April 13

Today Tyler and I went on a tour of the Victoria Falls bridge in Zambia. Actually the bridge is half in Zambia and half in Zimbabwe but we had to travel to Zambia to start the tour and then we walked to Zimbabwe.

The bridge was built in 1905 in England, taken apart, all the parts labeled, shipped to Mozambique, put on a train to Victoria Falls and reassembled there at a a cost of £72,000. There is a set of train tracks, 2 pedestrian walkways and a one way car/truck road.

These are views from the bridge which was, at one time, the tallest bridge in the world. They do bunji jumping and zip lining from this bridge which provides enough income to maintain the bridge. Neither Zambia nor Zimbabwe contributes to its maintenance.

The top photo is our guide with Tyler. They had us wear special straps which we attached to the cable on the bridge. The last photo is Tyler with one foot in Zambia and the other foot in Zimbabwe.

Corrie went on the Zip line at Victoria
Falls. Here is the video taken by Glenn.

Chinotimba Government School

We also visited Chinotimba Primary school in Zimbabwe which is one of the largest schools in Zimbabwe. There are about 1800 students there with about 50 teachers. Some of the teachers have as many as 50 students. All classes are taught in English. The second photo shows the headmaster of the school. She says the parent of each student has to pay $50 per semester to attend the school even though it is a government school. The government is broke. If the parents can’t afford it they can do some work at the school to pay for it.

They teach 13 subjects including the 3 R’s, geography, PE, and music. The video below shows a performance by the students. The teachers want the students to have some knowledge of their heritage and culture so they teach them dances like this. They give all the students 1 meal a day while they attend school. All students wear uniforms which the parents must provide. When they graduate from primary school they will go to high school. Many will drop out in high school and very few will go on to a university.

Neighborhood Photos

The video shows a typical Zimbabwean neighborhood. All kids walk to school up to 5 km. one way; there are no buses. The photos show a Catholic Church, a preschool and a residential garden.

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