When I expressed this thought to my friend Judy Travers, one of the owners of Imire, she replied: "Ann, you'll always have a home here at Imire." I can't tell you how moved I was.
And indeed it did feel like a homecoming arriving at Imire. The current batch of volunteers were out and about, and the volunteer house was peopled by the staff I've come to know and love over the years. They were bustling around caring for the house, but found the time to share hellos and hugs. There was one new staff person, Sipi, who was temporarily filling in for Tafadzwa, who was on maternity leave and staying in Harare. Sipi is the wife of Stocks, the chef, and she was friendly and pleasant.
I wandered around, re-acquainting myself. There have been changes. The kitchen is light and airy, with new appliances and more work space. Stocks was VERY pleased. "My" garden that I've enjoyed working in has been allowed to go to seed, and now there is a much smaller garden, but it is situated in a greenhouse, primarily, Newton told me, to keep the monkeys out. He was tired of growing his vegetables to near perfection only to have the monkeys descend and cut a destructive swath. The greenhouse was all planted, and I saw there wasn't much for me to do in the vegetable department.
On the other hand, it was obvious that MBG had been hard at work during her recent visit. The flower gardens looked spectacular, and the staff was still marvelling at how hard she had worked and how generous she had been in bringing in plants!
I was assigned a bed in the "dorm," where I would have two roommates. Here are some photos of what I encountered at Imire:
MBG's flower garden at the volunteer house at Imire
The "dorm" at the volunteer house at Imire
The exterior of the volunteer house at Imire.
So I had time to settle in, and then the volunteers returned!!
The monkeys were there first ! Thinking of you, Dear Brother !
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