Finally My Blog

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Greetings to our Family and Friends from Africa! I’m sorry to have taken so long to communicate with you but each day has been so filled to the brim with adventures that I have fallen into bed immediately each night. Internet access is also hard to come by as well.
Where to begin….mere words cannot possibly describe what we have experienced however I shall try. After a 22 hr. journey, we arrived safely in Johannesburg, tired but excited. We stayed in a lovely hotel that night, and the mother of a friend came to pick up one of our suitcases, which we were leaving behind, in which we had packed our clothes for the wedding we are attending. When we were about to check our other suitcase for the flight to Windhoek, Namibia, Gerry realized that he had given the wrong suitcase to our friend. The suitcase we had with us had all of our dress clothes….my heels, skirts, dresses, etc. The other smaller suitcase we had with us had Gerry’s clothes in it. Therefore, I ended up with one pair of shorts, one pair of pants, and one t-shirt. Lol. Poor Gerry felt so badly that he gave me his credit card to go shopping for clothes. Yay!!!!
The flight to Windhoek took only 2 hours and my BFF, Judy, met us there….many tears and hugs of joy at being together again. Traveling from the airport into Windhoek was rather harrowing as they drive on the left side and VERY fast!! The roads are filled with huge potholes (craters) due to the extended rainy season here. We stayed 2 nights at a wonderful B&B and went shopping for the equipment that so many of you kindly donated money for….we purchased a laptop computer, a copier/printer/scanner machine, paper and ink cartridges. The rate of exchange is 7 Namibian to 1 Canadian dollar so our money went far.
Btw, we brought the sunshine to the continent….the rainy season has gone on far longer than ever before…since we arrived the sun has been out every day, so our friends here are very pleased with us.
On Sat., April 2, we headed off in our rental car 8 hours North to the town of Rundu in the Kavanga region where Judy has been volunteering teaching teachers of the Bush Schools for the last 8 years. The speed limit here is 120km/hr but many drive 140-160km/hr. (eek). One must be very watchful however, as at any moment warthogs, baboons and deer will leap out to cross the road. We saw many of these. There are also large herds of steer and goats which cross the road at their leisure. Once in Rundu, (temp. 30 degrees), we stayed at a beautiful lodge right on the Kavanga river. Angola was within reaching distance right across the river (NOT Mongolia which I mistakenly mentioned in my text msgs to a few of you, which is now one of the running jokes here). Judy took us to meet her adopted ‘family’ who live in the Ghetto area of Rundu. QUITE an experience….we bought 12 large beers, 6 ciders, coke and wine at a local Shabeen (pub) all for about $30 Canadian!!! Then there was a big celebration with lots of dancing, ‘smoking’ and drinking. Then we went to some local Shabeens for more of the same. The next day we walked through Rundu to the local ‘China shops’ (owned strictly by Chinese people), which are shops filled with discount clothes, etc. and visited some more of Judy’s friends.
The next day we were picked up by the Principal of the Bush School. As we arrived all of the children and teachers came to greet us. The children stared in awe, some smiling, some frightened as they had never seen white people before. They treated us to traditional dance and ceremonies and clapped with glee when we presented the equipment to them. The surrounding villages and other schools will also use this equipment. Up until now, if they wanted a copy of a document, they would have to travel 60 km to town, many on foot, or by bus, and spend 40 Namibian dollars, which is a fortune for them. My eyes are filled with tears even as I write this because of their grateful reactions to equipment which we at home take for granted.
The next day we headed further North to the Divundu Lodge. This also is right on the Kavanga river. We went out for our riverboat trip where we saw many hippos, crocs and birds. Beautiful and exhilarating!!!
The next day we began our trip back to Windhoek, passing through Rundu where Judy was able to visit many of her colleagues at the Board of Education office. All have greeted us very warmly and they too thanked us profusely for our donation.
On the way to Windhoek, we stopped at Roy’s Camp. The cook there made the best food we had tasted so far….salads, chicken, pork, potatoes, etc., all homemade. This lodge was very rustic yet comfortable, filled with many wood items representing the area. What a wonderful night we had. The next morning a guide took us far into the bush to visit the San People…..this is the tribe where they filmed ‘The Gods Must Be Crazy’ movie. Their language is filled with the ‘click’ sound. There they showed us how they make their jewellery out of Ostrich egg shells, how to make a fire, bows and poison arrows and clothes. We then fired off a bunch of arrows into a bale of hay. Here, Judy spoke to them in their language which set off many giggles, shocked expressions and squeals of joy. Never had they met a white person who could speak in such a way.
Then we set off again to Windhoek where we caught our flight back to Johannesburg. We arrived just last night and are staying in a beautiful B&B. The wedding is tomorrow and then we are off to Botswana for the safari on Monday.
Whew!! Although the words here cannot possibly convey the emotions we have experienced for the last 10 days, at least I have recorded and shared the events.
I will include some photos soon.
I think of you often with much love and hope all is well with you in that part of the world.
Hugs and Kisses…..Elizabeth/Bethie/Gerry

April 10 update: We attended Pat and Claire’s wedding last night. Absolutely beautiful in the most magnificent setting-castle like fairytale venue. All went swimmingly. Patrick’s sister, Kim, who is 5 mths pregnant, and husband, arrived to the surprise of all. Patrick was bowled over as we thought she was unable to come. We leave tomorrow for Safari.. They have had a huge amount of rain there so travel may be precarious. If we can’t cross the big river with cars, they will put us all in baskets and haul us across on a cable. And thus, our 3rd leg of the adventure continues. xoxo

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