These are some random Livingstone thoughts that probably don’t warrant an entire blog entry...
- The weather is like clockwork this time of year. The nights and mornings are cool and the days are hot with cloudless skies. There is absolutely no humidity or even a remote chance of rain. During the entire month there, we only had overcast skies ONCE!
- Nshima (silent "n" – shEEma) is the unofficial national dish of Zambia. It is basically ground maize cooked into the consistency of Play-Doh and something that looks like a pile of mash potatoes. Generally it’s eaten with just the fingers and rolled into bite-sized balls. I tried it only once, but found it pretty tasty. The most interesting part about nshima is watching the women labor to make it. The ground down the maize in an over-sized pestle and mortar, a task that takes phenomenal strength. Then they boil the meal until it reaches nshima-like consistency. For many (most?) Zambians, nshima is had thrice daily.
- Livingstone this time of year is incredibly dry and dusty. For the first time, I really began to understand the meaning of the popular phrase "walking in Jesus’ dust." At different times, both Leah and I remarked about how much more we understand the Biblical references to foot washing now after a month in Zambia. No matter if we were wearing tennis shoes, sandals, or flip-flops, our foot would end up caked in dust by the end of the day. Mine are so abused at the toes and heel that Leah now says they look and feel like the elephant we rode. I’m sure she means that in a loving way.
- Our last Livingstone memory was attending the Anglican church with some fellow volunteers. The service was a wonderful mix of traditional hymns and prayers combined with rousing African music. It was like having the grown-up version of the African Children’s Choir singing for us. The pastor was also incredible and preached a great sermon about Jacob and Esau. He talked about the need for apologizing when we are wrong and accepting apologies from those that wrong us. It was an excellent sermon! This church experience again highlighted that Zambia might be materially poor, but it’s spiritually rich.
- Another interesting thing to note about living in Livingstone is that you don’t see color while you are there. I know that sounds silly, but it’s true. In America when you are walking down a street, especially in North Dakota, you tend to notice people who are different than you. However when you are walking down a street in Livingstone you are the only one different, but you are never made to feel that way. For lifelong North Dakotans, Livingstone is the most diverse place we’ve ever been. But really, there is no racial diversity as everyone except muzungu tourists is black. When I walk into a classroom or Leah walks into a clinic we are the only diversity there. I’m quite interested to see if when I’m back in the US, I continue to not notice "color" as much as I did before time in Africa.
- As a tourist town, Livingstone makes efforts to offer modern and Western comforts like fast food, pizza, etc. However, I discovered that every attempt is just slightly off from what I’m used to at home. The pizza toppings were a bit different, the Subway restaurant didn’t exactly have the same meats, and the sweet desserts always seemed to have their own special taste. This isn’t particularly interesting, I’m sure, but to Leah and I, it became a running joke that our favorite things from home had their own Zambian versions that just didn’t measure up.
- This isn’t particularly related to Livingstone, but fun anyway. While travelling, I’m reading 1776, the David McCullough historical narrative about that crucial year in American history. Leah, on the other hand is reading Cry, The Beloved Country, the landmark Alan Paton novel that brought the horrors of apartheid to the literary world. Which one of these reading choices seems more out of context?
An update from South Africa is on its way soon…we promise!
For now, goodbye from Durban!
Zac (with assistance from Leah)
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
Sunday, August 3, 2008
Our farewell to Zambia
Time has flown by! It seems like yesterday when we landed at the Livingstone airport. Yet somehow today was our last day in Zambia. Our weeks were hectic and busy and our weekends were even more hectic and busy. For our last day we took things slow and really focused on being in Zambia.
We ‘slept in’ till 7:00 and had our usual cold cereal for breakfast. We then packed up all the clothes that Zac decided he no longer wanted and headed to a curio market that we pass everyday. Zac had walked through this market so many times that he had actually made friends with a few of the sellers. This mornings shopping was particularly successful because we got 2 large paintings and several other gifts for 20 USD. At every shop we traded clothes for goods and were very successful. Two weeks ago Zac and I had stopped to watch a man painting a large landscape picture. We really liked it, but we were leaving for Zimbabwe and the painting was not yet finished. For the next two weeks we would pass the shop and admire the painting. Today Zac traded a pair of his shoes for that painting. The guy who accepted our offer put on Zac’s shoes (which were way too small for him) and ran down the curios to show everyone. It was great.
After we brought our new belongs to our house we decided to take a taxi out to Victoria Falls. We had already been to the falls but they were so amazing that we wanted to visit them again. On this trip to the falls we decided to hike down to the Boiling Pot. This is the area where wall of the water flows after it hits the bottom of the falls. It is a very interesting place because when the water exits the falls it creates three huge rapids and then crashes into a wall with massive force and flows both left and right from there. This motion creates a forceful mixing motion. However the Boiling Pot was not half as interesting as the hike to get there was. Starting out we knew the trail was over 600 meters long, and that was fine. The trail started with steps that were quite hazardous but that was also fine. What was not fine was when we got to the bottom of the steps and after a few yards of a nice little trial we came to boulders we had to climb. After the boulders we had to wade through a stream; then we were back to climbing boulders. There was no trail, and we would have turned around if there hadn’t been people in front of us. This was the hardest hike I have ever been on. It was crazy, and I personally think there needed to be warnings at the beginning of the trail. We have several pictures from our hike because I felt we needed to document the trail we concurred.
