I write a sincere apology to our blogger friends for not updating you for soooooo long. Please let me explain … Jodi, Gabi and I have been VERY busy trying to get back to OZ for Christmas. To cut a long and VERY painful story short, we arrived back in Brisbane last Saturday night and we have been having an absolute blast catching up with all of our friends and family back in Brisbane. My goodness, the effort it took to get to OZ even after getting Gabi’s holiday visa and tickets was mindblogging; but I don’t have the space on this blog to tell you all about it … shame hey????
Anyway, thank you so much for the time we have spent together blogging this year; I have really enjoyed sharing our experiences with you … Unfortunately there is a lot on the plate here in OZ, so I don’t think I will get much of a chance to update until the new year … I hope you all have a VERY Merry Christmas, and an absolutely sensational New Years Eve … look forward to blogging again in the new year.
Sunday, December 16, 2007
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
We now have sprinklers
What a great day it was when we finally got the sprinklers up and running. Unfortunately, the funding going to Willow Park staff has stopped and YFC need to find ways in which to utilize the staff they have more effectively ... one way was with the watering of all the vegetable patches. Previously, four women would spend 4 days per week watering the vegetable patches; they can be used in other areas now that the sprinklers are in action.
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
Speaking at Falcon College
The other Wednesday night I was invited to speak at an evening Praise and Worship service at one of the most hosh posh private boys’ boarding schools in Zimbabwe. Falcon College is about 30 minutes past the Willow Park turn-off heading south towards the border. It was a great turnout from the boys … there is about 350 boys who board at Falcon and about 150 turned up for the service. It was a great night to spend with the boys and being able to share a few words with them. I think one of the things that stuck out to me the most was how polite these guys were, after the service a majority of them came up and thanked me and shook my hand … I don’t think that would happen back in OZ. Sorry I don’t have any picci’s of this event … you will just have to trust me.
Because Falcon is so far out of Bulawayo, Jodi, Gabi, Heather (a friend of ours) and I decided to spend the night at Willow Park and do just a little bit more work the following morning. Our task was to fit 20 mattress covers to 20 foam mattresses that were donated by an Ozzie couple earlier this year. These beds are looking fantastic now; when we first arrived the campers slept in a “W” position because the framework of the beds weren’t done properly and a lot of the mattress’s were old and waterlogged because of the leaks in the thatching. They look a million buck’s now (not using Zim currency), and once we are finish they will look even better (the only thing to do now is to repaint where we have welded extra supports on the base of the beds and buy some more wood for the bed heads).
Because Falcon is so far out of Bulawayo, Jodi, Gabi, Heather (a friend of ours) and I decided to spend the night at Willow Park and do just a little bit more work the following morning. Our task was to fit 20 mattress covers to 20 foam mattresses that were donated by an Ozzie couple earlier this year. These beds are looking fantastic now; when we first arrived the campers slept in a “W” position because the framework of the beds weren’t done properly and a lot of the mattress’s were old and waterlogged because of the leaks in the thatching. They look a million buck’s now (not using Zim currency), and once we are finish they will look even better (the only thing to do now is to repaint where we have welded extra supports on the base of the beds and buy some more wood for the bed heads).
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
Milking Willow Park Dry
It’s not what you think … I promise!!!!! I have the pictures to prove it.
I know this seems a little weird … having a couple of bottles of milk pictured on the blog … what does milk have to do with Willow Park????? But I promise you, this is no ordinary milk … this is Willow Park milk.
Let me tell you the story … Willow Park has had a couple of dairy cows for a few years and until just last week, all the milk was being turned into sour milk and then the curds where collected to make a side dish for the mealie meal. This side dish was produced for the girls’ who live at Samkele, which is a short term orphanage for abused girls, that is run at Willow Park. Unfortunately, the product used to help stimulate the cow to produce milk is getting REALLY REALLY expensive and YFC were finding it hard to continue to fund this milking project … until the other week.
Now, people who know me, know that I have a little thing for excel spreadsheets and after creating a few worksheets and looking at the stats derived from some pretty complex formula and algorithms we were able to work out that it would be cheaper and more economical to start to sell the milk. So that is what we are now doing … this “milk project” is now a self funding project and it creates enough revenue to purchase it’s own milk stimulant, cover the veterinary bills as well as purchase kapenta (really small and really smelly dried fish), which is used instead of the curds as a side dish for the girls mealie meal.
Who would have ever thought that milk could be soooooooo exciting!!!!!!!!!
I know this seems a little weird … having a couple of bottles of milk pictured on the blog … what does milk have to do with Willow Park????? But I promise you, this is no ordinary milk … this is Willow Park milk.
Let me tell you the story … Willow Park has had a couple of dairy cows for a few years and until just last week, all the milk was being turned into sour milk and then the curds where collected to make a side dish for the mealie meal. This side dish was produced for the girls’ who live at Samkele, which is a short term orphanage for abused girls, that is run at Willow Park. Unfortunately, the product used to help stimulate the cow to produce milk is getting REALLY REALLY expensive and YFC were finding it hard to continue to fund this milking project … until the other week.
Now, people who know me, know that I have a little thing for excel spreadsheets and after creating a few worksheets and looking at the stats derived from some pretty complex formula and algorithms we were able to work out that it would be cheaper and more economical to start to sell the milk. So that is what we are now doing … this “milk project” is now a self funding project and it creates enough revenue to purchase it’s own milk stimulant, cover the veterinary bills as well as purchase kapenta (really small and really smelly dried fish), which is used instead of the curds as a side dish for the girls mealie meal.
Who would have ever thought that milk could be soooooooo exciting!!!!!!!!!
