The Suburbs

Environment Africa has set me up to stay with local families for the duration of my time in Zimbabwe.  For my first three months, I am staying with a young couple: Darryl and Nicole.

Darryl, Nicole, and Nicole's parents

Darryl is a native Zimbabwean, born and raised in Bulawayo (500km south of Vic Falls) with the defining characteristic of being a diehard rugby player and fan of the Springboks (or the Sharks, if necessary). He currently works editing the bungee films for the bridge bungee jump at the Falls. Nicole was born and raised in Germany before moving to Zimbabwe a few years ago. They are absolutely WONDERFUL people, and took me in with open arms. Nicole was actually a founding member of Action Africa, working with them for two years, but currently, she is no longer with the organization after starting her own marketing company and travel agency. They live in the upper class suburbs of Vic Falls proper, in a three-bedroom house with their dog and three cats… one of which just had three kittens! The last addition to the household is a storage shed and cottage by the property gate where Stanford, their jack-of-all-trades, lives.

My room

The house

Stanford's cottage

Since Darryl and Nicole do not have children yet, their pets mean the world to them and are treated as their surrogate kids.  Currently, they have a dog who came with the house, Nyasha, and three cats (plus the three kittens).  Their black cat, James Squash, is their 'firstborn' and the other two cats, Butternut and Butch, are her grown-up kittens.  I love living with the animals, but they all get quite bleak when Nicole isn't on hand (I haven't quite been accepted yet, especially by the cats). 

Nyasha

Butternut and her newborn kittens!

James Squash

Darryl and Nicole have really gone above and beyond what they were asked to do for me; they always invite me everywhere they go, and have introduced me to quite a number of locals here. With their help, I’m starting to feel a little bit less like a complete alien as I am accepted more and more Vic Falls’ small-town culture.