Zambia World Wide

It was about this time that we had a letter from my parents saying that they would like to come to Zambia for a month, could we put them up, of course but it did give us food for thought as where could we take them, what could we do to make it a holiday to remember, something for us to think about over the coming weeks. We need not have worried, playing with the boy’s around the pool and with Jan taking them into town they were having a great time. I was busy making gear for the ski-show which my father gave a hand with, we had been given a steer by Mr. Moore a farmer that I was friendly with so Jan and my mother decided to cut it up by themselves. It took them three days, a mistake we would not make again but it kept them happy although they were both pleased when it was done. As in the past after that Jan took all steers to the local butcher and he cut them up for her.

The day for the ski-show was getting close and so with the help of my father we managed to finish the work we were doing and get it to the boat club in time. I was pleased that my parents had come out at this time as we had spoken a lot about the show and shown them many slides but now they had the chance to see it for themselves. It really was a fantastic day out, people would come from all over the Copperbelt and perhaps even further. We all put a lot of work and practice into it and it was nice when on the day everything went well. This year we had decided that Richard would spend the day at the show as a spectator with my parents as in previous years whilst at the show he would be working and see little of what was going on. After about two hours I went to check that all was OK as by now everything was in place and we were ready to start, I found my parents on their own and Richard working as he had in the past. I asked various people how this had come about, I was told they were busy and as he was a house-servant he was told he had to help out. Needless to say, I stopped him and explained that I had paid for his ticket and that for today he was to be a spectator and that he was not there to work, after which he had really great day. By the time the day was over we were all hot and tired and glad to get home but it had been a great day out, a day my parents never forgot.

Now the show was over we were able to think of places to take my parents, we took them to local towns and places of beauty around the Copperbelt. We also decided that no one could come to Zambia and not see the Victoria Falls. At this time we only had a VW van which was ideal for us as a family but not suitable for us and my parents to travel in. We borrowed a large car from a friend and decided after seeing the falls from the Zambian side we would drive over the bridge into Zimbabwe and see the falls from there. Once in Zimbabwe we made the decision to carry on to Wankie National park and then take a circular route to Kariba and see the Matopas plus it was nice to see and drive over the dam and back into Zambia. Not long after this it was time for my parents to leave but they did have a great holiday and one they never forgot. After they had gone life seemed a little quiet but we returned back to normal eventually.

After some time we decided to take a break, we did not have much cash to spare so it had to be a local trip. We gave it some thought and decided we would go to Mauritius, it was a place we had heard much about now we had the chance we decided to go. It was a very quiet and uneventful break, silky soft sand, warm breezes and lot’s of sun. We went water ski-ing and swimming , spent many hours laying on the beach or wandering along the sea shore, it really was a great break, nothing exciting but nice. On our return to Kitwe life went on as normal, work and play, if I make this sound like we did nothing in between breaks don’t be fooled we did work quite hard and the breaks we needed. I could speak of the things we did but you have heard it all before so I will carry on. It was about this time we had to think about where we were going, what we would do in the future, the kid’s were growing up and would have to leave, as they could only get schooling here until they were 12 years old. We were undecided as to whether we should return to UK or maybe go to South Africa. We decided to take a trip to SA and then we could decide where we would rather be.