Monday, November 05, 2007
More Work at Willow Park
Yes, that is right … believe it or not Jodi and I have been doing more work at Willow Park. We packed our bags and ventured out for a night where we were able to help with the final touches of painting the dorms. It is great to finally have all the dorms painted and looking just soopa. We are hoping that next year we will be able to get all the asbestos roofs off and re-roof with thatch; then that will be about it for the dorms … except for building more … maybe having each dorm with viabrating massage beds … what about ensuites with private sauna’s and spa’s … I am sure we could add an extra couple of levels so that each dorm has it’s own entertaining area with pool table and plasma TV. There is so much is planned for this place … I look forward to sharing some more ventures in the near future.
Friday, October 26, 2007
Hotel Muller now has vacancies
Yes this is true, we are now have vacancies at Hotel Muller … I am thinking of making it easier for people to book and start selling the room on wotif.com??????
Not long after Robert and Elizabeth had left, we had just enough time to remake the bed before more friends checked in. Stacie and Adrian visited us for a couple on nights on their way from the UK back to OZ. It was great to catch up with them and find out about their time spent working in the UK and all the traveling they did around Europe and other places. To be honest I don’t have enough room on this blog site or quite enough time to mention all the places they have visited … I think the only place they haven’t ventured to is a 1 x 1 metre patch of sand in the middle of the Mediterranean which is only accessible during low tide and when the moon is full.
Not long after Robert and Elizabeth had left, we had just enough time to remake the bed before more friends checked in. Stacie and Adrian visited us for a couple on nights on their way from the UK back to OZ. It was great to catch up with them and find out about their time spent working in the UK and all the traveling they did around Europe and other places. To be honest I don’t have enough room on this blog site or quite enough time to mention all the places they have visited … I think the only place they haven’t ventured to is a 1 x 1 metre patch of sand in the middle of the Mediterranean which is only accessible during low tide and when the moon is full.
Monday, October 08, 2007
More Visitors
Hotel Muller was able to open its doors once again to welcome more friends for Australia. It was great to have Robert and Elizabeth come and join us for about 10 days in Zimbabwe. We picked these guys up from Vic Falls airport and spent a couple of days chilling around Vic Falls seeing the locals sights and witnessing the master of negotiation (Robert) as he went around the local markets bartering like a true local. To be honest I am used to seeing a more firing negotiation style as Jodi normally goes straight for the jugular and does not give up until she gets what she wants … Robert on the other hand has a more relaxed negotiation technique … different methodologies … both generally have a fairly good outcome.
After our adventures around the Falls we were able to take Robert and Elizabeth out to Willow Park and showed them what we have been up to this year. I have to pass on a HUGE thanks to these guys because they were eager to get in and help with some painting. Our aim was to get four of the dorm window frames and doorframes painted in a few hours … this task is a lot more time consuming than what we first expected with the dark brown gloss paint… instead of completing four we did get one done in our time out there. I have to admit though … the job that was done on that one dorm was done with meticulous care and precision and looks an absolute treat.
The time spent with Robert and Elizabeth was fantastic, it was great to catch up with them and find out all the things that have been happening back in Brisbane since we have left.
After our adventures around the Falls we were able to take Robert and Elizabeth out to Willow Park and showed them what we have been up to this year. I have to pass on a HUGE thanks to these guys because they were eager to get in and help with some painting. Our aim was to get four of the dorm window frames and doorframes painted in a few hours … this task is a lot more time consuming than what we first expected with the dark brown gloss paint… instead of completing four we did get one done in our time out there. I have to admit though … the job that was done on that one dorm was done with meticulous care and precision and looks an absolute treat.
The time spent with Robert and Elizabeth was fantastic, it was great to catch up with them and find out all the things that have been happening back in Brisbane since we have left.
Sunday, September 23, 2007
A Trip to Kezi
The other week I was able to take a few of the YFC ladies out to a rural village called Kezi (care-zy) about 2 hours out of Bulawayo. The reason for the trip was to check up on one of the girls which YFC has placed out there. Our first stop was to Gohole Secondary School where she is currently completing form 2. I have to admit, I started to get a nervous twitch and sweat started to form on my palms as I drove into the school and saw the periodic table painted boldly and “in your face” on one of the walls … it bought back harsh memories of year 10 chemistry … I thought I had got rid of those bad memories. The young girl we visited is enjoying life in Kezi and is thoroughly enjoying school, her favorite subject is mathematics and according to her teachers this is also the subject that she excels in.
After visiting the school we went to the rural stand (farming plot) to visit the family who she is staying with. It is definitely a different way of life, each morning and each evening the young man has to go down to the dry creek bed and dig a massive hole just to get water for the family to use to cook and drink. As we walked around the plot it was disheartening to hear the stories of hardship they go through each day as they told me how this year’s crop did not produce much food and they struggle to get enough food each day to eat. Even though they are suffering it is amazing to hear their positive outlook and how they are confident that these days will not last for ever and how they look forward to the day where their fields will flourish again. What an awesome attitude to have.
It was as I was driving to this stand that I came across a dry creek bed … I was in my bakkie and I was confident that we would make it through without any hassle what so ever … maybe if I was in a monster truck I would have had more of a chance. As much as it dints my pride I have to tell you all that I bogged the bakkie and it took more than an hour to pull the bakkie out of the dry creek bed. Reflecting on the whole scenario it was a great team building exercise which produced some productive communication skills as we all attempted our own ways on getting the bakkie free.
