Walking Across the Border

Greetings from Zimbabwe! My team and I took a bus from Lusaka down to Livingstone on Tuesday June 3. From there we took a taxi to the border. Below is an entry in my journal about that experience.

   Sunglasses! Tickets! Newspapers! Fruit! Always voices and merchandise in our faces trying to sell us stuff. It was a rather interesting taxi ride to the bus station yesterday. The young man driving couldn’t have been more than 18, and his car probably won’t go 18 more miles. We had to stop for petrol on the way and the noises the car made were slightly disturbing, but we made it on time to catch the bus.

   Dutch accents, English accents and Zambian of many kinds. The bus station was packed with people trying to get on the bus to Livingstone. It was a long 7 hours, but a great view of the countryside. With a few rough detours, some poor communities and some rather nice, the luxury bus weaved in and out of traffic with a lunch break at noon and a bathroom break along the side of the road at 3.

   “Can I give you a ride madam?” “Taxi Sir!” They crowded around our bus, each anxious to gain passengers and money, but our leader chose a man he had ridden with before and we were soon on our way.

   “Don’t try to play with the baboons or they’ll steal your bags,” advised our leader who has had experience with these thieves. With the smell and sounds of Victoria Falls nearby, we went through all the channels to enter another country.

   On the other side our host was waiting. By a familiar face with a familiar accent we were welcomed. “We don’t want you to feel at home, we want you to BE at home,” we were told. As we ate by the light of lanterns (due to the electricity being turned off) we were regaled with many stories, ready to relax, learn, share and encourage.

We have had a wonderful time here with the Lufiyele’s since we got here. On Thursday we went to the village where they do a lot of their ministry. Lauren and I sat in on a women's Bible study led by Amber Lufiyele. There were about 15 ladies there who laughed together and talked about their roles in serving their husbands. Meanwhile the men where off playing football J While we are here we will be doing some teaching on water storage and carrying since that is something that Lauren has knowledge about.