Last Few Days in SA

  Well, I’m completely behind in my blogging as the last leg of our journey was a total whirlwind. To be complete though, I still want to document our time in South Africa and the journey home. We stayed in an amazing guest house there called De Kuilen Country House. The owners were a lovely elderly couple who were so welcoming to their home. The highlight for Isaac was their lovely, old black lab, Bella, and their very friendly and in my opinion, brave cat, Henry. Henry was very happy to lie within arm’s reach of Isaac and even tolerated a couple of tail pulls. As I said, he was either very brave or just plain stupid. Either way, Isaac loved him. Isaac and my dad enjoyed many shoulder walks around the garden inspecting and in some cases, pruning the various trees. There were lots of birds to look at. They had a large number of Hadeda Ibises on the property. These birds make an incredibly loud call which could be heard at all times of the day especially at 5:30am when the sun was coming up. Nothing like a loud cawing to rouse you from your dreams. Either that or a crying baby – not sure which I prefer. To quote one internet article: “Pest, charming oddity or just background noise, the Hadeda ibis is a feathered phenomenon in suburban South Africa. Sometimes it swipes dog food meant for pets, splatters parked cars and driveways with droppings and yanks residents from sleep with jarring squawks at first light.” So, I’m not the only one who has a less than happy opinion of the ibis.
 

De Kuilen Country House

Isaac and Henry. Notice his hand very close to the cat's tail. So tempting.

Papa and Isaac rough-housing.

Isaac enjoyed playing on the grass and trying to eat it.

  With how things had gone thus far in our adoption (slowly and frustratingly), I was fully expecting us to be in South Africa for about two weeks as the general time frame was 7-10 days. I had been in regular contact with a lovely woman at the Canadian High Commission in Pretoria and had already been sending her the adoption documents as I received them. It was so nice to be able to correspond with an actual person and have questions answered right away (not the typical 30 days for a response). Despite this contact, I still expected that things would move slowly. So imagine my surprise when Isaac’s visa was processed in one day!!! We had our medical done in Johannesburg on the Monday, met with Dianne at the High Commission on Tuesday, and then received word that the visa was ready on Wednesday. It was amazing to end on such a positive note. I had to laugh a bit after receiving a very nice email from Dianne praising me on being so proactive with getting the documents to her. To quote her: “Thank you for your efforts to meet our requirements as quickly as possible. It really makes life easier for everyone involved.” I found it incredibly validating that at least to the Canadians my personality is welcome, but to the Zambian social workers, despite my efforts to be as patient and polite as possible, I was viewed as anxious and demanding. But enough of that, as I said, we ended on a positive note. :)
  We didn’t have much time for sightseeing as my dad, Isaac, and I were only in South Africa for a week, but we did make it to the Johannesburg Zoo. Although it doesn’t compare to seeing the animals in the wild, I was impressed with the beauty of the zoo and space of the enclosures. There were so many different species of animals. I was happy to see two rhinos. We hadn’t been able to see any in Zambia as they have been poached to almost extinction there. With rehabilitation efforts, there are now 30 rhinos in the wild under heavy guard in the North Luangwa Park. Anyways, we were all excited to see these majestic creatures at the zoo, especially since my dad had been referring to himself as the “big rhino” and Isaac as the “little rhino”. They had been playing a game where they would “charge” (crawl) across the floor at each other and butt heads. It was so funny to watch. 

With my little rhino and the big rhinos.

At Nelson Mandela Square.

To Zambia With Love

Dear Zambia,

  After leaving your country last Friday to continue our adoption journey to South Africa, I wanted to write to you thanking you for our stay. While there are some things, I was happy to say goodbye to, namely, the Zambian bureaucracy, there are many things that I came to appreciate about your country. I would like to thank you for them now.