After visiting the school we went to the rural stand (farming plot) to visit the family who she is staying with. It is definitely a different way of life, each morning and each evening the young man has to go down to the dry creek bed and dig a massive hole just to get water for the family to use to cook and drink. As we walked around the plot it was disheartening to hear the stories of hardship they go through each day as they told me how this year’s crop did not produce much food and they struggle to get enough food each day to eat. Even though they are suffering it is amazing to hear their positive outlook and how they are confident that these days will not last for ever and how they look forward to the day where their fields will flourish again. What an awesome attitude to have.
It was as I was driving to this stand that I came across a dry creek bed … I was in my bakkie and I was confident that we would make it through without any hassle what so ever … maybe if I was in a monster truck I would have had more of a chance. As much as it dints my pride I have to tell you all that I bogged the bakkie and it took more than an hour to pull the bakkie out of the dry creek bed. Reflecting on the whole scenario it was a great team building exercise which produced some productive communication skills as we all attempted our own ways on getting the bakkie free.
Monday, September 03, 2007
Time to get UPDATED!!!
I had a bit of time the other night to read through the previous blogs … gee I can ramble on … anyway, I noticed that I have not updated you guys on a few things; so here it goes.
Multi-Million (Zim) Dollar Willow Park Renovations
So much has been done since my last update on Willow Park Campground. Before I get started, it just occurred to be the other week that at the age of 28 I have worked my way up the hospitalities ladder and I am now the Director of a multi million dollar (we won’t mention that this is in Zim dollars) holiday resort / recreational facility … impressive hey????
We are in the process of a multi million-dollar refurbishment of the grounds and things are definitely changing. We have had our workmen slash the grass tennis court and volley ball court and it looks absolutely fantastic. Before they started, the grass and weed were about waist height (or just a little over my mother in law’s head) which made it very difficult to return a serve when playing tennis. Unfortunately we still aren’t able to play tennis yet but it is on it’s way … take a look at this.
We have also done a lot of painting lately and it has made so much of a difference … it is amazing what a lick of paint can do. The walls of the scullery (wash up area) and outside the kitchen was looking very moldy and stained, but with the paint it has made the area look sooooo good … the pictures below do not do any justice.
We are also in the process of slashing and revamping our soccer pitch … it is all slashed and burnt now and we will be fertilizing it shortly ready for the coming rains … it will be great to have the soccer pitch up and running again.
The thatched roofs of two of the cabins and one of the toilets were getting a lot of holes in them so we have just finished re-thatching these roofs … it is great to know that during the next rainy season that kids won’t be woken to rain gushing down on their heads as they sleep in the dorms.
We are also in the process of re-vamping 5 of the old brick dorms, these were looking very tired and as our camp welcomer said “ahh boss, it is shameful to sho piple these thins”. We have had a workman in to render the inside and outside of these dorms and we are in the process of painting them … they are looking terrific. You will have to take my word on this as I don’t have any pictures yet … you will probably have to wait another 4 months until I do the next update blog (oops).
We are in the process of a multi million-dollar refurbishment of the grounds and things are definitely changing. We have had our workmen slash the grass tennis court and volley ball court and it looks absolutely fantastic. Before they started, the grass and weed were about waist height (or just a little over my mother in law’s head) which made it very difficult to return a serve when playing tennis. Unfortunately we still aren’t able to play tennis yet but it is on it’s way … take a look at this.
We have also done a lot of painting lately and it has made so much of a difference … it is amazing what a lick of paint can do. The walls of the scullery (wash up area) and outside the kitchen was looking very moldy and stained, but with the paint it has made the area look sooooo good … the pictures below do not do any justice.
We are also in the process of slashing and revamping our soccer pitch … it is all slashed and burnt now and we will be fertilizing it shortly ready for the coming rains … it will be great to have the soccer pitch up and running again.The thatched roofs of two of the cabins and one of the toilets were getting a lot of holes in them so we have just finished re-thatching these roofs … it is great to know that during the next rainy season that kids won’t be woken to rain gushing down on their heads as they sleep in the dorms.
We are also in the process of re-vamping 5 of the old brick dorms, these were looking very tired and as our camp welcomer said “ahh boss, it is shameful to sho piple these thins”. We have had a workman in to render the inside and outside of these dorms and we are in the process of painting them … they are looking terrific. You will have to take my word on this as I don’t have any pictures yet … you will probably have to wait another 4 months until I do the next update blog (oops).
The Red BAKKE
Firstly I have to make an official apology … in my previous blogs I have spelt “bakke” (ute, tray back) incorrectly (bucki, bucky) … my conscious is now cleared, enlightening my fellow bloggers on the errors of my ways … If only I could publish the email I received correcting my spelling error. Basically, to make a short story long, the wheels have been replaced and it was back on the road … it is now in the need of a serious service and tune up … ohh well, it was good while it lasted.
Save the best until last …
Gabi is going great guns … since my last blog on Gabi she has come ahead leaps and bounds. Gabi is beefing up (putting on weight) and the amount of smiles and laughs we get from her are countless. She is picking up on things so fast (Jodi now has to watch what she says) and I have been able to teach her some Aussie lingo which is mandatory for when she heads back to meet everyone in OZ (e.g. G’day mate). Just the other week we celebrated her 2nd birthday and she had an absolute BLAST. She had her first birthday party ever and she didn’t know what to do … she was puzzled to why people were giving her things that were wrapped in paper and she had to go through the rigmarole of having to unwrap them whilst they stood and watched. I have to admit … I have heard others talk about the “terrible two’s”, but boy does it hit with a big BANG. Gabi definitely has an attitude (I am sure she has picked this up from Jodi) and enjoys expressing her own opinion (another trait of Jodi … I am sure all of you who know Jodi know what I am talking about) and is quite adamant when she says “no” (yes another one of Jodi’s influences). Ohh well, you take the good with the bad … she has definitely been a blessing to both Jodi and I and we are both extremely grateful and thankful that we have the privilege of loving and caring for her. She is such a little cutie.