After we recovered from our hike back up that torturous trail we braved the curios at Victoria Falls. Sadly we didn’t have much luck here because things were absurdly priced. We did stop and look at one painting where the artist told us to name our price. We said $5, and he said ok. We then returned to Zambezi Sun, an ultra nice resort located next to the falls. After having a quick lunch and being entertained by the compulsively stealing monkeys, we headed out on a nature trail in hopes of seeing zebras. Even after safaris in Botswana (whose national animal is the zebra) we had yet to see a zebra. After a quick five minutes of walking we came to a clearing with two giraffes and six zebras. You can’t help but love Zambia!
After we took about a hundred pictures of the wildlife we continued on our path to The Royal Livingstone Hotel. This hotel is just up river from the falls and is known for their high tea and ungodly prices. I do believe it is something like $400 a night to stay at the hotel but only 17 dollars for high tea. I chose the high tea. Put quite simply I got to chose a tea and unlimited dessert. I know $17 is a lot but to be fair, I watched the sun go down over Victoria Falls and got to chose from 20 desserts.
When I was done pampering myself, Zac and I retuned to town where we met our friends at a local restaurant and said our goodbyes. This part of my day was much sadder then I had expected. The people we have come to know from this experience are literally from around the world. We are the only two from the US. I guess this means we will just have to broaden our future travel plans. We have now retuned to our quiet house on Mushili Way and are finished packing. Tomorrow after attending a local church we will be departing for Johannesburg and the second lag of our journey. I can only hope it is half as good as this one.
Leah
PS - Zac and I will still blog about our stories from Livingstone that are as of yet untold. Hopefully, we'll find internet connections strong enough to post pictures soon, too. We'll also blog about our experience in South Africa while trying not to give just a play-by-play of the day's events. Also, we just got our first phone call in a month when Zac's mom Loris was able to call our international cell phone! That's a nice taste of home just when the homesickness is beginning to set in. Yay for technology!
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Discipline Problems
One of the hardest aspects about working in the schools around Livingstone was operating in a system that frequently uses corporal punishment on students. In fact, corporal punishment (“beating” as it’s known here) is really the only system used for discipline in the schools. As such, it’s the only type of discipline to which the students respond.
Beating typically involves a teacher having a student or group of students fetch a branch from outside. She then proceeds to whack the kids on their backsides. Typically, the whack isn’t malicious, but more of a stern reminder about proper behavior. Other teachers prefer to beat the children by whacking the back of the eraser on their fingertips. In all the instances I’ve observed, the punishment is not overtly abusive. Other volunteers, though, have had to witness outright child abuse.
On principle, I am adamantly opposed to corporal punishment. I believe in that violence begets violence. If physical punishment is the only way to resolve problems in school, how will these students solve adult problems in the future? However, I also do not believe I can question the cultural values displayed in Zambian schools. I can respect this honest cultural difference. Under no circumstances, though, can I participate in the beating of a child.
The frustrating part for me and the other volunteers is that corporal punishment is the only effective way to discipline the classroom. More peaceful techniques such as yelling, removing students from the room, “time-outs”, or any other non-violent method simply do not work. More often than not, the regular classroom teacher will intervene when discipline problems get out of control by having a student fetch a branch. Many teaching volunteers, including myself, quickly become disenchanted by this process and found little fulfillment in the Zambian classrooms. This is regrettable because the children are absolutely wonderful, but victims of a broken discipline system. Hopefully, a solution can be found to avoid this problem in the future.
Zac
Beating typically involves a teacher having a student or group of students fetch a branch from outside. She then proceeds to whack the kids on their backsides. Typically, the whack isn’t malicious, but more of a stern reminder about proper behavior. Other teachers prefer to beat the children by whacking the back of the eraser on their fingertips. In all the instances I’ve observed, the punishment is not overtly abusive. Other volunteers, though, have had to witness outright child abuse.
On principle, I am adamantly opposed to corporal punishment. I believe in that violence begets violence. If physical punishment is the only way to resolve problems in school, how will these students solve adult problems in the future? However, I also do not believe I can question the cultural values displayed in Zambian schools. I can respect this honest cultural difference. Under no circumstances, though, can I participate in the beating of a child.
The frustrating part for me and the other volunteers is that corporal punishment is the only effective way to discipline the classroom. More peaceful techniques such as yelling, removing students from the room, “time-outs”, or any other non-violent method simply do not work. More often than not, the regular classroom teacher will intervene when discipline problems get out of control by having a student fetch a branch. Many teaching volunteers, including myself, quickly become disenchanted by this process and found little fulfillment in the Zambian classrooms. This is regrettable because the children are absolutely wonderful, but victims of a broken discipline system. Hopefully, a solution can be found to avoid this problem in the future.
Zac
Language lessons
When I told people I was travelling to Zambia, many worried I would struggle with the language barrier. I always confidently replied that I’d be fine since English is the national language. On this account, I was both right and wrong. English is, in fact, the official language of Zambia. Like most African countries, Zambia retained the lingua franca of its colonial master (Britain in this case). However, I have had to struggle with the language barrier.
