What a day. The girls
woke up early to pet wild stuff. Kitty got better acquainted with Liwa the
ellie on an elephant safari while Manda was eyed out by three very large
kitties and was even brave enough to let lady lion lick her hand / sample her
for lunch. At 11am all the Rally
teams lined up for a 60-car convoy to Senkobo Basic School for our first school
Shoe Drop. Not only do these kids now have school shoes on feet, but also two
freshly painted and newly floored classrooms, and finally a water pump with
running water.
Smiles on faces.
Everyone and his
aunty had arrived for the Shoe Drop and we were greeted with much ceremony and
dancing.
Teachers, parents, the Mayor, even “Miss Independence” was there. Everyone was extremely grateful and it was
nice to chat to some of the locals. The drop was interrupted midway by a raging veld fire nearby leaving our cars
in danger. The kids were quick to know what to do to put it out while us lame folk stood in awe watching.
Teachers, parents, the Mayor, even “Miss Independence” was there. Everyone was extremely grateful and it was
nice to chat to some of the locals. The drop was interrupted midway by a raging veld fire nearby leaving our cars
in danger. The kids were quick to know what to do to put it out while us lame folk stood in awe watching.
The awesome thing
about these shoe drops is that we actually get to interact with the kids when
we give them their shoes. Teachers write the kids’ shoe sizes on their hands
and they lead in one by one to have socks and shoes fitted. Their English is
quite good and you can get by with the simple what’s-your-name?
How-old-are-you? Questions.
They are fascinated by photography equipment and always want to see a photo you have taken of them. It is very likely that you will be completely engulfed by a crowd of kids wanting to see the same picture! We played some soccer, danced with the kids and high fived all round, finished up the painting of the classrooms and then we were done.
They are fascinated by photography equipment and always want to see a photo you have taken of them. It is very likely that you will be completely engulfed by a crowd of kids wanting to see the same picture! We played some soccer, danced with the kids and high fived all round, finished up the painting of the classrooms and then we were done.
After doing some good
we headed back to the campsite for Checkpoint Party 3. The highlight of the
party was Bobby Skinstad air-punching to Me & Mr. Brown’s cover of 500
Miles. He can also do the worm. We’re not going to tell you
that Kitty and Dani could be scooped up in one arm each because that would just be embarrassing for us to ask him
to do that.
that Kitty and Dani could be scooped up in one arm each because that would just be embarrassing for us to ask him
to do that.
The party got pretty
crazy pretty quickly but we escaped before it got too messy. We needed to be up
super early
to cross the Zim border and drive the 181kms to arrive at Kariba Lake for our chartered ferry. A couple other teams
with the same plans decided to upgrade to some permanent tents to facilitate a quicker escape in the morning.
We were outta there before they even woke up.
to cross the Zim border and drive the 181kms to arrive at Kariba Lake for our chartered ferry. A couple other teams
with the same plans decided to upgrade to some permanent tents to facilitate a quicker escape in the morning.
We were outta there before they even woke up.
Go team!
(Pics to follow soon!)
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