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.