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Walking with Kings

I needed to get my visa extended for Zambia, which required a quick trip over to Zimbabwe for the weekend. It has been four years since I was last in Zimbabwe, and since then things haven't improved any with Mugabe running the country further into the ground. I walked over the bridge that connects Zambia and Zimbabwe because the view from the bridge are breath taking. Unfortunately, we are in the middle of the dry season and there wasn't much water falling over the falls.

Once in Zimbabwe, we drove over to the house that we would be staying at. I was staying at one of the program's houses with a few friends that I had met a few weeks back in Zambia. It is amazing the difference between the towns of Livingstone and Victoria Falls. Even with all of the concerns, Vic Falls is still a tourist town, catering to tourism while Livingstone is an African town in its true sense.

Friday night I headed to the Victoria Falls Safari Lodge to go have a few drinks with my friends. This is one of the most amazing places to have a drink, as the lodge and bar sit on the top of a hill overlooking a watering hole. At sunset, animals come to the water hole to have a drink. I joined them with a Zambezi Lager. There is no more relaxing place in the world. All of your worries seem to fade away as you watch the sun drop from the sky. This is the Africa I remember, God's country.

That night was a planned party night at the local backpacker bar, Shoestrings. Drinking in Zimbabwe is dangerous because your money goes so far and is even more dangerous when your friend is working the bar. It was a night of Zambezi Lager and windy windy shots. Around ten that night the power went out in Victoria Falls. The party continued with drumming by some local guys by candle light. It was a really great evening with almost everyone by the end of it ending up in the swimming pool. Somehow I managed to stay dry.

The next morning seemed to come too fast. I didn't get too much sleep and was a little hung over. I needed to get over it quick though because I was heading to the project that morning. After a little breakfast and a lot of water, we were off to one of the game parks in the area. This was about to be a morning that I would never forget.

My friend Phil greeted us at the park and we went to go meet his friends that we would be walking through the park with that morning. There waiting for us in the shade of a tree were three year old lions. The two boys and a girl were big though, each weighing about 150 kg. I said hi petting them and rubbing their belly. It is an amazing feeling to pet an animal that can take down a buffalo that weighs more than a ton. Respect.

I was at the Lion project, which is working to breed and reintroduce lions into the wilderness in Africa. They breed the lions, raising them in the park, which allows them to be comfortable with humans, but still wild animals. The lions I was walking were about as old as the lions get before the project takes them to a game park to reintroduce to the wild and hopefully start breeding in the wild again.

As comfortable as these lions were with humans, they were still the boss and there are strict rules that you have to follow: Never get in front of the lion, never show a lion your back, never touch its head, never show fear, and most important, never run away. These lions are still wild and will take you down... with that, we were off for a walk through the bush.

It was amazing walking with the lions through the bush. They are such beautiful animals and to be so close and walking with them was an incredible feeling. There were a few stops along the way, to lay in the shade for a bit. This afforded me the opportunity to get close with them and pet them for a bit. It was nice and relaxing siting there with the animals, until one of them decided he was tired of me being there and made a quick turn for me with his head. I jumped back with a fright. He wasn't going after me, but didn't want to be bothered by me any more. I got the message. We stopped by the river so the lions could get a drink of water and we rested there watching them for a bit. A few hours went by faster than I could imagine. I said goodbye to the lions and went to have a drink with my friends. What a feeling to know that you had just been part of the pride.

Saturday night, after a bit of rest, we were headed for the ugly side of Victoria Falls, the tourist traps. We headed for a dinner cruise on the Zambezi. We were greeted at the boat by some African dancers and musicians, all wearing loin cloths. I think I felt more embarrassed to be there then they did. We headed out onto the river at sunset and cruised down towards the falls. We saw quite a few hippos on the way, but no other animals before it got dark. The dinner was nice, but I felt like too much of a tourist. Hopefully everyone else enjoyed it a little more.

