Jon and I had temporary work visas that were reaching expiration, and the place to get them renewed was in Lusaka – the capital city of Zambia. It’s about a 5.5 – 6 hour drive, so initially we planned that Jon would drive out, get the work visa taken care of, and drive home the following day. Friends of ours out here have a rental in Lusaka, and could get a neighboring unit for us for the weekend. That sounded perfect to us! We left Friday morning, and made it to Lusaka by the afternoon. Along the way, we saw this cart being pulled by cows. There’s always something to see out the window!
The rental unit was perfect, and it had a pool, and you better believe we were going to use that to it’s full potential! The kids would barely be out of bed in the morning, and would already be asking to go for a swim. It was so fun and relaxing to have so much time at the pool!
Our highlight of the weekend was spending the day at Chaminuka. It is an animal reserve just outside of Lusaka, that is home to around 7,000 animals. We did a Game Drive, where we jumped in a safari-type jeep, and were driven around the property. We saw such a variety of animals, but the zebras and giraffes were probably the favorite.
We also fed the elephants! This was absolutely amazing. There were two men keeping watch that the elephants were behaving well. They would pass us food, and we would hold it out to the elephants, and have them eat right out of our hands. They are solid, and beautiful giants!
After feeding them, we got to walk with them. The oldest elephant (34 years old) reached up for a tree branch with her trunk and effortlessly plucked it from the tree! So cool seeing the animals in such a natural environment, displaying their strength like that!
And all of a sudden, our weekend of exploring was done! We are very relieved to say that the work visa is approved and valid for the whole year. We arrived back at Seeds of Hope to many excited and sweet comments about how we were missed when we were away. One teenager said it felt like we had left back to Canada, and it made her sad. Another said that we should have gotten our work visa to be valid for 4 years. It is pretty cool to see how quickly our family has become part of this Grace family!
That's all for the update this time!
Lots of love,
Jon and Renae