In the end, it will all be well.

Sunrise, Zambia

I recently experienced a very sad disappointment, I saw it coming but a big part of me  hoped for a happier ending. Since then its been slow progress of accepting that sometimes, one must find the strength to sever ties, stand up and walk away.

The thing about witnessing a beautiful sunrise is that (at least this is true for me) you are filled with renewed hope, today is a brand new day and no matter how bad yesterday was, at least today you have the chance to make happy memories.

Our dog surprised us with 4 puppies 3 weeks ago. This one is Zeejay. The family is divided on whether his cute or still ugly. I think his cute. He makes me happy

When in Peru, I used to teach the little kids silly made up songs that came with extremely silly and funny dance moves.

Remember him? Not a week goes by without me thinking of the kids I looked after last year.

Andrew

Watching the sunrise at the top of Steamboat in Montana. I have been missing the Rocky Mountains so much these last days…maybe one day I will see them again.

 

Jesus, is like the light of morning at sunrise on a cloudless morning. With this light, he promises healing for those who fear His name. 

Home again!

We got home on the 2nd of June at 7:30 AM. For the final stretch, my father and I started driving from Saturday at 1:30 PM and continued right through the night until early Sunday morning with only 15-20 mins breaks along the way. What should have taken 3 days ended up being 6 days of travel because of the breakdowns we had(sooo annoying!). I can finally say, ” I am an experienced cross-country driver “

Sunrise, Kitwe Zambia.

Now, I believe you are expecting pictures of how driving through Botswana, Congo and South Africa went…well, plans changed The day we entered Zambia fuel prices increased to almost $2 per litre!!! That pretty much put a dent on my parents budget and as we were getting ready to come back they decided to take the same route we had used coming to Zambia to cut down costs(we still covered 6000 kms in total). I was very disappointed but their reasoning was fair, so friend, there is always next time Meanwhile let me share with you for the last time some of what I saw on this trip.

market by the road side.

Lots of fresh fruits and vegetables are sold along the roads. There is something to be said about rural living, I don’t know about other places but at least in Africa you are sure to get fresh produce free from strange chemical sprays!

watermelons anyone ?

Of all the pictures I took this one below is one of my favorites. I wish the picture could convey the tranquility that was at this spot. Most of the pictures I took were taken as my dad was driving but on this one, he stopped and allowed me to take it. You can’t see clearly but it was a group of mothers and daughters doing laundry, well at least the moms were washing because the little girls were busy playing by the bank. It  almost felt like  I could have walked past this same river 200 years ago and I would have seen the same scene. Sapphire sky, birds chirping, girls laughing and the gentle sound of a river flowing by.

laundry day.

Traveling in the north of Mozambique, we drove by a small area that was demarcated with lots of danger signs because it had landmines. What was most concerning was that this area was right next to the road and close to a village like the one below. Mozambique suffered a 16 year civil war that ended in 1993 but 2o years later its people are still haunted by it. As I drove past, I couldn’t help but thank God that in all the times I had gone off for a toilet break, I had not accidentally stepped on a landmine…something thats not unheard of because my father once picked up a man who had stepped on a landmine and had lost much of his leg. All that was left of his leg as my father rushed him to the nearest hospital was bare bone. It always amazes me how much pain the human spirit can endure!

A little of this and that:

Hand made baskets and hat for sale. Fresh unprocessed honey being sold along the road. Sweet potatoes being sold by the kilos. Whilst in North Western Zambia we traveled for about 50 km surrounded by butterflies, the front of our car was covered with them by the time we reached our destination…pretty

I am not one for adding lots of personal pictures on my blog but once in a while I make exceptions , I had a wonderful time meeting up with family that I only get to see every 4-5 years. Below is the last night my sister and I spent with my dads youngest brother and his wife. He is our FAVORITE uncle and I already miss them both so much.

 

Goodnight friend, my allergies have got the best of me tonight, can’t stop sneezing, best I drink some tea and head for bed

 

 

The politics of my skin

( I have been trying to upload the last batch of pictures of our road trip but our internet has been SO slow! I spent 3 hours last night trying to upload one picture to no avail! I have decided to post this entry thats been  in my draft for awhile instead and hopefully the next post will be about the road trip) 

