Almost Christmas

Another beautiful sunny morning and we are getting ready to make a visit to our partners about 50 km south of here. But getting out of the city was a real challenge. People were everywhere trying to get out of the city to go home for Christmas. We needed to get some money out of the bank machine but the line ups were horrendous. We stayed for twenty minutes or so realizing that it was going to take a much longer wait in line. But the next challenge was getting through the traffic as minibus after minibus was taking over the road. We were never going to move so Hans remembered another round about way that was longer in distance but we were moving!

Once we were out of the city it became a fairly peaceful drive and we enjoyed the changing landscape immensely. Individual hills and mountains just appeared here and there in the rolling farmland. It was quite unusual and fascinating and everywhere there were beautiful newly planted gardens. What hope there is!

Once we made the turn off to our destination we drove higher and higher on roads that were well paved but had no guardrails and looked over a beautiful countryside. Villagers were pushing their bicycles along, sometimes with charcoal or other goods piled high. And there about fifteen kilometers in was the little town that was our destination. The director had his little office on top of the mountain overlooking the valley down below. It was a amazing spot. After a couple of hours of meeting we again enjoyed the drive, this time the descent.

Back in the city we joined the hustle and bustle, stood in line for the bank machine, did some groceries (did I tell you the cost of food is very high?) and you do walk with big stack of bills. The largest bill is worth 500 kwacha ( $1.00=110 kwacha.). Besides the grocery store there are lots of vendors around as well selling fruits and vegetables and mops and brushes. But I’ll tell you about that another time.

Meanwhile, have a blessed Christmas. It is a strange feeling to be away from family and friends and yet it gives us reason to reflect on what Christmas is about. We will miss you all.