Winning post Xpected soon!

What a wonderful letter W is but having investigated X and not known the meaning of any of the words I found I will be taking some liberties with it. Fortunately Xolani (X) to his friends will probably feature xtremely  frequently in this our penultimate blog!! So far this winter the weather has been xceptionally kind but the weathermen are forecasting temperatures as low as 4 degrees at night for the next few days. This means frost here! a disaster for Xs tomato crop! This week,  the daytime temperatures have been wonderfully warm at about 24 degrees. Tomorrow we xpect 15 degrees. Out with the winter woollies, I fear! The only consolation is that perhaps the cold will put an end to the worrying plague of rats infesting Bulawayo at the moment. X lost all his broccoli crop and some of the cabbages to them.Some of our school equipment has also been damaged.  Some of the children have also come to school in T shirts that have been chewed. What a waste!


After church,members picked broccoli leaves to take home.

On a slightly whacky note the whole of Bulawayo has been on alert recently due to reports of a wild lion being at large in the city. There were sightings on Facebook, pawprints photographed, roaring heard etc, etc... None of which was ever confirmed, though I suspect it was the one from Hwange, which  Dave drove to close to and was consequently told off by the ranger, come to get his revenge but wisely made an xit before being xterminated.


Dumi building the walls of the new chicken shed.

It is xciting to see the new chicken house beginning to take shape. unfirtunately we will be home before the chicken cages and birds arrive but X will manage the project well, we are sure. it is so good to see what a blessing the site at 1BD is to the community. As crops come to an end and the quality is not good enough for the supermarkets, the locals buy at reduced prices or, as happened last Sunday people from the church can take for free. Nothing is wasted then.

Of course we are xtremely xcited about coming home in less than 7 weeks.. But it is hard to xpress how we really feel about our time here or xplain what it has been like to those who havent xperienced Africa. It has been emotionally xhausting, sometimes, rewarding, other times disappointing! But we are so grateful for the xcellent love, support and acceptance xhibited by the Church here and at home, something we will never forget!