Notes from Zambia

Jan 8-Jan 13

The last week has just flown by with final staff interviews, a trip to Livingstone and Botswana, and our goodbyes. We spent much of our last days doing things that we enjoy: going to Coffee Talk Café, spending time with friends, and traveling. It has been a wonderful 5.5 weeks and I am sad to leave. Its so hard to say goodbye when you have had such an amazing experience. Its hard to put into words. When I arrive home, people will be asking, “How was it?!� and “Tell me about your experience!� But I struggle with the answer. Its too hard to explain the impact that this country has on me! I am happy that Stephanie was here so I have a witness of its greatness. Plus, she makes a great traveling partner. Always up for an adventure! And an adventure we had!!!

We booked a camping trip from JollyBoys (in Livingstone) to Botswana. We left Lusaka at 1930hrs and had an 8 hour bus ride. With the hot weather, packed bus, and gazillion potholes in the road, we barely slept and arrived at 3am on Friday morning. Our bus to Botswana was coming at 6:45am for us. But despite the lack of sleep, we were up on time and ready to experience the wild of Botswana. Our trip included a ferry ride over the Chobezi River into Botswana, a riverboat ride, two safaris, and camping in the Chobe National Park.

Picture! Heading to Botswana via minibus!

We saw many “rocks� (or hippos!), a leopard (yes!), herds of giraffes and buffalo, and hundreds of colorful birds. The hippos were bathing/soaking in the water while the giraffes were eating. During one of our morning game drives, we saw hundreds of buffalo come out of the bush. Each one ran into this swamp like water hole to drink and bathe. Baboons and birds were near. During the night I heard a lion’s roar and during the drive the next day, we tracked a lion’s prints and found it had been chasing a buffalo! Although we did not see the aftermath of this chase, I was happy to know an event like this happened so close to our campsite. We were experiencing National Geographic and Animal Discovery. On our boat ride, we crossed into Namibian waters. Therefore, on this African trip, Steph and I have ventured into Kenya, Zambia, Zimbabwe (on the border bridge where I did bunji and the water at Lake Kariba), Botswana, and Nimibia. Zambia is still my favorite place. We returned to Jollyboys on Saturday morning and the rest of our trip consisted of relaxing by the pool, playing table tennis, and heading to a local club.

Wild life

Giraffe getting a drink of water (and showing off or saying hello!)

Botswana landscape

hippos

giraffes in late afternoon

Buffalo herd

I have talked about Amanda’s project in Wisconsin. On Monday (Jan 12) I went to Revarand Zimba’s Transit Home where students were having there first day of class. I introduced the project to the kids (age ranged from 2-10), handed out paper, pencils and crayons and they went to town! Unfortunately many did not write, so letters were not written, but boy could they draw and color! I am sure that Amanda’s class in Green Lake will enjoy them very much! When they were finished we handed out the letters and pictures to the students. Translation was done and smiles filled the room.

Students working on their pictures

Students enjoying the pictures and letters from Ms. Guay's class!

The class, Rev Zimba, and I waving to Amanda and the students at Green Lake

Also, I received word from Amanda that her class raised $150 to go towards mosquito nets for children in Africa! Again, if you want to learn more about this project, head to Amanda’s website at:
http://www.glsd.k12.wi.us/faculty/aguay/mosquitonets.cfm

Our last days were tough. The trip seemed to be coming to an end quicker than expected or desired. On our last two nights, we had Ethiopian food and then a dinner at the Farm. It was so hard to say goodbye to everyone.

Steph with our Ethiopian dishes

Steph and I walking to the bus stop for the last time…

Us at the airport…

Some final notes:
I have bed bug bites all over my face, neck, and arms. It is not pretty. It basically looks like I have the chicken pox.

Thank you to everyone for all your encouraging comments, messages, and emails. I am so grateful to have supportive family and friends.

Zambia, the real Africa, I will be back!

