So the end of our time in Mongu arrived and as I mentioned in yesterdays post it was time to get the bus to Kaoma. I woke at six with Dan turning on the light, my head feeling a little worse for drinking that shit last night and also with the tiredness. Eamonn Gilmore was just arriving as we were leaving, Matthew was waiting outside so me and Jamie hopped into his taxi while Dan hopped in the other to go pick up Áine. Me and Jamie arrived at the bus station only to ring and find out Dan couldn’t find Áine. Eventually he found her still asleep and 15 minutes later they arrived at the cold bus station to board our big pink and yellow bus. This time our 4 seats were together. From the start of the journey it was clear Dan wasn’t feeling well. He since spent the whole day, from the time we arrived back in Kaoma in bed. He fears it could be Malaria but it could also be food poisoning (or shake shake after effects, all three of us have felt some effects and we’ve all left some pungent bathroom aromas). The bus journey (in my case) wasn’t too bad and writing yesterdays blog helped it fly by. As I mentioned getting a bus through rural Zambia is a unique experience and the sights are unique and spectacular. During the trip we saw an Irish government sign for Irish Aid with some Irish under it (one of the words was Eireann but the rest I hadn’t a clue of). It was just on this crossroads in the middle of nowhere, really didn’t expect to see that here. As we drove into Kaoma it was weird the way everything seemed so familiar it was like we lived there for years. We arrived at the station and started to search for a taxi to carry our 9 suitcases (we packed light). The only taxi drivers there were trying to rip us off just because we were Macua’s so we said we’d walk (they wanted only about 75c more but it was the principal). It’s a short enough walk without suitcases but with them it’s long and sore dragging heavy suitcases along dirt roads. When we arrived at the back gate of the orphanage aload of the girls came to help wheel our bags. They all wanted to know if Áine had made them a Glee CD like they’d asked (we couldn’t find CD). Timothy (our pub mate) also greeted us. Our rooms were slightly different this time and me and Dan are sharing a round chalet with two single beds and an ensuite. The roof of it is thatched. It a really cool room (apart from the sockets which hardly work and shocked me when I plugged my laptop in). The bathroom has a low wall with no roof so you can hear everything going on in there (which was less than pleasant at times today due to illness). On the walk here we had stopped in Lovemore for some bread rolls and we had them as soon as we arrived (I was starving) and they were as good as we remembered. After the rolls me, Áine and Jamie set off for Boystown. We had some questions we wanted to ask at the blockyard and once we found the manager he talked for a few minutes without really answering any of our questions. So instead we played with the kids and helped them make paper airplanes. We went out to look at a new school block that we were told would be roofed by the time we returned from Mongu but surprise surprise it wasn’t (Zambia time). After a short while playing with the kids we decided to head back home. On the way a guy stopped and offered us a lift. We hopped into the back of the car with his two daughters and enjoyed listening to the “South African Bob Marley “on the way home. It turned out he was the chairman of the Cheshire Home in Kaoma. We arrived back and told Dan about the (lack) information we had gathered before departing for Leonard house to finish some of the tasks we had left. I was designing a block yard to be located at Leonard House so there were some measurements I need. While we were trying to gather some info there were kids hanging off us, begging to be picked up. At one point I picked up a little girl called Mary only to realise she had no nappy on at all (please don’t pea on me). Next step on the day’s itinerary involved walking to town to buy our bus tickets for Monday’s bus and after some date problems we got them sorted (mirko was happy as were Jimie and Ann). We also went to the bank and got some water to solve Jamie’s dehydration. When we arrived back home Molly was waiting for us and attempted to answer some of our questions. It turned out to be an awkward conversation with some of our suggestions been taken as criticism and she questioned our reasons for asking some of the questions we were asking. After a bit of chit chat (in the good old Irish way) we smoothed over the awkwardness and loads of kids then came in a joined us in the gazebo. We had planned before we left for Mongu to go out with Timothy the day we got back but with Dan’s sickness and Jamie had a bit of a headache we decided to leave it until tomorrow night. So we sat and had tea in our room as the kitchen was in use and then we all went to bed. As it was only 9 I stayed up playing championship manager for a bit (almost won the French league again). So that was the day that was let’s see what tomorrow brings.
Some pics from our first night out in Kaoma 3 weeks ago.
Us in Mongu
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