Monday, August 20, 2007
Calling All Bloggers ...
I post my humblest apologies for the delay in my blogging. I have been SOOOOOOO busy with showing my parents around our new world. It has been an absolute blast and we have done some pretty cool stuff …
Hwange National Park
It was an absolute treat to take mum and dad to Hwange National Park. For those who followed us on our adventure last year you may remember Jodi being absolutely terrified by the sounds of lion roaring a few 100 metres away as we camped inside the game reserve (what a woos). This year after many objections from Jodi in regards to the thought of taking mum and dad to camp in the reserve, Jodi got her wish and instead of camping, we all stayed in the Hwange Safari Lodged. I have to admit, I did enjoy sleeping in the nice king size bed and indulging in 5 course dinners and scrumptious buffet breakfasts, but it wasn’t the same as sleeping in the middle of the reserve, seeing all the stars in the sky and hearing all the wild life right near you as you sat around the fire enjoying a good piece of meat cooked on the braai (bbq).
Once again we were able to take our local expert with us so that he could explain all the flora and fauna within the park. We ventured into the park twice, once on the first afternoon and again the following morning. I have never seen so many elephant in my life; they were gathered in the watering hole on the first evening having a bath and a play around. On the second morning I finally got to see lion in the wild; as we were on our drive out of the park mum spotted 4 lionesses with about 4 or 5 cubs … it was awesome to see them so close (they were about 15 metres away).
Once again we were able to take our local expert with us so that he could explain all the flora and fauna within the park. We ventured into the park twice, once on the first afternoon and again the following morning. I have never seen so many elephant in my life; they were gathered in the watering hole on the first evening having a bath and a play around. On the second morning I finally got to see lion in the wild; as we were on our drive out of the park mum spotted 4 lionesses with about 4 or 5 cubs … it was awesome to see them so close (they were about 15 metres away).
Victoria Falls
I thought we were treated really well at Hwange Safari Lodge but I have never stayed in a place like the Victoria Falls Hotel … this place does not hold back on indulging their guests. Imagine waking up to the sound of a light knock on your door, “room service” you hear the man announce quietly as you slip on your soft, white bath robe. You answer the door to and allow the attendant to enter with your complimentary freshly brewed morning tea and coffee with shortbread. WOW, I never get this type of service at home and I could never imagine Jodi waking up early to prepare a nice coffee for me whilst in bed … oh well, the joys of holidays I suppose. After our tea and coffee we would get ready and be treated to a decedent buffet breakfast overlooking the Zambezi river … I have to admit it was REAL hard waking up each morning ;0).
We had an absolute blast exploring the falls and seeing some pretty cool stuff. Jodi and I got to hold a baby croc and we all saw elephant swimming in the Zambezi river on our sunset cruise. This time away was really nice and relaxing … I hope mum and dad come back next year.
We had an absolute blast exploring the falls and seeing some pretty cool stuff. Jodi and I got to hold a baby croc and we all saw elephant swimming in the Zambezi river on our sunset cruise. This time away was really nice and relaxing … I hope mum and dad come back next year.
Wednesday, August 01, 2007
A Totally Zim Moment
We have finally got our car … it has taken about 4 months but it has finally arrived. But as usual what should have been a fairly easy task turned into what we now call a Zim moment (these moments can’t really be predicted, but they ordinarily occur when something simple is turned into a HUGE ordeal). These Zim Moments are starting to occur more frequently but all that we can really do is laugh and look forward to sharing the moments with our blogger friends. Enough gas bagging … let me tell you about our car experience …
My goodness this whole car saga has been long and draining, in theory we should have had our car over 4 months ago, but due to certain changes things didn’t quite work out that way … but that is another blog in itself. On Saturday morning we woke up bright and early (about 5am) to take the 3 hour drive down to the SA border to collect our car ... this part of the trip was a breeze and was quite pleasant (the smell of our petrol sitting in the back of our friends car could have helped with this feeling). We employed an importing company to do all the stuff in relation to getting the car through immigration, this we felt would save us a lot of pain and heartache at the border ... which it did ... notice I said nothing about time though. We waited in the border town of Beitbridge (which has very little in it) for about 5 hours before we finally got to pick up our car and start our 3 hour trip back home. We couldn’t believe it … finally we had our car and we were on our way back up to Bulawayo … a bit of a long wait in Beitbridge, but no real dramas … what a relief. It was about 10 klm out of Beitbridge that our friends car which I was driving (it has 17" low profile wheels) suddenly started swaying to the left ... I pulled over and hopped out to the sound of shwshwshwshwshwshw ... the two left wheels had blown ... not good. We jacked up the car and started to take the back wheel off so Jodi could take it back into town to find a couple of spares ... the first 4 nuts came off fine, but when we got to the fifth we noticed our nut loosener/tightener did not do anything useful ... we needed a nut key. We called our friend and she advised that she knew nothing about it or where the key could be hidden (she had only imported the car 2 weeks earlier). Only in Zim .... Only in Zim. Jodi went back into Beitbridge to see if she could find any flatbed trucks to take the car back to Bulawayo with absolutely no success. It was only because our friend in Bulawayo knew of the only tow service in Bulawayo that we were notified that in about 5 - 6 hours an old flat bed truck would be here to assist. 5 hour came and went .... 6 hours came and went ... it was after 10 hours that the truck finally arrived (at about 3 am on Sunday morning … 20 hours since we woke up to start this journey). Now when we heard the truck was going to be old we though maybe a truck that was build in the early 80's ... this truck looked like it was build in the early 20's ... it had apparently broken down half way and he had to try to jump start the old thing. After 1.5 hours we got the car up onto the truck and we thought we would finally get going again ... no such luck ... the truck would not start. We decided that seeing it would only be another 2 hours until daylight it would be better to have a rest and try to start the truck and drive home in the daylight. Daylight came and we had the assistance of some young men whose car had broken down also (these guys had been waiting on the side of the road for about 4 days until their diff was fixed) to push start this truck. The engine started and we were off. To conclude, basically the truck broke down again in the same town as last time and he was able to start it again and finally get back to Bulawayo at 9.30pm on Sunday night ... our friends car is still off the road as we try to find two new tyres or 4 new rims which will be better suited to Zimbabwe roads (lots and lots of pot holes) ... I was able to celebrate my birthday like never before ... on the side of a road with some local Zimbabweans ... and the good news ... our car works really well and is a pleasure to drive.
