After sleeping so much the day before, I awoke at 630am bright eyed and bushy tailed….
Lisa (Sons of Thunder) had already started breakfast since the power was still on (there was a thunderstorm in the middle of the night and the power stayed on…miracles do happen). She made home-made cinnamon rolls. What a treat! Please understand that Lisa lives in a guest house and her ministry is hosting work teams so cooking comes easy for her. The cinnamon rolls would compete with Cinnabon!
After breakfast, I packed my things and said my goodbyes. The phone had already started ringing from my friends and co-workers in Zimba wanting to know when I was returning.
The drive back to Zimba was good and I knew I was returning with a new attitude and the determination not to be defeated by negative circumstances, communication issues and cultural issues I had no control over. I was looking forward to my return. I missed my cats and my neighbors…particularly Jennifer.
After dropping my things at home and checking in on the children, I went to the hospital to access the day’s events. The project I am currently working on is a block of 5 apartments meant for single nurses. We refer to it as the 5inOne block. Staff housing is one of the biggest challenges at the hospital and also the solution to staff shortages. Load of river sand and bricks are still needed and I needed to verify that transportation was available for this task. We need to bring in all the loads of sand before the rains start continuously.
When I arrived at the accounts office I found that the carpenters we had asked for a quote to build shelves had decided to start the project without our approval. We had purchased the materials but they had not given us a quote for the labor. Needless to say, not much work was going to be accomplished in the accounts office.
Another project from last week that was unfinished was removing a worm from the computers in the administrative offices. The accounts computer had already been taken into Livingstone for repairs and I was hoping to remove the worm from the other computers before it was too late. While I downloaded anti-virus and anti-spyware software and scanned the computers, I also called a hardware store in Choma (100km away) to verify prices for materials we needed on the 5nOne block.
At 340pm we left Zimba to travel to Choma to pick up the needed materials. We arrived in Choma at 440, purchased the supplies, loaded them and then picked up a motor bike that had been repaired by a local mechanic. We kinda looked like the Beverly Hillbillies. Oh, we also picked up the Medical in Charge’s wife, Mrs. Siabowa, who was waiting for a bus back to Zimba.
On the way home we stopped at a lay by to purchase musukus. Musukus are a fruit similar to a plum but with 4 seeds. They are very sweet and taste similar to a plum as well. They are very popular with the Zambians and so I bought about $1.50 worth to share with my friends in Zimba. Trust me…there was enough for all my friends plus some of theirs.
We arrived back in Zimba at around 830pm. I checked my email, listened to some music and fell asleep early.
Oh, I had cheddar cheese and crackers for lunch, a piece of fried chicken for dinner at 6pm and then cheese and crackers before going to bed.
