Bundu Rafting...

Day Fifteen:

Boy, do I have a story. So yesterday we thought it'd be fun if we all went rafting! So I was kind of concerned about it, but I wasn't going to say no. I'm always up to do something adventurous, even though rafting has always been a fear of mine. But Colin, Nigel, Aryn, Jamie, Ciaran and I decided we would do it! So this morning we got a ride down to Bundu Rafting up at Rapid 6 I think it was? And we got our wet suits on, got our paddles, helmets, life jackets and then our instructor Potato brought us down the gorge to our raft. I forgot about my fear of rafting because I was so terrified about the hike down. About a year later we made it to the bottom, and I probably sweat out 10 pounds - I was definitely ready to go rafting. So we all get into the raft and Potato was going over different ways to paddle and instructions on what to do if you fall out of the raft. And nigel being the most amazing person in the world tells Potato that he should use me to demonstrate how to retrieve someone from the water. Before I could even say no next thing I knew I was plunged into the river and being ripped out of it from Potato and thrown back into the raft. As I layed there coughing up water everyone sat around me laughing, I guess it was pretty funny now looking back on it. After that little incident we took off! We were going down a few rapids, they were tough but not too bad. We were all having a really good time up until we turned one corner and there were three rapids in a row facing us. I guess we all had an adrenaline rush because we were all paddling so hard until Potato yelled "DOWN". Which means duck into the raft and grab onto the rope along side. I went to reach for my rope and of course, it wasn't there, the clip had been undone. As I flew out of the raft into the rapids I thought it was going to be the end. I was consumed into the rapids and water filled into my lungs, as I was going under my shoes were sucked right off my feet. I came up long enough to take a breath then I was under again. The current pulled me out of the rapids and I saw the safety kayak throwing rope at me, and there were two other people in the water and we tried to all swim together towards the rope. I yelled at Nigel to come help me, and I swam towards the raft and they pulled me back in, just like we had practiced. Once again I layed there coughing up water as everyone else was around me laughing. It was pretty sweet but while it was happening, that was definitely the last word to describe it. Then we proceeded down the river we stopped on the Zimbabwe side of the river and went cliff jumping! I went to the highest one with Nigel and one by one we jumped right off. Then after our cliff jumping we stopped at this sandy beach that had squeaky sand. Which is a lot of fun, if you know what squeaky sand is. There was a rock on the beach that looked identical to Pride Rock from The Lion King. Who knows, maybe it was. After our break we did a few more rapids and finally came to our last stop. Since I didn't have any shoes Nigel gave me his flipflops to hike back up the gorge and Ciaran carried mine and Jamies paddles and when we got to the top there was a nice cold fanta waiting for us! I had quite the adventure that day and I'm proud that I went through with it! Even with all the faults, I'd do it again and I encourage everyone to do it!

SAM and LIFE...

Day Eleven:

We woke up in Ngandu and walked over to the SAM garden where we would be doing some landscaping. I'm pretty sure today has been the hottest day in the entire world. This was the first time Angie had been to one of the SAM gardens and she was really excited to start working in it. We had to level out out the ground so we could start planting new seedlings. All the households involved in our enterprise rely on fuelwood for heating and cooking. Consequently, women walk increasingly greater distances to cut down native trees, adding to their work day and environmental degradation. The SAM Project is growing fast-growing hardwood and softwood seedlings such as Eucalyptus and Sesbania in our gardens, which will be transplanted to establish woodlots near each school. So it's crucial to get the gardens landscaped so we can begin planting seedlings. After about three hours working in the garden Colin and Nigel picked us up and we went back to the base. I'm sitting in outside by the gorge and it's a breathtaking view. It sure is going to be hard to part with this place. My friend Jack Mututwa is coming out pretty soon after he finishes his meeting with overland missions. I think we're going to play for volley-ball, kind of or night time ritual. Although he consistently spikes it at me and I can never return it. So maybe if he wants to be nice I'll consider playing! The other night Nigel went around making teams for volleyball and he didnt ask any of the girls to play on the entire base. So we were a little offended and so we made a girls team, and we've been loosing quite bad and I think people are just getting fed up with us. haha, oh well. I've made a lot of good friends so far on the base. I cook, share music, swap stories, and just hangout with them. We've all kind of become a family here!