Posted at 5:52 PM
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Our time in Lusaka has come to an end. Our last few days were spent running around, wrapping up our project, visiting our old favorite places, and getting in as much time with our friends as possible.
Before skipping to Botswana for the weekend, I got a chance to visit a place that is near and dear to my heart...Planned Parenthood! During the first week here we passed PPAssociation of Zambia and I was so excited to have discovered a familiar face (or org). So during an afternoon when we had some downtime, Debby and I found our way back there and talked with the clinic staff. They referred me to their head office to talk to the head administrators. So Thurs morning after another impromptu shopping trip to Manda Hill, I went to meet with the folks there. I was happy to hear about all the great programs they have throughout the various regions of Zambia.

After my meeting I made my way to the clinic to meet up with Debby and our scheduled Tiny Tim and Friends staff interviews. I'm very happy with the interviews we had with each of the staff members. (Not to mention that Debby and I will be able to do the transcribing of these interviews and not have to pay outside people!!) Clinic on Thurs turned out to be a great experience for me as I got to sit in on the sessions between clients and the Clinical Officer and clients and the PsychoSocial Counselor. It was great to see them in action!

Once clinic was done, Debby and I hopped a bus back to Livingstone--the same 7hour bumpy ride we did a few weeks ago. This time, I think it was even worse since it was over night. We left at 1930hrs or 7:30pm and arrived in Livingstone just before 3am after fighting the bumps in the road and heat in the bus. We had arranged with the hostel that we would be arriving very late.
In the morning after about 1 1/2hrs sleep we packed up again and caught a ride on a minibus with several other hostel goers to a safari camping trip to Botswana. The botswana border is only an hour away from Livingstone. We were ferried across the Zambezi River to the other side where we went through the immigration process--another stamp!

Our day began with tea and snacks on a river boat ride. We were in Chobe, Botswana on the Chobezi river (the Chobe and Zambezi connection). It was basically a river safari! We saw the animals from the river perspective. So amazing!! So many birds, animals, and lizards.
After the boat ride we were picked up by a safari guide in a truck and taken on a wild ride! On our way to the camp site for lunch and siesta, we saw tons of Impala, Monkeys, Kudu, and the Zambian national bird, the fish eagle. My favorite site was the pond of hippos waking up--they make this deep laughing sound to wake their friends in the evening from their nap.

In the morning we woke for another safari and where we saw a running herd of water buffalo! When we got back to Livingstone, we met our friend from Lusaka where we proceeded to lay around the pool.

Back in Lusaka on Monday we took care of loose ends and attempted to gather the remainder of our typed interviews, however that proved more difficult that anticipated. A power surge had blown the computers the week before and the typists were unable to complete the work. We made arrangements to get the rest of our work, but this unforeseen challenge was definitely unwelcome on our last night. But we had a great dinner and dance party with our farm friends one last time. It was sad but a great way to end our trip. And Ntula's dance moves at our definitely go down in the top 10 list of this trip:)
Now its 30hrs of flights and airport living. YAY, such a great trip, and so glad I had a friend to share in it!

Posted at 12:08 PM
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Jan 2-Jan 4, 2009
On Friday Steph and I headed to Siavonga, a town southeast of Lusaka. This town is situated on a steep hillside (mountainside?) and semi-surrounds Lake Kariba. We rode for 3.5 hours on a minibus that decided to fly down the curvy roads. It was quite the adventure, looking out at the rolling green mountains and hanging on for dear life.

We stayed at Lake Kariba Inn, which had villas and rooms staggered alongside the mountainside overlooking the lake. It had the most spectacular view.

The view from the road

We ate fish for dinner (I had Bream Mornay- yummy!). The next day our buddies, Andrew, Benson, and Charles came to join us. We took a boat ride out on the lake, where we actually crossed into Zimbabwe! We were in Zimbabwean waters! Andrew also spotted hippos bathing near shore. We were able to get pretty close before Andrew became frightened that the hippo would flip us (as he has seen in the movies). It was prettyyyy funny. Upon return we laid by the pool, snaked on biscuits, ate the most delicious buffet (including buttered chicken, lamb, beef, pizza, veggies, nshima, rice, salads, and desserts), and went to one of the local clubs (named No 1).

A little R&R

Steph and I having the time of our lives...

