I have been in Zimbabwe, living in the bush, for exactly a year now. I thought I’d share with you some of the lowlights….and their highlights:
Winter
· Turns out southern Africa has real winters! The cold, the wind, the early darkness of the night, the late morning light, the lack of heating and the open living…brrrr!
· What a relief to get a break from the heat, the mosquitoes and all the different funky looking insects! Sunny winter days means that you can enjoy the sun rather than hide from it like in the summer when it is just too hot.
The chaos:
· Like everywhere, it’s been chaotic here. Medical centres, food supplies and schools in particular have been overwhelmed. Most schools here haven’t been able to do online learning (difficult when there is no wifi or electricity) and when they did finally start reopening in a phased approach, teachers refused to go back to work in government schools…salaries are simply too low to make it worth their while. It’s a real mess.
· Schools being closed has meant that when delivering school lunches for children, we’ve had to take the food supplies directly to all the different villages…some are very far from the schools and very remote and it’s been a big logistical operation…but it’s meant that I have gotten to know the area and the villages that are really off the beaten track.
The Problem Animal Control:
· I’ve always known about human-wildlife conflicts, and witnessed it when working with shepherds in the wolf areas in the alps but it’s a different scale here. Elephants come into villages, raiding crops and fields, hyenas attack cattle and donkeys…this destruction impacts entire livelihoods on a much too regular basis. Dealing with problems at this level is not always a pleasant sight.
· It’s a subject that’s often spoken about, and for me to be able to actually see it and better understand what I’m talking about has definitely been a good thing.
Getting robbed:
· It’s not a nice idea to have someone break into your room and go through your things, even less so when you really don’t have a whole heap.
· Dan’s anti-poaching unit managed to track the thieves (who changed shoes three times to put off anyone on their tracks) through the thick sand and bush and within one day, had pinpointed the culprits and recovered our belongings - heroes!
Not having a home:
· It’s been tedious living out of several bags, not being able to unpack properly and having to move everything around spontaneously from room to room and tent to tent.
· Not having a real home for a year made it all the nicer finally moving into a little cottage and be able to properly unpack. Plus, moving around gave us a tour of the camps, staff and rooms!
The uncertainty:
· Like everyone else, this year has been…unpredictable. In my case, everything has been interlinked with one uncertainty making everything else uncertain too.
· Not knowing where you’ll be next month or even next week, while tiring, has some charm to it, when you can afford to live that way. I’ve learned to live more of the Zimbabway - don’t plan much, you just “make a plan” …
A container full of things:
· Over a year ago we packed up our things, and bought a whole lot more, into a container that was shipped across the world to finally arrive in Zimbabwe. Those things were unloaded into a Bulawayo workshop, then reloaded into a camp room, then moved to two separate areas and we finally brought them into our new little cottage in the middle of the bush just a couple weeks ago.
· Unpacking everything that was packed over a year ago felt like an early Christmas – among the forgotten treasures were a ukulele, lots of good books and even a ping pong table!
The trips:
· It’s been a busy year and we haven’t had time to see as much as we’d hoped.
· But we did manage to go to the Falls and go down the rapids of the great Zambezi, visited Zvishavane and the Terblanches several times, went to Gonarezhou National Park, and stayed in Sidinda. I’ve also gotten to know the bright lights of Bulawayo and where to find the cheapest beer pretty well.
Having a “maid”:
· For the last few months Sisi has been hand doing the laundry, cleaning and cooking for us. We don’t pay her very much by European standards but actually it’s a lot for here. I’m not used to someone “working for me” to clean up my stuff, my mess and go through my things. It’s a strange feeling and it’s been difficult to get used to.
· Sisi has been a constant “friend” the last few months and while I still have to improve my Ndebele, she’s been really nice to have around. I’ve learnt a lot from her and she’s really grateful for having a job - which alone makes it worth it. She lives in one of the local villages, supports her parents, has three kids, is a single mum, is really strong, is in her late 30s, has one of those really warm smiles and makes amazing chips.
First world problems:
· There have been many times when we haven’t had signal, internet or electricity and it’s fair to say that we live in a real bubble here, away from the news headlines and the noise of traffic. Sometimes being so disconnected takes its toll.