What Letter's This...

Day Ten:

Today Colin and Nigel dropped Angie (from the LIFE Project) Nav, Aryn and I off in Ngandu Village. We went to work in the preschool today and we brought our tents because we were planning to spend the night there. As Nigel and Colin were driving away I realized that we had forgot all our food in the back of the Land Rover and there was no way to contact them. So we pooled our money together and bought... a chicken. An alive chicken that they would have to slaughter and pluck all the feathers off for. So after dealing with that we sat outside and waiting for class to begin. All the school kids, atleast 50 of them, gathered around us and introduced themselves. Then all together they began siging for us. All the songs were sang in Tonga and it was SO GOOD! I couldn't believe it. I wanted to get on the phone will a music producer and get them down there immediatly. And of course, I cried. It was inspirational to hear them so alive with their music. They are the most positive people you will ever meet in your entire life and they have the worst lives.

Then after we listened to them we were welcomed into their classroom. The kids were around 4 -6 and they were working on their alphabet. (this is a different school than the one I was talking about in my earlier blogs). The school was 100 years old, and it was one large room with a chalk board. We handed out crayons and paper and sat with all the kids one by one and went over the letter 'L'. That was an aweosme experience, one of my favorite since I've been in Zambia.

The SAM Project is involved with their school feeding programs, with this program it provides the kids who attend school to have a meal, and sometimes it will be the only meal a child will receive that day.

It was close to night fall and the teacher had been the one preparing our meal for that day, since we had no idea what to do with that chicken. She cooked it for us over some rocks and we got some rape that we grow in our gardens. After we ate all the school kids came to our camp and sang and danced with us. I was so amazed by it all, I had such a good time. This is slowly starting to feel like home for me.

Wonder Of The World...

Day Nine:

This morning we went to the three star hotel for nice brunch! I ordered a salad, I was craving fresh vegetables very badly and it was so lovely up until a damn baboon swung down and snatched the food right off my fork and sat there eating it right infront of me. Didn't take long for the guards to come scare it away but there are so many of them they just hang around you all day. If someone told me that before we left I would have thought that was really cool, but not anymore! I guess they're still pretty incredible animals though.

After brunch we walked over to Victoria Falls which is one of the seven natural wonders of the world, it's over 1700 ft. long. As we were walking over to the falls we passed a group of Zebras!! I was so excited, and you could walk right up to them. Once we got over to the falls I saw a bunch of people renting head-to-toe rain gear, and I didn't really understand why. I soon did after we turned the corner and got completly drenched just from the spray coming from the falls. It was so powerful. Victoria Falls is also known as Mosi-oa-Tunya (the Smoke that Thunders). Then as we were walking I noticed a bridge that people were Bunjee Jumping off of and I tried to convince someone to come with me, but no. Not even Nigel! The person who isn't afraif of anything. So I am quite dissapointed, because that would have been insane. But even being there to begin with was pretty insane.

It's really sweet that we're here to work and we're able to spend our weekends going to tourist attractions. We get to experience both sides of African Life which most people don't get to do.

We also went into Livingstone today, went by the market and Colin bought some food for tomorrows lunch and I went to a few stores to look at buying some clothing. The prices are so different from home aswell, I bought a skirt for $3, and I could have got one for cheaper, depending on how I bargain. I really hate bargaining here though since everything already so cheap, but a lot of people do it. Nigel's really good at it, us girls kind of just get sucked in to whatever, haha. Although I have been trading my hair elastics for artwork! I think I'm gonig to need an extra suitcase for all the curios I'm bringing home.

Happy Birthday To Me...

Day Eight:

WOO! Happy 18th Birthday Emily. I can't think of a more perfect place to spend my birthday! Colin brought us to The African Queen cruise company so we can take a sunset cruise for my birthday! So we all dressed up nice, got on the cruise and would you look at that, free drinks. While we were on the cruise we saw Hippos! Finally some wildlife besides baboons! That was really cool to see those in the wild. And the sunset was incredible! I was too busy taking pictures of everyone else posing infront of it I didn't get any of myself! After the wonderful wonderful wonderful cruise we drove back to the base listening to all of Sam's favorite songs which was really special to me, so that was perfect. Then we hung out at Nigel and Colins tent swaping stories and just enjoying the evening on the gorge. It was beautiful and I will forever remember this day.