Thank you for our new Zambian friends. To Chris, Catherine, and their girls who welcomed us into their home and church. A huge thank you to Chris, who found us a car and then arranged for his daughter to buy the same car when we left. Who was always available to help during minor crises – “Chris, what do I do, my car has just been hit in the Addis Ababa round-about?”,  “Chris, what do I do, I’ve just been pulled over by the police for not paying our road tax – what’s the road tax?” To my friend, Mwanida, who gave me a quick initiation into the Zambian wedding culture with an invite to a friend’s kitchen party and helped me with a phone call to a friend in the passport office.

Thank you for the kindness of strangers. To the many security guards who got to know us on our walks and would always have a happy smile for Isaac. To the woman who offered me a chair when I was crying on the side of the street after a frustrating visit to immigration. To the guys at the Mug and Bean who got to know Isaac’s name and welcomed us with a smile when we stopped in for a coffee. To Nora at the passport office who I had just met, but came through for me by producing Isaac’s passport at a rapid pace unheard of by Zambian standards.

Thank you for our neighbours at Sugarland. To Isabel, our French friend who could commiserate with us over the shared experience of being new in Zambia and getting used to the cultural differences. Who was always up for a chat over tea or dinner at our place and who always had the most amazing stories to tell about her life working for the French embassy. To our friends Pelay, Michelle, and their two boys, Alex and Lucas who often joined us in the pool and were always up for a good splash in the water. To Alex and Lucas who kept Isaac’s attention more than anything else and a special thank you to Lucas for sharing his many toy cars with Isaac.

Thank you for the wide open spaces outside of Lusaka which we got to experience on our road trips. Thank you for the big blue sky set against the beautiful green fields and trees dotted with small villages along the road. It was amazing to experience the natural beauty of Zambia whether it be on the road, from the safari jeep, or floating down the Zambezi.

Thank you for the big and wonderful wildlife we encountered on our safaris (and on the way to the safari). It was a lifelong dream fulfilled for me to see an elephant in the wild. Thank you to the many safari guides we had the pleasure to drive around with. They are a truly wealth of information and it was so interesting to learn from them.

Thank you for our housekeeper, Beatrice, who made life go by so much smoother and easier. She is a tiny lady with the biggest heart who clearly fell in love with Isaac over the few months we were together. It was hard to say good bye to such a lovely person.

Thank you for the Sugarland caretaker, Pelekelo, the security guards, Jackson, Joe-Sam, and Caifus, and the gardener, Justin, who always took the time to say a special hello to Isaac and who helped us so much during our stay. A special thanks to Justin who had the difficult task of cleaning up the ever falling guavas and avocados from the trees in our yard.

Thank you for Felix, our brave adoption consultant. Although we may have had our frustrations with each other during the process mainly from our cultural differences with regard to communication style and time, Felix definitely came through for us in the end and worked tirelessly to ensure that we left Zambia in a somewhat timely manner. Without Felix, I know that we would still be in Zambia dealing with the maddening Department of Social Welfare.

Thank you for the House of Moses and for the wonderful women who work there. I will be forever grateful to them for the role they played in raising Isaac until we were able to get to him. Thank you to the nurse, Lillian, who viewed each child as her grandchild and was clearly made to play the role of grandma and nurse to these babies and children. It was so special to visit the orphanage and to see the delight the workers had in seeing Isaac again.

Thank you for Isaac’s birth mother. I am eternally grateful to her for bringing Isaac into this world. Although this woman will be forever nameless to us, she will be forever in my heart. I wish I could thank her in person for the amazing gift she has given me and my family. Isaac completes me and without her, I would still have a whole in my heart waiting to be filled.

Finally, Zambia, I wish to thank you for Isaac, my beautiful boy. My son is the most amazing person I have ever met. He is a courageous, determined, resilient, happy, joyful little boy who goes through life with a smile on his face. It has been the most amazing experience to get to know him over the past four and a half months. I couldn’t be prouder to call him my son and feel so thankful that I get to be his mother.

For all this and more, I am thankful.

With love,

Erin