Bonfires, Thunder and Lunar Rainbows!

The strikes are continuing and are expanding to all walks of Zambian life, but the bus keeps rolling out to the schools to find the super keen children waiting for us. That was until today… when a huge thunderstorm in the night, turned the sandy roads to quicksand!! This made driving the bus an impossibility and made camping and outdoor cooking……interesting! All Zambians seem shocked at the fact it has rained, something almost unheard of in June. We spent the day categorising books and getting messy making papier mache! Fingers crossed for bright blue sky tomorrow!

Thursday at Dambwa we found many more children than last week, most of them told us they had turned up to school, knowing there were no teachers but hoping that the Bookbus would show! Cat masks, magic wands and a huge group photo all materialised during the fantastic day!

Tuesday at Nakatindi, under threatening black clouds and with a big drop in temperature, the kids, usually so calm, seemed intent on running amok, pretty easy when there are no teachers!! They started large bonfires, to keep themselves warm but then proceeded to jump over the huge licking flames in some kind of bizarre game! Health and safety is non-existent! When you tell them it’s dangerous they look at you like you are some strange being!! They continued to claim it couldn't rain, even with the rumble of thunder in the distance. Only when the first huge spots began to fall did they all run for cover.

Maybe the full moon could explain the kids’ crazy behaviour! It certainly causes the lunar rainbow at Victoria Falls we witnessed on Saturday night. It was an amaZing spectacle but quite eerie at the same time to see a ghostly rainbow in the middle of the night. Definitely an unusual “must see”. The whole group also indulged in another sunset cruise on the Zambezi!

Kelly Geoghegan, Book Bus Leader