Sunday I woke up and spent the morning at the pool while the others went to the market to go buy curios. Phil and I were a bit bored so decided to head to the bar to watch premiership and have a few beers. I could only think that it was noon and I was pissed (English for drunk) already. It was only a year ago that I was sleeping preparing for the marathon. My friends back home would be starting the race in a few hours and I felt a little guilty... "Another Zambezi lager please."

Life in Livingstone

I have been here for two weeks now and things finally seem like they are normal. Or at least normal for African standards...

Teaching is going really well. I am officially the grade 7 teacher at Linda Community school. I apparently have about 50 kids in my class, although I really only see 30 of them in the classroom. It is so jam packed in there right now, I don't know how 20 more would fit. I love my class though and for the most part everyone is really good and trying hard. It is incredible hard to teach with out any of the basic supplies that we take for granted in the States.

I have three books which I teach from, all of which are approved for use by the Zambian Ministry of education. The three subjects are English, Math and Sciences. The English is a combination of grammar, vocabulary and reading. I find this the easiest to teach to the kids and get a laugh out of it sometimes. They love giving examples for the vocabulary instead of a definition. One of my boys, Moses "the man of love," gave me the definition for advice: "It is like if you go up to a prostitute in the street and tell her stop having sex or you will get HIV/AIDS." I can't argue, it is good advice. Math isn't too bad to teach, but the kids don't seem to be as good at it and just getting basic addition, subtraction, multiplication and division correct is a problem more often than I want it to be. I like the math though and it is fun to give examples of how to use it. I just hope that the kids understand. Sciences is quite interesting because everything is focused around Zambia. The other day I taught a lesson on Copper Mining up in the Copper Belt of Zambia. I'm not sure that the kids quite understood it but I'm not too familiar with the subject myself. Physics has been more fun though and the kids seem to like it as well. I'm definitely getting the hang of teaching and it is an amazingly good feeling to know that the kids are learning from me.

I made a deal with some of the kids that I would let them teach me Nyanga. This is the local language and spoke through most of Zambia. I started last week and have a lot of studying to do, but it is nice to walk down the street and be able to have basic conversations with people. Hopefully my teachers don't give me too much homework though.

It turns out that I need to brush up on my soccer skills as well. Tuesday and Thursday Dan and I head over to the Linda school to do sports with the kids. They are all really good with the ball, handling it well and doing some tricks. I'm trying to get better but have a lot of work to do. I think that by the time I'm done here I'll at least be able to get around some of the boys with some tricky moves. For the moment though I feel like a dog just chasing a ball around.

One of the older boys John is actually going to help me with my soccer. John plays on one of the Livingstone Football Club teams. I went to go watch his game yesterday. It was a lot of fun. I arrived at the pitch which is next to the Maramba Market. This is the large local market on the outside of the town. I was definitely the only white person there, but had a really good time. I got to meet John's team and the coaches. They had me stand there with them for the game and explained to me about the team, the game and the players. John's team, the Young Warriors ended up winning 4 - 1 and it was quite an exciting game to watch because African style of play is very aggressive and offense oriented. The field they play on made it even more interesting as the one side was pretty much a sand pit, there is a dirt field and there are quite a few divots and rocks which throw the ball in different directions, there even was a taxi which decided to speed through the field in the middle of the game. There are games here every weekend so this might become a regular event for me, it sure beat the nil - nil ties I'm used to seeing on TV.

I did have a bit of excitement in my life last week. Wednesday night I went out with a bunch of the people on the program for some drinks. As the night progressed, we ended up at Chez Mtemba, the local dance club. I found the place hilarious as almost every wall was covered with mirrors. The locals seem to like dancing, watching themselves in the mirror. I will admit, I do dance like a muzungu and I'm sure I look more goofy dancing next to all the locals than they do dancing with themselves. I was on the dance floor when a local lady bee lined it to me to dance. I had seen her before and realized that she was one of the prostitutes that I see around town. After what seemed like a really long song, I was getting a little worried about this girl dancing with me. I looked over to my friends to come and help, but they were too busy having a good laugh at me. Thank goodness for Ciara because after she got done laughing she did come and rescue me. Only regrets are that there are no pictures... sorry.

