TIME TO SAY GOODBYE

We had to say farewell to our team today, and it was sad. Mike, Jane and Bev put their heart and soul into their time at Grace Academy, and they will be sadly missed by the kids. The children just love and appreciate the gift of our time, no matter what we are doing. Colouring in is always a favourite pastime and it is so lovely and peaceful when everyone is focused on the art….except when two people want the same colour and then … "kids will be kids!" I will especially miss everyone as it has been so great having familiar faces from home to share this beautiful experience with.

HOSPITAL CARE PACKAGE DELIVERY

Got up this morning to head into the hospital and drop off the care packages. We arrived and were taken up to the "Machinga Ward" which is where the most severe and critical cases are located. We opened up the bags and took several care packages each to distribute and began heading into the rooms. Each room had about 8 cribs in it with a child in each one and a mother (or care giver) sitting with the child. Children in the hospital must have an adult stay with them and be responsible for feeding them. The hospital does not provide meals so people need to support their own families. The children's eyes brightened when they received their care package and I made sure to take the stuffy out and hand it to the child so they knew it was for them. It is a humbling experience every day in this country and I consider it a privilege to be able to deliver the packages made with so much love by our own Grade 5 and Grade 2 students at Hazelgrove. We arrived back at Grace in time for lunch, and just in time to see the pre-school children outside playing on their break. Such sadness and joy all wrapped up in a few hours…

FIELD TRIP FOR GRACE KIDS

We had arranged to take the Grace students to a copper mine in Kitwe, which is a neighbouring city, today; however, we were told yesterday that the mine had cancelled. So, in Zambian style, we quickly re-arranged our plans and so as not to let the kids down, we managed to organize a swimming trip to a local hotel (well actually the only hotel) in Nsobe. Getting everyone organized was a bit of an ordeal as the children do not have their own swim suits (as they really only get to swim once or twice a year) so they are kept a storage room with other clothing and supplies. We finally got everyone suited up and sorted with a life jacket and boarded the bus. The pool was an outdoor pool and was clean and well kept; however, it was VERY COLD!!! The kids didn't mind and had a wonderful afternoon. We returned to Grace, and promptly turned around after dropping the kids off and headed back into Ndola for some shopping and dinner. It was our final dinner before the team leaves on Saturday as the next two nights are booked with events with the children. We returned from dinner and went over to the cafeteria to colour in with the kids. Was a great day.

NSOBE BUSH SCHOOL

Today we took 9 students for the day on an excursion. Our first stop was the Nsobe Trust School which is a school in the bush that has about 200 community students. The students walk from surrounding villages and one little girl in grade 5 walks 7 km each way to school and home. The school has minimal supplies and funding, but they are sponsored by Seeds of Hope and are able to provide a porridge breakfast and small lunch to the children every day. The kids start grade 1 with no English and are learning the basics academically which will hopefully give them a chance in life. Next week Gerry and I are going to teach at this school for 2 days in the hopes of opening up the teacher's minds to different approaches to education rather than standing at the front of the room to deliver a lesson. After our visit to the school, we drove into the game farm which is a small but lovely location on a lake. It is a fish farm with some wildlife and a reptile area. The kids from Grace just love this field trip because at the end of the day they get to go swimming in a pool. This is a highlight for them as they rarely get to go swimming and a few times a year they might get this opportunity. The lifejackets are necessary because being around water is so foreign to them. It was delightful to watch them hanging onto the sides and splashing around with squeals and laughter.

