Girls Day out in Zimbabwe

My good friend Lawrence had decided that he wanted the two non-family females in his life to spend time together and bond so my Saturday entertainments in Zimbabwe were entrusted to Lawrence’s Zimbabwean girlfriend, Chenia.

So into her capable hands I was entrusted and the day’s activities were to include her cousin’s wedding ceremony, reception and a visit to the UNESCO World Heritage site, Great Zimbabwe. Accompanying us for the day would be her mother, Mrs. Hwehwe and two of her other beautiful daughters, Anesu & Kuda. In order to accommodate all of us passengers Lawrence also graciously allow us his lovely car to travel in.

Having been told to be ready to leave for the day by 7:00 am as we were travelling to  Masvingo for the wedding I was up bright and early at 6:00 am to bath in my cold water and get dressed. The early departure was necessitated by the fact that it is an approximately 3 hour drive from Gweru to Masvingo and the wedding was scheduled to begin at 10 am. 

One of the other cultural adjustments that I have had to make here in Africa is the flexibility in time. I try to be an extremely punctual person although ask poor Buche about the time that I left him waiting for me in the BONASO parking lot for 45 minutes because I simply was so busy that I had no idea what time it was. So generally I attempt to be ready in advance of when I need to be. However here in Africa when someone says they are picking you up at a certain time, that time can have flexibility of anywhere from 1/2 to hours later. You learn to take it in stride, trust me.

All of this to say, I was ready for the appointed time however our actual departure first from the Dingwa home and then from Gweru itself was slightly later than scheduled. Once on the road with Chenia driving her mother and sisters were kind and attentive pointing out landmarks and interesting sites, relating history or local culture and asking questions about me and life in Canada. All in all it was a very pleasant drive and uneventful until we reached Masvingo.

Entering Masvingo it was necessary to gas up and grab some juice & water from a nearby shop. Following our stop, Chenia headed out of Masvingo for the wedding site, which ironically was named “Peter’s Lodge” located about a 30 minute drive past Masvingo on the way to Great Zimbabwe. Masvingo is a good sized city and there was a far amount of traffic entering and exiting the city on this Saturday morning. Unfortunately on our way out of the city we were involved in a minor fender bender leaving poor Lawrence’s lovely Mercedes front end rather sorry looking. Luckily other than damage to Lawrence’s car there were no other repercussions of the accidents other than I got to visit the Masvingo Police Station! and we ended up being significantly late for the wedding only arriving in time for the last twenty minutes of the actual ceremony.