We also have two new people in the house this week. We have two rafting guides that are staying with us now. They are quite nice and I get along really well with them. They are going to bring a kayak over to the house so that I can practice in the pool. Hopefully soon I'll be heading down the Zambezi with them. Good thing I got that insurance...

I am finally adjusted to life here in Livingstone. The locals still see me as a muzungu but I am dealing with it a lot better. I now know a lot of people in town and it is good to see them on the street and be able to stop and talk with them. It is a small town and everyone seems to know everyone. I really love it here. Everything isn't perfect, but it is how I remember Africa. It is going to be hard to leave.

African Imact - Livingstone

Sunday I was actually able to sleep in a bit. For some reason I woke up inspired to start exercising again. It was 10 in the morning and I made it about 2 km down the road before it got too hot to run. At least I gave it a shot. Back at the house we had breakfast and waited for Sofia to arrive. She would be taking us through town showing us the essentials, where to get money, a phone and internet. After walking through town for a bit (the main portion is only 4 blocks long) we headed off to grab a bit of lunch with everyone at Zig Zags. After lunch I explored town a bit more. It was Yom Kipur and I thought that I would at least attempt to try and find a synagogue to go to. Unfortunately, this trek ended without finding anywhere to go. Sorry Mom, I tried. The rest of the day was quite uneventful. We had dinner together and I got a lesson on dirty English words. Now hopefully I can understand what everyone is saying.

Monday morning we had to get up early to start work. Ciara (Keira) woke me up at half past six to go for a run. It was much better going out early in the morning when it is still somewhat cool. After breakfast, Dan, Rachel and I got the introduction about the project, the communities that we would be working in and the conditions there. It was actually quite shocking, as I didn't realize how bad things really are. It is published that the AIDS rate is around 40 percent, but in actuality about 80 percent of the population is HIV positive. It has been very difficult to educate the people about AIDS and it is still spreading. It has been an on going struggle to get people to use condoms. The men don't like wearing condoms because if they wear a condom they are seen as being sick and the women won't have sex then. The women won't ask the men to wear a condom because then they are seen as dirty and sick and the men won't have sex with them. In addition people won't go and get tested to see if they have AIDS. It is taboo for it to be known in the community that you have AIDS.

After the introduction, we took a tour of each of the three schools and a clinic where the volunteers work. The first stop was the clinic. This is where the women go to give birth, as well as take their children to get their immunizations and health checks. It was a constant procession of mothers bringing their children in. I couldn't believe how young all of these mothers were though. Most of them looked like they were in their early teens.

The next stop was the Linda community school. This is the poorest school in the district and anyone can go there because there are no fees. Because there are no fees, it is not unusual for the teachers to just not show up. There are about 100 children there of all ages and 3 classrooms to teach in. In addition, there are so few books and supplies that it is usually 10 kids sitting at a desk and sharing a text book. The kids all flocked to us when we arrived though. They all wanted to say hello. Dan and I were big hits with the boys as they were told that we would be organizing soccer for them. After meeting all of the children and teachers, we took a quick tour of the orphanage on site in which 18 of the boys lived in one room.

After the Linda school we went to the Dambwa Community School. This was more of a proper school with three buildings and teachers that worked there full time. The difference between the Dambwa and Linda is that all of the children that attend the Dambwa school have to pay to go there. The fee isn't very much, but this is normal for any school run by the Zambian government. All of these children were still very poor, but their families were able to pay the small fees. Education is seen as very important in Zambia so the parents will often work very hard to be able to pay these fees. The school also required that all of the children wear a uniform. The uniform at Dambwa consisted of a neon yellow shirt with neon green shorts and tie.

The last stop was the Zambezi school. This was the most well off school in Livingstone and volunteers only go there if there are enough to work at the other two schools. Zambezi Basic School mission statement: To provide quality inclusive education aimed a producing hard working healthy pupils who will serve the nation in all aspects of life.

