david's trials & tribulations of life

Nineteen years ago I had the wonderful pleasure of visiting Zimbabwe with a great group of friends from Edinburgh University. We raised funds on the streets of Edinburgh and then flew out to Zimbabwe via Jo'burg. Our goal: to support the building of an agroforestry training center in Guruve, Zimbabwe. Well, last year Jillian, Liati, Lucia and I accompanied our friend Nigel to Guruve in search of some well-known marimba maker. I took advantage to seek out the training center we had built all those years ago, and to my complete and utter surprise I found it; and found it without needing to ask! It was still standing, albeit with a broken window or two; but it was empty, locked up and seemingly non-functional. Unfortunately that's a sign of the times all over rural Zimbabwe, as the economy is starting to take a nosedive since the last general election did not usher in a new and golden era for Zimbabwe (as many had high hopes for before). The hopeful days/years since the 2008/09 ...

Oh, pick up a pew, sit yourselves down, grab yourself a beer or a glass of wine, because this could take some time... Like most things do here in Zimbabwe. Time moves like molasses here; people move like molasses. Even the animals we see scurrying across Harare's streets take their sweet time. I guess I shouldn't refer to it as 'scurrying'  per se , as that intimates that they are actually moving at some rushed pace. No, they lope. That's it: they lope across the street. There is basically no point of rushing here, because you will end up meeting a roadblock (literal and/or metaphorical one) around the next corner, so just start off slow, and finish slow. In a way its uncannily like Ghana (our first African home) in that regard. Actually, there are many parallels between Zimbabwe and Ghana, not surprisingly. For example, they are both countries in the continent of Africa....they both gained independence from England (albeit one in 1957 and the other in 1980...)......

Hello, my name is (still) David Bonnardeaux. I am (still) married to Jillian Frumkin Bonnardeaux. I am (still) trailing my lovely wife as she rockets up the Foreign Service ladder to some day becoming the US Ambassador to... Liechtenstein... perhaps. And I am (not still...) 38 years of age. And I have a confession to make: it has been 6 years and 5 months since my last installment. And that one was a paltry five-liner to boot. I am ashamed. Aghast. Annoyed. Appalled. Aroused... Ok, ok, I am not the last one (at the moment...); just ran out of adjectives that began with A to describe how bad I am feeling for having allowed so much time to pass since my last Trials and Tribulations installment. Not that I have witnessed a single person/friend clamor at my feet begging me to write a new installment... So much has happened since then I don't know where to start? I have a grey hair on my chest?... [no, no. Can't start with THAT - that's worthy of the grand finale...] I a...

As Ghana moves forward it has decided to do away with the cumbersome Ghanaian Cedi currency we have come to love... soon the days of coming back from the bank with literal 'wads' of cash in 'rubbers' (i.e. plastic bags) will be just an anecdotal memory. And a funny one at that. The problem is that the government isn't sure that the general public will grasp the conversion. It is quite tricky after all: 10,000 old cedis will be 1 new cedi.... could easily confound someone... but no worries. There has been a tiresome ad campaign to sensitize the Ghanaian populace. Check it out here on: Official Ghanaian Government website !

Ooh “cryptic” I hear you say to yourselves. Could it be that: a). David and Jillian came across a Latin American dwelling arboreal mammal in the middle of West Africa? b). Their days became so mundane that they resorted to telling you about their intimate – albeit slow – hand washing of garments? c). They happened to meet the elusive Woolite™-wielding-clothes-washing-snail-paced-hairy creature of the Ghanaian savannah in their travels!? d). None of the above I guess you will just have to read on to find the answer. The anticipation is palpable. As the previous entry not-so-subtly alludes to (and the photos give away) we embarked on a short getaway to “the Rest of Ghana” a couple of months or so ago. From Bole to Mole, through Walewale, Dawadawa, Wakawaka, and around Tongo, Bango, Bingo, and Ningo we went. Skirting Damongo, Pwalugu, Wulugu, Sumbrungu, Pigu, we arrived at Sirigu….and then the home stretch via Jambo, Jombo, Jimbo to Ho and Hohoe! It’s as if we had driven straigh...

I had made a little movie of our first few months in Ghana. A little something for our families to see where we were living, and a few highlights. I had to cut it into pieces as it was too long... so here is Alive in Accra: Vol.1 and Vol.2! The latter is only some extra material. More to come by the way. Sooner than you think... Volume 1 - 8.37 mins Volume 2 - Bonus Material - 1.35 mins