In Zambia’s 9 provinces, one will find a total of 73 tribes. The unity that’s been achieved among these tribes is a huge source of national pride. Frequently, we’re reminded that neighboring Zimbabwe only has two tribes but loads of problems. With so many tribes, there are inevitably many languages and dialects. In the schools, students all learn English and Chitonga (pronounced “tonga” with a long o and the “chi” silent). Many of the tribal languages across the country are dialects of Chitonga, including the language spoken by most in Livingstone, Chinyanja (again, the “chi” is silent so it’s pronounced nee-YUN-ja – I think it sounds sort of like “ninja”).
Chinyanja is spoken across much of Zambia and pronunciations vary from place to place. While most Chinyanja speakers can communicate across these cultural lines, an outsider like me would struggle to catch on.
The language isn’t overly complicated to learn as words are generally pronounced just the way they look. One quirk of the language is that there are two forms of most words. One is used to address peers or people younger than you; the other is used to address elders, respected figures, or groups. The simple difference is that the word for elders adds an “M” to the beginning of the word.
We had one chinyanja language lesson that helped me pick up a few words. Here are the most common phrases I use:
Mwauka bwanji - Good morning (also implies How are you?)
Bwino - the response “mwauka bwanji” meaning “fine”)
Muli bwanji (How are you) - if addressing a younger person, I’d remove the “m” to say Uli bwanji
Zikomo – Thank you
Mwachoma bwanji - Good afternoon
Here’s an example of a short chinyanja statement: Mwauka bwanji. Nili bwino. Ndine Zac. Nilina zaka 23. Nichokela ku America. Tuzaonana bwino. Translated, I said: Good morning. I’m fine. My name is Zac. I’m 23 years old. I’m from America. See you later.
Around Livingstone, the dialect of chinyanja usually drops the word endings so “bwanji” becomes “bwanj” and “zikomo” becomes “zikom”.
The local residents enjoy it immensely if muzungus attempt to speak the language and are very patient with us. They also like to practice English with us, so the cultural exchange works both ways.
Tuzaonana mailo (See you tomorrow)
Zac
In Zambia’s 9 provinces, one will find a total of 73 tribes. The unity that’s been achieved among these tribes is a huge source of national pride. Frequently, we’re reminded that neighboring Zimbabwe only has two tribes but loads of problems. With so many tribes, there are inevitably many languages and dialects. In the schools, students all learn English and Chitonga (pronounced “tonga” with a long o and the “chi” silent). Many of the tribal languages across the country are dialects of Chitonga, including the language spoken by most in Livingstone, Chinyanja (again, the “chi” is silent so it’s pronounced nee-YUN-ja – I think it sounds sort of like “ninja”).
Chinyanja is spoken across much of Zambia and pronunciations vary from place to place. While most Chinyanja speakers can communicate across these cultural lines, an outsider like me would struggle to catch on.
The language isn’t overly complicated to learn as words are generally pronounced just the way they look. One quirk of the language is that there are two forms of most words. One is used to address peers or people younger than you; the other is used to address elders, respected figures, or groups. The simple difference is that the word for elders adds an “M” to the beginning of the word.
We had one chinyanja language lesson that helped me pick up a few words. Here are the most common phrases I use:
Mwauka bwanji - Good morning (also implies How are you?)
Bwino - the response “mwauka bwanji” meaning “fine”)
Muli bwanji (How are you) - if addressing a younger person, I’d remove the “m” to say Uli bwanji
Zikomo – Thank you
Mwachoma bwanji - Good afternoon
Here’s an example of a short chinyanja statement: Mwauka bwanji. Nili bwino. Ndine Zac. Nilina zaka 23. Nichokela ku America. Tuzaonana bwino. Translated, I said: Good morning. I’m fine. My name is Zac. I’m 23 years old. I’m from America. See you later.
Around Livingstone, the dialect of chinyanja usually drops the word endings so “bwanji” becomes “bwanj” and “zikomo” becomes “zikom”.
The local residents enjoy it immensely if muzungus attempt to speak the language and are very patient with us. They also like to practice English with us, so the cultural exchange works both ways.
Tuzaonana mailo (See you tomorrow)
Zac
Monday, July 28, 2008
Leah's Update - Afternoon Projects
Well it is the beginning of our last week in Zambia and I must say time has flown by. I have never experienced days that go so fast. The clinics are always busy in the mornings and I usually get at least one interesting case a day (like a young girl who obviously has broken her arm because the bone is pushing out the skin) so my mornings go extremely fast. To my surprise I have found that my afternoon projects are by far the most fulfilling. I love working in the clinics but they are seldom a happy place. During the afternoon however I teach an adult literacy classes, work with home based care, and I plan and present anti-drugs and alcohol presentations for school kids. I have talked about working in the clinics before so today I would like to talk about these afternoon projects.
