Day 10 - Midweek Rest

Two of the volunteers accompanied our Dutch friend, Jeff, to the clinic to see what he has been up to since volunteering with Dream Livingstone. There they took vital signs, weighed babies and tested for malaria before going to a local diner for a great mound of the local dish - nshima. 

Others took the opportunity to catch up on sleep as our planned visit to the HIV women's group has been rearranged for Friday. Two volunteers cycled to town to collect the custom-made trousers from the tailor. They had to navigate many closed roads as the town busily prepares for the coming weekend's UNWTO (United Nations World Tourist Organisation) general assembly. Excitement is building in the lead up to the celebrations. 

We attempted to spend the afternoon with the children in Malota but upon arriving we were greeted with an empty schoolyard. With a quick adjustment to our plans we took a stroll around Maramba market, soaking in the various wonderful sights and smells, before purchasing some more African fabric.



As Livingstone's night sky is currently being blessed with a full moon we spent the evening at Victoria Falls admiring the wonder of the lunar rainbow. The moon's bright shine and the reflected white bow were truly incredible sights and not ones we will forget easily! Our cameras failed to capture the moment, however, quick thinking on a couple of the volunteers' part led to us inserting our memory card into a fellow viewer's £3000 slow-exposure camera (see below). 




Jack Titley put his newly learnt acting skills into practice when he jumped from a tree as a 'baboon', terrifying the volunteers in the darkness. 

On the route back to the Lodge our journey was halted by a stray elephant walking along the road towards town. No offence Wales but this beats the sheep hands down! 

"The world is the true classroom. The most rewarding and important type of learning is through experience, seeing something with our own eyes." Jack Hanna

Day 9 - Malota Community School

Volunteers were feeling better and we arrived at Malota as a team armed with balls, a frisbee and 10 litres of squash! This was not without incident, however, as the first aider took a tumble 5 metres from the lodge when attempting to simultaneously cycle and film our journey to project. This job was quickly reappointed to her trusted sidekick. Don't fret the original footage has not been lost and will be circulated soon.

Hokey cokey

We were joined by Japanese volunteers and in crocodile fashion we headed to the local field where we began our morning of sports. Once again the 'Barefeet' boys stepped up and as always enjoyed setting us challenges . . . this time in the form of leading the songs in the local language, nyanja. Relay races were particularly enjoyed. We got out the old classics including 'under and over' and wheelbarrow races. Games of football and bulldog finished us off in the African heat and we headed back to school; but not before a massive round of the hokey cokey! 

Football

 Back in the classroom the volunteers completed HIV teaching with grades 6 and 7. It was impressive to see how quickly the teenagers settled down and engaged with the session. Once again information appeared to be retained.

We returned in the afternoon where the 'Barefeet' boys were practicing their dramas. Their British and Japanese impressions were particularly amusing. Jack Titley soon got roped in and admirably improvised a scene regarding the stigma surrounding malaria. 

THE poncho (look out Matticks!)

Four volunteers, who didn't get the opportunity previously, were shown around Malota compound by Clement. It was an incredible privilege to be welcomed into the locals' homes. Sat at the end of an elder's bed another surreal moment in Africa occurred when Kate Mattick made the impromptu purchase of a knitted poncho . . . family members be warned - this may appear in your next stocking!  

After a meeting and update with Dream Livingstone, we fondly said goodbye to Kennedy who heads north tomorrow for his sister's wedding. Thank you for all your help and enjoy!

The 'Barefeet' boys will be joining us in Sunbird this evening for drinks, games and story telling.

"You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation." Plato

Day 8 - Malota Community School

The mystery location of our send off meal for Mitch was revealed to be a lodge by the Zambezi river! A delightful place to celebrate his last night. After successfully rising to the challenge of filleting huge sea breams, the night ended with another trip to Fez Bar with the 'Barefeet' guys. Although the only people there, we were kept entertained by the guys' imaginative stories and brain teasers. We were also treated with electricity for the entire duration of our night! 



An early Monday morning revealed new challenges as a couple of the volunteers were showing flu-like symptoms and needed a day of rest. *SKIP Message: Parents fear not - symptoms are being monitored closely and first aid is always at the ready* The remaining cycled to project to begin their teaching on health conditions. On arriving the children told us how they had been practicing their reading from the previous week and were excited to demonstrate their progress. It never ceases to amaze us how eager they are to learn! The children appeared to be retaining the information; evidence that our adapted teaching styles were paying off. Needless to say, the children were entertained by the volunteers acting out the malaria symptom of diarrhoea!





The afternoon brought more new experiences as we were led outside the compound to partake in a wedding dance rehearsal. The guys from 'Barefeet' patiently taught us 5 dances while we struggled with our 'muzungu' rhythm . . . not to tarnish everyone with the same brush though as it soon became clear the 2 Rachels were the dancing queens of the group! 





Shattered from the weekend, early night for all  . . . energy will be required for tomorrow's sports day!

"The purpose of life is to live it, to taste experience to the utmost, to reach out eagerly and without fear for newer and richer experience." Eleanor Roosevelt

Day 7 - Day of Rest

And on the 7th day they rested! 

