The Zebras go Home

How disillusioned can one be. I imagined that after all this time, I would have no trouble fitting everything in our luggage. WRONG. The so called necessities no longer covered the bed but the entire floor of one room and so the culling began again.

What to leave behind.

Our first check through security necessitated one bag having to be opened. not surprising as it was completely full of weapon shaped items. ( a very generous donation from our church) It is a bit taxing on an x-ray machine to distinguish a gun from a drill of which there were a few. The problem - the rechargeable batteries were not attached to any tools -was easily solved and onto the luggage conveyor  goes the bag and disappears from view. After all the weighing, it seems we have excess luggage and are asked if we can rearrange the contents or leave one bag behind. NOT POSSIBLE -  as another bag disappears from view on the conveyor.

From there we are taken to the airline office so the excess baggage fee can be paid and are told it will be $625 US. I took one look at Kevin , shook my head and said, "NO WAY!". The official was trying to be very helpful and again suggested we rearrange the contents. Explaining that was impossible as two of our bags had already gone, he changed his tact and began telling us to forget the weight it was about the number of bags. We were booked on Ethiopian Airlines but the first leg to Singapore was on Qantas. It suddenly occurred to me that Qantas allow only two bags while Ethiopian allow four. After view our booking sheets, he said he would have to honour that but we would have to pay for the one heavy bag as it would very likely be left in Singapore due to new regulations. We thanked him for reducing the fee by $400US,  paid the rest and moved on to join the long queue to clear immigration. Why am I not surprised, the computer system was down and so we stood in the queue for over an hour. Hakuna Matata, we had plenty of time and the flight was uneventful. After boarding at Singapore, we sat in the plane for an hour on the tarmac. Why? You guessed it. A technical glitch and the pilot couldn't take off until the printouts were received. Hence we were an hour late arriving at Addis Abba and only had time to disembark and go straight to the other gate for the next leg of the journey.  We didn't mind at all.

However on arrival at Entebbe, the zebras ( our signature ports) had not fared so well. Both had suffered broken legs and one had a gash in the side, so that meant another delay while we tried to sort that out. They have definitely come home to retire in a quiet spot in Tanzania and will not be returning with us. Our car trip to Katoke took a very long nine and a half hours and we arrived 41 and a half hours after leaving Brisbane, tired but very thankful to God for a safe but eventful trip.

As I sat on the plane and thought about the events, three things came to mind. The first  was  that misunderstanding, miscommunication and misinterpretation of information are probably the biggest causes of ill feeling, lack of trust and unforgiveness in our societies today.  Secondly it is nice to find helpful, pleasant people around us and finally technology is a wonderful tool when it is working.

A happy group saying thank you for the much needed tools

Because of the National Form Six examinations currently being held, there are a number of restrictions on movement here. Various areas where the exam takes place, have been barricaded off and there is a strong police and security guard presence. Kevin has not been able to commence any ground work for some rather strange reasons like the workers not being able to use the toilets and the Library has been closed each day for the past week and a half. Today a load of steel and cement arrived and he is ready to start on Thursday as soon as the exams have finished. Unfortunately, the young fellow who was his right hand man, has been offered a govt teaching position and left last Friday.

All that cement to be mixed in two mixers and carted in barrows.

I, Valma have been initiated into the Tanzanian way. When it rains, as it has nearly every day since we arrived, the termites all leave their nests and fly about and drop their wings. A group of young boys were crouched in a circle on the ground near our place. I guessed what they might doing and went to investigate. Sure enough, they were eating these long ant like insects alive and whole. As I chatted with them, they assured me they tasted very nice and encouraged or rather challenged me to try one.  Off came the wings , into the mouth and no chewing just swallow it down. It didn't have any taste to me, just tickled as it went down. The next challenge is a grass hopper which even the adults say are very tasty. Hmmm, we'll have to think about that one.At least they remove the legs and cook them. 

Anyone for a delicious???? treat.

As we were driving out the school gate to go to the village to buy some vegetables, I commented that I had forgotten to bring the camera as you are never sure what you may encounter.  As we nearthe village, we caught up to a motor bike slowly making its way up the hill and to our surprise behind the driver there was a rather large pig sitting across the lap of the passenger on the back.

Next day , we went one better. There were two pigs  sittng one on top of the other on the passenger's lap.


Thursday.   A hive of activity.  With setting out complete, excavation began in earnest giving a much needed financial boost to a number of the village folk.

Eagerly waiting to be chosen

Levelling

Dig,dig,dig.

Guess what this is.               

    

It's the cross rail on our clothesline. Not everyone is fortunate to have a living clothes line. covered in fungi and termites. with the help of our floor mop and a rope from the top over the brick wall and tied to a tree , we manage quite well. The clothes dry no matter what. 

Much better than lying them on the grass for the monkeys.