As the plane starts to descend the rain also started. Lego boy wakes as we hit the run way with a bump (well a few bumps). Next the plane starts to taxi towards a very small brick building at the side of the dusty grass runway. Middle man squeaks excitedly ‘Fire engine’ as two very old fire engines come into sight. Then the tired voice from Lego Boy asks Mother-in-law ‘Are we here?’, ‘Yes darling’ Nannie replied… after a few seconds silence a sad voice says ‘This isn’t Africa its raining’. I don’t know where he got the idea that it doesn’t rain here from…. but he was so convinced we were in the wrong place that he was very reluctant to get off the plane.

Husband excitedly introduces us to our welcoming party as we load the luggage mountain into two massive 4 wheel drives. It all fits! The boys and husband get into one car with a family, they have two girls similar ages to my boys. Finally Lego boy seems to be coming round to the idea that we might actually be in Africa.

Mother-in-law, baby blue and I get in the other and we are off down bumpy roads to our new house! We look out the windows and try to take in as much as our shattered eyes can, but there was so much. Absolutely nothing is the same as England, some things are similar but they have an African twist. We pass massive trucks, push bikes with multiple people on them, small wooden stalls selling just about everything you can imagine, round thatched building, groups of school children in bright shirts…. I could go on.

As we pull up to the estate boundary we stop at an entrance barrier and are shocked when our friend enters using a finger print scanner! Just meters before we had passed small children with no shoes and dirty clothes playing happy on a bridge and now we had to use finger prints scanners!??? Through the gate, the African bush and dust turns into well maintained gardens, green lawns which surround red brick buildings bordered with verandas and topped with green corrugated roofs.

Finally we pull into our drive and are facing my new home 🙂 I’m pleasantly surprised, it feels massive, with high ceilings and lots of floor space. Its feels quite empty at first but that soon changes as the luggage mountain is unpacked from the car. The boys instantly start pulling toys out of the bags and the house starts to feel like ours. That evening a few people pop in to introduce themselves and seem genuinely happy we are here. Baby Blue is the star of the show he as happily smiles at every new face he sees.

We settle the boys down for their first night under mosquito nets in awe of how well they are taking the massive change in their little lives.

(Mosquito net fail)