Once we had met the partner organisations
it was time to return to Harare for some final team leader training and to meet
the UK volunteers off the plane.
In between team leader training, debriefing
with the team leaders from the previous cycle who were still in country, and
doing some research into our respective projects we had a bit of free time. We
managed to get to an international Rugby game held at a local school where
Zimbabwe comfortably beat Tunisia. It was a fun match and there was a great
atmosphere! I decided to spend the Sunday before the volunteers arrived
relaxing in the Harare Botanical Gardens. They were more like a national park
with lots of trees from all around the world and plenty of grassy spaces, but
it was a beautiful place and they even had a tea shop – making it feel very
like the national trust!
On the Monday it was all go as we moved out
of the hostel we had been staying in for the last 10 days and headed to the
airport to collect the volunteers. It was so great that they were arriving, as
although I had enjoyed a few days chilling in Harare, the arrival of the
volunteers marked the real beginning of our placement.
There is a great viewing platform at Harare
airport, so we were able to watch as the crowd of UK volunteers wearing their
grey ICS t-shirts snaked through the airport and towards the customs queue. It
took quite some time for them all to make their way through customs and collect
their baggage, but we had great fun standing in arrivals watching families and
friends be reunited – reminded me very much of the movie Love Actually!
Once we had collected the volunteers it was
on to another youth hostel for the night before we all headed by bus to Mutare.
The journey was a lot more civilised this time round, with private minibuses
(and a seat for everyone!). We arrived in Mutare just as the sun was setting
and it was a beautiful view as we came up and over the mountain pass to look
down across the city as the sun set.
We stayed in Catholic University
accommodation on arrival in Mutare, and waiting for us on our arrival were the
in country volunteers who we would be working with for the next 10 weeks. It
was a great night of introductions and welcomes as we all met and mingled with
our in country volunteers and we finally had the full team of 18 in one place.
We spent 4 nights and 3 days living
together at the Catholic Center, building our team, learning more about the
culture of Zimbabwe and more about the projects we would be working on. It was
so nice to have the chance to relax and unwind together and get to know each
other in a social setting before we all headed off to our host homes on the
Saturday.
Some photos of the Catholic Center and views over Mutare:
In the evenings we would almost always hook
up some portable speakers to a variety of ipods/mp3 players and have a bit of a
dance. We tried to explain to the in country volunteers that dancing while
sober is more challenging for people from the UK, but the lack of alcohol was
not a problem for the in country volunteers. They had some fantastic moves, and
could move their bodies in ways which UK bodies just couldn’t (although we definitely tried)!
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