School visits

After an exciting week were back in town for a night to help out buying food and utilities for our “tour” next week. We are really starting to settle in out in Guwe – we’re starting to remember names (some of them not so easy to pronounce!) and recognise the different youths faces, and when there are about 40 youth that come to hang out at the centre, this is quite hard! They are also getting more comfortable with us and with trying to speak Englis, and in return we have learned a few phrases in Ndebele, the language spoken in the southern parts of Zimbabwe, which can ease and ackward moment. They all love hearing us trying to pronounce the click sounds, Ndebele is closely related to Zulu, if anyone knows how that sounds like.

Last Wednesday was “Africa Youth Day” and we went to see the celebrations at one of the schools about 30 kilometres deeper into the bush from where we are staying. The theme for this year was “Educating the girl child”, hence there was a lot of poems and songs recited and song by the young girls at the school. The children from the neighbouring schools also partook, meaning there were about 400 primary school children there, and the hundred that were sitting closest to Malaika and me had their eyes directed at us- not the stage. The couldn’t stop staring, especially when we were taking photos, they looked at my camera with the greatest awe, and it didn’t get better when they were allowed to look at some of the photos I had taken, they could not stop laughing. Very cute.
The schools here take great pride in their celebrations, and apart from us, parents and teachers, the guest were members from the ministry of education and the village elders and chiefs. The songs, dances and speeches went on for almost four hours, with a break here and there so that the prominent guest, amongst them us, could move more into the shade. For lunch we had freshly slaughtered goat, will try to upload a photo of the goat dangling from a tree while four teenagers were slaying it. It was actually slow cooked, and so tender, really nice!

At night we stayed with one of the teachers, who is also a member of our organisation, and more slaughtering occurred, this time a chicken. I got to rip out the feathers! Gross, but fun. The next day we headed further in to the bush, visitng two more schools and handing out questionnaries. Here, they had also slaughetered a goat, and this time we got the liver – a delicassy you only serve elders or guests. Being one of the few things in this world I really dislike, I was luckily able to blame my high cholesterol, and got away with one bite:)

Our weekend we have just spent relaxing- there’s really not a lot more to do than that! So mamma, James and Helene – I’m getting good at it! Hoping I can take my newly acquired skill back home as well!