We cycled into town, stopping off at Wonderbake - Livingstone's best known cafe. The fried chicken helped nurse the hangovers and by about 2pm we finally felt ready to face the day! We made our way to Mtonga Art Centre where 2 local artists make their living. There was an incredible selection of millet seed mosaics, oil paintings and scenes of African communities woven with banana leaves. Everyone's bartering skills were put to the test and people felt satisfied that they had come away with good deals; while the 2 artists seemed happy with the sudden influx of muzungus. 

Proudly displaying our purchases with the artist

Tonight we will be heading into town to send off Mitch, who has been here for 6 months volunteering in the communities. Mitch has made a massive impact and will be sorely missed by everyone. No doubt he will return at some point!

"Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened." Dr. Seuss

Day 6 - Saturday Safari

The weekend has arrived. Early start yesterday for 8 of the volunteers as they headed to Chobe National Park, Botswana for a safari. Kate and Beth manned the fort back at the lodge; needless to say their day wasn't quite as exciting as the others'. 

Arriving back, the volunteers shared stories of their overnight stay in the Bush. Highlights being: leopard spotting, monkey ambush, and the family of elephants. Blue Boy was adopted by an American student and bravely spent the night sleeping outside alone. *SKIP message: We don't endorse sleeping in the wild without a mosquito net.* There was plenty of wine to go around the camp fire, though half of it ended up over Elea! Ben's photos entertained us this morning, convincing us once again that he should have a dual career as a professional photographer. 

Kate, Beth and Jeff (their adopted Dutch friend for the day) cycled into town and stumbled across the 1 year anniversary of Vic Falls FM. The locals were celebrating in true Zambian style. The good vibes were carried into the night. Unfortunately the local club had a power cut at 2am and put an abrupt stop to the dancing and beer pong. TIA (This is Africa).

"There are no foreign lands. It is the traveller only who is foreign." Robert Louis Stevenson

Day 5 - Malota Community School

Simon says

Interactive focus group

Final day of the first week! The mammoth task of completing the sanitation questionnaire with grades 4 and 5 continued. The volunteers soon raced through it by adding their own adaptive twists. 



Focus groups on teaching styles and school enjoyment were facilitated with great success. 

We decided to trial group reading and comprehension with both classes. Some of the findings surprised us – 11 year olds struggled with the word ‘cat’ and the jump between the lower and upper grades was vast. However, what was noted was that every child reveled in the opportunity to have their individual reading resource. Debrief informed us that the volunteers found reading with the children highly rewarding and felt that the children had taken something valuable from the session. One child commented how he would practice over the weekend and return on Monday to demonstrate his new skills.

Cultural dancing

The afternoon was filled with focus groups and teaching to the mothers and elders of the wider community. We had to adjust our sails once more when Clement approached us and asked pairs of volunteers to head out into the compound to do some individual teaching in the residents’ houses. With no time for preparation the volunteers willingly took on the challenge and headed in blind with translators in tow. All volunteers reported back valuable information and we soon realised that their subjective accounts was crucial to our research. 

During debrief some of the volunteers expressed how the experience was quite harrowing and that it was evident some basic education could go a long way. Clement suggested an opportunity could arise to do outreach programmes in various compounds, incorporating music and dance. As the sun set our rhythm was tested and our hip movements mocked as we were called into a circle for cultural dancing.

Exhausted we headed back to the lodge and reflected on our week. Morale was high and a buzz of excitement was running through the volunteers as we realised that this week had begun to clear the path for a potential intervention.

The night drew in and the volunteers prepared for their safari this weekend. Have fun guys, thanks for a great week!

"We must welcome the future, remembering that soon it will be the past; and we must respect the past, remembering that it was once all that was humanly possible." George Santayana

"Progress is not accomplished in one stage." Victor Hugo (Les Miserables) 

Day 4 - Malota Community School

An amazing night celebrating for Jo’s birthday with a guest appearance from DJ Pyner! It was great to see the local guys from Malota there as well. Has to be said this morning was a ropey start but we soon pulled together and made our way to Malota.

We tackled the almighty sanitation questionnaire. Grades 6 and 7 excelled, seeming to enjoy the challenge of reading and answering more complex questions. With an interactive twist to the questions, the volunteers did a brilliant job of getting the necessary information from Grades 4 and 5. A pit stop at Sunbird Lodge gave us the required energy for the afternoon activities back at Malota. Here, an impromptu teaching session on malaria was pulled off and the ‘Barefeet’ students seemed to take a lot from it. Although a challenge it gave us a valuable insight into varying teaching styles we could use in the future.

We had the privilege of watching ‘Barefeet’ perform their HIV drama, aiming to break down stigmas, which is to be performed at the Lusaka festival at the end of the month. Over the next couple of days we hope to work closely with them to consolidate their knowledge on health topics; aiding their educational drama performances. Everyone enjoyed the acrobatics showing us their tricks and a few of the volunteers gave it a go themselves to some success!

"We cannot direct the wind but we can adjust the sails" Unknown Author