Zambia Workteam 2011 - Words into Action - Mission Accomplished

Jean and staff at first aid workshop.

Ceiling construction.

The students dressed up in their Sunday best and each class performed in an assembly for us on our last day at Lifesong. Monica (the grade 2 teacher) is shown below with happy students in new toques and t-shirts.

A weekend outing to a park reminded us not to take a dip in the lake.

Nancy and students in conversation.

Some vegetables and fruits are grown on the school grounds.

Everyone pitches in to paint the window frames.


Doug hard at work unpacking computers. The crowds crawling around painting really hurried up the task, right Doug?

A soccer game on Sunday afternoon.

Dressing for dinner at the friary meant putting on headlamps for the regular power outages.

Chatting with local children on our daily walk to and from Lifesong School.

Note the race cars made from milk cartons and bottle caps.

Walking with students and teachers for a home visit to "The Compound" where many of the students live. Everyone holds hands - if not with one of us then with someone who is holding one of us.

Morning devotions and breakfast before school starts are a lively event. Lots of singing and dancing make for exciting worship.

Happy recipients of toques.

Ted and friends. Children get breakfast and lunch at the school. Hot nshima for breakfast on a chilly morning - mmmmm!














Akabana (teacher), Beverley and Cristobel - the nurses, and Albertina (teacher) at the traditional dinner prepared for us by teachers and staff on our last night at Lifesong.

Rev. Nancy at St. James' Anglican Church with the Archbishop.

Moira and Daphne with Agnes, Agatha and Nomsa with new dresses and toques.

Prepping and painting the outside and windows of the new classroom block.

Computer room - instantly in use!

New classroom block with first coat of primer.

Tim and Jeanette painting the blue classroom. They still had blue paint on them until the rafting trip on the Zambezi River - it scoured them clean!!!

Jeanette and Moira in the yellow classroom.

The new grade 5 classroom - moving in day.

Ceiling done in the yellow classroom, almost done in the blue.

The old grade 5 room in the house.

Wayne, from Lifesong, "King David", Ted and some of the construction team.

July 29, 2011
Our Zambia 2011 Workteam left Zambia on Tues. July 26 on a flight out of Lusaka. After a long layover in Nairobi, Kenya we flew to the UK where our team began to disperse. Jeanette and Doug caught a flight from London to Toronto while the rest of us waited for our next flight to Reykjavik, Iceland. In Iceland, Daphne and Moira left us for some cool weather adventures. Next stop - Toronto - where Beverley headed out while the rest of us (Nancy, Dave, Tim, Ted and Jean) waited for our last flight to Thunder Bay where we finally arrived (46 hours after leaving our hotel in Lusaka) at about 12:30 Wed. morning- weary and bleary-eyed.

Our mission to Zambia was a great success. Below you will find a list of the tasks accomplished; we saw many sights, new birds, animals and plants, but the less tangible accomplishments are the most significant. We learned that although our daily circumstances and surroundings vary greatly, people are more alike than different. Zambians and Canadians share the same love of family, friends and humanity and we share the one, unifying Spirit of God - shared freely and genuinely by our many new friends in Zambia. This love was poured out on us by the staff and students at Lifesong School, by the brothers and staff at the Franciscan Friary Retreat Centre where we boarded while working at the school, by the people we met along the road, by the people at the churches where we worshipped, the Ecumenical Centre, Rotary Club, schools and medical clinics we visited, and also by our hosts and other guests at Bushbuck River Lodge, Flatdogs Camp and Kawaza Village, where we spent our time as tourists.

The poverty and need for better food, water, housing and health care was always before us; the inequity within the country and the world was obvious; the opportunities for sharing, encouraging and improving were graciously offered to us and we are very grateful that we were able to accept these opportunities and to share our love with so many people as we enjoyed this enriching experience. We received much more love and encouragement than we were able to give.

Here is a list of some of the "jobs" we did at Lifesong School in Garneton, Zambia.
-Priming and Painting!!! - window panels and frames, walls, ceiling panels and trim, outside walls of several buildings, outside beams, and a mural of handprints on a baobob tree (seen in Doug's photos of the computer room)
-computer room - installed and programmed computers, ceiling-mounted projector, assembled chairs (see Doug's entry)
-building - ceilings in the last two classrooms -with lumber so hard it bent nails and broke drill bits! It was almost done when we left. As Doug's post mentioned, things take longer in Zambia. It was a lesson in patience! Our team trained many of the men on staff and older boys from the school in use of power tools and constructions design so it should be finished by now. Sadly, no girls or women (except for our team) were involved in construction.

-medical care - with the school nurse treated an endless stream of sick students, shared practices, visited local clinics, a hospital and families. Thanks to the generous donations our team received for the school we were able to purchase an autoclave (for sterilizing instruments) and medical supplies to stock the school clinic.
-workshops for students, teachers and other staff - sports, leadership, teaching strategies, first aid
-shared lots of hugs, handshakes, conversations, photographs, singing, dancing and laughs
-ate traditional food at a feast prepared for us by the teachers and staff including Mopani caterpillars, bukafish, nshima (a staple at every meal made of ground maize), casava, ground nuts(peanuts) in various dishes, mushrooms, chicken, vegetables, soup and other dishes.
-distributed toques to every Lifesong student, and donated hats, t-shirts, dresses, blankets and school supplies at Lifesong and at St. Francis Secondary School (established and supported by the Franciscan Friars) where many Lifesong students will go to finish their schooling.