My goodness this whole car saga has been long and draining, in theory we should have had our car over 4 months ago, but due to certain changes things didn’t quite work out that way … but that is another blog in itself. On Saturday morning we woke up bright and early (about 5am) to take the 3 hour drive down to the SA border to collect our car ... this part of the trip was a breeze and was quite pleasant (the smell of our petrol sitting in the back of our friends car could have helped with this feeling). We employed an importing company to do all the stuff in relation to getting the car through immigration, this we felt would save us a lot of pain and heartache at the border ... which it did ... notice I said nothing about time though. We waited in the border town of Beitbridge (which has very little in it) for about 5 hours before we finally got to pick up our car and start our 3 hour trip back home. We couldn’t believe it … finally we had our car and we were on our way back up to Bulawayo … a bit of a long wait in Beitbridge, but no real dramas … what a relief. It was about 10 klm out of Beitbridge that our friends car which I was driving (it has 17" low profile wheels) suddenly started swaying to the left ... I pulled over and hopped out to the sound of shwshwshwshwshwshw ... the two left wheels had blown ... not good. We jacked up the car and started to take the back wheel off so Jodi could take it back into town to find a couple of spares ... the first 4 nuts came off fine, but when we got to the fifth we noticed our nut loosener/tightener did not do anything useful ... we needed a nut key. We called our friend and she advised that she knew nothing about it or where the key could be hidden (she had only imported the car 2 weeks earlier). Only in Zim .... Only in Zim. Jodi went back into Beitbridge to see if she could find any flatbed trucks to take the car back to Bulawayo with absolutely no success. It was only because our friend in Bulawayo knew of the only tow service in Bulawayo that we were notified that in about 5 - 6 hours an old flat bed truck would be here to assist. 5 hour came and went .... 6 hours came and went ... it was after 10 hours that the truck finally arrived (at about 3 am on Sunday morning … 20 hours since we woke up to start this journey). Now when we heard the truck was going to be old we though maybe a truck that was build in the early 80's ... this truck looked like it was build in the early 20's ... it had apparently broken down half way and he had to try to jump start the old thing. After 1.5 hours we got the car up onto the truck and we thought we would finally get going again ... no such luck ... the truck would not start. We decided that seeing it would only be another 2 hours until daylight it would be better to have a rest and try to start the truck and drive home in the daylight. Daylight came and we had the assistance of some young men whose car had broken down also (these guys had been waiting on the side of the road for about 4 days until their diff was fixed) to push start this truck. The engine started and we were off. To conclude, basically the truck broke down again in the same town as last time and he was able to start it again and finally get back to Bulawayo at 9.30pm on Sunday night ... our friends car is still off the road as we try to find two new tyres or 4 new rims which will be better suited to Zimbabwe roads (lots and lots of pot holes) ... I was able to celebrate my birthday like never before ... on the side of a road with some local Zimbabweans ... and the good news ... our car works really well and is a pleasure to drive.
Friday, July 13, 2007
All is good in the land of Blog
It is with GREAT joy I can advise I have now been able to post a lot of piccies (I have had problems with this over the last comple of weeks). So if you are keen please look over the past blogs to see a little of what has been happening.
I have had better wake up calls ...
Just imagine, you are sleeping in your warm comfy bed, dreaming about a nice layered latte from your favourite coffee shop when suddenly you are woken by your spouse announcing that there is someone rattling the front gates to get our attention. It is still dark as you look at the time … 5.00am … is this just a bad dream or are you really being woken up. Then you hear the rattling … no this is not a dream … this is real. As you stick your head out of the ensuite window to look at the gate you see a man in a police uniform. “Ahhh, morningbos … we hav had a rrepot that theeer hes been someone in yor yad”(Translation: Good Morning Sir, sorry to awaken you from your slumber but we have been advised by telephone that there has been someone loitering on your premises). You quickly stick your head back in the window, because of the cold cold weather outside. You scramble to get warm enough clothes on and as you go outside to open the gate, you find the police officer already in your yard. “Ahhh bos … ar you dooing any work on yor ca? (Translation: Excuse me, but may I enquire to whether you have been performing any mechanical labor on this automobile?). As you look at him with a vacant expression he is now alerting you to the fact that there is a bunch of leaves sticking out from the bonnet and the left hand side of the car is jacked up by bricks and your two left wheels are no longer anywhere to be seen. It is now that the police officer reveals “ahhh bos … it loooks like someone hes taken yor whels and mabe yor batrry (Translation: If you have not yet noticed it seems to appear that there is no longer any wheels on the left hand side of your car. If you could please take the time to look under the hood you will probably find that they have also taken your car battery and placed the leaves there so you didn’t wake from your slumber as they closed the hood). Yes … this is all true. Last night we forgot to put the little red bucky (ute) into the garage and someone has jumped the fence and taken both of the wheels on the left hand side of the car as well as cut the battery cords so they could relieve us of our battery as well. One of the things which sticks out to us is that the police officer admits that they probably would have got here in time to stop this theft if they had a police vehicle. Apparently, the officer had to walk for about 1.5 hours to get to our house because the one vehicle they do have was off somewhere else and even if it was at the station there probably wouldn’t have been enough fuel to drive it (we currently have NO petrol/diesel for sale in Zimbabwe). Ahh, life in Zimbabwe …
Technical Errors!!!
