Gratitude Journal - 2nd June to 8th June 2014 - Lelemba Phiri

This journaling idea came from Mwenda our 12 year old son (right in the middle picture below). He’s a gentle sensitive soul who is sentimental and brings lots of care to the family unit. He makes sure we all remember important dates such as birthdays in the extended family and that we celebrate them. Since we spend a significant amount of time apart as a family, with the boys now being in boarding school in Kwazulu Natal SA and Sandras and I travelling every so often for work, Mwenda suggested that we journal whilst apart and catch up on what we were all up to every 5 weeks when we get together for ‘family time’ 🙂 . I thought it was an awesome idea. I am a proponent of journaling as it encourages gratitude, being present and self reflection. I kept a ‘dear diary’ from the age of 8 so feel that the sooner they start doing it as kids the better for them. As ‘family time’ is in 3 weeks time, this is my first gratitude journal.

Monday 2nd June 2014: Today I held a team mentoring session on personal finance management with the Zoona Zambia team and there was lots of excited engagement and involvement. We also reviewed our May results which were good despite the Kwacha-Dollar rate having taken a nose dive over the last few weeks. Today I am most grateful for an engaged and focused team who are passionate about results and impact. God bless our hardworking staff, agents and tellers.

Tuesday 3rd June 2014: Awesome day. Traveled with part of the Zoona Zambia team to Cape Town in preparation for the opening of our new Zoona HQ offices in Green Point. Traveling with the team is so much more fun than alone. It was Nchimunya’s first time to fly. She is our super efficient Administrative Lead at Zoona Zambia (pictured in pink top and white jersey below) and we adore her to bits. Today I am most grateful for having experienced Nchimunya’s first 2 flights with her (yes not only did she get one but two flights! 🙂 ). She’s a very special person to me. I also love the apartment we are staying in at Harbour Edge so I am grateful for that too

Wednesday 4th June 2014: Official opening day for Zoona HQ new offices! Fun and emotional day! The speeches by the founders were beautiful, the atmospehere was beautiful. We also got our new and banging Zoona Wear! Today I am grateful for the new offices and an awesome team that are truly like family. We live our company values of Togetherness, Fun, Intergrity, Real and Entrepreneurial everyday. God bless Zoona.

Thursday 5th June 2014: Lots of meetings today for a day after a party LOL! Goes to show we work hard and play hard. New fun meeting rooms (freshly named last night) kept it fun. Today I am grateful for a good paracetamol to get one through a ‘day after a heavy night of partying’ and team members who always carry those paracetamols! LOL! Go Patrick!
Wednesday 4 June2

Friday 6th June 2014: Lovely day. Mike our group CEO had a talk at the University of Cape Town’s Graduate School of Business (GSB) chatting to some MBAs and Social Inclusion Masters students about Zoona. It was an awesome talk and it was nice to be ‘back in school’ for the afternoon :). Passed through my supervisors office to encourage him to come for the graduation next Friday (he doesn’t like ceremonies) and it was nice to reconnect. Later I had tea at the waterfront and just took in the sites and marveled at God’s works! Now that I don’t live in Cape Town anymore I don’t take anything for granted LOL! Today I am grateful for beautiful Cape Town and for having had the opportunity to do my masters degree at such an institution of excellence as the GSB.

Saturday 7th June 2014: Was totally grateful for a beautiful slow morning to stay in bed and read as the Mother City’s hustle and bustle rumbled on outside. I was reading The Power of Intention by Dr Wayne Dyer and loving it. Later took Nchimunya to do some shopping for herself and her family in the CBD’s little-known-yet-totally-awesome-stores 😀 . Missing the boys today though :(. They rarely call on Friday (movie night) and Saturday (hang out night) gosh! The upside is that at least they are having fun! LOL! All the same, today I am grateful for bargain stores because I found a Zoona-green phone cover finally whoop whoop! And a cute Zoona-green bag!

Sunday 8th June 2014: ‘Home’ alone as Nchimunya left for Lusaka today 🙁 . Awesome day anyway as I got lots of me-time to stay in and do what I love doing most- READING! I could thus actually say I was in the esteemed company of Jack Welch, Dr Wayne Dyer and Paulo Coelho :D. Today I am grateful for books and the people who write them as I believe with every book I read I grow. I am also grateful for leftover foods and quick-to-make meal replacement shakes that come in handy when all you want to do is read and not go out or cook!