RENEWED HOPE CHARITABLE FOUNDATION, INC.
Working Together For Zimbabwe's Future
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RENEWED HOPE CHARITABLE FOUNDATION, INC. Working Together For Zimbabwe's Future |
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| June 23 Hello Everyone, Today is the day I leave for my 7 week journey. I packed the last few things, said my last good-byes and headed out the door. It was about 5:15pm when my grandparents pulled up. We loaded my suitcases in the truck and headed out to DIA. I said good-bye to my mom and sister and walked to the ticket counter at DIA. Our fight left DIA and 8:30pm. That was a very bumpy flight. I dosed on and off for about two hours but other than that I was awake the whole flight. June 24 Hello Everyone, We landed in London around 12:30pm. We had a hotel room reserved at the airport. We got to our room and slept for about 4 hours. After a quick nap we showered and headed out the door through the airport once again. We grabbed a bite to eat and that is when I saw something very interesting. I saw a security guard that was up above the check in booths that had a huge machine gun. We took about a 15 minute walk down to our gate. We got on the airplane to South Africa at 9:15pm. I decided I wanted to sleep this flight so I ate dinner, took some ambien and tried to take a nap. June 25 Hello Everyone, Today we finished the rest of our journey for this part. We landed in South Africa about 2:45pm. We went through customs, immigration, and went out looking for my grandparents friends who were going to pick us up. We drove to there house which took about 45 minutes and unpacked. I was still so tired from the plane so I went to take a nap. Within an hours time we headed over to there son’s house who lives about 15 minutes away. We had a late lunch with them and there family. I was still not completely rested up so I was back in bed at 7:30pm. June 26 Hello Everyone, We all quickly headed out the door to do some shopping at a mini-mall. There supermarket is just like our Wal-mart. We bought over 575 rand of food. We came home, had a big lunch and took naps. Later that evening I met there second son. Now I have met 2/3 of the family. June 27 Hello Again, We drove most of the day to get to Kruger National Park. When we arrived the first animal we saw was a Giraffe. As we drove to our camp site we saw: Waterbuck, giraffe, Impala snake eagle, hippos, yellow billed horn bird, mongoose, baboon, and lilac breasted roller. I enjoyed our travels today. We had a great dinner at our nice camp site. June 28 Hello Everyone, Today we continued from Skukuza to Letaba. We traveled about 177km. Today we saw a lot more animals. We saw: more Impala, giraffe, buffalo, zebra, kudu, baboon, monkey, warthog, waterbuck, hippos, lilac breasted roller, goose, starlings, crocodile, eagle yellow billed horn bird, turtle, wildebeest, doves, elephant, wild dog, ground horn bird, bushbuck, and much more. I saw a bunch of monkeys. During our drive we pulled off at an overlook. We saw about 30 monkeys. I took a bunch of pictures of these cute little animals. We got out of our car and the monkeys were looking at us and so we gave them a banana peel. We were looking at the river running below us and we saw nothing. We get back in the truck and we unrolled the windows and gave the monkeys more banana peels and one monkey jumped up on grandma’s mirror and scares us. We started rolling the windows back up as he tries to reach in the car. We started laughing so hard that we couldn’t breathe. Grandma’s eyes were as big as softballs. We got to camp about 4:00pm. We went over to the fence on the outside of camp and saw about half a dozen waterbuck and an elephant. Tonight after dinner grandpa and I went on a night safari. On the safari we saw 2 lions, a couple wildcats, a few rabbits and an elephant. June 29 Hello once again, Today we saw hippos, baboons, Impala, geese, yellow billed horn bird, steenbok, buffalo, elephant, lizard, nyala, and a few more. We got to the next camp at 12:30. All of us had a cup of tea once we arrived. This camp site we all had one big cabin. Grandma took a nap and the rest of us went out for a little game drive. We saw a few things but nothing interesting. We got back and fixed a huge dinner. All of us went to bed early because we had to get up early the next morning. June 30 Hello Everyone, Today we said our good-bye’s and headed out the door. We drove through the rest of Kruger National Park and continued through to a place that was called “Forever Resorts”. At the resort there was a laundry mat that we put all of our laundry together. It took 2 hours to do 4 loads of laundry. We went out to a restaurant that was on the hotel property. I had a chicken cordon bleu. After dinner we put the suitcases together and repack for tomorrow. July 1 Hello, Today we left the resort by 7am, by 8:30 we were at the South African border. We crossed to Beit Bridge by 9am. We got through immigration and customs just fine. Now when we told them that we had First aid supplies they made a huge deal and so while I am writing in my journal we are waiting for the papers to clear. It is now 4pm and I am getting tired of waiting. Oh my gosh it is now 5:30pm and I had a small dinner which was tuna fish and crackers. At 7:30 pm we still haven’t moved and inch and we are waiting for these papers to clear. We finally were able to cross on to the Zimbabwe side at 8:30 pm. We had been waiting for 12 hours. We pulled into a Holiday Inn Express at 8:45pm. We ate dinner at the Holiday Inn. I had a spinach soup that was cold and the chicken I had was also cold. I got to bed at 10:00pm. July 2 Hello Everyone, We got out at 6:00 and had breakfast at the Holiday Inn. Breakfast was 4 million dollars per person. One of our friends from Zimbabwe met us at Beit Bridge. Last nights dinner was 4.5 million dollars each. My lunch that I had was 1.3 million. I bought a couple of gifts for my friends and family. We stopped at “The Great Zimbabwe”; there