ZIMBABWE VISIT

BY CLAIRE CALVERT

The name Zimbabwe means "Stone House". It is bordered by Botswana, Zambia, Mozambique and South Africa and is split into four different areas.

The present head of state and government is Robert Mugabe. Cecil John Rhodes was an African politician and he formed the British South Africa company which formed Rhodesia. Rhodesia changed its name to Zimbabwe around Independence in 1980.

On 1 July of this year I headed for Gatwick airport to get a plane to South East Africa, where I was to spend the next seven weeks of my life. I did not know what to expect when I arrived, but I had a little bit of time to think about what my life would be like for the next weeks.

It was a ten hour flight from Gatwick to Harare which is the capital of Zimbabwe. I arrived in Harare at 5.00 am after not having slept very well on the plane. I was staying with Tim and Kay Watson for the first week. Some may remember them from about six years ago when they lived in Saddington. They were both active members in the Rotary Club and Inner Wheel here in Kibworth and when I arrived they had just given up the presidency of their club in Harare city. They have a beautiful house with a swimming pool, a maid and they have a guard because there is a lot of crime in the city at night. When I got to their house I learnt that I was going on a picnic on their friends' farm out in the bush. So off we went at 9.00 am in the back of their truck with Tim and Kay's children in search of a big group of rocks we could climb. It was absolutely brilliant. I climbed through holes and across ledges and what beautiful views I saw from the top, right over a big plain.

Whilst in Harare I visited a sculpture park where many workers spend up to 18 months producing one big sculpture of maybe an animal or a person, with the end product always fantastic. I also climbed Dombashowa, which is an enormous mound of rock and from the top you can see right over the outskirts of Harare.

The first week of my holiday finally came to an end and it was time to go to the airport to get a plane down to Bulawayo, where my family was and here I would be spending the next six weeks of my life. I arrived at 10.00 pm and all was dark. When I arrived at Cyrene mission, where my family live, my memories of my last visit began to return. Cyrene is like a little village out in the bush that has a boys' boarding school. My uncle is the headmaster and the Minister in the church. The beautiful little chapel opposite the house was still the same as I had remembered it with the amazing pictures on the walls showing scenes from the Bible. Unfortunately, this was not going to be a normal holiday because in Zimbabwe the schools don't finish until the end of August. I worked in a special school for physically and mentally handicapped children. The particular class that I worked with for the majority of the time consisted of six deaf children

The third weekend we drove up to Hwange National Park and to the Victoria Falls. After a four hour drive through the game park I had a list of about thirty or so different animals that I had seen, wildebeest, elephants, giraffe, crocodiles, baboons, kudu, impala and many other wonderful creatures. The Victoria Falls were spectacular, the water bustling down the cliffs, the noise and spray is astounding. It gives you a really good feeling visiting somewhere that is so beautiful. There is a path that runs all the way along the Falls and there are many spectacular views along the path.

After having visited Hwange and Victoria Falls it was time to head back down to Bulawayo, a long five to six hour journey on a long boring road. We passed many roadside stalls on the way back where people had made lovely wooden and stone carvings of animals. I purchased four beautifully carved walking sticks that cost me in total about $120 which roughly equates to £10. The present exchange rate is about $14 to a £1 which is why the country is so poor. When you go into the towns you see hawkers everywhere trying to sell anything from fruit to salt and little children as young as three or four doing the same. Sometimes it can be very upsetting to see these people on the streets. I soon got used to the African life style, being up at 6.00 am to get ready to leave for school and I usually got home at 3.00 pm. On Sunday morning I would go to church, my uncle taking the service and the songs were in Ndebele, which is one of the local languages.

I got used to walking around without my shoes on, but now and again had to stop to pick thorns out of my feet. Just down the road where my family live are the Matopas, which is a big national park, with a specific type of landscape caused by the erosion of limestone. The landscape is similar to areas of England, like Brimhan Rocks in North Yorkshire and the Mendips in Somerset. The Matopas is a rock climbers paradise with many cave paintings.

Finally, after six weeks, it was time for us to head back to Harare. I packed up all my things and said my goodbyes. We had four daysto spare, so we could spend a couple of days in Nyanga and with our friends in Harare. Nyanga is a bit like the Lake District, lovely green grass and unfortunately a little bit of rain, but I could not really complain because I had just spent seven weeks with no rain at all. Usually in Zimbabwe they have rain in April and then not again until November, so drought and water rationing are common.

I didn't want to leave Zimbabwe and my friends and family, but I wanted to see my family back in England again, so we had a photo session at the airport, a cup of coffee and then I said my good-byes to my two cousins and my auntie and uncle, who had so kindly looked after me for six weeks, and to the Watson family. I walked out to the plane, took one last look and waved before going up the steps. I found my seat and sat down. I couldn't believe that I was finally going home. I thought seven weeks would last forever, but unfortunately all good things have to come to an end. The plane turned round and I was on my way home, all the way back to England. When I arrived at Gatwick I got my bags, went through customs and there my mother was. It was such a good feeling to see her again after such a long time. I had communicated with my family every weekend by phone and I had a constant stream of letters and postcards which helped me a lot. It was good to be home. It took me a while to get back into the English way of life again, but I hope to return to Zimbabwe again one day. There is a saying that "you get Africa under the skin" and I deeply believe this.

© Claire Calvert 1995

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 © Kibworth & District Chronicle 1998