A couple of years ago whilst living in South Africa, my friends and I went on a roadtrip, at one of our stops we spent four days with one of my friends’ friends. Trouble began for me when upon our arrival, the host and his wife refused entirely to acknowledge my presence as they gave warm greetings to everyone else ( I was the only black) I immediately realised this particular visit was going to be rather challenging, what to do? To be honest friend, I was very angry at first, looking back I think my anger was covering up how hurt I felt. I mulled over what to do for the next 3 days as their behavior did not change until I came up with a solution. I decided even if it kills me, I would make friends with the couple, I chose to find out what the husband loved to do and we ended up having a lively conversation about hunting in South Africa. At first it was very difficult but somehow I found the grace. Long story short, by the end of the evening the couple that had completely ignored me for 3 days were happily chatting and laughing with me. I learned something important that day, sometimes racial politics stem from the simple fact that one or both camps have incredibly biased and stupid assumptions about the other, take that away and you get people who would never get along becoming great friends.

my mom and my cousins daughter.

 Until the age of 10 I lived in blissful ignorance of the fact that racial tensions between blacks and whites existed. It was when we traveled to South Africa for the first time in 1994 that it finally dawned on me that some people are very passionate about keeping racial inequality. My brother tells me that it was around that time that he asked me “whats a racist?” and I replied ” It’s when some white people don’t like us touching them.” Since then, my family and I have experienced and observed different types of racial politics, some very subtle others straight in your face. For example one American missionary once told me that black people s brains are inferior to white people s brains because of the manner our mothers carry us as babies. What to do in such situations? One must have the wisdom to know which battles to pick, sometimes I speak out other times I choose silence. From personal observation some misconceptions are so deep seated there is no use trying to change a persons minds.

The way I see it, as long as I enjoy cross-cultural interactions I am bound to deal with people with a superioty complex. Over the years I have taught myself not to allow the root of bitterness to grow in my heart, to try not to take it personally and to remember if I treat them the way they treat me, there will be no difference between us. Has it got easier? NO! But I will never give up least I start practising reverse racism… why cant we all just get along I dont have all the answers on how to deal with the sometimes complex nature of inter racial interactions, I just know its important to be willing to talk about such issues frankly and humbly.

If
by Rudyard Kipling

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too:
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or being hated don’t give way to hating,
And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise;If you can dream—and not make dreams your master;
If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim,
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same:.
If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build’em up with worn-out tools;If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings,
And never breathe a word about your loss:
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: “Hold on!”If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Kings—nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much:
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
And—which is more—you’ll be a Man, my son!

Definitely not ugly!

A Zambian sunset!

we spent a night at this quaint little lodge. Nyimba Zambia.

Sunrise over the city of Kitwe, Zambia.

My adorable and sassy cousin, Abigail.

sunset, somewhere in Mozambique.

These flowers line up most of the roads we have traveled in Zambia.

Be Prepared!

It was in 1990 that I was first introduced to road tripping. I was 6 years old when my father decided to stop being a pastor in Zambia and move to neighbouring country Zimbabwe for further theological studies. Naturally he didn’t want to leave us in Zambia for the 3 years he was studying so my mom packed our bags and with her husband and 4 children aged 6,4,2 and 6 months got on a bus and left everyone and everything she knew to go live in a  strange land… have I mentioned I have an incredible mom?

Now, before your imaginations gets ahead of you, I want to remind you that this was 1990 and luxury buses did not exist in my world at that time. This was our form of transport.

picture compliments of the internet.

In the three years we were in Zimbabwe we probably took these bus trips four times a year.

For us kids, moving to a new country, making new friends and learning a new language  was all part of “normal life.” So was: sleeping at open air bus stations; surviving countless hours on bus seats that had hardly any padding; spending hours at the Zimbabwe border as the immigration officers opened every ones suitcases(more than 60 passengers each carrying no less than 2 large suitcases each) and meticulously checking for God knows what. Watching with giddy excitement and laughter as mischievous baboons and monkeys(at one of our stops) would sneak behind unaware passengers and grab whatever they were eating or rummage through their hand bags. Happily spotting out crocodiles and hippos as we cross the Great Zambezi river (notoriously known for it’s over population of crocodiles) not at all bothered by the fact that the ferry we were traveling on had seen better days! I realize now, we never made a fuss because my parents never made a big deal out of anything, what others called “adventure” we knew as “normal life.” For us, mom and dad were happy there was absolutely no need to worry.

