Caravan Dispatches - Somewhere in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe

Bulawayo City Hall

I am sitting at the balcony of the hotel we checked into late last night here in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe. It is about half past six in the morning but like l mentioned before, it looks like 8am in Nairobi.

The morning is chilly but there are sun rays that are teasing their way through the heavy clouds.I don't know if they will tease enough to scare the clouds into some sort of retreat. 

From where l sit, l grin knowingly. This could be anywhere in Africa. 

Straight ahead on my right there is what seems like a taxi man who is calling out to passengers going to a certain place in the city. The drivers are hooting as the conductors try to convince the potential passengers to get into the cars. Just down the road on my left is a petrol station that is still closed. 

As the ravens at two roof tops away peck at some grains l can’t help but marvel at how different countries in Africa can have such similarities. 

Last night when we got in there was no food at the hotel and we had to go find something to bite. ‘Is it safe?’ You knew that question was coming. ‘Oh yes it is. You don’t need to worry,’ the receptionist had assured us. He was kind enough to direct us to a good take away place. No not a fast food place but a take away place with good homemade food. I have found out that that is very different. In most places we have been to take aways are usually associated with fast foods. Here we found out that these places with homemade take away foods are popular. 

At 10pm they were still open and we had to queue. As l waited in line, l chatted with the owner and he told me he lived in Nairobi a while ago. I then told him why we were visiting Zimbabwe and l went into all-about-the-Trans African Caravan of Hope event speech. Hmm! Something l have done during border crossings especially in Tanzania, Malawi and Zimbabwe. So back here at the balcony in Bulawayo l can see that the traffic is picking. 

Bulawayo is the second largest city in Zimbabwe after the capital city Harare. It is estimated that there are about 1million people who live here. This is city is multicultural whose residents speak at least 3 languages including English. These are Ndebele, Xhosa, Kalanga, Sotho, Nambay, Tonga and Venda.  The Majority of  this city’s population belongs to the Ndebele ethnic and language group. Bulawayo is considered at the industrial and business capital of Zimbabwe. That little brief from Wikipedia can work for you for now.Smile.

Caravan Dispatches - The Spice That is the Caravan

Variety. Uniqueness. Creativity. That is what has marked this caravan as we have found ourselves in different countries but with the same agenda of fighting for climate justice. 

I am writing this on the bus as we go from Lusaka to Livingstone, Zambia which is a 7 hour journey but no worries, we have acclimatized. 7 hours now looks like kid play. So it is here that l can’t help but recall how countries have interpreted the message of the Caravan through their activities. Yesterday, about 55 caravanites joined us from Lusaka Zambia. We are now slightly over 120 caravanites in 4 branded buses as we head to Durban, South Africa. 

Back to the recalling … The Trans African Caravan of Hope worked through task forces in all the participating countries. The coordinating task force which was working from Kenya coordinated with key country task force members. The country task force members then ensured coordination worked within their countries. The world should know that we went to Durban, South Africa for  COP17 and we were not quiet about it. 

Spiced Up the Tshirts

When it was all said and done, we have had common designs but different interpretations. This not only came through our activities but also in the communications materials. While Kenya and Rwanda had white T-shirts with green and red collars respectively, Uganda chose green and red t-shirts. Zambia had interesting colors which included grey, beige and black. Coupled with that was a few more that had been meticulously hand woven with a heavy African heritage. Malawi gave us among other things, straw hats that the caravanites have taken to wearing since then.

Spiced Up Activities

Caravan Dispatches - Somewhere in the Border of Malawi and Zambia

18^th November, 2011 in the evening

Somewhere in Zambia, Chipata border

I am writing this at the border of Malawi and Zambia where we have been for about 4 hours waiting for our friends to be cleared at the border. It has been a good day. Wonderful, actually. The Malawi event was what many have called the best so far. It started with a 10 kilometer walk and went on to an elaborate meeting which was graced by the deputy prime minister. After having lunch we drove down to the border and most of us had our papers cleared; Guys are waiting around patiently. I think we are learning that waiting is part of the whole process. Some of us had to have our passports done and so that wait.  People are friendly here. Very helpful indeed. There are enough flying insects in this place. They crawl on your clothes. Don’t be alarmed. They are not harmful.  We are sleepy. Really sleepy. My legs look like balloons. They are swollen because of sitting for long hours in the bus. But l think they know not to throw a tantrum. They have to get used to the idea the will have to un-swell on their own.           

Caravan Dispatches - Tanzania Enroute to Lilongwe, Malawi

Fueling for the journey ahead

It is about 8pm on the 17^th November 2011, as we leave Karonga, Malawi where we have just had dinner and are now headed to Lilongwe in 3 bus convoy headed by the Malawi team. These buses have attracted so many people since the caravan started. It’s a natural reaction and especially if you see 3 buses full of people just driving across your town. Anyways,  I seem to like writing the caravan dispatches while in motion. So this is being written as the bus is in full motion with caravanites beginning to catch some much needed sleep. It has been a long day. Just yesterday we were in Dar with the Vice President who was flagging off the caravan. It looks like ages ago.  

We have travelled over 1600 kilometers to just be here. Here being Malawi whose border officials are over friendly at a time when people were so tired.  Funny thing is, our bodies are acclimatizing. The fatigue seems to settle and altogether disappear. That must be good especially because we still have Zambia, Zimbabwe, Botswana and finally South Africa to get to. We had a a day of driving through Tanzania straight into Malawi. That can be tiring but also very interesting.

The money changing is mind boggling. You get to the Malawi border and there is forex bureau. Oh an official one, Most of the time you just have the local guys who have appointed themselves as money changers doing the business. Sometimes it is good. Sometimes it is bad. You could end up getting a raw deal or a very good one. What an oxymoron. 

Then there are the different modes of officials on the borders. At the Rwanda border they were very fast and so were those of Tanzania. The Malawi ones though were friendly but to some very tired caravanites. There are borders that we found very strict officials while others were very relaxed.  Tonight the weather is warm. The bus l am in has most of its windows open. No one is complaining or making frantic requests of please close the windows. Very different compared to the other countries at night. Working with a team like this one has to appreciate the logistics involved. This right here is not child play. Getting everyone together even for simple tasks can be mind boggling. But l have said before, the logistics team here is both professional and diplomatic. Of course group dynamics come into play. You can expect that with not only different personalities but also with different nationalities. 

That said, l can’t wait to get into Malawi and see what it is they have planned for the day. I know there is a procession at 8am followed by some activities. The reason l can’t wait is because this team came to meet us at the border and had a whole activity take place right there. Back at the eating joint, l made friends with the receptionist who let me charge my mini laptop. Friendly people. She told me about Lilongwe just enough for me to nod and think…do some little digging about it. For now the driver powers on with either side being pitch black and the caravanites taking a pause. I probably should do that. I will keep you updated on my observations on caravan dispatches.