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!

With Glowing Hearts...

Day Four:

Canada Day!! All the missionaries make fun of us for being Canadian, they're all from the states. We all just finished playing Volley-Ball. There was team Canada, Team South Africa and Team USA. I served the winning point, thank you very much!

Today, our first aid worker at the base, Katie, took us out to Makuna to an HIV/AIDS clinic. We spent some time in the clinic, and it was awful to see all the people who are going there to be treated for HIV/AIDS, but they're so fortunate that there are many people who've given this clinic the antibiotics and drugs they need to treat these people. We took the only doctor in a hundred mile radius out with us to go to unreached villages in need of help. His name was Dr. Moiwa and we went to a village called Situlobe where he gave a speach in Tonga (one of the native languages) to a group of 29 villagers. We all gathered under a large tree to get out of the heat, during the speech he talked about how high the risk of getting HIV/AIDS was and he strongly encouraged everyone to be tested. Only 4/29 people who had attended the meeting were tested. Dr. Moiwa told us that people are afraid to be tested because they know what the outcome is.

As we were helping people get ready to be tested this woman came up to me and introduced herself. (Mabo-Kaboti. Which means Morning, how are you.) I told this woman my name was Emily and she looked at me with glazed eyes and a wide smile and answered with her name, Emily. I was surprised by the coincidence because a lot of their names are difficult to understand and very different from ours. I sat with Emily for awhile and she told me about her life and the struggles she's had. She told me God sent me to her and He wanted us to meet. She told me about her parents who had died when she was young, and she became and orphan. She talked about her husband who had died and 3 of their 8 kids who had died as well, and the one who has gone missing. As she spoke she never mentioned how they had died so later I asked Dr. Moiwa and he said they most likely had all died from HIV/AIDS. After I was done speaking to Emily she walked off, she was gone for about half an hour before she came back to me and said, "I was walking to my village but it's too far away. I was going to go get you a goat as a gift, but I have a chicken here I want you to have." At first I laughed and told her it was not necessary and I didn't need a gift from her. She explained that it was a miracle we met and she wanted to give something to me. I loved talking to her and she was so giving, I will forever remember her. She kept her chickens and goat and I gained a new friend.

It was an incredible experience today and I'm so thankful I was able to go along and take part in the speech and testings. Dr. Moiwa will be receiving the results in 3-4 days.

The HIV/AIDS pandemic has exacerbated food insecurity levels and contributed to a decline in socioeconomic activity. According to UNAIDS , Zambia 's national HIV prevalence rate is 17 percent.

And We're Off...

Day Three:

Today the five of us embarked out into two of the villages SAM has been working in to check out the progress in our gardens. Colin also wanted to show us all the things SAM has been doing in the past year and teach us the things we will be doing in our three week stay.

Our first stop was in Macenje (ma-chen-jay) Village. We met with one of the workers, Anna, who has been maintaining the garden. It was incredible to see what SAM has been doing instead of just reading about it. After meeting the members of the Macenje garden we drove over to the next village, Ngandu (nan-doo). We stopped beside one of the schools there and were greeted by a bunch of school kids aswell as Howard, one of the members of the Ngandu garden. We spent a few hours in the villages getting familiarized with the gardens before we started working in them in the next few days.

Colin thought it'd be a good idea to then take us to a crocodile farm. The crocodiles that were in the farm were brought there because they had eaten to many people or have been to harmful in the wild. We had our tour with a large group, looking at different sized and kinds of crocodiles and snakes. After the tour the guide came up to us five and asked if we would like to go back and hold some of the baby crocodiles. Obviously! The baby crocs didn't have any teeth so we were up for it. At first I was a little nervous but it was pretty cool. They're quite strong! After that the guide then asked us if we would like to go stand in the croc cage. I laughed, yeah right, like hell I would be doing that. I don't usually say no to things, and I think everyone should try everything once, but there has got to be a limit. But when you're with Colin 'no' isn't a word we use. So, in he goes, then Nigel, then... me. I quickly got my picture then just as quickly I got out of there.

After the croc farm Colin brought us to a restaurant called The Waterfront, which was right along side the Zambezi River. And there it was, the first baboon... and then the second, and third, and fourth. The place was infested with them. After we had finished our cool beverages we then went back to the base.

I'm having a really good day today, I'm loving all the new people I'm meeting and I'm really having an excellent time with the sam project team. Being around Nigel reminds me a lot of Sam and it's bringing back a lot of great memories. I'm never going to want to leave this place.

Down By The River...

Day Two:

Hello world, I don't know what you're up too but I just hiked down the gorge and spent the day along the Zambeize River. Nigel, Nav, Aryn, Colin and I went down with a few of the missionaries to check out a dead crocodile. A 12 foot crocodile I should mention. I'm not even going to descibe the smell but I'm sure you can imagine. The boys thought it would be a good idea to then heave the large crocodile into the river and use it for bait so they could hopefully catch some fish. That moment was probably one of the most entertaining things I have seen in a long time and yes I took many, many pictures. Since we were down there we decided to adventure for a bit. A few of us started scaling the side of the gorge until one of the missionaries found a few scorpions where we were, so we got out of there pretty quick.

Along the river there were a lot of chuck of meat so I asked Colin what they were and he said, "they're washed up hippos that fall over the Victoria Falls and villagers come down here and cut them up for food". So that was what that delicious smell was... gross.

So after a couple hours along the river we hiked back up the gorge. Now, this isn't an easy hike for someone who neglected to work out prior to this trip to Africa. Finally, after a good half hour in the blistering heat I reached the top and got myself a warm... thick... cup of water! Definitely does the trick.

Tonight everyone at camp is going to have a volleyball game. Nigel build a court last year while he was here in Zambia with his family so I'm really excited to go play. There's about 30 plus people here at camp, so hopefully everyone will come out and play until the sunsets.

Tomorrow we're heading out into the villages to meet all the people who've been working in our SAM project gardens throughout the year when we've been back in Canada. In the first season of operations, SAM has established gardens in 3 villages in the Mukuni Chiefdom of southern Zambia : Ngandu, Macenje, and Machinga. SAM financed site preparation, the installation of goat-proof fencing, and the building of reservoirs that collect waste-water from the village wells. The SAM Project also installed water-efficient drip irrigation in all three gardens, and arranged for International Development Enterprises (IDE), an international NGO, to provide agricultural extension services in order to train local gardeners in conservation farming techniques such as composting and fallow cropping. This program also provides valuable knowledge on crop selection and market access.

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.