June 2014

While Glen collected the two Ts from their school last weekend, a friend and I joined students and staff for the closing chapel of the semester. I sat there, heart beating fast, stomach churning while hearing of the amazing changes that are soon to take place at college. We closed term with fewer than 60 students and a week after they return our ranks will swell with 150-200 more students, eager to join the School of Education and Humanities at this new University. I do admire people with great vision! With the students will come some new staff and, gradually, more infrastructure. In the meantime the principal with good cheer, amid gales of laughter, urged the theology and diakonal students to share the facilities and to look after their new flock. The next four weeks, now we have finished marking exams and arranging marks, will be a hive of activity. Glen, being on management, will be busy. One of his tasks is ordering many, many books.

The semester was an extremely steep learning curve for me. I truly enjoyed it – who could not with such eager, caring students and supportive staff. The first years took a while to tune in to my accent! UCZUC Principal: Rev Kondolo I have been thrilled also to collect more violin students, mostly home in Zambia for their long holidays from India (boarding school), but also another who travels from Ndola once a week. She’s keen. I love it! Julu, Taliesin and Talitha had a break between terms in April/May. Their four week breaks are staggered and Julu’s was also curtailed so we took leave from college to make a dash to meet Glen’s brother in Namibia. We can’t say we’ve really seen Namibia though. If you look at a map, there’s a finger of land which leaves the bulk of the country behind and goes up to meet the Zambian border at the Zambezi river, now called the Zambezi strip. We met and were treated by Tony on the Zambezi at a fishing lodge; we were able to catch a few tigers (see photo). It is a beautiful spot on the river, now in full flow. On the long drive (1068km) we played the counting game.

Here’s a taster: 25 police and traffic halts for checks and exchange of greetings, 3 purple cars but 14 carts pulled by yokes of oxen or donkeys (mainly on the Livingstone to Sesheke stretch), 20 ABNORMALE/S on the Kitwe to Lusaka road and only 2 between Lusaka and Sesheke. Why? The bulk of the mines are in the Copperbelt region where we live and ABNORMALE/S are the huge vehicles and equipment that are transported, enveloped by flashing-light pick- ups. We encountered 9 broken down trucks which used the proper warning triangles but a whopping 16 using the more common “warning” branches: rather alarming to encounter in the pre-dawn light. Road side sellers counted in at 167, but that is a VERY conservative number – most were huge sacks of charcoal but also tomatoes and water melons.

Sights of special interest included elephants, a couple of rusting traction engines and the spectacular sky bound plume of spray from The Smoke That Thunders (Mosi O Tunya, aka Victoria Falls). The volume of water is so great this year that you can see the spray from kilometres away. We are meeting up with the Albino Foundation board on Sunday: to catch up on their news, hopes and plans. There are some beautiful hats and literature to pass on for their work. Kathleen’s friend, inspiration and helper, Mutinta is one of Caroline’s first charges as an orphan. With her help and the advice of a marvellous physiotherapist, Kathleen is becoming much stronger. Mutinta also loves to sing and it is a happy event to hear the two of them hammering away at the piano and singing at the tops of their voices. We are full of thankfulness that K’s seizures have abated with a new tack on the medication.

We’re off to visit Caroline and some of the kids on Friday to present some excellent wooden puzzles that were sent from Scotland, and I’ll get an update on how the school- supported kids are getting on. The puzzles will be well used and well looked after in that household.