Going Going Gone...

Day One:

I'm laying here in my tent recovering from my three day adventure of flying and getting sick from my malaria pills. We (Nigel, Nav, Aryn and I) flew out from Vancouver and landed in London, England. We spent a good 6 hours playing a mean card game of Mexican Crack Rat and consuming ridiculous amounts of caffeine. From there we flew down to Johannesburg, South Africa. Unfortunately we weren't able to leave the airport, so we hung around for 4 hours wandering through gift shop after gift shop waiting for our next plane ride. Finally we boarded our last flight which only took an hour or so... and we arrived to our final destination, Zambia. There are no words to sum up how I felt inside and what I was seeing with my eyes. It is the most beautiful place I have ever seen. It took awhile for it to hit me, I was actually in Zambia. I kept shaking my head thinking this was a dream. Everywhere I looked I was amazed.

Nigel's father Colin picked us up from the airport, he had been there for a few months prior to us coming. We began the drive to our base camp (Overland Missions @ Rapid 14). As we drove through Livingstone we were greeted with a smile and wave from each person on the side of the road. As we veered off the paved road we headed into the 'real africa'. People of all ages carrying water barrels on their heads, small children running after our land rover, villagers gathering branches and getting water from their one communal pump. There was so much to look at.

We pulled up to the base camp at Rapid 14 and we'd be staying with Overland Missions which consisted of missionaries from all over the world coming to study here in Zambia. We were not missionaries, we were The SAM Project. The project had a double meaning, it stood for Sustainability through Agriculture and Micro-enterprises, aswell as Sam Eves. Colins son, Nigels brother, my friend. He had died early 2007 after being stabbed to death in Squamish. B.C.. This was the main reason why I embarked on this adventure, in memory of Sam and to help out his family.

The base is located on the Zambeizi River which divides Zimbabwe and Zambia. It's almost sun down and I'm in definite need of a shower. This is truly the most beautiful place I have ever seen.