Over the years our road tripping has come up with memorable stories, in fact some so wild that my grandma because of worry, refuses to eat or sleep till she knows we are safely in Zambia. We have had all types of problems from our car rolling 3 times down a mountain and all of us coming out unscathed to having a back tyre snap off as my dad drives at 120km/h then seconds later the back part of the car catching fire because of the friction with the road.  Once we were stranded in the bush in Zimbabwe sitting by the roadside waiting for help only to be told by a nervous passing motorist that we had to get back in the car immediately because just a week ago lions had eaten people up at the very spot we were sitting

It’s not like we go looking for trouble, it’s just we as a family seem to find ourselves in the strangest predicaments. It’s amazing how laughing in such times makes the situation so much more bearable!

So here is a peek to our trip thus far. As kids, our motto has always been, “be prepared for anything!”

That means: being willing to eat anything with a thankful heart, my mother HATES hot dogs or any type of meat that comes out of a can or bottle BUT on trips, she makes an exception.

Zwan hotdogs anyone?

being prepared to sleep in the strangest motels or hotels like this one which had a horrible sewer smell and whose sheets had seen better days, we girls now travel with our own travel blankets.

This place STUNK, and my allergies went crazy from all the dust!

If you have a weak bladder like mine, be prepared to have the African bush as your toilet…so not fun as I am always paranoid of having a snake biting my behind regions… Oh the joys of being a girl and squatting!

toilet break anyone?

Please don’t get too used to the paved roads because the bad roads WILL come! Sometimes what would have taken 10 mins would stretch for an hour because of the potholes!

Don’t forget to pack your own fuel because you will definitely run out!

We traveled 600km in Mozambique, with no town(just little villages) or gas station in sight!

My mom helping out

and above all, “it’s not a road trip till the car breaks down!” Please don’t even bother asking me what happened this time, I am hopeless at remembering car terminology. I do know it had to do with the exhaust and the part had to be hand-made because the random mechanic we found didn’t have it. That’s another fun part about traveling here, you meet the most industrious mechanics who almost always have to make whatever spare part is needed.

my dad pointing at were the problem was.

The just made spare part

And then ladies and gentlemen, there is the scenery!

Baobab Tree at sunset. Tete Province Mozambique

Chambeshi river Zambia

Manica Province Mozambique

Inhambane Province Mozambique

I have taken LOTS of pictures and will be sure to post as time goes by. Just so you know, we are still in Zambia.

Over the edge

My parents, youngest sister and I are currently on a massive road trip visiting friends and family in Zambia, I have the added bonus of taking pictures of this part of my world. By the time we get back to Mozambique, we would have covered 5 countries ( Mozambique, Zambia, Congo, Botswana and South Africa) and over 6000kms in one month. I know I am stating the obvious but please indulge me friend: Africa is breathtakingly beautiful! All this traveling has caused me to spend more time mulling over one of my favourite topics; heaven. Like road tripping in Africa, you have a good idea what to expect but you are not quite sure what exciting adventures lie over the edge until you get there.

I am of the opinion Hollywood and Disney have the concept of heaven all wrong (over weight baby angels floating on clouds playing harps) On the other hand one cannot expect much truth from them because they are in the business of selling fantasy. C.S. Lewis describes life on earth as “the shadow lands,” I couldn’t agree more. All the beauty my eyes feast on here on earth is a pitiful reflection of what heaven will have. Imagine mountain ranges more grandiose than the Himalayas Mountains, forests more lush and abounding with more wildlife than the Amazon rain forest, the option of anyone visiting these places without the fear of death, sickness or time restraint. It will be the perfect equilibrium between man and nature with no fears of extinction, distraction, pain, suffering or our eyes ever getting accustomed to the breath-taking wonder surrounding us. Friend, I truly cannot wait to road trip there.

For me the memories I am making this month are beautiful but poor reflection of heaven. If time and internet access permit, I hope to post more pictures in the coming days, if not it will just have to wait until sometime in June. I already miss checking out what my favorite bloggers funny how people I have never met become part of life

Goodnight from somewhere near the border of Angola and Zambia

An African Photowalk

Yesterday, I experianced my first photowalk and it was absolutely marvelous. I think what I enjoyed the most was the silence. I am most certainly an extrovert but over the years I have learned to enjoy “quiet time” and yesterday I found nothing beats quiet time when you have a camera and beautiful african scenery

 

I dont think I will ever have the chance I had to sit so close to a herd of wilderbeests! It was so quiet you could hear them munching. Most of the animals here are used to humans BUT there were signs all around the Safari Lodge to keep a healthy distance from the animals, especially the Zebras as they love to kick.

All things bright and beautiful,  all creatures great and small, all things wise and wonderful, the Lord God made them all.

 

Zonkey: a mix between a donkey and a Zebra isn’t he adorable.lol!!!