Hi everyone, unfortunately I have been experiencing technical errors in posting pictures to the blogsite. I am hoping that this will be rectified in the coming week because I have loads of pictures to show you all. Have a good one, Andrew.
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Finally, some familiar voices!!!!!
Both Jodi and I have been extremely disturbed that we have been loosing our Aussie accents and sounding more and more like the local Zimbabweans … shame hey!!! But over the last 10 days we have had a bunch of Aussies come over to Zimbabwe and it has revived our Aussie twang … you little ripper!!!
As mentioned in the last blog, 14 young and not so young guys n gals came over to Bulawayo from the “other side” of the Brisbane river. They had an awesome time visiting so many different schools and groups; from the hosh posh private high schools to the rural townships all the groups enjoyed listening to them as they rocked their socks off up on stage. From all reports all the Aussie guys really enjoyed themselves as they witnessed to so many people and found out first hand some of the hardships the locals here are going through … it was s real eye opener
As mentioned in the last blog, 14 young and not so young guys n gals came over to Bulawayo from the “other side” of the Brisbane river. They had an awesome time visiting so many different schools and groups; from the hosh posh private high schools to the rural townships all the groups enjoyed listening to them as they rocked their socks off up on stage. From all reports all the Aussie guys really enjoyed themselves as they witnessed to so many people and found out first hand some of the hardships the locals here are going through … it was s real eye opener
Tuesday, July 03, 2007
What a busy couple of weeks!!!!
To be honest I don’t know where to start … from the beginning is always good, but it is hard to find the beginning and the end???? Crazy times … but let me try to explain. Just to let you know ... this is a bit of a longer blog, so make sure you grab a coffee, get a comfortable chair and enjoy your reading experience ...
We currently have an Aussie team of 14 people visiting YFC from a church on the southside of Brisbane (please don’t hold the fact that they live of the southside against them). Debbie, our good and faithful leader arranged to have them collected from J’berg airport instead of them having to pay an extra amount to fly up to Bulawayo, this is where the problems start. Debbie had purchased a 7 seater car from a Japanese export company and tried to import the car into Zimbabwe the week before the team arrived; so Dereck (a good friend of Debbie), Daniel (his son), Mike (another friend) and I took the first 3 hour drive down to the border to try to collect the vehicle. It took Dereck and Daniel over 6 hours to clear the car on the South African side and then try to get it cleared on the Zimbabwean side … with no success. Dereck tried to pay the 115% duty with his credit card (which other people have done) only to have the customs clerk advise that they no longer have the facilities to accept credit card and we had to pay the duty in cash. Now came the task of trying to get the $50,000 rand from the bank in one transaction or over a 10 day period, not enough time on this trip.
Next, the task of trying to transport the 14 Aussies from J’berg airport with only one 7 seater car and a bukki (ute/tray back) … good news came only 1 day later with a volunteer saying he could drive his sisters 7 seater vehicle as well … yay we now have enough seats and it should be easy from this point onwards. The day before we left (last Thursday) I had to get a police check done on the bukki (the car I was allocated to drive) to get it cleared to cross the border. This involves driving the car to an inspection yard in Bulawayo where a police office checks the chassi number against the registration papers, he signs the piece of paper and then gives it into the office where I collect it the following morning stamped and ready to go. Not this time … when the police officer checked the chassi number he noticed a discrepancy and advised that I should take the car over to the holding yard … what is going on??? No one told me of any possibility of a discrepancy. I was taken into police custody until I could prove that the car wasn’t stolen. I called my good friend Dereck (who I was borrowing the car from) to ask what was happening … it was then that I found out that the car was stolen over 5 years ago but had apparently already been cleared by the police back then. After waiting over hour in the C.I.D. office the papers arrived and I was released. To be honest the investigating officer was a good man and enjoyed trying to get me to say words in their language and laugh when I said them with a weird Aussie inflection (my self esteem was definitely being deflated after each word I said … one has to please the police officers over here).
The next day we set off on our journey … 3 hour drive to the border and then another 3 hours to Peitersburg, stop for the night and then another 3 hours to J’berg by Friday morning with very few problems. I think the only problem faced was the fact that we found out that team was arriving on Saturday morning instead of Sunday morning ... it was a good thing that that small detail was checked.
After collecting the team we set off to drive back to Bulawayo … we spent one night in Loise Trickard and then the next morning we set off for the border. Dereck’s car and my car cleared through all the security checks with absolutely no hitches … Tulani (the third driver) had the problems. The police decided to do a random security check on this vehicle and it was while doing this check that they found out that the car was stolen back in 2001 and was never recovered. Now Tulani, being in possession of a stolen vehicle was taken to prison and the 7 Aussies were set free and had to walk across the border. What was only expecting to be a two hour task to pass though both borders instead took close to 5 hours. With the help of a friend of Dereck’s (which he just happened to stumble across in Customs) we were able to get everyone back up to Bulawayo.
