“Come in.” I said. When I heard someone knock on the door.
“Liv, darling, what time is your flight?“ my mum asked when she came into my library.
“My flight departs in another 3 hours mum,” I replied giving her a smile.
“Oh, that’s great I will drop you at the airport later if that’s ok with you?” She asked me, and I could feel the excitement radiating from her. Looks like she is more excited to have me gone than I thought.
“Mum, are you that eager to send me off.” I asked her wiping away fake tears.
“Of course sweetie, I can have the entire house to myself.” mum replied sarcastically.
“Yeah mum that’s great, enjoy all you want. I will go get ready now, ” I told her sounding hurt.
“Oh, sweetie you know I love you right. How would I enjoy without you?” mum asks breaking into a smile. That made me smile too and I went over and hugged her. My mum is the only family I have, and I will do anything to keep that smile on her face.
After a few hours
Once we reached the airport, mum parks the car at the car park and got down from the car, while I took my purse and got down too. “Liv, have a safe journey, and don’t forget to give me a call when you reach Zambia,” Mum warned me.
This is the first time I will be traveling alone to a foreign country, and my mom is a bit apprehensive about it.
Well, in all this chaos I forgot to introduce myself, I am Alivia Anderson, a young author and this is my story.
“Alivia?” mum called me breaking my train of thoughts.
“Sure mom, I will do just that, the first thing the moment I reach Zambia. ” I blurted out. Before unloading my bags from the car.
“Okay cupcake, safe journey, ” my mom yelled from the entrance, waving frantically and I waved back, before I went into the airport.
“Flight 201 is now open for boarding.” I heard the announcement go, now I have to rush since I am already late and I don’t want to miss my flight, so I started running towards the terminal. Please don’t leave without me. I prayed.
When I reached the terminal I was the last passenger to board the plane, duh well I am happy at least I got to make it on time before the plane leaves. “Ma’am, your ticket please.” the flight attendant asked so I took my passport with the ticket in it and handed it over to her, she checks it and then led me into the plane towards my seat, after 10 minutes the plane took off. Well, here I come Zambia.
“Thank you for flying with us,” the the flight attendant tells me once the plane landed before I got out of the plane.
“You’re Welcome, ” I replied, smiling towards her. After I was done with all the check points I left the airport. I hailed a cab.
Zambia is a beautiful place, it did look a bit like London, with all the skyscrapers and the busy streets. But this is not the part of Zambia I am looking for. ”Ma’am we have arrived.” The driver said.
The cab parked at a modest-looking hotel. The place was swarming with tourists. Well, it looks like a busy day today. After paying the driver I entered the hotel and checked into my room.
Well, tomorrow will be a very long day for me I thought, smiling to myself before falling asleep on my bed.
“Hi, can I get a taxi in half an hour?” I called the receptionist in the morning and asked.
“Sure ma’am we can make the arrangements for that.” she said sweetly.
“Thank you,” I say before going into the bathroom to get ready.
Someone knocked on my room door and when I answered it, a bell boy was standing there. “Ma’am, the taxi you requested is waiting for you downstairs.” he inform me.
“Thank you, I will come in 5 minutes.” I told him before I went back in to grab my purse and phone.
“Where do you want to go, madam?” the taxi driver asked me in perfect English and I was astonished and centralized to know that I would have to face any communication barriers at the moment.
“Take me to an orphanage, which is poorly funded in this city,” I told him.
“Madam, are you sure? since this is the first time a foreigner has asked me to take them to an orphanage.” He asked in shock.
“Well, you see I am unique, and always expect the unexpected,” I told him sweetly.
“Well if you are here to help our kids, then who am I to say no, the orphanage it is then.” The driver said cheerily.
It was a two hour trip to the orphanage. The orphanage was located out of the city. And in this part of the region, there were houses which were so tiny, I was amazed to hear from the driver that more than three people were living in that tiny home.
While we were passing by this small town, kids came chasing behind the car. Running barefoot with a stick in hand.
The building we stopped at, looked more like a very old warehouse than an orphanage. It was barely holding its shape and it looks dilapidated, the paint peeling off from the walls, the playset in the front yard all either worn out or a wreck, the thing that brought me to tears is seeing the kids running around barefoot in ragged clothes. The moment I saw that I promised myself that this will not be my last visit here.
