I realized I should say who everyone is so that my posts make more sense
Sister Kathy McCarty- Sister in Charge, nurse, basically runs everything at the hospital
Major- Preacher, hospital administrator
Patience- Major's wife, works in the lab at the hospital
Carolyn (15) and Michael (19)- Major and Patience's children
Pastor Rick and Sue- visitors from California who are here for 6 months
Jordan (17)- Rick and Sue's granddaughter
Dr. Kellert- OB/GYN doc who is a consultant at the hospital and has been working here since November
Dr. Kabanzi- one of the two Zimbabwean docs at the hospital
Dr. Kajese- the other Zimbabwean doc
Noe- Dr. Kajese's wife, Theatre Nurse at the hospital
Yesterday (Saturday), Jordan and I went with Major and Patience to pick up their daughter Carolyn to celebrate her 15th birthday. Kids here that can afford it, go to boarding schools to get a good education. The boarding schools here are VERY strict. The kids can only leave 1 Saturday a month and they must be back by night. The other option though is walking to the nearest school which might be hours away and not have accredited teachers (Major said he walked 2 hours to school and 2 hours home when he was growing up).
Our goal for the day was to pick the kids up from school and go into Harare (very close to their school) for lunch. We left Chidamoyo at 6 am to get there by lunch because we always need to make lots of stops when we go into town. We were still on the dirt road when we passed two women walking along the road. Major stopped to let them in the car, he said these are two of my sisters-in-law. I couldn't believe that we happened to run into them. They were going to visit a friend in another village so we were able to give them a ride.The sun was rising as we were driving out the dirt road. It looked huge and so orange against the purple and blue sky. It was so gorgeous that Jordan and I kept making Major stop to get different pictures (the sun coming through the trees, over the hills, etc).
We stopped in Chinhoyi because Major and Patience had to go to the bank. Before they went in, Major found someone at the gas station next door to wash his Jeep. Some words about the Jeep- it is fairly new and Major LOVES it. I mean he talks about how great it is all the time, and reminds everyone that there are only 14 Jeep Wranglers in all of Zimbabwe, and the dealership said most of them were purchased after Major got his. He always washes it when he leaves the dirt road. Normally he has women bring buckets of water from the boar holes and then washes it himself but today he had someone at the gas station wash it for him. He says that he gets it washed so that people don't get the dirt on their clothes (which is a valid point), but really I think it is because he wants it to be shiny and clean when he goes into the city.
While we were waiting for them to finish at the bank, Jordan and I sat at the cafe/ food place thing next to the restaurant. We had been told that they had the best "chips" (french fries) anywhere even though it was a gas station. We got a small thing of fries and put vinegar on them (people love that here). They were pretty good but I'm not sure they were the best I have had. Finally the car was clean and Major was ready to keep going.
We made it to Cornwall College- the boarding school where Carolyn and Michael go to school. The guard didn't want to let us in because no one is supposed to drive in but Major said, "I am Major Merecki and I spoke to the headmaster about picking up my kids." The guard let us through and saluted Major because he thought he was a Major!!! (Another story about this later). When we went in, the school was very quiet. It had 2 very long halls, one of which was in an L shape. Michael later said it was a prison and honestly it looked like one. The boardmaster took us into a room and we sat down while Major talked to him. The boardmaster said that the kids were studying right now so we needed to come back at 12:45 to get them (it was 11:30). Then the boardmaster said that Major needed to bring them back by 2 pm. (In my head I couldn't believe this- these were his kids afterall. And it's a Saturday. And it was for Carolyn's birthday. And we had just driven 5 hours to get them). Anyway we left and Major was going to pick them up in an hour.
We drove into Downtown Harare so that Major could drop Jordan and I off at the flea market in Avondale. There were people everyone, cars turning every which direction while people crossed the street at any point they wanted. Jordan said, "I can't believe people don't die all the time from this" and Major said, "they do." But of course before we could go to the flea market we had another stop. We had to go to the blood bank to get more blood for the hospital (blood is gold even in the U.S., so maybe that makes it diamonds here? Very valuable). We went in (Jordan, Major, and I- Patience was gettting her hair done). It turns out that we didn't have the order for the blood. Major talked to a few people on the phone about it and then remembered he had an order paper in the car. He wrote down the order and said, Chloe you are the nurse, you sign it! I was like no! But I signed it afterall. Then in walked a ghost. Actually it was Dr. Kajesi but I was so confused for a minute because I forgot that he was in Harare for the day. Jordan told him that I had just signed for the blood and we were all joking that they would come looking for me later.
We finally made it to the flea market and Major dropped us off down the street so we would not look as much like tourists. The flea market was 2 stories and we never even made it to the first story. people have booths packed tightly together under canopies selling everything from clothes and shoes to electronics and native African crafts. We weren't interested in the clothes so we found the row of crafts. Everything was hand made but my favorite things were the beaded animals and the soapstone sculptures. The Shona people are known for their soapstone sculptures and they make animals and people out of them in a particular style. We looked at everything and as you pass the stalls, the people say, "please ma'am come in and look, I give you good price."
After we were at the market for over an hour, Major finally called that he was back with Patience and the kids. Carolyn wanted to go to a place called Miller's Cafe for lunch. When we walked in, Jordan and I were surprised how nice the restaurant was (so different being in the city). And there were lots of white people which was so weird to see after being in the rural area. We had a good lunch and Carolyn was able to get her favorite- hawaiian pizza. Carolyn wore a birthday hat and glasses and she had a really good time. Then we took her to get a cake to take back to school (at this point it was 4:30- everything takes SO long here).
After we dropped Carolyn and Michael back at school, we went to 3 different grocery stores trying to get everything to take back to Chidamoyo. The back of the Jeep was filled with groceries. Jordan and I went to Nando's a chain chicken restaurant here to get food to eat on the way home (they have really good fresh chicked roasted in different sauces- also in South Africa). We were sitting outside waiting for Major and Patience to get more groceries and kids started begging from us for food. This is the first time that I have experienced this since I have been here (it had been happening the whole day). The kids bring their school notebooks or notebooks from the doctor and beg for money. It is very sad but it is necessary to remember that it is not possible to save anyone. Anyway, 2 girls gave up asking but they started talking to us and one of them said "You look Indian (to me), but you look very white (to Jordan)." Jordan and I couldn't stop laughing- that was a first for me!
Finally we were able to leave to drive all the way back to Chidamoyo (we didn't leave until 8 pm and got home around 12:30). On the way home, Major drank a coke and then 3 red bulls in a row! I couldn't believe it. I knew he drank a lot of coffee and coke but I had no idea he drank this much.
On the way back we were listening to Zimbabwean music in Shona and racing through the countryside. I was sitting in the backseat thinking, I can't believe I am in Zimbabwe right now! I was so at peace and so happy to be here.
Carolyn- the birthday girl
Major's Jeep getting washed
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