Adult literacy is a project that I originally did not want to do. I do not enjoy teaching or having to plan lessons. However over time this has become very rewarding experience. I work with two different classes. One class has the ability to read novels so we are working on skills such as resumes and letter writing. My other class is at the completely other end of the spectrum. They are a very low level class. Because I have had no teaching experience it is much harder to work with the lowest level but it is absolutely the most rewarding. Today with the help of a translator we taught a group of six women the alphabet and the sounds for letters A-L. One of the hardest things I have had to is explain that each letter has a name in addition to a sound. I was then asked what sound the letter X makes. The women that I work with in these classes study every night, they usually have to bring their young children to class with them, and the highlight of their day is when you grade their work. If you put a sticker on their paper they light up. I would like to note that today I work at a new location for our program and it is the poorest area I have been in. During this class I helped an elderly woman named Agnes Ngome write her name for the first time. Our great victory for the day is that when we asked the class to write their names at the top of their papers all six women could do it.
Home based care is unlike anything I have ever experienced. I want to start by saying that there was quite the struggle here over volunteers working in the only hospital in Livingstone. In the past volunteers that have had previous medical experience were allowed to job shadow in the hospital. However they could only shadow and were not allowed to do any hands on work. This year the hospital is demanding that volunteers pay 200 USD to shadow their physicians. I was pretty bummed because I wanted to work in the hospital but I was not willing to pay the money. Plus I was getting hands on experience in the clinics. What really lifted my spirits was the afternoon that I was told I had to pay to shadow in the hospital I did my first home based care. During this home based care a team of local women took me and another volunteer around a poor neighborhood and taken into people’s houses. We sat with several native people who are so poor they are literally dying in their homes. These ‘clients’ can not afford the 1.50 USD to visit the clinic. Every client has AIDS, TB, or both. When we meet the clients the local women translate for us as we do a quick history review. We then do a medical examination followed by our recommendations for improving their quality of life. The only tools we have available are aspirin, an anti-inflammatory, pain-killers, multivitamins, rehydration salts, antiseptic, bandages, fungal cream, and antacids. These tools don’t add up to much when in Zac’s words, “We are fighting AIDS with aspirin.” We can however make very practical suggests especially on dealing with the side effects of their medications. Common side effects of HIV and TB treatments include swollen feet, loss of appetite, and diarrhea. I know that a lot of volunteers do not like home based care because we are very limited in what we can do for the clients. Other volunteers try and give money to the clients, thinking that they are going to save them. The sad truth is that the majority of the clients we see are already dying and no amount of money is going to save them. I personally believe that the point of home based care is just to show these individuals that someone cares about them and is willing to help. Some of the people wait all week for the day that the volunteers come in to their homes and talk about the weather. One very apparent cultural difference here is that people (especially in the medical system) never complain. This means when you ask a patient how they are doing the answer is always good, great, just fine and then they ask how you are doing.
One other project I wanted to share with everyone is a new program simply called Anti-drugs workshop. One of the local schools requested that volunteers set up an anti-alcohol workshop for there students. Apparently the school has a problem with nine year old students coming to school drunk. I and three other volunteers put together a presentation that seemed pretty good to us. When we actually when to the school it became the worst project I have done here. When we started our presentation the kid’s teacher left for the day and the kids quickly became extremely hard to control. Because corporal punishment is regularly used in the schools the students will listen to nothing else. I should also mention that half of the kids didn’t really speak English. To end our program we split the class in half and asked each group to come up with a skit about the harmful effects of alcohol. By this time I was ready to give up on these kids and walk back to town. I took my group outside and tried to explain to them what we wanted them to do. Half of my group went to play soccer or left for the day. I was very frustrated and just before I was going to give up a young boy named Anderson decided that he would take charge. He stood in front of his classmates and explained what he wanted them to do in their local language. He got the remaining students excited and gave each one of them a role. He developed a skit where he as a student went to school drunk and failed his seventh grade exam (the single most important exam in a Zambian’s life). When a student playing a teacher would ask him a question like ‘what is 1 plus 1’ he would reply with a ridiculous answer like ‘Zimbabwe.’ And while the drunk person failed their exam everyone else passed and went on to great things. I was so proud of these children. I can’t even describe how great it was to watch them create this play. Then came one of the most difficult thing that I have experienced while here in Zambia. As we returned to the classroom so the different groups could present their plays to each other a World Food truck pulled up. The men driving the truck came in and demanded that all of the male children help unload the endless 100 pound bags of corn. The students spent the next 45 minutes that we were there caring bags that were bigger then some of the students. They never did get to perform their play and I personally felt so defeated that I wanted to cry. I wanted to share this project with everyone because I think it is so symbolic of what we see everyday. There are so many people here that strive to do good, live a good life, and achieve something and then the reality of their lives and their surroundings tear their efforts to shreds. Whether it is abuse, poverty, rape, marring young, disease, unplanned pregnancy, the demand to provide, or any of the things Africa is notorious for it ruins lives before these kids even have a chance. I would like to note that we have now completed another anti-drugs workshop on marijuana and this one went a lot better. However because the school is very close to a holiday we didn’t have many of the students who were there at the first presentation.
