Day 42 – The industrialisation of Britain.

Today we journeyed through real rural Zimbabwe. At one stage we were 100k from the nearest tar road. We came to a T -junction and were unable to figure which way to go. Whilst deliberating an insoluble puzzle a small group of children, maybe 10 of them, approached cautiously. We tried to talk to them but they knew no English at all. I walked over with a bag of jelly beans and they fled like frightened rabbits into the. bush. Eventually they gathered the confidence to accept the sweets. But then they didn’t know what to do with them. We had to show them that they were for eating. I then tried to write the name of the village we were looking for (Huyuye) with a stick in the dirt road. When they saw me with the stick they were off into the bush again. Either they had never seen the likes of us before (quite feasible) or they feared the stick quite a lot.

A little later we stopped by a very basic school, again in the middle of nowhere, to ponder the route again. One of the teachers in a pretty red skirt came out and asked us if we would like to see the school, to which we happily agreed. All the teachers came out to greet us….lots of laughing and jokes about us being lost. Then we noticed George had a flat tyre. So Sam and Robin got to work on the School playground. By this time most of the kids had gathered around to watch. We had a few jokes about Man United and Chelsea and which biked they liked most…Sams it turned out. Then we were given a guided tour. We chanced upon one classroom of older children with their exercise books. I asked one of the girls if I could read it. I opened the book in the middle and there was an essay, in the most perfect handwriting, entitled “Why did Industrialisation first begin in Britain?” And the first sentence read ‘There was a ready supply of capital’. Astonishing in such a basic rural community. How many children in England could spell Industrialisation let alone understand its significance to the evolution of the UK. Something I shall never forget.

Later again in the day we were stopped by the side of the road to put more layers on as it was getting chilly, when a chap stopped by us on a bicycle. He smiled and asked us how we were. Gregg asked him “how far to Harare?” He replied in a very Zimbabwan accent “Oh 3 dollars” This is Africa. Wonderful. J

We stopped at a local school in Zim a long way from anywhere and all the children came out to say hello…..and as it happened watch George mend a puncture!