it explained the history of Zimbabwe. It was suppose to represent the center of the kingdom Munumatapo meaning the people who ruled. The word Zimbabwe means BWE= stone MBA= hut or house ZI= Big. When you put it together it says “The big hut made of stone.” We arrived at Fred and Denise’s house in late afternoon. We ate dinner and went to bed. July 3 Hello, We went into town to get some documents signed for the first aid supplies. We went to the store and for four rolls of toilet paper it cost $753,000. When I woke up this morning we had no power, water, or phone until 3pm. We lost it again at 6:45pm and it was back on at 8:00pm. We went to the flea market at 2:45pm. When I tried to e-mail you all the first time we lost power and I haven’t had another chance to email you. July 4 Hello everyone, We went to town still trying to get papers for the first aid supplies figured out. I didn’t really have a busy day. We went to the supermarket and spent 17 million dollars on food. We didn’t get veggies, meat, ice or bread. Tomorrow morning we will get that. I have enjoyed Zimbabwe so far but I haven’t been out to the school yet. We have had some cold nights but during the day it warm. July 5 Hello again, I pack everything once again and put in the truck. We went to the butchery and spent 5 million dollars on meat. We went to the place where Fred works and got 6 million dollars on veggies. We spent 3 million on bread and spent 2.1 million on ice for the cooler. We left Harare at 12:30pm. I got out to the school about 2pm. The teachers had a welcoming party for us in the library. I have now seen what my grandparents do when they come to Zimbabwe. I help do some of the dishes, cooking and cleaning. We didn’t have an air compressor for the mattresses so we had to blow them up by mouth or by hand pump. July 6 Hello Everyone, Today I got up and showered. It was so cold. I unpacked for the last time until we go to Victoria Falls. I went over to Mrs. Mafutu class and taught The B-I-B-L-E song. They really enjoyed it. I had a slow day. I went to the feeding center and I was able to see the food supply. The only have enough food for a few months. I went outside to our deck and turned on my VBS CD and I had a crowd of about 200 kids listening. I took several pictures they really liked me taking their picture. Later in the afternoon I went to see the primary school play volleyball. It is almost the same. July 7 Hello, Today I got up and it was 42 degrees outside. After awhile grandma and I went to the preschool class and I taught them a little hand game. I went with grandpa and helped with the drawings of another building. I made lunch and I headed over to the feeding center. I have been typing my journal for you for about 3 hours now. I will keep you all in mind and hope for the best. July 8 Hello once again, Today it was very warm outside when we got up. We had to put up mosquito nets because in the night grandma killed one. Mr. and Mrs. B’s son Justice was sitting on the porch doing nothing so I decided to get the keys for the feeding center and look for a game for us to play. We played addition BINGO, Monster Mash, and Perfection. He had a really fun time. Today I drove Grandpa’s stick shift truck on the wrong side of the truck. July 9 Hello, It was a slow day today. Grandma and I had to type a meeting report for Mr. B. I have been reading a lot of my books today. I have set up a lesson plan for the pre-school and the first grade. In the pre-school they are learning there colors and shapes. What I have found very interesting is that here their school year starts in January. July 10 Hello Everyone, Today I went to preschool and helped with colors and shapes. Around 9:30 I went to 6th grade and taught two students the game Perfection. They really enjoyed it. Today Grandma was called to the clinic to look at a boy that had terrible wounds that had been eating away his flesh in his thighs. Pictures will be sent in the next e-mail as an attachment. The right leg had 4 wounds and one was 3 ½ in. long and ¾ in deep into his leg. The one on his left leg had puss and the large one on the right had puss. I went back to sixth grade and watched the kids play Perfection. I helped prepare roller bandages for the clinic. I made about 100. July 11 Hello, This morning there was frost on the grass and none of the heaters were working. I went to pre-school again and today we colored 6 circles. I have been preparing a BINGO game for the 1st grade classes. I have about 80 pictures left on my memory card and one empty card. Today we went to another school in the same district as Nayamashato. We went to Inyagui where my grandparents are building and Administration building, two teachers’ house, and a kitchen for the orphans. We had a meeting to attend there. July 12 Hello everyone, Today I started out in 1st grade. We played an addition BINGO game with some kids who are struggling with addition. Around 10:30 I got back to the house and found out that we had to head into Harare. We weren’t planning on leaving until tomorrow. We had some businesses to do with the medical supplies. When we arrived at Fred and Denise’s house their house boy said that there was no power, phone, and water once again. They have not had power for 3 days. We went out to dinner around 6:30. We went to a restaurant called Leonardo’s. July 13 Hello Everyone, Today we packed our bags and laundry and left Fred and Denise’s. We had to do a lot of things. We first went to the place where they wanted the First aid supplies, then to the laundry mat, then the hair salon, next to lunch, then the propane station, and then back to the laundry mat and lastly to the Bed and breakfast. We are staying at the Bed and Breakfast because they have power, phone, and water. I will send this to you all and then try to start another group of journals. |
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Renewed Hope Charitable Foundation, Inc. | a 501(c)(3) charity | P.O. Box 1476 | Castle Rock, Colorado | 80104-1476 2006 Journal 01 A |