With love from Zambia,
Leah
Adult literacy is a project that I originally did not want to do. I do not enjoy teaching or having to plan lessons. However over time this has become very rewarding experience. I work with two different classes. One class has the ability to read novels so we are working on skills such as resumes and letter writing. My other class is at the completely other end of the spectrum. They are a very low level class. Because I have had no teaching experience it is much harder to work with the lowest level but it is absolutely the most rewarding. Today with the help of a translator we taught a group of six women the alphabet and the sounds for letters A-L. One of the hardest things I have had to is explain that each letter has a name in addition to a sound. I was then asked what sound the letter X makes. The women that I work with in these classes study every night, they usually have to bring their young children to class with them, and the highlight of their day is when you grade their work. If you put a sticker on their paper they light up. I would like to note that today I work at a new location for our program and it is the poorest area I have been in. During this class I helped an elderly woman named Agnes Ngome write her name for the first time. Our great victory for the day is that when we asked the class to write their names at the top of their papers all six women could do it.
Home based care is unlike anything I have ever experienced. I want to start by saying that there was quite the struggle here over volunteers working in the only hospital in Livingstone. In the past volunteers that have had previous medical experience were allowed to job shadow in the hospital. However they could only shadow and were not allowed to do any hands on work. This year the hospital is demanding that volunteers pay 200 USD to shadow their physicians. I was pretty bummed because I wanted to work in the hospital but I was not willing to pay the money. Plus I was getting hands on experience in the clinics. What really lifted my spirits was the afternoon that I was told I had to pay to shadow in the hospital I did my first home based care. During this home based care a team of local women took me and another volunteer around a poor neighborhood and taken into people’s houses. We sat with several native people who are so poor they are literally dying in their homes. These ‘clients’ can not afford the 1.50 USD to visit the clinic. Every client has AIDS, TB, or both. When we meet the clients the local women translate for us as we do a quick history review. We then do a medical examination followed by our recommendations for improving their quality of life. The only tools we have available are aspirin, an anti-inflammatory, pain-killers, multivitamins, rehydration salts, antiseptic, bandages, fungal cream, and antacids. These tools don’t add up to much when in Zac’s words, “We are fighting AIDS with aspirin.” We can however make very practical suggests especially on dealing with the side effects of their medications. Common side effects of HIV and TB treatments include swollen feet, loss of appetite, and diarrhea. I know that a lot of volunteers do not like home based care because we are very limited in what we can do for the clients. Other volunteers try and give money to the clients, thinking that they are going to save them. The sad truth is that the majority of the clients we see are already dying and no amount of money is going to save them. I personally believe that the point of home based care is just to show these individuals that someone cares about them and is willing to help. Some of the people wait all week for the day that the volunteers come in to their homes and talk about the weather. One very apparent cultural difference here is that people (especially in the medical system) never complain. This means when you ask a patient how they are doing the answer is always good, great, just fine and then they ask how you are doing.
One other project I wanted to share with everyone is a new program simply called Anti-drugs workshop. One of the local schools requested that volunteers set up an anti-alcohol workshop for there students. Apparently the school has a problem with nine year old students coming to school drunk. I and three other volunteers put together a presentation that seemed pretty good to us. When we actually when to the school it became the worst project I have done here. When we started our presentation the kid’s teacher left for the day and the kids quickly became extremely hard to control. Because corporal punishment is regularly used in the schools the students will listen to nothing else. I should also mention that half of the kids didn’t really speak English. To end our program we split the class in half and asked each group to come up with a skit about the harmful effects of alcohol. By this time I was ready to give up on these kids and walk back to town. I took my group outside and tried to explain to them what we wanted them to do. Half of my group went to play soccer or left for the day. I was very frustrated and just before I was going to give up a young boy named Anderson decided that he would take charge. He stood in front of his classmates and explained what he wanted them to do in their local language. He got the remaining students excited and gave each one of them a role. He developed a skit where he as a student went to school drunk and failed his seventh grade exam (the single most important exam in a Zambian’s life). When a student playing a teacher would ask him a question like ‘what is 1 plus 1’ he would reply with a ridiculous answer like ‘Zimbabwe.’ And while the drunk person failed their exam everyone else passed and went on to great things. I was so proud of these children. I can’t even describe how great it was to watch them create this play. Then came one of the most difficult thing that I have experienced while here in Zambia. As we returned to the classroom so the different groups could present their plays to each other a World Food truck pulled up. The men driving the truck came in and demanded that all of the male children help unload the endless 100 pound bags of corn. The students spent the next 45 minutes that we were there caring bags that were bigger then some of the students. They never did get to perform their play and I personally felt so defeated that I wanted to cry. I wanted to share this project with everyone because I think it is so symbolic of what we see everyday. There are so many people here that strive to do good, live a good life, and achieve something and then the reality of their lives and their surroundings tear their efforts to shreds. Whether it is abuse, poverty, rape, marring young, disease, unplanned pregnancy, the demand to provide, or any of the things Africa is notorious for it ruins lives before these kids even have a chance. I would like to note that we have now completed another anti-drugs workshop on marijuana and this one went a lot better. However because the school is very close to a holiday we didn’t have many of the students who were there at the first presentation.
With love from Zambia,
Leah
Botswana Weekend
The weekend brought another amazing mini-vacation, this time to Chobe National Park in Botswana. We enjoyed a relaxing weekend full of big game and big memories.
The border crossing into Botswana is just about an hours drive from Livingstone. Botswana and Zambia, though, do not share a land border, but instead the Zambezi River marks the boundary. In the US, a basic bridge would span the river. Here, we had to ferry across the Mighty Zambezi to the border post. While on the river, we are technically at the intersection of four countries: Zambia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, and Namibia. It’s like the super-sized version of the 4 Corners!
