Xmas Letter 2001

Africa Home

Dear Friends & Family,

There is the crisp feel of autumn here in Harare, and the Poinsettias are in bloom. Our mail box is now full of your Christmas letters. It must be almost time for Christmas!

Not!

Reading our anthrax-free mail … Our Christmas cards started to arrive a few weeks ago, along with letters, bills, and other mail, some of which dates back to October. Our U.S. mail to Harare comes through the diplomatic pouch, and, in October, pouch service was abruptly halted after a State Department employee got anthrax in the Department’s mail room. Since November, our mail has been irradiated to kill any anthrax spores. This seems to take a month, and the extreme temperature turns the paper to brown, melts the plastic windows in commercial mail, and causes printing ink to stick to neighboring pages. The paper is brittle, and snaps if bent. It’s like handling mail that’s been sitting up in an attic for the last 100 years. But at least we are now receiving it. That’s our excuse for this late “Christmas Letter.”

Hess family activities in 2001: Most of the year we spent in Harare, where the boys are in the International School (Victoria’s nifty new website for the school is at www.his-zim.com) , Lee is at the U.S. Embassy, and Victoria manages various web pages from her home computer. Richard turned 11, entered 6th grade, and reached 5 foot in height. Andrew turned 9 and entered 4th grade. He is an avid reader.

We traveled in Zimbabwe throughout the year and hosted Liz (Victoria’s sister), Lee’s mom, and Randy (an old friend of Lee’s), for several weeks each. When Liz was here, we went canoeing in a river with hippopotami. Lee’s canoe turned turtle several times during the trip, and he returned to camp thoroughly soaked!

We went to Mauritius for a week at Easter last year, and had a wonderful relaxing time on the beach. The major trip of the year was our home leave back to the States, where we visited in Orlando, Jackson Hole, and Seattle. There are pictures of that trip on our family website. www.writehess.com .

Victoria totaled her Honda in December, right before our planned trip to Lake Kariba. Absent transportation, we opted instead to spend Christmas week moving. We are now living in a house that is 50% larger than before, with a garden that is 50% smaller. But since we don’t tend to play soccer in our garden, it is overall a good compromise. Victoria also has a new car. A Land Cruiser. She figures it is big enough to avoid going under another truck.

We expect to be in Harare another year before we move on. The political situation here has been stressful at best, and Victoria will be glad to get to a place where coups, deteriorating economies, and political violence are not routine events. To see Victoria’s take on the situation in Harare, check out her latest report at Real Post Reports www.talesmag.com/rprweb/the_rprs/africa/realposts_harare.html .

Richard	Andrew
Easter Holiday 2002

We have already done a bit of traveling this year, going to the Eastern Highlands near Mozambique at Easter as a family, and going to Johannesburg as a couple in January. We plan to visit the States again this summer, where the boys are going to spend two weeks in sleep-away camp in June.

Best wishes to all of you. If you want to visit us, you still have a year to do it. Just let us know, and we’ll make a bed for you.

Lee, Victoria, Richard & Andrew Hess