View from our room

The whole 5 weeks….
I have realized that I have only put up pictures from my outings or mini-vacations. I am missing one in particular: Lusaka. We walk the city everyday. We walk 30 minutes to the bus stop, head to town centre via the Great East Road, drop off at Millenium Bus Station or Klima Tower, and walk down Cha Cha Cha Road or Cario Road. Therefore, I want to share with you our daily routine sites.

Lusaka, off of Cairo Road

View of Downtown Lusaka

Off of Cha Cha Cha Road

The Project update: Transcriptionists are almost finished which is very exciting. We still have many more interviews to type up, but they are in English and not Njanja so this can wait until the States. We have completed all interviews (yay!) and are ready to do data analysis…. But not until we head down to Livingstone again! Steph and I loved it so much that we planned another trip down there. This time we are heading to another country, Botswana, which is only an hour drive. During our camping trip to Chobe National Park we will get to go on two safaris and on a river ride.

Amanda’s Green Lake School Class Project
As mentioned in the first blog my good friend Amanda teaches at Green Lake School in Wisconsin. Her students (3rd and 4th graders) wrote letters and colored pictures for children in Africa. They have also been raising money for mosquito nets to help stop the spread of malaria in Africa. The academic school year in Zambia is from mid-January to mid-December and therefore, I have not yet had the opportunity to go to a school due to the summer vacation. However, I have scheduled a meeting on Monday, Jan 12, with a group of students from a transit home. Since it is their first day of the school year, I am sure they won’t mind taking a break from their studies to say hello to new friends in Wisconsin!!

Posted at 9:20 AM
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This past weekend, Debby and I had another exciting adventure in Zambia. After our plans to travel out of the country for a safari, we made new plans to go to Lake Kariba in Siavonga, located in the southern part of Zambia. So in the pouring rain we made our way through City Market bus stop--one of the most crowded and energetic bus stations in Lusaka. One thing that I won't ever get used to is the mud and stink that comes with the rain. Next to the bus station is the actual city market where crafts, food, clothing, beer, wheelbarrows and anything else you would imagine is sold. This crowded market a few years ago was flooded in one of the torrential down pours and was shut due to the outbreak of cholera in the area..
This is where we found ourselves Fri afternoon.

The mini bus we took alll the way to Siavonga, with 20 people packed in and a live chicken. (On the way home, in a similar bus, I sat over a crate of Breem fish, I smelled lovely!)

Since the bus ride only takes about 2 1/2 - 3hrs, we take minibuses, no tour buses. The bad thing about these are the fact taht they pack 23 people into a conversion size van, and then often make random stops along the way to pick up a man with a chicken, for instance. However this is also one of the best ways to learn new words in the local language and get a full history of the regions we travel through from a native perspective.

Siavonga and Lake Kariba view from our little chalet. Beautiful morning!

We were very glad to finally be release from the sardine can in Siavonga to be put up in an amazing lodge. We had a nice relaxing dinner of fresh fish from the lake and our regular Castle beers by the pool. The next morning we awoke to a beautiful lake sunrise and breakfast buffet! After breakfast and slathering on the sun lotion, we hung out by the pool until our friends arrived from Lusaka. Since their plans had fallen through as well, we convinced them to join us poolside Sat. When they did arrive, we booked a pontoon boat ride around lake Kariba.

After loading up on beer and snacks we had our own private tour of the lake including the Zambezi dam wall, a ride through the weeds into the Zimbabwe border, and the best part....We spotted Hippos! in the wild. We watched for about 20mins while they waded in the water, and even got photos of one opening his huge mouth. National Geographic in person!

Real Live Hippos!

We had a great time in the sunshine and enjoyed our last weekend with our friend Andrew before he returned to Maryland. Unfortunately, while in Siavonga my camera was stolen--but on the bright side, I had downloaded all of my pictures so none were lost.

Our happy little group, sad to leave sunny Siavonga.
Charles, Debby, Stephanie, Andrew, Benson.

This week Debby and I interview the TTF staff, and wrap up with our transcriptionists and will soon be done. Then back to the grind at school analyzing and writing up our results. I'm sad we only have a week left, but have a plan in the works (visited Planned Parenthood Zambia today!!!)