Shortly after crossing into Botswana, we hopped into an open-air safari vehicle. It was a briskly cold Botswana morning, but we managed to survive. We keep telling everyone that this is nothing compared to North Dakota winters! After this short drive, we pulled into a small dock along the Chobe River and boarded a motorboat for a game-watching cruise. Our group, which consisted of us two Americans, an Australian, and 3 Dutch folks, was joined by couples from Spain and Italy to form our own little UN on the Chobe.
The cruise was quite wonderful. We jetted along the Chobe, which demarcates the border between Botswana and Namibia. We game across such game as baboon, vervet monkey, waterbuck, crocodiles, hippos (including a massive “island” of hippos – probably 50 all together), monitor lizards, African fish eagles, and kingfishers. We got so close to many of these animals, especially the massive crocs!
After the cruise, we headed to Elephant Valley Lodge (www.evlodge.com) for lunch and to check-in to our accommodations. The lodge is nestled nicely into the African bush and includes a watering hole frequented by elephants. Each “lodge” is actually a permanent tent that includes hard flooring and a bathroom with shower. It is an absolutely fantastic place. I couldn’t keep track of how many times Leah said, “I love this place!”
After lunch, a brief nap, and high tea, we headed out on an afternoon game drive into Chobe National Park. While the boat cruise was quite nothing, it paled in comparison to the drive. The long list of animals we saw in abundance includes impala, kudu, giraffe, African hornbills, helmeted guinea fowl, Cape buffalo, vultures, jackals, and elephants. Chobe’s 11,000 sq. km park is home to nearly 85,000 elephant, so we literally saw well over 100 elephant during our drive. Most of these animals are right next to the vehicle. It’s quite something to be within 5 feet of a giant elephant. Many of the elephants actually had small babies with them. Our guide spotted one baby he presumed to be only one or two days old! Before we left the park, we heard reports of lions on the prowl. Our wonderful guide quickly found their trail and led us to two young male lions scavenging a baby buffalo that had been killed. Again, we were within 15 feet of these animals!
We left the park in total darkness. Our guide shown his spotlight along the bush on our drive home and was able to spot two hyenas, adding to our list of animals. During our wonderful dinner back at the lodge, we marveled as over 25 elephants paraded to the watering hole for an evening drink.
In the morning, after a great breakfast (Perri, our Australian friend, believes we were on an eating safari more so than a game-viewing safari), we headed on another drive into Chobe. While we saw many of the same animals as before, we added the sable antelope to the list. Our group was determined to find zebras also this morning. On the way, though, we made an even better discovery when our guide spotted a leopard! We saw it only briefly and from a bit of a distance, but even that glance is a lucky feat in Chobe. We have now seen four of the “Big 5” with only the rhino left to cross off the list. By the way, we never did find the zebras. So sad….
Exhausted, we headed back to the lodge for a last meal and to check out before heading back to our final week of volunteering in Livingstone. One interesting thing we noticed in Botswana was the government’s proactive approach to fighting HIV/AIDS. In each government building, like the border and national park visitor center, were distribution stations with free condoms and brochures with AIDS education information. These were funded by the Botswana government. With the highest HIV rate in Africa, it’s no wonder Botswana is trying anything that might work.
As we are leaving on Sunday, I’ll do my best to update the blog frequently while reminding Leah to post as well. The time is flying by here in Africa!
We hope all is well back in ND!
Zac (with a little help from Leah)
The border crossing into Botswana is just about an hours drive from Livingstone. Botswana and Zambia, though, do not share a land border, but instead the Zambezi River marks the boundary. In the US, a basic bridge would span the river. Here, we had to ferry across the Mighty Zambezi to the border post. While on the river, we are technically at the intersection of four countries: Zambia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, and Namibia. It’s like the super-sized version of the 4 Corners!
Shortly after crossing into Botswana, we hopped into an open-air safari vehicle. It was a briskly cold Botswana morning, but we managed to survive. We keep telling everyone that this is nothing compared to North Dakota winters! After this short drive, we pulled into a small dock along the Chobe River and boarded a motorboat for a game-watching cruise. Our group, which consisted of us two Americans, an Australian, and 3 Dutch folks, was joined by couples from Spain and Italy to form our own little UN on the Chobe.
The cruise was quite wonderful. We jetted along the Chobe, which demarcates the border between Botswana and Namibia. We game across such game as baboon, vervet monkey, waterbuck, crocodiles, hippos (including a massive “island” of hippos – probably 50 all together), monitor lizards, African fish eagles, and kingfishers. We got so close to many of these animals, especially the massive crocs!
After the cruise, we headed to Elephant Valley Lodge (www.evlodge.com) for lunch and to check-in to our accommodations. The lodge is nestled nicely into the African bush and includes a watering hole frequented by elephants. Each “lodge” is actually a permanent tent that includes hard flooring and a bathroom with shower. It is an absolutely fantastic place. I couldn’t keep track of how many times Leah said, “I love this place!”
