bill with john, we went to subway for lunch. that's right. in zambia yesterday we went to subway for lunch. hehe. then to game - like farmers. but no bedrolls. then to shoprite - a supermarket - and got sunblock, mossie repellent, shampoo, conditioner, soap... cost 210 000 kwacha. lunch was 18 000 k. hehe.

john locked his keyes in the car so we then spent an hour and a half trying to break in. in the end one of the security guards broke in - in all of 15 seconds. very sussed. he 'found' a perfect piece of wire in the bushes. unfortunately it was too late for john's egg beater. turns out they don't sell wire coat hangers anymore.

got home exhausted and had steak and chips for dinner - chips with vinegar - new favourite thing! then we watched tom and huck - hehe, Johnathan Taylor Thomas. He was like a pin up boy when i was ten. couldn't keep our eyes open and went to bedfordshire.