BACK AT GRACE

We have settled into life back at the Orphanage and the team has begun teaching. Today we did a trip to an Ndola Compound which is where the poorest people (other than street people) live. Most of the children in the compounds don't get to go to school because their families have no money to pay for the uniform that is mandatory. We were going in to deliver food to the widows that Seeds of Hope Supports and as soon as we arrived we were surrounded by the local children. They desperately wanted their pictures taken because it was the only times they ever get to actually see an image of themselves. They would push each other out of the way to pose, and then all huddle around to look at the viewfinder and burst into giggles at the images of themselves. It was so incomprehensible to see them so full of joy and laughter when their living conditions are deplorable. They were all filthy dirty, and some of their skin was so dry the dirt was caked into their skin. Sugar and oil is sold by the tablespoon in little baggies because they can't afford to buy more than that much at a time. Everyone was outside sitting in the dirt, just waiting for the hours of the day to go by. This type of scenario is what World Vision goes into to support, and until you walk through one of these villages it is impossible to comprehend the poverty. The guilt and privilege I feel tonight does not feel pleasant and reminds me of the importance of drawing attention to this global issue rather than pretending it does not really exist. These people are human beings and we treat our animals better than these beautiful souls get to experience. Something is very wrong with that picture :(

DRIVE LIVINGSTON TO NDOLA

7 sleepy travellers up and into the van at 4am this morning for the long drive back to Ndola. Jane and I were crammed in the very back with a cooler and food box between us so we lay on each other and snuggled up to sleep the best we could. The trip was extremely bumpy with all of the potholes along the way and Gerry did an amazing job navigating them and minimizing the jarring. This did not aid our attempts at sleeping though and we were all jolted out of a doze abruptly countless times. We were about 30 minutes away from Grace Academy when I heard a strange sound in the back left side of the van. I listened and heard it again but didn't say anything so as not to cause unnecessary drama…..5 minutes later the van suddenly dropped on the left side with a horrific scraping sound as Gerry struggled to gain control of the vehicle and veer us off to the side of the road. We came to an abrupt halt as the tire of the van went bouncing by and on down the shoulder of the highway. With the vehicle safely on the side of the road, we all exited the van and tried to regain our composure as we looked at Mike, who was apparently unfazed and had began to spray himself with bugspray!!!! (This is after he had picked up the missing pieces of the van!) We contacted Susan who was immediately on her way to pick us up, so while we anxiously awaited we unloaded our luggage and piled it all up on the side of the highway. The problem with this as Jane quickly deduced, was that we foolish "Musungu" or white people were now advertising we had all sorts of things that might be worth a lot to poor African people who don't even own a toothbrush! We promptly piled all of the bags back into the vehicle!!! We waited on the side of the highway in the dark for Susan to pick us up, which she did promptly and got us all back to Grace safe and sound. Our trip has been nothing short of an adventure day in and day out to say the least.

DRIVING AND OVERNIGHT CAMPING SAFARI

When we entered the park, we had to give all our passports to the driver who had to check us in and we also had to be checked back out. This is to ensure no one gets left inside the park and everyone is accounted for. Once inside the park, no one is allowed to get out of vehicles except in the few designated spots, and even the vehicles have to stay on the marked roads. This is to ensure the park belongs to the animals and human interference is minimal. The driving safari was incredible immediately as we literally ran into a herd of elephants crossing the road right beside our jeep. We drove down by the river and there were elephants everywhere. There are approximately 50 000 elephants in the park and they come to the river about 2pm until dusk then head back inland up to 20 km overnight while the predators are out. The hippo and water buffalo patterns are similar while the cats sleep all day and come down to the river early morning and hunt in the evening. We were so privileged to view over 18 lions on our visit in the park, and at one point an entire pride crossed right in front of our jeep with cubs and all. It was breathtaking, and I did have a few moments of "what if" as a big one was looking me right in the eyes!!! After the game drive we were driven into our campsite which was a designated spot inside the park. The park has no fences so the animals are free to roam wherever they please. This was not very assuring as we all got into our tents for sleep that night! Before that we enjoyed a nice camp meal around a fire and looked up at the stars which were incredible due to the lack of artificial light anywhere within close proximity. When we finally did nervously get into our tents, (after a briefing on what to do if we hear or run into an animal while getting up to go to the "long drop") it was with fear and hesitation. We heard lions roaring and hippos deeply grunting as Jane and I huddled as close as we could to each other. In the middle of the night when we did have to go to the bathroom, we stood guard for each other and shined our lights in every direction and scuttled back into our tents as fast as we could!!! At 5am we got our wake up call and everyone was back in the open air jeeps by 6am. It was freezing cold as we toured around, and it didn't take long to spot more lions heading inland for cover from the blazing sun of the day. We had another incredible drive viewing every kind of wildlife you can imagine: zebras, 5 different kinds of antelope, water buffalo, elephants, crocodiles, lions, giraffes, warthogs, badgers, incredible birds ….. just fantastic. At 11 am we came back to camp to have lunch and pack up. I had an outdoor shower which was refreshing, and we drove back out of the park and back to the ferry. When we were going through the town on the way back to the ferry, our driver told us that the animals often wander into the town, and just last week a villager was killed by an elephant as he tried to walk through some brush after getting some groceries. Wow! We made the ferry ride and drive back to Jolly Boys and everyone was very worn out. We also had to prepare to leave at 4am for our long drive back up to Ndola. We were all in bed pretty early tonight.