Hope all is well back home. Mwachomo bwanji

Posted at 9:12 AM
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Dec 28, 2008-Jan 1, 2009

I am sitting under a mosquito net, roasting in the heat. With all the rain the air is muggy. Walking in zero shade is miserable. My clothes don’t dry because the house is too damp and the outside clothesline is just asking for trouble during the rainy season. I am afraid to open my window because some creature is crawling on our roof. The guard says it’s a cat. Steph claims they are roof rats. I can handle many things, but not rats. It takes forever to boil pot after pot (we have small pots) of water to avoid cholera. In some places, we trek through puddles of water on dirt roads, which are made up of trash and sewage. The smell of garbage and filth fills our noses.

Despite the heat, the roof rats, and the stinky mud puddles, I am still 100% in love with Zambia. Recently, I have been traveling to places where I visited before: House of Moses, Kalimba Reptile Park, and my old neighborhood, Avondale. Probably the best thing is hearing people say, “Ah, hello! You are back! Welcome!� The snake man from Kalimba remembered me and handed me another python. (and yes, once again, I held a python!) The nurses at House of Moses remembered me and embraced me saying, “Thank you for not forgetting us.� My favorite taxi driver recognized me from afar and extended his hand.

Charles and Benson at Mother Teresa's Hospice

Me and the cutest little girl spinning and having fun

Me with Python!

Project Update
We have been interviewing many people. Mostly women and guardians. I have interviewed a few children (they must be over 8 years). We have not had any more problems with the recorders, except our batteries hardly last. We have found transcriptionists, and the Nanja and English paper copies are almost complete. We only have staff left to interview that will be completed within the final week. I am happy to say that our project seems to be a success (and therefore we can expect to graduate in May!).

Aside from our busy work recording, teaching, and visiting hospices and orphanages, we have been playing too. We have managed to make it to the crocodile farm, Adventure City (a water park), and some Lusaka clubs. We have been spending time with (or as they say here: “linkin’ up with� new friends. As Steph mentioned, when not working, we spend much of our time with Andrew, Benson, and Charles (ABC). Andrew is a volunteer from Maryland, Benson lives at the farm, and Charles visits the farm from the Copperbelt (Western Zambia). We call them the Three Musketeers or ABC for short. But since our linkin’ up we have changed the acronym to include us: ABCD and S. On New Year’s Eve we were with our new friends and new family. We celebrated 2009 with hugs, beers, and smiles. Steph and I even tried the infamous Zambian beer, Shake Shake (ground, fermented maize which has an thick milky grainy texture). It was not good at all! New Years Day we stayed at the farm eating pork roast, salads, sweet onions, and deviled eggs (made by us!).

Steph at our favorite cafe "CoffeeTalk Cafe" (Here we eat our favorite chocolate donuts!)

Steph as the Vanna White of Shake Shake

Trying Shake Shake before heading out

In Zenon, a club in Northmeade, celebrating New Years!!

Posted at 9:06 AM
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So many things to do, so little time...But we're trying hard to pack as much fun stuff in as we can. Its hard to remember that I'm really here for aschool project, and not just my own vacation.
Since Livingstone, we have continued to fill each day with activities. Our interviews have gone really well, our transcription/translators are hard at work, and we've started interviewing fellow TTF volunteers and staff.

Debby teaching the translators about the audio equipment.

When we're not interviewing we've been making visits to the women's group, orhanages and hospices in the area, as well as traveling around to new places in Lusaka. Over the weekend, we went to a reptile farm where they have snakes, turtles, and the biggest crocodiles I've ever seen! Its amazing how big they can get! That night for dinner we went the the farm (dr. tim's farm) and Debby and I created a delicious meal of crocodile chili. So delicious-- there was none left, even the little boys ate it!

Big guy!

This week we've spent most of our time with our new friends Andrew, Benson, and Charles-or ABC as we call them. Andrew is avolunteer also with TTF and Benson and Charles are two of the boys who live at the farm and have been Andrew's unofficial tour guides. This week we made a trip to House of Moses and Mother Theresa orphanges. After a tour of each, we held and played with the babies. There was a stark difference between the two places. House of Moses is well funded and smaller scale--the babies are well attended to and able to be held more often. Mother Theresa is much larger. The baby room alone houses 35-40 infants plus about 12 new(ly) born babies. It is truely a heart breaking scenario :( However, it was great to spend time with these babies and even help during the feeding time!

