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Greetings! Where does time go? I can't believe
it is over a week since I wrote here.
So.......last Friday - the pump just would not work!
John and Stephen were frustrated, tired and very hot! John keeps Sabbath
on Saturday so he decided no more work til Sun. Folks from across the way
came round for a fellowship time and we tried to relax. Sleeping was
difficult for many reasons! This time it was constant drumming which kept
us awake - apparently this is the witchdoctor! Dogs fight during the night
which seems to disturb the timeclock of every cockrel in the neighbourhood!! and
the hundreds of ants never sleep and like body heat a lot!!
The boys still like to live in Mollie and continue to
sleep inside her and on the roof! Slui loves our CDs and plays them
constantly - he knows everything there is to know about Mollie and where
everything is inside her! including our belongings! He has rearranged
things to keep them safe!!
Next day we rested as far as it was possible. We
retrieved photos of Sudan which we thought we had lost - this was
good! I found a book which interested Stephen and he read some. In
the evening John sets up a film on his computer for the boys to watch so we
joined them! Thankfully the weather was a bit cooler by the evening but no
rain. Water is getting scarce in the town so rain is needed.
Sunday saw work at the pump resume - it was an all day
affair and at last it seemed to be working except for 1 valve. No more could be
done today. I offered to do a health check on all the boys which turned
out to be good fun as well as reassuring. none of the boys has anything
serious wrong with their health and certainly none of them is obese! Most
are underweight for their age/height. That evening we went to the English
speaking church in Beira - thet have 1 service at 5.15pm. It was a small
group of missionaries and ex-pats but interesting if not quite the same as
home. After church we went out for a meal to Biques - a favourite of the
locals.
John had warned us well about a 'grub' which buries itself
into feet usually and then lays its eggs which then find their way out again!
Well, guess what I managed to find 5 of these things - mataquenha - in my
feet and have 'operated several times to try and extract them - sucessfully I
trust! Stephen didn't seem to get any his loss!!
Having got the pump working as far as possible we decided
to move on on Monday. We got lots of hugs from the boys and the neighbours
and bid John farewell. Someday we hope we will return.
The nearest place to stop after Beira was Vilancolus - it
was along drive through fairly uninteresting countryside. We crossed
12,000mls just before the town and eventually found a good place to stay -
Smugglers!
Next day we set off early and found a secluded, remote
spot near Chidenguele called Sunset Beach. They had no rooms but a lovely
camping site so we parked Mollie there no problem! It was so quiet we
decided to stay 2 nights and recharge our batteries before going on.
En route a couple of 'overlanders' (this is what we are!)
told us that to cross into SA via Swaziland was easier and quicker so we went
via Swaziland! This is a beautiful country - mountainous, much like SA and
good roads - well worth the visit. The information we were given was
right - it was a very straightforward border crossing into and out of
Swaziland. It was quite emotional to cross into SA and realise we had
crossed the last border!!
Now we are travelling inland along the N1 to Cape Town
where we hope to meet up with the Italians but we haven't heard from them as
yet! The roads are much better now although there are lots of road works
to slow us down. This morning we crossed 13,000mls just south of
Jo'burg. Apologies to friends and relations - we didn't actually go
through Jo'burg. Our friend Suzi has been doing a great job directing us
so I have forgiven her the past mistakes!
When we reach CPT will update again - we have to decide
what to do with Mollie.
Please be patient if I have not responded to your e-mails
- this is by satellite phone again as we haven't access to internet yet - hope
we will soon.
Thank you for reading this - you are very long
suffering! As always thank you for your prayers - God has been faithful
every step of the journey - we will bore you with stories when we get
back!
Love
S&H
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