Postcards From Lumwana

Our flight to Ndola was fine and again we waited there for our next flight to Jo'burg. Once in Jo'burg we were able to check into Business Class clubs. Phil's new job was paying for our relocation and as we had had several issues with leaving Lumwana, they upgraded us to Business Class. How wonderful! It was fantastic being able to have a shower before jumping onto the plane, especially as it was a night flight and it felt as though we were now ready for bed. As it turned out, the plane we were on had its Business class in the old First class section, and so we were actually in First class seats. Well, the kids and I were, unfortunately Phil was back in Business. So I settled the kids in once we were up in the air and had them asleep in no time. The seats were wonderful, you could lie completely flat. Now that is how to travel, none of this cattle class! 11 hours later, we were touching down in Sydney. Phil still felt pretty bad, but he could not dwell on it as we had a 5 hour drive ahead of us.

Once of the plane, we headed through passport control and customs. It felt strange being back in Australia, knowing we would be staying here now and not just visiting. It felt good to be home! It did not take us long to clear quarantine with our goods and we were then rushing out to grab a taxi to take us to the car dealers, so we could pick up our car purchased on line! Unfortunately the car seats had not arrived and so we had to head to the nearest shops to purchase more. A delay we did not need.

Finally we were fueled up and heading in the direction of home. We were looking at getting to Forbes at about 9pm that night, so I called the Caravan park to let them know.Our house would not be ready for another couple of weeks and so it was a cabin for us until then. Yeah!!!! After the sleep in the plane, the kids and I felt pretty good and we all traveled well once we left Sydney. Phil managed to get us through to Lithgow, before I needed to take over. Getting out in Lithgow was such a shock, it was about 3 degrees and we were frozen in seconds. A quick snack at Maccas and we were on the road again.

Thankfully, the staff at the caravan park had put the heaters on for us, so we arrived, made beds and went straight to sleep. The next day Phil was to head off to work, but he was too ill and so stayed in bed until his doctors appointment. I headed to the shops to stock our fridge for our stay. It was nice to be home, but crappy being in the park. How I wanted to be back in our house.

The next few weeks turned out to be even longer as we had problems with our house being cleaned before we could get the keys and move back in. During this time my beloved pet went missing, and he has since not been seen. I was devastated to think we had arrived in town and did not get to see him again. It seems as though our Lumwana luck was following us back here. The next issue we faced was having our belongings delivered. There was a delay and so more time spent at the caravan park. Not a bad thing in hind sight as the cleaning was taking a lot longer than it should have, it needed quite a bit of work to clean it and get it ready for us to move in.

We were finally given the date that our belongings would be sent, the only problem now was that we would be receiving EVERYTHING, even the stuff that was destined to Lumwana and never to return! As we did not receive our air and sea freight in Africa, we received the whole lot back here. We had boxes coming out of our ears. OMG! I was so over whelmed. It took forever to get things unpacked and to this day there are still boxes awaiting to be done. A lot has been donated to good will and the women's refuge, but there is still a lot here that needs to go. I am still so disappointed that all of the clothes and toys came back, rather than going to kids in Zambia. The good news is, we wont need to buy mozzie spray again for at least 2 years!

Whilst unpacking, we came across several items that had been broken beyond repair. Some items missing completely. So I then spent the next 90 days getting quotes for all of our lost and broken items. It soon turned out that we had no Insurance, as the insurance had lapsed, but the company did not let anyone know. Thankfully Phil's new employer stepped in to help us out, again!

During all this, I had started back to work and was struggling with 2 children of whom did not want to leave my side. Tom was feeling very over whelmed by his new school. His Lumwana school had 60 kids, his new one 300! Being a quiet and sensitive little boy, he struggled with this, but he is now enjoying school and doing well in Year 1. Laura I knew I would have issues with, as it was such an intense time away for her. She was with me every day and when she was sick she clung to me even more. The separation for her has been quite hard and she now even struggles most days when I drop her off to pre-School. She does not like change and needs consistency which is sometimes difficult to achieve every day week in week out. Thankfully tough she is healthy. Her games still involve having needles and being sick, so I know she remembers being sick herself, hopefully this will fade and her happier memories will take over.

Phil is back to work and has settled down well. He was asked once how he liked his time away. "Fantastic" was his reply. I just looked at him completely gobsmacked. It really hit home then just how different our experiences were. Phil worked in Lumwana, the kids and I lived it. It has taken me a while to settle down and not be so angry about things that went on over there and how we were treated by the company. Now 9 months later I am slowly getting back into the swing of life in Forbes. Still trying to tie up loose ends from Zambia, such as this blog and going over the millions of photos that I took.

Would I do it again? No. I can honestly say that I would not. Not with such young kids. If it was just Phil and I, then yes I would go and who knows maybe one day we will. Yes we had some wonderful adventures, but not enough to surpass all the issues and problems we had. I only hope that Laura has no lasting side effects from all the health issues. As a family we had such high hopes of seeing Africa, realistically that was impossible due to Phil's roster. We also had such high hopes of making a difference. Did we? We did what we could in the time we were there. Now, today, it feels like a lifetime ago. I look around this house and see our wonderful masks and other items we picked up, plus the photos of our other family members (Clement and Carol) and think dearly of our friends back in Lumwana, Chingola, Maheba and Musilwila. They are not close by, but they will always be in my heart.

My journey is my journey, just as my husbands experience was different to mine, even though we lived in the same house. No two will ever be the same. We were very unlucky in our time in Lumwana, I wished things had have been different, but they weren't. The four of us have our memories and each is very different.

Thank you for reading.

THE END.