All good things come to an end

After almost a year on zambian soil, I say goobye once more to Zambia and its people. Knowing that I won’t return anywhere near in the future, I experience my last days intens. Visiting my friends for one more time, sitting in the packed minibus, being greeted with a generous smile on the street, riding my bike, the smell that the earth breaths when the sun is about to set, I all experience it all the more intens knowing I am unable to take all these experiences back home with me.

Zambia has made me think about development and how the world envelopes to me. Reading the newspaper and being around zambians all day made me feel the difficulties the country is facing. The country frustated me and at times even pushed me to the verge of anger. Why aren’t things progressing, when the need is so dire, everybody sees this and change seems relatively easily? At the same time, the resilience of the people under such harsh conditions and the ability to just accept and coop with life’s hardships moved me, the volume of voices singing about hope in church dazzled me, the astonishing hairstyles of women amazed me, and the helping hand we were offered in times we as foreigners were in trouble embaraced me, and the boldness of a child’s prayer encouraged me. Over time this place on earth have graved a deep mark in my soul. This sentiment I not only epxerience during my stay in Zambia, but is vividly alive when traveling other southern african countries on my way back home. The two weeks I have left before boarding my flight, take me to zimbabwe and mozambique.

Zimbabwe proves to be much more than the paper’s headlines suggest. The first hunderd metres into Zimbabwe we were immediately welcomed by an elephant at the side of the road. Purple jacaranda trees give color to the otherwise pale landscape. After hours on a quiet road, Harare comes in sight.The capital’s high buildings and architectural prestige just blew me away. After having spend almost a year in Lusaka, I finally had the feel of actually being in a real capital; parks, high buildings, and street artists. The trip continued to Mutare, situated in the eastern highlands and providing a home to Lara. After camping in the mountains, I leave my friends behind and continue the trip alone hitchhiking my way to the coast of Mozambique.

Mozambique impressed me. The endless fields of cocunut trees passing by and the market women at the side of your window selling loads of freshly harvested cashewnuts, bananas and pineapples, proudly present the richness of this country. Arriving at the coast, the white shores and ocean blue taught me just how beauftiful His nature can be. I just stood there for a moment. Amazed. The following day was a holiday, to be celebrated at the beach. People were playing soccer, singing, dancing and enjoying themselves, making a great scene. My days at the beach I completely relaxed, read some books and did some surfing; life can be real easy at times.

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Tot snel!


Did you know that:
* My camera got stolen out of the car in Zimbabwe, explaining the lack of (otherwise incredible im sure;) photos to back this blog.
*Mugabe’s residence isn’t as well protected as you might think. We discovered a hole in his wall fence, so we planned to slow down so I could do a ‘rollout’out of the car, to go over and say hi to Robert chilling in his backyard. he just happened to be in New York for a UN conference at the time so ‘operation mugabe’ was off.
*When I was hitchhiking in moz, my backpack fell off the back of the truck and was dragged along the tarmac leaving me with a backpack and clothes with holes in it. In time like these you come to admire the ingenuity of market women who easily revamp the bags and its zippersystem for a few buck for what I had already considered a lost case. This must be the reason why things last so much longer in these societies.
* I saw dolphins, a manta ray and a seaturtle. Especially the seaturtle was hilarious, man these guys look silly and lost in the open ocean.
*Im homeless. Stay with my parents for the time being, but will probably move to Amsterdam.