Update from Zimland

As im writing this blogentry, im sitting in the bed in our hotel/lodge, Berkely Place, which is in the same street as the office. Being the third place we have stayed at in Bulawayo we feel like we know what Bulawayo has to offer when it comes to accommodation- in the weekend we spent Saturday night at a backpackers’ in case we might meet some other travelers (normally when you travel you want to avoid places with too many tourists, now that we are here on work we go there just to see if we can meet a backpacker or two to hang out with!hehe), and this week were staying here as it is closer to work. This week we will be spending preparing for the Youth Caravan, which starts next Monday. There is a lot to be bought, everything from pots and pans to food and tools, we will be about 100 members from BUIYSAP moving around to different villages for two whole weeks. When you think about the fact that the roads out there are made of sand and that we probably might have to go back and forth as we do not have enough cars, this will prove interesting I think! But I think it will be great, and the schools in the different villages are very excited to have us- we are bringing wood to make benches so the kids a least have something to sit on after walking up to 30 kms, and in some schools we will paint and make sement floors instead of dirt floors. When I say we, I mean the other members of the organisation- I will try to help but can’t see where I will get the carpenter skills from. Luckily, Malaika and I have got other responsibilities; helping out with the other part of the caravan which is the community education. There will be role plays, songs, poems etc. focusing on the issues of education, which will lead up to a discussion where hopefully everyone from the traditional leaders to the out of school youth will contribute and together they will find ways to improving the education standards in their village/school. We have been put to help out and facilitate the Information Team, who are responsible for taking notes and making sure what people say and do is relevant towards the theme of the caravan.