Day 21 - Sunday Send-Off

Today we began our journey home. Struggling to fit our original items in alongside our many purchases, we left a pile of clothes, books and pens to be distributed amongst the compounds. After a final few photos we shared fond farewells with Rabeccah. Dream Livingstone kindly surprised us with a personalised parting gift (picture below) . . . thank you!  

10:30 on the dot the Mazhandu Family Bus departed Livingstone and we made our way to Lusaka. 7.5 hours later we rolled into the busy capital city. As soon as we stepped off the bus we were hassled by taxi drivers left, right and centre. Stern words were needed to secure a just fare, and we arrived at Paseli's Backpackers all longing for the calmer Livingstone streets. Our hunger led us to Manda Hill shopping mall, where we sat down to a very Zambian Nando's. The slow service did not bode well with some of the tired and hungry volunteers. Nando's watch out . . . you may soon be receiving an angry letter from Miss Tufts regarding the purchase of an K11 apple juice!

Reminiscing on the past 3 weeks, we would all like to say a massive thank you to Dream Livingstone, Clement, Thomas, and everyone we have met along the way for supporting us in our research and facilitating our trip. We hope that with our partnership and shared vision we will be able to implement a successful sustainable project in Livingstone over the next couple of years. Everyone made us feel incredibly welcome and you now have 10 converted fans of nshima!

One last message before we sign off and handover to the new committee.  Thanks to everyone for your hard work over the past year and to all those who have supported us with our fundraising. This project wouldn’t have been possible without you! A special thanks to all you guys on project. The work wasn’t easy, with some testing experiences, but we came out on top and have gathered some incredible research. We hope, with all of this work, next year’s committee will be able to clearly identify where a successful intervention could be implemented. This is a new era for SKIP Cardiff and we are sure that, with combined efforts, some of the people we have met here will benefit from our project. With some unforgettable, mostly surreal, experiences we hope that you have enjoyed this trip of a lifetime as much as we have!

Peace out, Tizaonana!

xx Kate and Beth xx

“To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children . . . to leave the world a better place . . . to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded.” Ralph Waldo Emerson