And back at home my parents baked a cake and invited my two best friends over to celebrate. Since I wasn't home to blow out the candles they let them burn and melt all over the cake. Haha. I'm sure it tasted excellent.

Yes! Tomorrow we get to go the the three star hotel and have breakfast! First time since we've been here we get to have fresh fruit!

Duck Duck Chicken...

Day Seven:

Independence Day. Ah, last night all I could hear were those damn baboons from Zimbabwe! They're so loud, then the dogs at the base would just keep barking at them. But, on a brighter note - Nigel brought us back to the preschool today! We brought crayons and lots of paper for the class because they go outside and write in the sand when they're learning how to write their alphabet etc. It's really crazy to see the difference between what we have and how they're living.

Well, today Brenda (the pre-school teacher) asked us to share our favorite bible stories during class. This of course wouldn't be a problem... if we were Christian. So the three of us look at each other with wide eyes trying to come up with something. The best we could get was "Your stories are far better than ours, what are your favorites". Good save, I guess. Brenda smiled and was a little confused but continued. After class had ended we went outside to play a few games, and we asked them if they knew how to play duck duck goose. They looked at us really odd and said "You mean, duck duck chicken?" Haha, of course it's duck duck chicken, since they don't have any geese over there. So we played a few rounds of that, and man those kids are fast. Then we decided to play Red Rover. And once again they looked at us oddly and said, "Don't you mean Land Rover?" So that was pretty funny to watch them play that. (Land rover land rover we call emily over).

We came back two hours ago and I was just at Nigel and Colins tent brainstorming ideas for the SAM project movie we're wanting to film while we're here. A film-maker Chad is coming in a couple of days and he's going to help get footage with us.

Well Nigel just came to get us, there's a Volley-Ball game going down right now. Although, I do have a huge ant infestation in my tent because I've been craving chocolate and my incredibly smart mother packed some for me in the bag and I've been eating it and I guess from the crumbs, ants have been coming. Pretty sure I'll be getting in trouble for this. Wooopsies.

Goodnight!

My Konstantine...

Day Five:

I am currently in the middle of cleaning out my tent, listening to some Something Corporate. Thought I'd take a few minutes to update my journal/blog. Today Colin took us to Makuna Village & we went to the chiefs palace. It was really interesting, we had to get down on one knee and clap before we were able to enter through the palace, and we had to do the same thing when we exited. We walked around the village for a bit, meeting a lot of new people and then when we were walking back to the Land Rover I heard someone call out my name, and it was someone who I had met the day before at the clinic. I thought it was really touching that they had remembered my name. I'm finally starting to fit in with the villagers :) Although, I wish I could remember everyone's name, I meet so many amazing people daily who are working with the SAM project or just villagers and school kids.

After we left Makuna Village we went to Macenje Village and stopped by the SAM garden there. We were taught how to make Briquettes, which are made from elephant dung and chili peppers and the villagers put them around the garden and when there are elephants near they light the briquettes on fire and the elephants have a very strong sense of smell and they hate the smell of the briquette smoke. Then we walked around with Anna and she introduced us to her friends and family and took us to all the places where you wouldn't normally see. I felt really fortunate that we were able to do that. Then she brought us to the preschool which was built by the LIFE project last year. (The LIFE Project is apart of Overland Missions). We met the teacher and we planend a day where we would be able to come back and spend the day in class, which I am really looking forward too. While we were we sat in the class just for a few minutes and the teacher asked the class "Where's Hitler? Why is he late?" And us girls look at eachother and burst out laughing. They didn't understand why we were laughing and we didn't really want to explain the history behind Hitler. So as we were leaving the boy Hitler showed up, and I just couldn't resist getting a picture of him.

Woo, the dinner bell just rang, so I'm off!