The young ones at Mother Theresa..I'm holding the tiniest little peanut, only 3 weeks old!

We've also traveled to a 'cultural village' a small neighborhood in lusaka proper where the the crafts are sold. I picked out a pair of nice ebony earings for myself! During one afternoon, Benson and Charles took us all to a water park! We had a great afternoon of running up and down the stairs for the slides, splashing in the many pools and hanging out under the banana trees.

For the new year eve, Debby and I gathered all our friends and went to North Mead, an area of clubs and bars. We spent the night dancing to a mix of Zambian and Western music until 4am! And we were still ready for more!

Debby and I at Zenon, before the dancing began.

This weekend we are planning to head to Lake Kariba, but there will be NO swimming in that lake--as there are crocodiles! But we hear they have a pool, so we'll get our water time. Will be sure to update the blog upon return. Hope all is well across the world!

Posted at 1:50 AM
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December 19-21, 2008

Second time around is always a charm, eh?! It was for me in Livingstone. Stephanie and I headed down south for about seven hours on a bus to the great land where the smoke that thunders (local name is mosi-oa-tunya) resides. Yes, one of the Seven Wonders of the World- Victoria Falls. The Falls is one of the most magnificent views I have ever witnessed. While you look at this monstrous waterfall, you 1) Get soaked by the spray, 2) Are left breathless, and 3) Are memorized at the amount of water pours into the Zambezi gorge.

Picture of falls

Note: The rainbow never ends- its a complete circle at the Falls!

We decided to live on the wild side and go white water rafting! We had Vinni, our guide, and four others with us. The Zambezi River has rapids that are level 5. The first one was called the Boiling Point, while others were called things like the Toilet Bowl and The Gnashing Jaws of Death. Basically, we had to paddle hard, get down, and hang on for dear life to survive the rapids. Steph was in front of me and so many times, we both flew up into the air or slipped down into the raft, but we kept on paddling. And guess what?! We never once tipped over. We were soaked and sunburned. The worst part was climbing up the gorge. Basically, an 80 degree wall of dirt, rocks, and a ladder made out of large sticks. Steph only had on flip flops, there was a rock fall which Steph’s ankle did not avoid (it is not broken!), and I learned how out of shape I really am.

Steph getting ready

Steph and I on the bus to our starting point- The Boiling Point

The view from the top of the ridge

The last time I was at the Falls, I wanted to bunji jump, but we ran out of time. I swore to myself that the next time I came around Zambia, I would jump off the 111meter high bridge, with only a rubberband saving me from the river below. This bridge connects Zambia and Zimbabwe, and the bunji jumping spot is in between the two countries. I was nervous at first, I think because I had just experienced the river during rafting. I stood at the very top of the bridge, where I got strapped to a safety harness around my torso and to a bunji cord tied to my feet. Two large towels were wrapped around my ankles to provide a cushion/barrier between my skin and the strap. The platform was cage-like and therefore I could see the raging river below. But no fear, I stepped to the edge. The men behind me were counting “5, 4, 3…� But I stopped them and said I didn’t need that (too much pressure!). So I looked back at the bridge, where a crowd had gathered. I asked them to start chanting, “Debby!, Debby!, Debby!� and when they did, I jumped! I flew like a bird, with my arms spread like wings. The free fall lasted four seconds and then the cord grabbed my ankles and I was bouncing up and down, up and down. And then it was over! It went by that quickly! I hung there waiting for my rescue man to bring me back up. My feet lost all circulation. And I was slipping (or so it felt that way!). The rush was over, but my adrenaline continued to pump.

Steph hugging me before I jump

Getting the harnesses on

Prepare for take off!

My free fall!

The Aftermath... two thumbs up!

Sorry for the late blogs. With the internet being iffy and with loving Zambia, it is hard to write on a regular basis! Happy New Year everyone!

Posted at 12:11 AM
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