RIVER CRUISE SAFARI

8 am pickup this morning to be delivered to the border of Zambia and Botswana. The Chobe River and the Zambezi River meet here and 4 countries all border each other at once: Zambia, Zimbabwe, Namibia, and Botswana - super cool. We took an open air ferry that seats about 20 over to the Botswana side of the river and went through immigration. The strangest part was that we all had to step into a box and step back out to cleanse our shoes before entering!?! We were picked up on the other side and taken to a small roadside cafe/restaurant where we then boarded our large 2 story open air boat for our river section of the safari tour. Immediately we spotted a crocodile in the river and noticed how much greener and lush everything was in the area. As the boat departed, we saw some beautiful lodges along the river bank and I made a note to self to visit here again! We spent about 2 1/2 hours on the boat cruising slowly up the river and watching the wildlife in the water. Buffalo, elephants, hippos and croc abound with a huge array of birds also. We could see the driving safari vehicles on the river banks and realized that was where we were headed after the cruise. We found out that Botswana is very protective of its wildlife habitat, and Chobe National Park is one of the best game parks in Africa. After the cruise we had lunch back at the cafe/restaurant and then got back into an open air jeep for the rest of the adventure.

RIVER RAFTING THE ZAMBEZI

8am pickup this morning in open air jeep to take us to the River Rafting excursion. It was a freezing cold drive as the mornings are very cold and until the sun comes up you would never believe you are in Africa. We were taken to the river where we were suited up in a wetsuit vest, helmet, and paddle. We had to sign safety waivers and then we were off again in the open air jeep. We drove for about 30 minutes through villages that we all wished we had our cameras to take pictures of (clearly on a river raft you don't want your good camera!) At the top of the canyon we were all instructed on what to do on the raft (how to paddle, what to do if you flip out, etc) and then we descended down an extremely steep pathway down the canyon. (You can see from the photos how high up the sides of the canyon are!) It was a treacherous climb on steps made of …. I want to say planks of wood, but they were more like sticks! Each of us ladies had a guide who held our hands and helped us down but the boys were on their own. At the bottom we got into the rafts and began our adventure. There are 25 rapids from the falls down the Zambezi classed from 1-5. Because we are in peak water time still, we are unable to raft the first 10 so we started on rapid 11. Our boat was dumped twice and it was very thrilling but also quite scary because once we flipped we still had to manage to hang onto the line on the raft in really angry rapids. We couldn't get back into the boat until we floated far enough through the rapid that we could be hauled back in. There were kayaks who came along and if you did not stay with your boat you were picked up and dragged back to the raft by them. As exciting as it was being tossed around like a rag doll in a washing machine, it was also incredibly cool to be floating down a river that is the border for two countries. On one riverbank it is Zambia and on the other it is Zimbabwe. We did see one crocodile in the river but were told that they don't like to be in the rapids so we are safe! We chose to believe that logic!!!! At the end of the 2 1/2 hour ride down 22 km of the river, we were taken out of the rafts and put on a gondola that took us back up the canyon. We were all very happy that we didn't have to hike back up!!!! We were then taken back to where we started and given lunch while watching the video and looking at pictures and highlights of our day. Was a fantastic experience that I will never soon forget….and right now I have some serious bruises to ensure that I couldn't forget if I tried!!!