"yesterday, mel and i accompanied rodger (one of the guys who works at the ranch) across the border to botswana. because zimbabwe has no petrol or diesel, people must travel the 60 miles over the border into botswana to buy gas. we drove to botswana in the mazda pick-up truck, with 4 empty barrels in the back. the cars here are in terrible condition, i guess due to the fact that many roads are unpaved and auto parts are hard to get. the mazda has no reverse (so if you want to back up you have to put it in neutral and push). the mazda also does not have a starter, so mel and i spent the whole day push-starting the truck (we must have made about 15 stops yesterday!) push-starting was easy when rodger found some "downhill" land to park on, but the struggles came when we tried to push-start the truck in the sand. thankfully, there are MANY kind people here who offered to help. :)
after running errands and getting gas in botswana, we started the long drive home. it became apparent very quickly that it might indeed become the LONG drive home, when the gears in the truck failed and rodger could only drive the truck in 1st gear...this was about 10 miles per hour and mel and i feared not returning back to the ranch until well after dark. luckily, r was able to tinker with the gear shift and fix the problem. we were well on our way then, singing old 80s songs to kill time on the drive back home.
before heading back to the ranch, rodger had a stop to make in town. as mel and i waited in the truck, we heard a pop and then saw steam rising from under the hood of the truck. upon investigation, we found the radiator had overheated because the fan belt broke. thank god we were in town and not on the ride home when this happened (or else we might have spent the night in the middle of nowhere.) luckily we were in an industrial area and an auto parts shop was closeby. rodger got the part we needed, and after a few failed attempts to get the truck started, we managed to push start it.
after a day like that, we retreated to the local bar, called "explorers", drank a few beers, and watched the vh1 videos playing on the bars 2 tvs. for some reason, spice girls videos played, one after the other. i only remember 3 spice girls songs/videos, but apparently the spice girls had a lot of BIG hits during their hey-day because they must have played at least 10 spice girls videos in a row.
yesterday's trip to botswana was what i consider to be one big nightmare....crappy car that breaks down, no cell phone, no AAA roadside service. but rodger insists that life here in zimbabwe is an "adventure". i guess it is, but sometimes i really miss the comforts and conveniences of home. i am adapting, but being an american, i am accustomed to things that work, accessability to whatever we need RIGHT NOW. it's just not like that here.
this morning m and i took the train into town. on the train, i asked her what the highlight of her trip was. (she is leaving tomorrow). she mentioned the animals as a highlight. for me, the highlights of this trip are the "snapshots" i have in my mind of things that i will only be able to picture in my memory and which are not eternalized in film (some of the best things i have seen were not appropriate to photograph). like the children at the soccer game, who wanted to smell my white "ihkewa" skin, and stroke my straight, soft hair. like the village women who welcomed me into their hut and allowed me to witness the ritual of receiving salary for the sales of their craftwork. (they sang and danced with great delight). like the people on the streets who stared at me wih blank stares until i smiled at them and said hello, and in return their blank stares turned into smiles and "hellos". like the women who walk barefoot on dirt roads, balancing on their heads pails and jugs and bags and boxes. all with such ease.
a few days ago, mel and i went for a walk around the ranch and came across the compound (the place where all the workers at the ranch live). about 8 children ran up to greet us. they don't speak english (except to say "my name is..") mel and i smiled and laughed with them for a while. then we went to our room to retrieve a frisbee that was left behind by some other interns, as well as some candy we had bought earlier that day. we taught the kids how to play frisbee and before we left them we gave each of them a piece of candy. each child held open their hands to accept the piece of candy, and not a one of them unwrapped the candy to eat it. a few unwrapped the candy to look at it, but then carefully wrapped it back up as if it was a small treasure. they definately knew what it was (they call it "sweets") but mel and i tend to think that the kids saved the candy like we used to save precious one dollar bills we received from the tooth fairy as children. mel and i have since bought more candy and a ball to give to the children. we plan to play with them tomorrow.
there is so much more to tell about my experience here, but like i said, probably my best memories of this place will be "snapshots" - the things that only i can visualize in my mind. i thought about maybe cutting my trip short and returning a few days early, but now i am thinking that i want to savor my final days here. as of now, my plans are still the same and i will be home on tuesday. i can't believe i have been here for over 3 weeks. in some ways, i feel like i have been here forever, but in other ways i feel like i have hardly experienced all there is to experience here.
i hope that all of you can someday come here to see that africa is not a scary, bad place, but a place with wonderful people and great potential."
