Today was a day of catching up on business odds and ends and getting Dave off to the airport. Dave is leaving a couple days ahead to get to North Carolina in time to prepare for a retreat we are holding there. Jen will be the lone ranger for the last 36 hours of the trip.
While Dave got packed up and prepared to leave, Theresa and Jen went to town to run errands. At one point, when we were waiting for a shop to open after lunch, we walked past a hardware store and I said, “Let’s go in while we’re waiting. You never know what we’ll find.” Right as we walked in the door Theresa pointed, “Oh, look, that’s a hammer mill machine.” Buying a hammer mill to grind maize is one of the businesses that the folks in Kantolomba have proposed. People would come and pay to get their harvested maize ground into mealie meal. We investigated the costs and specs on the machine. You never know what you are going to find.
The hammer mill.
Jen and Theresa outside the internet café.
Theresa on one of the main commercial streets downtown.
Some of the new chitenge we found.
We finished up in town and went back to the guesthouse to meet about a few things—Evaristo, in particular. Theresa had called us the night before to report that there had been an accident. There was a fire in Evaristo’s house and he got burned while escaping. He is in the hospital with fairly severe burns on his right arm and the left side of his face. Though he is in a lot of pain, thankfully it looks like he will be fine. Sadly, what this does mean is that he will not attend the United World Colleges. Evaristo will miss critical deadlines for the process. He was already over the age-limit that UWC usually accepts, and this would delay things too much. While we are disappointed, when we sat down with Theresa and looked at it, we all agreed that somehow it seemed like the right thing. We have contacts here that will help us know what the best next steps are for Evaristo.
After meeting, Theresa went home and we caught up on some paperwork while waiting to take Dave to the airport. He will spend one night in Johannesburg enroute, then fly on to North Carolina for the next adventure.
A beautiful scene on the way to the airport.
Dave’s plane.