Now comes to task of trying to clear Tulani. Basically we had to prove that the car was purchased and Tulani had no idea that the car was actually stolen. That night at about 10:30pm, Peter, Duram (a board member of YFC) and I (I was the only one now that had a vehicle that was cleared to cross the border) started the journey to go back down to South Africa to clear our friend. It wasn’t until about 3:30am what we actually cleared both borders and started the task of trying to find the police station in Messina (the border town on the South African side). Of course, the police station was being refurbished and they had no signs on how to get into the station … so 1.5 hours later we finally got in and found out that we needed to head back to the border to speak with the police there … good game … good game. It was after traveling back to the border we found out that the VIS (Vehicle Inspection S????) team did not actually start until 7.30am in the morning and the police on duty could do absolutely nothing to help us. It was now 5.30am and about 24 hours since we had all woken up; we had to find somewhere to get a coffee and for one of us to catch a bit of shut eye (sleep). This task in itself was difficult, being a country town nowhere was open for a good coffee (we had to drink instant coffee) and no-one could really sleep (we were all over tied and could not get comfortable).
Finally 7.30am on Monday morning came about and we headed eagerly over to the VIS office to reveal all our paperwork to the investigating officer. We all expected a pat on the back for being top notch investigators and where expecting to go straight to the prison to get our mate out … not this time through. There was a court hearting scheduled for that morning and the evidence which we bought forward was not enough to satisfy the investigation team … they now needed to search their files for the original paperwork and we needed to give them more paperwork from Interpol to prove his innocents. Basically to cut a long story short, Tulani is remanded in custody pending further investigation or until we can get the Interpol paperwork down to the investigator. So by 12.30pm on Monday afternoon we started our journey back up to Bulawayo sadly disappointed because our main objective of setting Tulani free was not achieved.
NEWS JUST IN .... Tulani has just been released after one week ... he is now on his way back upto Bulawayo ... I wonder if he will help take the Aussies back to J'berg airport on Thursday????
We currently have an Aussie team of 14 people visiting YFC from a church on the southside of Brisbane (please don’t hold the fact that they live of the southside against them). Debbie, our good and faithful leader arranged to have them collected from J’berg airport instead of them having to pay an extra amount to fly up to Bulawayo, this is where the problems start. Debbie had purchased a 7 seater car from a Japanese export company and tried to import the car into Zimbabwe the week before the team arrived; so Dereck (a good friend of Debbie), Daniel (his son), Mike (another friend) and I took the first 3 hour drive down to the border to try to collect the vehicle. It took Dereck and Daniel over 6 hours to clear the car on the South African side and then try to get it cleared on the Zimbabwean side … with no success. Dereck tried to pay the 115% duty with his credit card (which other people have done) only to have the customs clerk advise that they no longer have the facilities to accept credit card and we had to pay the duty in cash. Now came the task of trying to get the $50,000 rand from the bank in one transaction or over a 10 day period, not enough time on this trip.
Next, the task of trying to transport the 14 Aussies from J’berg airport with only one 7 seater car and a bukki (ute/tray back) … good news came only 1 day later with a volunteer saying he could drive his sisters 7 seater vehicle as well … yay we now have enough seats and it should be easy from this point onwards. The day before we left (last Thursday) I had to get a police check done on the bukki (the car I was allocated to drive) to get it cleared to cross the border. This involves driving the car to an inspection yard in Bulawayo where a police office checks the chassi number against the registration papers, he signs the piece of paper and then gives it into the office where I collect it the following morning stamped and ready to go. Not this time … when the police officer checked the chassi number he noticed a discrepancy and advised that I should take the car over to the holding yard … what is going on??? No one told me of any possibility of a discrepancy. I was taken into police custody until I could prove that the car wasn’t stolen. I called my good friend Dereck (who I was borrowing the car from) to ask what was happening … it was then that I found out that the car was stolen over 5 years ago but had apparently already been cleared by the police back then. After waiting over hour in the C.I.D. office the papers arrived and I was released. To be honest the investigating officer was a good man and enjoyed trying to get me to say words in their language and laugh when I said them with a weird Aussie inflection (my self esteem was definitely being deflated after each word I said … one has to please the police officers over here).
The next day we set off on our journey … 3 hour drive to the border and then another 3 hours to Peitersburg, stop for the night and then another 3 hours to J’berg by Friday morning with very few problems. I think the only problem faced was the fact that we found out that team was arriving on Saturday morning instead of Sunday morning ... it was a good thing that that small detail was checked.
After collecting the team we set off to drive back to Bulawayo … we spent one night in Loise Trickard and then the next morning we set off for the border. Dereck’s car and my car cleared through all the security checks with absolutely no hitches … Tulani (the third driver) had the problems. The police decided to do a random security check on this vehicle and it was while doing this check that they found out that the car was stolen back in 2001 and was never recovered. Now Tulani, being in possession of a stolen vehicle was taken to prison and the 7 Aussies were set free and had to walk across the border. What was only expecting to be a two hour task to pass though both borders instead took close to 5 hours. With the help of a friend of Dereck’s (which he just happened to stumble across in Customs) we were able to get everyone back up to Bulawayo.