After lunch, a brief nap, and high tea, we headed out on an afternoon game drive into Chobe National Park. While the boat cruise was quite nothing, it paled in comparison to the drive. The long list of animals we saw in abundance includes impala, kudu, giraffe, African hornbills, helmeted guinea fowl, Cape buffalo, vultures, jackals, and elephants. Chobe’s 11,000 sq. km park is home to nearly 85,000 elephant, so we literally saw well over 100 elephant during our drive. Most of these animals are right next to the vehicle. It’s quite something to be within 5 feet of a giant elephant. Many of the elephants actually had small babies with them. Our guide spotted one baby he presumed to be only one or two days old! Before we left the park, we heard reports of lions on the prowl. Our wonderful guide quickly found their trail and led us to two young male lions scavenging a baby buffalo that had been killed. Again, we were within 15 feet of these animals!
We left the park in total darkness. Our guide shown his spotlight along the bush on our drive home and was able to spot two hyenas, adding to our list of animals. During our wonderful dinner back at the lodge, we marveled as over 25 elephants paraded to the watering hole for an evening drink.
In the morning, after a great breakfast (Perri, our Australian friend, believes we were on an eating safari more so than a game-viewing safari), we headed on another drive into Chobe. While we saw many of the same animals as before, we added the sable antelope to the list. Our group was determined to find zebras also this morning. On the way, though, we made an even better discovery when our guide spotted a leopard! We saw it only briefly and from a bit of a distance, but even that glance is a lucky feat in Chobe. We have now seen four of the “Big 5” with only the rhino left to cross off the list. By the way, we never did find the zebras. So sad….
Exhausted, we headed back to the lodge for a last meal and to check out before heading back to our final week of volunteering in Livingstone. One interesting thing we noticed in Botswana was the government’s proactive approach to fighting HIV/AIDS. In each government building, like the border and national park visitor center, were distribution stations with free condoms and brochures with AIDS education information. These were funded by the Botswana government. With the highest HIV rate in Africa, it’s no wonder Botswana is trying anything that might work.
As we are leaving on Sunday, I’ll do my best to update the blog frequently while reminding Leah to post as well. The time is flying by here in Africa!
We hope all is well back in ND!
Zac (with a little help from Leah)
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Livingstone Living
Livingstone is a wonderfully interesting city. It’s the capital of Zambia’s Southern Province and the country’s most important tourist location. Behind copper, I’d assume tourism is Zambia’s second most important industry. Including all of its (impoverished) suburbs, Livingstone has roughly 140,000 people, so it’s fairly similar to the F-M metro area in terms of population. The similarities don’t extend much beyond that. For instance, there are no traffic lights in Livingstone. Of course, the need isn’t great when there are only a handful of paved roads. Really, there is only one short stretch of a “downtown” type area. It’s centrally located along the always-busy Mosi-Oa-Tunya Road. Here, one will find stores, banks, bars, restaurants, and markets. It is really a thriving commercial area. I even spotted a Chinese restaurant the other day!
With its large size, one will find nearly all occupations in Livingstone. In Zambia, the traditional patriarchal society is still the prevailing custom, so men dominate most of the white-collar professions. Women, though, are not overtly oppressed and do hold some important positions. Beyond traditional jobs, many citizens are street sellers. Some set up stands in the suburban areas while others line up goods on the sidewalk. Others still just carry goods in their pockets. It’s impossible to walk the streets without being offered cell phones, bananas, or copper bracelets. Watch out for the illegal money changers who will happily trade you some photocopied kwacha for your US dollars or British pounds.
Along Mosi-Oa-Tunya Road, I most frequently stop by a bank’s ATM, Wonderbake (for some goodies), ShopRite (for groceries), or an internet café. However, one can also find an ice cream parlor, several sewing shops, many restaurants and bars, and even a small casino. Of course, there are more unique features such as the David Livingstone Museum and the offices of the UN World Food Programme.
Thinking about Livingstone leads me to categorizing some of the enduring memories I’ll take with me from this great place. Chief among these is the image of Zambian woman. This image takes two forms: a woman effortlessly carrying a heavy load on her head or a woman with a small baby attached to her back by a simple piece of beautiful African fabric. These women are incredibly strong-willed and physically strong to boot. At Mwandi school, the kitchen women carried 50kg bags of maize and carried them on their heads. That’s over 100 lbs!
I’ll also always associate Livingstone with a burning smell. Sometimes this burning smell is a small fire used to fry up some fish or other foods. More often, its burning piles of garbage. Whatever the case, this woody/charcoal-y smell is quintessential Livingstone in my mind.
The sounds of Livingstone to me are honking car horns. The horn honking is not an aggressive sing of road rage like in the US. Instead, horns are used as gentle and friendly notices to other drivers to alter behavior, or more commonly to just say hello to a friend. For me, the honking horn also always signals the arrival of our project buses. It’s like an extraordinarily obnoxious wake-up call. In addition to car horns, I’ll also think of street vendors and curio shopkeepers offering an energetic greeting of “How are you my friend? Come see my shop. Looking and touching are free. All prices are negotiable.” Ahhh…if only Wal-Mart was like that!