“Hello, can I help you?” a woman who looks like she was in her early forties, wearing a faded sundress came towards me.
“Hi I am Alivia Anderson, I am coming from the UK, and I would love to donate to your orphanage.” I told her.
“That’s great Miss Alivia, my name is Laura, and I am the one who is running this orphanage, please come in, we can talk further in my office,” Laura said and then she led me to her office.
The Office had a desk which was repaired one too many times, and the chairs were rickety and old. Once both of us were seated, Laura, started to speak.
“So how much are you willing to donate?” she asked, while she took a book to write it down.
“Twenty thousand pounds,” I told her. well, that is half of my salary that I earned from one of my books that I was able to publish this month, and I am hoping to donate even more in the future if I can. I will make more money in the future right, if I am lucky, after all, I am an author right! I thought to myself.
“Madam, that is great thank you so much, we have never received that much money at all.” she said, tears falling from her face.
Once all the necessary paperwork have been done, Laura and I went to meet the kids, but before we did that, I made Laura promise me that she will never utter to anyone about how much I donated because after all, there is a saying that says when you are doing charity give it with your right hand making sure the left-hand doesn’t know.
“Kids this is Miss Alivia, and she would like to talk to you guys,” Laura, said introducing me to all the kids present there.
“Hello kids, how are you guys doing today?” I asked the kids. And all of them were staring at my face with shy looks.
“Ok let me rephrase it, how is your day today?” I asked them encouraging them to speak.
“It is going good so far Miss. Alivia. We baked cookies in the morning with Miss. Laura and then we went outside to play.” A timid girl with chocolate brown hair answered. The way she answered I figured out that she must be the entertainer in this small family.
“Well, that is great, so what is your name sweetheart?” I asked the girl softly.
“I am Mickey.” She replied.
“Okay Mickey I think I will start asking questions from you. Alright?” I asked her. And she nodded her head. ”Okay, If you were a songbird where would you like to go?” I asked her.
“I would like to go to Egypt. I like buildings that are made with sand with a pyramid structure. Oh! And I love those Mummy’s that are in boxes.” Mickey replied with a sparkle in her eyes and a hue to her face. I gave her a warm smile.
“Why do you like mummies Mickey? Is it because they are ancient?” I asked her curiously.
“No, so that I can find a mummy who would not leave me here, who will love me, care for me and she will buy me lots of chocolates.” Mickey replied with a sad face. And my heart broke in hearing her reply. How can parents not care about these angels?
“Miss. Alivia why are you crying?” Mickey asked me with a confused look on her face. I quickly wiped away my tears and plastered a smile on my face.
“It's nothing. Okay, let's continue.” I told the kids.
So that is how I spend the next three hours bonding with those kids.
“Ok guys, I’ve got to leave, but I promise I will visit you guys soon, and don’t hesitate to call me when you need anything. Got it?” I asked them.
“Ok, Miss. Alivia, thank you so much for spending some time with us.” they all said together.
“Laura I got to leave, bye.” I told her.
“Bye Alivia we hope to see you soon.” she said smiling.
While I was heading back outside, I bump into someone, and my phone fell. “I am so sorry, are you ok?” a male voice asked, when I looked up I saw a guy who was about 6’3, with sandy blond hair and emerald green eyes, looking at me.
“Uh, I am fine.” I told him before I retrieve my phone from the ground.
“So um I am Nick, what’s your name?” he asked me.
“Well, I don’t give my name to strangers,” I told him sweetly.
“Well, we can be friends then, there’s no harm in that.” he said.
“Yeah, you are right.” I said.
“Alright, so what is your name?” he asked again.
“We just met, I can’t give you my name.” I told him smirking.
“Well, then give me your number, so we can get to know each other better,” he asked hopefully and took out his phone to save the number.
“ +44,” I said. He looked up from his phone.
“That’s it,” he asked me confused.
“Well, if we get to meet next time, then I will give you another two digits from my phone number and a letter from my name, till then take care.” I waved at him before leaving.
If fate decides for us to meet again.