Notes from Zambia

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 | Permalink | Comments (0)

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 | Permalink | Comments (1)

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 | Permalink | Comments (1)

Due to busy schedules, late nights, and lack of power this blog is long over due.

Two weekends ago (during one of the many power outtage in Lusaka) Debby and I traveled to Livingstone in the southern province of Zambia. After a long and bumpy bus ride, we arrived in the Livingstone. I was glad I had listened to my instincts and taken a motion sickness pill prior to boarding the bus-there were pot holes big enough on the dirt road to swallow a Honda Civic. Since we would only be there for 1 full day, we packed all the adventure we could fit into our Saturday.

We started out the early morning with a white water rafting trip down the Zambezi river. For those of you who are familiar with rafting, this was a level 5! Our 1man, 5 woman raft was the only one to make it through all of the first 10 rapids without flipping, or sending a (wo)man overboard-WooHoo. During the calm times, our rafting guide let us get out and swim in the river along side the boat--while they said they were joking about the crocodiles in the river, I was still on the lookout, and positive I saw a pair of eyeballs sitting just at water level. The rafting trip was exciting, extremely fun, and very tiring. But the worst part about it--was the climb out of the gorge after the trip. The only way out for those of us who did a 1/2 day trip was to scale the rocks and make shift ladder up the side of the steep embankment. And of course, I hadn't worn proper foot attire, so I did the mega climb barefoot. I kept challening the energy and strength of the african boys who were running up past me on the twigs bolted together as a ladder, carrying big metal frames barefoot as well. However, it was great fun, and I'm so glad we did it.

Our rafting gear. I'm assuming this is labeled as such just in case we get lost in the river, they'll knowwhere to return us.

After our rafting trip we caught a taxi to Victoria Falls and the intercountry bridge. But along the way we spotted a wild elephant along the roadside having a snack.

Before heading to see the falls upclose and personal, we had to make one detour...the jump of doom! Debby's scary bungee jump. The bridge spans the Zambezi river at 111 meters high between Zambia and Zimbabwe-so we did technically cross into another african country! No passport stamp though. After Debby's bungee jump, we went to see one of the seven wonders of the world! And a truely spectacular site it was. Just amazing!

On the master's project homefront, we had a good week last week of a full focus group. The interviews and focus groups have been conducted in Nynaja-the local language, so I've taken a back seat and let Alisad our interpreter take the lead. The great thing about Alisad, is that not only does he speak the three most popular languages in Zambia, but he's conducted focus groups before so he knows what he's doing. He has made all the difference in the world for our project as he knows the culture of the people so well and can really make them feel comfortable. And! today we met with our transcriptionists and will soon have interviews to review! The hardest part about the trascribing is that finding good typists is hard to come by. But we met with them and Ifeel confident it will all work out just fine.

Posted at 1:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Wishing everyone happy holidays. We hear back home the season has been a white winter wonderland, however here its been a damp, lush-green holiday season. Yesterday we were invited by Jason Paltzer, Debby's former field experience preceptor, to join him and his family at their Christmas day church service. In the afternoon we were invited to the farm of the Dr. whom we work with here. His 10acre farm houses many unofficial foster children and friends so we were glad to be welcomed into this extended family holiday bbq. There was no turkey or ham, but some delicious Zambeef steaks along with stuffing, pasta salad, and gormet tomato salad provided by us! We danced, sang, and had a jolly ole time.

A tasty Christmas cake! yum yum yum!

We found Santa's LIttle Helpers preparing for the big night

Musicians spreading the holiday spirit at Manda Hill

This is for my worrisome mother, so she can see that I had a real christmas while here--it really does exist in Africa! While it wasn't traditional by our usual standards, it was just as pleasant and fun to experience other holiday traditions with new family and friends. We look forward to the next week and another upcoming holiday--Zambian New Years! For those of you back home, we're 8hours ahead so we'll ring in the New Year at 2pm Minnesota time. We'll give you a heads up about how things are in 2009.

Hello family and friends! As you can tell, we had a wonderful Christmas here. I did miss a few of the traditions from back home such as the brunch strata, the family around the fire, the jigsaw puzzle, and the familiar Christmas music playing in the background. But it is always good to experience something new. And the liver stuffing, friends around the balcony overlooking the pool, and the crazy dancing (Dr. Tim and his nshima dance!) were definitely new! I hope you all had (and continue to have) a great holiday back in the Midwest, the East Coast, the Southwest, or wherever else you may be! xoxo

Posted at 12:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Thursday. Dec 4, 2008

This is my test run for blogging while in Zambia.
Debby and I leave in 3 days, and I haven't even begun to think about packing or anything else for this trip. Packing will most likely commence on Sat night at the earliest as I still have 5 assignments due for the end of this semester. However, once I get on the plane I'm sure the excitement will set in.
While in Zambia, Deb and I will be blogging rather than emailing. Check here for updates and pictures from our trip, project, and other wild adventures.

So long for now, its Africa or Bust for this pair.

Posted at 2:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)