Now comes to task of trying to clear Tulani. Basically we had to prove that the car was purchased and Tulani had no idea that the car was actually stolen. That night at about 10:30pm, Peter, Duram (a board member of YFC) and I (I was the only one now that had a vehicle that was cleared to cross the border) started the journey to go back down to South Africa to clear our friend. It wasn’t until about 3:30am what we actually cleared both borders and started the task of trying to find the police station in Messina (the border town on the South African side). Of course, the police station was being refurbished and they had no signs on how to get into the station … so 1.5 hours later we finally got in and found out that we needed to head back to the border to speak with the police there … good game … good game. It was after traveling back to the border we found out that the VIS (Vehicle Inspection S????) team did not actually start until 7.30am in the morning and the police on duty could do absolutely nothing to help us. It was now 5.30am and about 24 hours since we had all woken up; we had to find somewhere to get a coffee and for one of us to catch a bit of shut eye (sleep). This task in itself was difficult, being a country town nowhere was open for a good coffee (we had to drink instant coffee) and no-one could really sleep (we were all over tied and could not get comfortable).
Finally 7.30am on Monday morning came about and we headed eagerly over to the VIS office to reveal all our paperwork to the investigating officer. We all expected a pat on the back for being top notch investigators and where expecting to go straight to the prison to get our mate out … not this time through. There was a court hearting scheduled for that morning and the evidence which we bought forward was not enough to satisfy the investigation team … they now needed to search their files for the original paperwork and we needed to give them more paperwork from Interpol to prove his innocents. Basically to cut a long story short, Tulani is remanded in custody pending further investigation or until we can get the Interpol paperwork down to the investigator. So by 12.30pm on Monday afternoon we started our journey back up to Bulawayo sadly disappointed because our main objective of setting Tulani free was not achieved.
NEWS JUST IN .... Tulani has just been released after one week ... he is now on his way back upto Bulawayo ... I wonder if he will help take the Aussies back to J'berg airport on Thursday????
Thursday, June 21, 2007
Keeping up with the Times
Jodi and I are now keeping up with the modern times and have updated our blogsite so everyone can see where people are logging in all around the world. If you want to have a look, just click on the world map under the “Archive” section on the right hand side of the screen. Thank you to our friends in Florida, UK and Brisbane who logged in yesterday.
Friday, June 15, 2007
OOOOPS … I forgot to tell you all something!!!!
Ahh, it was about 3 weeks ago we had a missionary from GB come to visit. Ann used to minister here in Bulawayo for a few years and left to pastor a church at Clapham (London) at the end of last year. Ann was heavily involved in Willow Park camps and started the ball rolling with getting schools back in to use the facilities. Ann and her friend Jenny used to facilitate a lot of programs for prefix (high school seniors) and from all reports made a HUGE impact. It was great to have her back and to see her “do her thing” at Willow Park with a group of prefix from Matobo High School (Matobo is a rural area about 1 hour from Bulawayo). Seeing first hand the impact these studies can have on these young adults is amazing and has really pumped me full of enthusiasm to start running these programs again … it is just a waiting process. Both Jodi and I feel that we need to get Willow Park into running order first and then with the major renovations/clearing/cleaning up finished we can then concentrate fully on teaching and encouraging the youth from Bulawayo and in time to come youth from all around Zimbabwe … hey why stop here … we could have youth from all around Africa to come to Willow Park … nothing is impossible.
Wednesday, June 06, 2007
Time to do a little bragging!!!!
It only occurred to me after the event, but last week an astonishing thing happened … Willow Park Camps successfully purchased its first product (for many years) from revenue created from camps. This is a momentous occasion. I know the items don’t seem that great, but as small as they may seem, it is still quite the achievement for Willow Park. Ohhh, I have just realized, I have not told you what we purchased … a 5 litre tin of gloss paint, two paint brushes and an industrial bin … things are a happening here at Willow Park … I have some more exciting news to share in weeks to come … so stay tuned.
Tuesday, May 29, 2007
Time to Renew our Visas
I have a confession to make … it is hard to admit, but I think I am becoming more and more zimbabean each day I am here … the true test was when we went over to Botswana last week. On the way over we had to queue for at least an hour to get through the Botswana immigration, then on the way back we had to queue in the Zimbabwean immigration for more than 2 hours … all this was done without complaining and just standing patiently … You see, queuing is the national past time for the average Zimbabwean. Zimbabweans have to queue for money at the ATM, queue for bread, queue for mealie, queue for cheap petrol (when it is available) and when there is no queue people just queue for the sake of queuing. Now for people who know me well, I was never one to queue patiently, I didn’t care much for queues and definitely didn’t like just standing around … times are a changin’. Jodi on the other hand has not quite adapted to the Zimbabwean culture … “little miss impatient” is most likened to an over fizzed over shaken coke bottle … you don’t really know what is going to happen until the lid is taken off and then out comes a HUGE explosion … Jodi had to have a little “time out” when queuing at the Zimbabwean border (and that’s all that needs to be said).
The reason for our trip over to Botswana was for a little bit of RNR, to purchase some products for our new house (things are getting VERY VERY expensive here in Zim) and most importantly to renew our visas for another 3 months. All of the above was done with success. I have to admit, in the 3 months we have been in Zim I had almost forgotten what a “real” shop looks like, having fully stocked shelves with a wide variety of brands to choose from …WOW. I think one of the highlights was seeing packets of Tim Tams on the shop shelves, but the price was astronomical … $10 AUD wowza.
The reason for our trip over to Botswana was for a little bit of RNR, to purchase some products for our new house (things are getting VERY VERY expensive here in Zim) and most importantly to renew our visas for another 3 months. All of the above was done with success. I have to admit, in the 3 months we have been in Zim I had almost forgotten what a “real” shop looks like, having fully stocked shelves with a wide variety of brands to choose from …WOW. I think one of the highlights was seeing packets of Tim Tams on the shop shelves, but the price was astronomical … $10 AUD wowza.
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