Living in a new place which is far removed from your previous reality can be a tough time. I had just been newly deployed at Pakati Secondary School back in 2013 when I decided to go back home to Harare for the weekend. I had been having a hard time adapting to my new environment. I just could not believe that I, “a city girl” was now living in the village. The whole week I had been walking in a daze. I had no friends yet, nothing to entertain me except going to work and phone calls back home to moan about chronic loneliness .I was soo homesick and inwardly I told myself that the following term I would transfer to somewhere as long it was not Pakati. So the week after I had been deployed I decided to go home . Soon after work on Friday, I went to the bus stop . From the school to the busstop it’s roughly 3.5km. Unfortunately I did not get transport as planned. This meant no going home for me. I had a choice to either retrace my steps back to school or hopefully wait for people with cars who might be going in the same direction as me. I chose the former. The dark frightens me so I had to call a colleague to come get me. He told me to walk and he would meet me along the way. I lit the torch on my phone and started walking back. I could hear every sound in the bushes. These sounds coupled with my fear of snakes rampant in that area threatened to loosen my bowels. Fortunately I did not have to walk for long before he caught up with me. He laughed at me saying the light from the phone would have drawn robbers and I would have had more than snakes to worry about. After that incident I never tried to look for transport after working hours. These are now fond memories as I have grown to love the school and working with the community .
