Did that just happen? Zim Part I

One day, I'll have to sit down and really write about my missions trip to Zimbabwe. Until then, I'm going to start featuring, "Did that just happen?" stories from Zim. A little background info first:

Our trip to Zimbabwe took days.We got lost in London. Missed our connecting flight in South Africa, and ended up being stranded there for 5 days..and by "stranded" I mean put up at a plush hotel, hot showers, and free food. The day we were SUPPOSED to fly out, our airline went on strike...more of that story later. We begin in our very first African country.

One of my girls, decided to have a go at the squatty potty. It was a bit of a novelty since we had just touched down in Kenya. Just as she was beginning to "squat" she lost her balance, and bladder control. We grabbed paper towels, cleaned up, and left the "water closet" quickly. 

Ever since I was a little girl, I've wanted to feed pigs scraps. Maybe it was all of those times of watching Charlotte's Web, but whatever the case, I was pretty excited to feed these pigs. Our first night, we quickly cleaned up dinner and headed to the pig pens. It was fairly dark outside, so we took a flashlight and some of the staff kids to help us find our way. We reached the pen and I excitedly ran over and poured the scraps into their pen. Bobbi was behind me with a flashlight and called for her to hurry. She came over and shined her flashlight...to see that I had accidentally thrown the scraps on a big pile of pig poo, which they were now eating..along with the scraps.

One Sunday, we went to a nearby church. The service lasted about three hours. Some of the sermon was in Ndebele, other parts were in English. Near the end of the service, one of the pastors stood up and said something about asking, "Sista ....to pray." I bowed my head, when I felt Bobbi's elbow. "He said you! You're supposed to go and pray." Panic set in. I could feel my face getting redder and redder as I walked up the stairs. I'm not even sure what I prayed, I know the Lord took over as soon as the prayer started, but before I began, a lot of, "Um, yes, thank you, that's nice..okays" came out. After I said "Amen," I prayed my jello legs wouldn't give out until I reached my seat.

 During our visit at Victoria Falls, we came across a sweet Mama Ape who had just given birth to her baby. Proud Daddy was walking back and forth in front of Mama, but he let us get close enough to get these shots. Baby was nursing, and mama, well, mama was apparently eating her after birth. They say placenta is full of iron.......

Our trip home from Victoria Falls was a bit tense. The owner of the bus and his 7 yr old niece accompanied us on our entire trip. However, our drive back, he informed us that he had not agreed to all of this driving, and that once we arrived in Bulawayo (3 hrs from the base) he would be leaving us there. We then made a quick detour into the bushes to a small number of hut houses. The owner ran in, and came back into the bus carrying a large cage of chickens. Sure, he did abandon us in a dangerous city.. at 9 o'clock at night, but look what he gave us:

 Eventually, we did get a ride home. Sweet sweet Annie sat the entire ride holding the chicken. It occasionally squeaked, but for the most part remained quiet.

I love MONKEYS! From the time we arrived in Zimbabwe, I had my eyes peeled out for monkeys. There were a few that roamed around the TMI base, but they were too scared to come around humans. I think this was because the base threw rocks and other various items at them to keep them out of the garden, but I loved those sweet furry things. When we were at Victoria Falls, we got to feed a couple of monkeys before the park rangers yelled at us and told us it was illegal. 

We had just arrived at the border of Zimbabwe and Zambia. It had been a long night of driving in squished van, not including several stops for engine trouble, and a road side potty break. Suffice to say, my girls and I needed something to raise our spirits. That's when I spotted them. I grabbed a few lolipops and ran out to feed the monkeys.

Pretty soon, one of his friends came along and wanted one too!

A few lolipops later, the girls began yelling at me to stop wasting the candy, so I told my new friends no more. This is when they climbed onto our luggage trailer trying to rip into our food box. I started screaming. Who knew monkeys could be so aggressive?

Luckily, we had Abby with us. Abby was a laid back, no drama 17 yr old. I credit her brothers for toughening her up. Abby took a blanket and hit the monkeys off of our food trailer until they went away. I didn't feed monkeys for the rest of the trip.