This morning I and 2 other volunteers completed the last 115 bricks that the project needed. So far the volunteers have made over 3500 bricks which is enough to begin to build a wall around Molota School to keep the children safe and away from all the outside distraction.
After getting home I packed super quickly and loaded a van to head to the country of Zimbabwe. We crossed the border and headed to a 5 star hotel called Elephant Hills Hotel. The hotel was massive – around 300 guest rooms. The only reason we were able to stay in a 5 star is because we got a really really cheap deal on our stay. I couldnt figure out why the deal we recieved was so great until we got to the hotel. It was a gorgeous hotel by all accounts but there was literally NO other guests in the entire hotel! It was a ghost town. It was so quiet and weird to be staying there.
To give you an idea of how strange the hotel was- when we were checking out the next morning I had a $2.00 charge for using the internet and literally not a SINGLE person in the entire hotel (bar, guest services, restaraunt, reception, travel desk) had change for my 20.00 dollar bill. There was NO money in the entire hotel, not a drop. Even when we visited several guest stores in the hotel, we werent able to buy anything because no one had change available -so you either couldnt buy anything or you had to purchase enough items so that no change was necessary!
We did a couple of fun things while in Zim like eating worms and warthog and ostrich meat. We also traveled on safari in Hwange National Park.
yummy!
All in all, I will NEVER return to Zimbabwe ever again. The people for the most part were unfriendly (to the point of me being scared). At one point driving along to the national park(2 hour drive) people along side the road kept crossing their arms in the sign of death to us. I felt like I was in deliverance or something. It was honestly very frightening to be in Zimbabwe. If our van would of broken down at any point it would have been very very very very bad for us.
The country of Zimbabwe is beautiful but honestly after the President there expelled all of the white farmers and destroyed the economy(at one point inflation was over 2 MILLION percent) the money is all gone, the grocery stores are bare, gas stations are empty and the people are rightfully angry- however, their anger is directed at whites which is somewhat misplaced. I am just glad to be back in Zambia today.