· Being isolated is a bit of a breather and a reminder that things can’t always run so quickly, efficiently and simply. In our new cottage, we run off of solar energy which has been amazing and rely on a borehole that pumps water which has worked very well. On that note, I’ve also been part of village drilling efforts…drilling boreholes in villages that haven’t had access to water for 3, 5, 10 years using a manual drill has brought tears to people’s eyes. It’s true that in the bush there will be times when you won’t have electricity or hot water and cooking on a wood stove can get a bit..sweaty. Those first world problems, when living in a third world country, are actually far from being problems at all.
The money:
· Wow. The finances here are so incredibly complicated. There’s hardly a national currency and no cash. I’ve never had to borrow and lend so much in my life.
· It’s difficult to rationalise “saving” when the value of money is changing on a daily basis and it’s quite a different way of thinking.
Friends and family:
· I miss my friends and family, coffees and walks, chats and gigs, pubs and restaurants, the office and the bumping into people in Cambridge streets.
· I’ve made some real friends here and I’m very thankful for them! And of course, being far from the family meant that we go properly stuck into virtual family yoga sessions…!
The food:
· Living in the bush, fresh fruit and veg is difficult to come by and I miss salads and fruit. Anything edible in nature is gobbled up by wildlife, and people in the villages are subsistence farmers, growing food just to feed their families. It’s difficult enough growing food with elephants threatening to destroy fields in seconds so people rarely produce any surplus to sell.
· When you do get a good fruit, it’s the best. From the avocados to the oranges, to the cherry tomatoes to the mangoes to the matamba, a local fruit which is a real treat. Braais, bush pizzas and potjies have all been on the menu and have all been mnandi kakulu (very delicious).
The wildlife:
· Monkeys stealing your food, baboons attacking pet dogs, elephants raiding crops, cheetah killing goats and donkeys, snakes hibernating behind your fridge, scorpions spying on you in the shower, caterpillars falling from your ceiling, moths in your tea, hyena attacking cattle, spiders burying poison into your back and insects…just insects everywhere: cicadas, flying ants, moths, beetles, mosquitoes, horse flies, …
· Sitting outside and watching the elephants, buffalo, hippos, mongoose, monkeys, birds go by, hearing the lions and the hyena at night, lions getting hold of a baby buffalo and slowly eating it to death, baby elephants rolling around in the sand, giraffe awkwardly galloping through the bush, baboons scurrying up lala palm trees, bush buck eyes in the middle of the darkness when walking to the room with dinner, night jars singing in the night, elephants watching us while we fish, cheetah chasing mongoose, impala hopping along, buffalo defending themselves against lions ready to attack…you get the picture.
Working from home:
· I miss the office and the colleagues, the tea times and the free food, the “9-5”, the chats and the events, the meetings and the after work drinks.
· The “office” has been a variety of places, including right in front of amazing wildlife sightings. Given global lockdown I think everyone would agree that there are some quite obvious lowlights and highlights of “working from home”.
The people:
· It’s been a difficult year for the communities here: the drought, people losing their jobs because of a lack of tourists, wildlife attacks on livestock and crop raids, covid-19 fears and no transport or medical help. Poverty, hunger and ill health are all very very raw – a difficult thing to live with as people ask you for help every single day.
· I’ve gotten to work closely with the people here through several different projects – school lunches, village drilling, dental and optometry work, school bursaries, the anti-poaching unit. It’s been a challenge for a European girl who still has A LOT to learn but impact has been very real and I’m thankful I can play a part in it.
Covid-19:
· No tourism, no revenue, 50% salaries, 85% of staff retrenched and living very difficult lives, schools closed, poor healthcare system…not knowing when things will get better.
· Knowing that the rest of the world is on lockdown and that life “hasn’t just gone on” has made it easier to not miss Europe and “home” so much…
Above: Buffalo and lions, friends, our new cottage, more friends, virtual yoga, camping in Gonarezhou, Sisi, the village drill in action, scouts and bikes, delivering mahewu to villages, braaing, more friends.
Comentários