Last week we took off from Tabitha for a few days to have our very own little holiday adventure. Us, along with 7 more inspirational and influential people from another Tearfund team in South Africa had the truly African tourist experience and went on safari. Apart from us being told we were going to be picked up at 4am and so waking up at 3:30am only to find out they had got the time wrong and we had to wait until 5am everything went smoothly!
Top 5 funniest stories –
1. When Abi’s fear of bugs was taken to a new level as she tries to remove a grasshopper which was in the truck. It jumped back into the truck while she threw the shoe out of the truck. It took a while for us to explain to our guide the reason we needed to stop (he thought we wanted him to get the bug out and was insisting it was harmless). Just to put you minds at ease we did reverse and manage to retrieve the shoe.
2. The truck was pretty high up and to get in it there were holes in the side that we had to climb up. As I was trying to get back out of the truck I couldn’t find the foot hole so Laurence (our wonderful guide) put my first foot in for me. I thought that was all he was going to do to help so I started to squat down to put my other foot in the next hole. Unfortunately poor Laurence had decided to help me with my other foot too – this awkward mix ended up with me near enough sitting on his head… And we had only just met!
3. We can’t really go anywhere without having a laugh (which usually involves us being loud and probably very amusing or annoying to the people around us). An evening out for dinner turned into another crazy time with me getting my bum stuck on the slide in the children’s play area and Molly not being able to piggy back Laura and them both ending up collapsed on the pavement. At least we always enjoy whatever happens right?
4. For most of the two days poor Laurence was stuck driving four very excitable girls around in a jeep. As he commented to the guide in the other truck on the second day “my females are in a very strange mood today.” Between the four of us we managed to have several ‘Laurence please drive very quickly to the toilet – I’m desperate’ incidents. I guess that’s female bladders for you… He took it all in his stride though and told us he hadn’t had as much fun with a group for a while.
5. We borrowed a car for our journey and six of us had to squish into the open back for the four hour journey. It actually made it all very exciting and very African; having to catch water in bottles when it rained so it didn’t get us wet, trying to use hand signals to communicate with Jacob who was driving in the front, and having to keep untangling our legs to reduce the numbness in our bums.
Highlights of the trip –
1. We saw so many beautiful views – sunsets with tree silhouettes, sunrises over the vast open spaces, mist hanging over the dunes and beautiful rocky beaches with foaming white waves. It’s incredible to see the beauty of God’s creation in such a personal way.
2. Once there had been a ‘sighting’ of an animal Laurence wanted to get there as quickly as possible. He called it ‘Ferrari safari’. Speeding up and down the hills and bumps with the wind in our faces and hair, laughing out loud was almost more fun than actually seeing the animals!
3. We were so lucky to be able to see so many animals during the two days; giraffe chewing on leaves, a lioness stalking her prey in a tree, a family of elephants plodding along in a line, African wild dogs (which are apparently one of the rarest animals here now), a cheetah lying in the shade of a tree, two warthogs fighting, tonnes of impala jumping around, some pregnant zebras (which are black with white stripes by the way), kudus looking at us with their long necks and big ears and any number of interesting species of plants and insects (we saw a golden web spider – you have never seen a female spider so BIG, probably because it eats the males, and we saw a curry plant and the leaves really do smell like Indian food when you rub them!).
4. Breakfast and lunch were provided for us in our safari package. At lunchtime each day we had a braai (the South African version of a BBQ) in a beautiful spot in the park. The food was amazing – pasta and potato salad, steaks, Wors (a type of sausage), and kebabs with chicken and bacon. Great food, great people, great conversation, and great scenery.
5. One of the best things about the trip wasn’t actually what we were doing but who we were doing it with. It was incredible to get to spend some quality time with the other Tearfund team who are staying in South Africa, before they move to Cape Town. They have been doing some amazing work in Pietermaritzburg for the past three months and it’s such a blessing to see how they have been growing and supported each other as a team and to have some really honest conversations. I’m sure we will be able to make loads more memories with them when we go to visit them in Cape Town at the end of our trip in July!
Coming back to Tabitha after the few days away really did feel like coming home. We got a big welcome from the kids – being told ‘they missed us’, giving us extra big bear hugs and being generally even more excitable than normal (and trust me that is pretty difficult). There was even a pile of notes waiting for us that they had written while we had been gone.
We are now halfway through our trip. 3 months in. It’s funny to think that the unknown turned into the unfamiliar and now it’s normal for us. Life at Tabitha is just our daily routine; being woken up early by children, going for my morning run with the girls cheering out the window, prayers with the Zulu women, having endless cuddles and fun with toddlers, helping in the school, making flash cards for reading groups (I am so sick of cutting and writing cards every lunchtime), staying patient while the kids struggle along with their Maths in homework, dodging curious eyes as we go down to do our laundry, finding a time to take a shower when there is still some hot water, preparing fun things to do with devotional groups, fitting in team bible studies, singing away while doing the washing up, preparing our meals and always finding time to play whatever game is the new craze with the kids that week.
There is never ever a dull day here – drama is frequent – but despite that things are now comfortable, familiar. I can’t imagine life without those things I have grown so accustomed to and to love so much. Home is where the heart is as they say and a home away from home is ‘a place where you feel as comfortable as you do in your own home.’ So I guess this really is home in some sense.
‘You will never be completely at home again, because part of your heart will always be elsewhere. That is the price you pay for the richness of loving and knowing people in more than one place.’