Not many people make their home in Livingstone proper. Instead, they live in the suburbs/townships/compounds like Mwandi, Linda, Maramba, etc. These areas run the gamut of wealth. Some houses actually appear quite nice. Almost all of these are made of concrete breeze bricks and are ramblers. However, most of the homes in the neighborhoods are much simpler. Some may be built of concrete bricks but will be left unfinished. Most have an outhouse-style toilet, even in the poorest communities. I suspect some foreign aid source or agency funded that project at one time. In the poorest areas, houses are built of mud that dries into a fairly sturdy clay. Some yards have extra large tents that are labeled as gifts of the United States. Of course, these homes are literally side by side with no room for a yard, as if grass grows here anyway. Truthfully and thankfully, most of the homes are serviceable dwellings that are at least a bit adequate for raising a family. They are nowhere near Western standards of even the poorest homes, but the families here are not screaming for more luxury.
Another feature of Livingstone is the huge dog population. Every night I fall asleep to a chorus of barking canines. All the dogs here look like they are direct descendents of some sort of doggie Father Abraham. I have never seen so little variation in such a large population. All the dogs are the size of medium sized labs and have similar type of fur. Some dogs have homes (I know because the gates have signs warning me of this), but most are strays.
Livingstone truly is a remarkable place full of vigor and joy. Like many big towns, especially those in African, many of its modern Westernized trappings cover up the real stories seen in the compounds. Poverty, hunger, disease, and overpopulation are rampant in Livingstone. After experiencing the city for over 2 weeks, I firmly believe that the power of the gracious and kind people here will overcome the evil forces of those agents and lead to a thriving Livingstone not so far in the future.
Zac
With its large size, one will find nearly all occupations in Livingstone. In Zambia, the traditional patriarchal society is still the prevailing custom, so men dominate most of the white-collar professions. Women, though, are not overtly oppressed and do hold some important positions. Beyond traditional jobs, many citizens are street sellers. Some set up stands in the suburban areas while others line up goods on the sidewalk. Others still just carry goods in their pockets. It’s impossible to walk the streets without being offered cell phones, bananas, or copper bracelets. Watch out for the illegal money changers who will happily trade you some photocopied kwacha for your US dollars or British pounds.
Along Mosi-Oa-Tunya Road, I most frequently stop by a bank’s ATM, Wonderbake (for some goodies), ShopRite (for groceries), or an internet café. However, one can also find an ice cream parlor, several sewing shops, many restaurants and bars, and even a small casino. Of course, there are more unique features such as the David Livingstone Museum and the offices of the UN World Food Programme.
Thinking about Livingstone leads me to categorizing some of the enduring memories I’ll take with me from this great place. Chief among these is the image of Zambian woman. This image takes two forms: a woman effortlessly carrying a heavy load on her head or a woman with a small baby attached to her back by a simple piece of beautiful African fabric. These women are incredibly strong-willed and physically strong to boot. At Mwandi school, the kitchen women carried 50kg bags of maize and carried them on their heads. That’s over 100 lbs!
I’ll also always associate Livingstone with a burning smell. Sometimes this burning smell is a small fire used to fry up some fish or other foods. More often, its burning piles of garbage. Whatever the case, this woody/charcoal-y smell is quintessential Livingstone in my mind.
The sounds of Livingstone to me are honking car horns. The horn honking is not an aggressive sing of road rage like in the US. Instead, horns are used as gentle and friendly notices to other drivers to alter behavior, or more commonly to just say hello to a friend. For me, the honking horn also always signals the arrival of our project buses. It’s like an extraordinarily obnoxious wake-up call. In addition to car horns, I’ll also think of street vendors and curio shopkeepers offering an energetic greeting of “How are you my friend? Come see my shop. Looking and touching are free. All prices are negotiable.” Ahhh…if only Wal-Mart was like that!
Not many people make their home in Livingstone proper. Instead, they live in the suburbs/townships/compounds like Mwandi, Linda, Maramba, etc. These areas run the gamut of wealth. Some houses actually appear quite nice. Almost all of these are made of concrete breeze bricks and are ramblers. However, most of the homes in the neighborhoods are much simpler. Some may be built of concrete bricks but will be left unfinished. Most have an outhouse-style toilet, even in the poorest communities. I suspect some foreign aid source or agency funded that project at one time. In the poorest areas, houses are built of mud that dries into a fairly sturdy clay. Some yards have extra large tents that are labeled as gifts of the United States. Of course, these homes are literally side by side with no room for a yard, as if grass grows here anyway. Truthfully and thankfully, most of the homes are serviceable dwellings that are at least a bit adequate for raising a family. They are nowhere near Western standards of even the poorest homes, but the families here are not screaming for more luxury.
Another feature of Livingstone is the huge dog population. Every night I fall asleep to a chorus of barking canines. All the dogs here look like they are direct descendents of some sort of doggie Father Abraham. I have never seen so little variation in such a large population. All the dogs are the size of medium sized labs and have similar type of fur. Some dogs have homes (I know because the gates have signs warning me of this), but most are strays.
Livingstone truly is a remarkable place full of vigor and joy. Like many big towns, especially those in African, many of its modern Westernized trappings cover up the real stories seen in the compounds. Poverty, hunger, disease, and overpopulation are rampant in Livingstone. After experiencing the city for over 2 weeks, I firmly believe that the power of the gracious and kind people here will overcome the evil forces of those agents and lead to a thriving Livingstone not so far in the future.
Zac
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