Kande Beach

TUESDAY 9/1

Hello all,

Our accommodation at the new place is pretty basic and we haven't had power the whole time. It's lucky we have a mosquito net because the windows don't close!

As I said yesterday, by the time we arrived we were fed up. But we went to the village dinner and a local family made us a delicious dinner. The beautiful kids sang and danced for us, and we had to sing and introduce ourselves. 

We slept ok, then I got up and went on a tour of the local village. Rob stayed behind as he needed a rest. Lucky he did because it was so hot I was literally dripping with sweat!

The village here is called Mbamba and is populated by about 4500 people in the nearby area. A man named Calvin took us around the village. Firstly we went and saw some local houses, a chicken coop and then a water pump that Canada donated in 1997. The water coming out of this was beautiful and clear. We each had a go and it wasn't too hard! We then saw some Kasava root - a plant that is grown then dried out and ground into a kind of flour and is cooked and eaten. 

Then we went to Calvin's house (where we had dinner last night) and saw the inside and his children. They were so cute. 

We continued on to the local school. There are 1350 students and only 13 teachers. Classes are about 110 students in size - and to think people complain about 26 at home!! The kids were crammed into one room and sang us a song. Then we took some photos and I got absolutely mobbed by kids hugging me and jumping on me. One must have put their finger on my lens because my photos from that part of the day are a bit blurry! One little fellow even liked my sunglasses and wanted a photo in those. 

After the school we went to the local hospital. This was the one part of the day where I felt really uncomfortable. It was hot, dark and not very hygienic as you would expect for a poorer country. Two newborn babies had been born yesterday and I felt really awkward when we were taken in to see their mothers feeding them. What a climate to have a baby in - so hot! The guy at the hospital told us about the free immunisations provided to locals and then showed us a positive malaria test (eek!). 

Finally we were taken to a small shop to buy a cold drink. I couldn't buy one because of losing my money yesterday. 

The whole day, local men had been following us on the tour talking to us. They didn't mean any harm and wanted to ask us questions and tell us about the village. One of my "friends" was called Coy and I don't remember the other one's name. They were both saving up to study at university and told me about a woman from Melbourne who comes here frequently and has set up a local footy team - the magpies! He said she brings them football jumpers and boots too. Right at the end of the tour though, they sat us down one by one and started trying to sell us things. Being robbed yesterday was a blessing in disguise because I could honestly say I only had $15 USD. I got a painting for that much, it's really nice. Other people paid a lot of money for various wooden items. 

We spent the afternoon chilling by the beach. Michael had disappeared on our walking tour and we hadn't seen him for six hours and were really worried. Turns out a local had taken him to a town two hours away to get money and he took lots of random ubers!

We got our washing back (so clean!) and a big breeze started so our room is nice and cool and the lake very choppy. I wish we could have gone for a swim today but apparently there is a parasite you can catch in the lake and I don't want to risk it. 

Tonight we are having punch to drink. Elton has got a box full of dress ups and I pulled Maddy's name out of the hat and am dressing her in a red flapper dress and a scarf! Haha. 

Love to all

Claire

Xoxox