Driving through the communities was amazing. Most of the houses were small onebedroom buildings made of some sort of building stone and a tin roof. Almost every house had a mother and numerous young children sitting outside. When we passed the houses, all of the children would come running to the street just to wave to us. It was amazing how friendly everyone was. So many people came up to shake our hands and thank us for coming to teach. Aparently the children now want to go to school because the volunteers are teaching. It was a bit overwelming to see and meet everyone from the community and schools, but they were all so happy that we were there.

Monday morning we prepared for our first day of teaching. Alex and I would be going to the Linda school to teach. There was no set plan for the school and we would go where ever there wasn't a teacher. I ended up teaching the fourth grade class which consisted of 30 children ranging from ages 8 to 16. They were situated in a room that had 6 tables and 6 books for everyone to teach. We started the lesson with simple pronouns. I was amazed at how difficult it was to teach the children, as it took them a very long time to understand each lesson. Just getting through the words me, my, mine, he, him, his, they, them, their and you, your, yours took about 2 hours. I had just a blackboard and some chalk but spent most of the time going around the room helping the kids write out the examples in the lessons and correct them. They like it when you correct everything on the page and put lots of checks and stars. At 10 the kids go on break. The boys took me outside and we played keep away with a soccer ball for half an hour. The boys were really good at soccer and I found myself spending quite a bit of time in the center chasing the ball around. After break we went back inside for the math lesson for the day. Todays lesson was decimals and it went much better than the English lesson. The kids soon were understanding everything, but it was difficult to find good examples of when they would use decimals because the smallest currency note that I have seen is 500 kwacha. We got through the teths and hundredths before the school day eneded. Class is usually only taught from 7 until noon. All of the kids then go home for lunch and then return in the afternoon for activities.

In the afternoon we participate in community projects. I am starting with the community farming project. It is a small farm in which a group grows vegatables and raises chickens in order to sell in the market to raise money for the clinic. The farm is actually pretty nice and everything is growing pretty well. I spent the afternoon weeding the vegatable rows and watering them. This is easy work compared to the tilling that needs to be done on the new land, but that isn't ready yet. In addition to the farming, there is a small group from the clinic that is run by a minister named Joseph. The American girls had been leading yoga (stretching) with this group every Wednesday for the past month. Because this is their last week, they asked me if I would be willing to continue the lessons. This is the most bastardized version of yoga that I have ever seen as everything is done standing in the fields. It is funny watching and listening to them try and do some stretches. We usuallly have some kids that stop by as well and try and mimic what we are doing.

I will be also teaching the kids soccer on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons. I start next week so look for some updates then. I have been working on my skills at the house with one of the locals named Bright. He is really good and helping me with my game a bit. I have a feeling I am going to be embarassed by the kids next week though.

Arrival in Africa

I arrived in Livingston on Saturday. It was quite the trip to get here...

I left Philadelphia on Wednesday evening. My father took me to the airport. When I booked my ticket, the agent said to just go to the desk when I check in and pay for everything then. I walked up to the desk, and about 10 minutes later started to worry when the agent got on the phone and asking questions. It turns out that some how my seat from Frankfurt to Johannesburg got cancelled. They said that I would need to contact my booking agent to find out what happened... but US Air is who did my booking!

An hour later, I was still on hold on the phone and had no finger nails left. The agent came back out and said that she was able to fix everything and get me my ticket. It was now less than an hour before my flight left and I was just happy that everything got worked out.

I made it onto my flight and had a good flight to Frankfurt. I read the book "The Alchemist" on the way and arrived filled with a sense of purpose now. My journey was under way.

Frankfurt was pretty uneventful. I arrived at 10 in the morning and had an 8 hour lay over. I decided to go into the city and have a look around. When I arrived in the center of town I was shocked at how empty it was. There was hardly anyone around and the place almost seemed like a ghost town. I ventured through the main park and made my way to a market where there were a bunch of street vendors. I got myself a bratwurst and glass of wine and joined all of the locals to lunch on the street. I then wandered down to the south part of town which has all of the neighborhoods. There were many more people out and about here and it was much nicer. I then headed back towards the river and did a tour of the churches in Frankfurt. Most of them are actually replicas of the originals because almost everything was destroyed during the war. I walked around for a bit longer, grabbed a pretzel and then headed back to the airport to catch my flight.

