Unedited version of letter for December '10 Shap Today from Leocardia Mushandu

One beautiful sunny day in summer of 2006 a European man said to me "masikati sisi" meaning, "good afternoon sister". I was puzzled. I thought I better find out how far the man would go with this sort of greeting. I replied "maswera sei? - Meaning "how are you" And he laughed his head off, saying "I have guessed correct haven't I?" Well I had automatically guessed him correctly too by his broad accent that is just like mine. He was a fellow Zimbabwean - born and brought up in Zimbabwe. He said, "I am Zimbabwean."

He went on further and said "are you just passing by" and I said, "I live here in Shap" and he said "Why Shap"? and I said "I am at home in Shap just as I was at home in my home village." He proceeded to ask me where in Zimbabwe I had come from. When I had given him the name of where I came from in Zimbabwe. He smiled and said "I know why you are here. You are indeed at home, in Shap aren't you?" This is because he had realised the similarities of the place I had been born in Zimbabwe. Shap valleys are similar to the place where I was born and brought up in Africa. I will always love Shap. Having stopped in Shap on my personal life's journey, I feel nothing but most privileged to have done so. Each place we pass on our journey has a lot of excitement and memories that they bring with them.

 
Having Fell House (Mango), has been a great success - it all depends how people measure their success. To my family it has been one of the most wonderful experiences to have happened to us. The people that came to stop while on their Coast to Coast walks were all incredibly beautiful and extremely happy people. They were from Canada, America, Japan, Germany, Australia to name just a few places. Once they were in Fell House we all became one family. The pleasure and confidence they built in us was tremendous.  They gave my family so much confidence and happiness.  Not to mention the people who supported and carried on supporting Mango - I LOVE YOU ALL VERY MUCH.  I really do mean it, not for monetary reasons, but for your beauty and love for humanity. Some of you would come in and helped in so many different ways.  You know what? I know all that and I cannot forget.  You all have been very kind. That love and kindness kept us going and wanting to do more for everyone. YOU ALL made the dream come true for us.  But the kind of happiness all of you people brought into our lives will always live with us.  You are blessed and you gave us a tremendous amount of strength, confidence, love, laughter and courage that has helped us an awful lot and will stay with us forever.  Birthday Parties - children wanting their parties done at Mango - it was heartwarming.  Thank you very much children and your parents.

Some of the walkers arrived at Fell House and they were absolutely worn out, asking for something to eat.  By the way in Zimbabwe whether people get home at 5.00am or 1.00am or whatever time and they are hungry there are no questions asked.  You are expected to cook for the visitors and give them food happily, and it was always a pleasure to do so. Even though we have been in the country now for slightly over 34 years the rule is totally embedded in our heads and everything was done to get them to eat, and after they had gone to bed with full bellies we slept like a babies ourselves, even if we went to bed at 1.00am.  The problem was some people were that tired they could not walk as near as The Greyhound to eat.  We enjoyed the experience thoroughly.  One day a Canadian couple arrived with their friends.  When the husband realized we came from Zimbabwe he said " I want Sadza and peanut butter cabbage".  I was speechless and I thought he was joking but he meant it.  This was a European man born and brought up in Zimbabwe only to leave Zimbabwe when he met his Canadian wife.  They all had finger licking Zimbabwe dish, which the man said to his friends and wife, " You use your fingers to eat this food" and he proudly said that it is part of our Zimbabwean culture.  Well, I could not help giggling my head off, as he was comfortably able to eat with his fingers while others struggled.  When  asked him how he had got to know about Sadza and peanut butter cabbage he said as a child he used to run away from home and go into African families and he was able to taste a lot of African foods.  On that occasion, he was very lucky - I had everything in the house. And it was a moment of happiness for me to have people of other cultures asking for Zimbabwean food.
 
 
Life's events in every place have formed part and parcel of our personal History. We cannot correct history. It is done and done it is. And the history is what makes us the people that we all are. We are all meant to be with one another - and it definitely is not by accident that people pass through places.
It is part and parcel of God's plan - we had never planned the whole procedure.

Thank you all very much for the time I lived in Shap, one of my most favourite and beautiful places on earth. You are all Blessed and Beautiful.
Leocardia Mushandu and Family