I arrived in Joberg early Friday morning, grabbed my bags and headed through customs. A quick call to my Aunt Isabel and she was soon there to greet me. We headed back to her house so that I could grab a shower and a nap. A bit had changed since I was last there four years ago. John the gardener was still there and remembered me, but Maggie the nanny got sick and passed away in July. It was sad not to have her there as she took care of me and the family since I was a child.

After cleaning up a bit we headed off to my cousin Mark's house. His wife had three children since I saw them last, a three year old and one year old twins. I spent the afternoon playing with the children. They were adorable. I got offered a job to stay and babysit, but turned it down. We headed back to the house to get changed and pick up my Uncle Brian because we were having dinner at my other cousin Steven's. Since I saw Steven last, he now is married and his wife is expecting their first child in December. Dinner was nice and I got a lesson on the rules of cricket afterwards.

The next morning Aunt Isabel dropped me off at the airport again. The airport is probably the best example of African efficiency. I stood in a line for half an hour to get my bags weighed, afterwards I waited in another line to get my boarding pass. When I got to the desk though, they couldn't help me because I didn't have a ticket. Apparently when you buy an electronic ticket in Africa, you then have to go to the ticketing counter and present your credit card and ID in order to get a ticket. It was now an hour before my flight and I had to go back to the very beginning to stand in line to now get a ticket. I picked up my ticket, headed straight for the first class line, got them to weigh my bags again and then quickly check in. Of course my gate was on the other side of the airport and I had to run over. I made my flight and got on the plane. The plane was quite empty but it turns out that they seated me in between an African couple that probably should have been separated to even the weight out on the plane. After the door closed though I excused myself from their company and grabbed a window seat.

Two hours later I arrived at Livingstone International Airport. It is the start of the hot season and I was greeted by 100 degree temperatures as I exited the plane. Customs were a bit of an adventure because the people don't seem to understand the idea of volunteering. After clearing things up I grabbed my bags and was met outside by Phil and Sofia. They were both volunteers that decided to stay and were now coordinating the program. It was a short drive into Livingstone and to the house.

I arrived at the house and was greeted by nine ladies that were excited to finally have a guy there. I soon realized that I needed to brush up on my Irish, as I could barely understand what they were saying. There were five Irish girls and four Brits. We talked for a while and I told them about my adventure so far and all of my plans. One of the girls, Jemma, decided that she was going to go bungee jumping that day because she was to leave on Monday. We took a taxi ride down to the border and headed onto the bridge. It was my first sight of the falls and it was great to see them again. We watched Jemma jump off the bridge and swing for a bit hanging by that little bit of cord. They ensure that it is completely safe. Like everything else in Africa, they use the best new second hand... it looked a little frayed to me.

After the jump we headed back to town. The girls got in a fight with the taxi drivers because they wanted to charge us 5000 Kwacha more to go back. This is only a little more than one dollar, but it was principal. In the 100 degree heat we started walking back the 15 km to town. Luckily about half way back, Phil passed us in the VW bus and we all got in and headed back. We stopped off at the other house first and I got to meet all of the other volunteers. There were three Americans there and I chatted with them for a while. The other male, Tim got an update about everything that happened in the NFL for the past three weeks. Hopefully I can stay better up to date with my fantasy team.

Back to our house and I was soon a little worried about the living situation, as the girls proceeded to put on the "Ice Princess." If you haven't seen this Disney classic, you really aren't missing much. The most embarrassing part about watching this was that the other volunteer, Daniel, arrived that night to find me with the girls watching this movie. Who knows what he was thinking.

We had dinner together and I got to chat with Dan for a bit. He is a Brit who quit his job as an engineer for a rail company before coming down here. We get along really well and share the room together. I think it is a competition between us to who has the more complex insect net set up... I think he is winning. After a bit more chatting that night, we headed to bed and I was done with my first day in Zambia.