Thank you to everyone who supported this project financially, knit toques, provided donations of clothing, vitamins, medical and school supplies. Your prayer support was vital. We felt its power as our energy and confidence grew, and as our trip progressed safely and smoothly. It was a blessing and honour to be able to be the feet that carried the Good News (in action) as we participated with each of you on this mission to share God's love in Zambia.

Thank you and God bless you all!

The End Is Near...

We have arrived in Lusaka, and are staying in a hotel before our flight tomorrow. It is pretty nice, and seems extremely luxurious compared to our most recent abode.

We spent a few days enjoying the relaxed atmosphere and attentive staff at Flatdogs Camp. We enjoyed the many safari drives into the park. We saw many animals, big and little, and Ted spotted many new birds. The food was excellent and the the hippos plentiful. Through the night we could hear heavy feet passing by, the sound of grass being cropped by enormous mouths, and elephants ripping branches off trees to eat (they are terribly destructive).

We were then transferred to Kawaza Village where we stayed in huts roofed with grass. The people were very friendly and we saw the school, clinic, as well as villagers going about their daily life without electricity or running water. We were entertained under the stars by the local jazz band, and everyone got up and danced. In the morning we were entertained by the local dance group singing and dancing to the beat of drums.

On the way to Mfuwe airport, we stopped at Tribal Textiles, a workshop that creates many designs. There is a small boom in the local economy due to our short stop, as much money was spent on the fantastic fabrics. Our flight from Mfuwe to Lusaka was uneventful, and now we are in this modern hotel with warm beds, hot showers, and air conditioning.

We plan to meet for supper at 18:00 as a team. This will be our last supper here as a team. Tomorrow we begin our return flights to Canada, and many members will be taking different routes home. Some stopping in Iceland, others in Toronto, and others taking different flights from London. It has been a great success and we look forward to telling you all in person when we next meet. We also have several thousand photos to show (I'm not kidding, we've filled up a bunch of memory cards!)!!

Doug

Lion Encounter


Good Food at Flatdogs Camp

White Water Rafting and South Luwangwa National Park

Wednesday was a day on the Zambezi River. Ted, Jean and Beverley went canoeing above the falls, while Dave, Doug, Jeanette, Nancy and Tim went white water rafting below the falls. The canoeing report was that it was very relaxing with much wildlife seen. The white water rafting was another story.

It started out inoccently enough with a cup of tea and signing a waiver form. Soon, however, we were decending the 100 metre gorge on rickety hand made ladders made out of tree branches. Dave took a tumble and slid down a few dozen feet of the hillside, while Doug was reduced to climbing down backwards to avoid the same fate. The staff managed it no problem, while carrying heavy loads of rafts. pumps, oars and other gear, all while barefoot! They also made several trips without any sign of fatigue. When I reached the bottom I was wet with sweat and my thighs were shaking.

We soon embarked on our raft which we named 'The Iceberg' in honour of our Canadian status. Dave fell out of the boat even before we left the sheltered bay from which we embarked. The river guides were very good, giving us safety information, but were not above a little mischief on the way, pulling a few people into the water. The Zambezi gorge was beautiful with Zambia on one side and Zimbabwe on the other. We travelled down the river, starting at rapid #10 and stopping at #25. Some rapids had two or three parts, and were designated 12a and 12b in that case. They also had interesting names such as 'the washing machine' or 'the shower'. Rapid 16 A & B were called 'The Terminator' numbers 1 & 2. Our ride was fun until we met Terminator 2. Much debate has taken place over just what happened. Our river guide, Steve, had been taking us through the rougher parts of the rapids, taking a different path than the other boats. Between rapids 15 and 16, Steve stopped and checked our life jackets, tightening all of them saying, "we might go for a swim at 16". Did he encounter a wave greater than expected? Did his 16 years experience fail him at a critical moment? Or, did he plan the whole thing to make the video more exciting? Regardless, our boat was terminated at 16B, and we flipped. It all happened so fast that none of us is clear on what happened. All I remember is thinking that we were going over, and hanging onto the rope (the Oh Shit! line) wasn't going to help. The first clear thing I remember was trying to figure out which way was up in the water. My hand found someone's helmet (Nancy's as it turns out), and then I bobbed to the surface, only to have a churning wave drop over me. I saw Nancy and Jeanette, but we were all quickly separated by the current and waves. Nancy and Dave grabbed onto the rescue kayak (it was rather short, and just labled a 'yak'), while I was directed to swim to another boat which pulled me in, then Dave and Nancy. Another boat picked up Tim and Jeanette. We were all rather shaken, and later confessed we were ready to pack in the adventure right there. Reviewing the video later showed the boat going sideways into a trough, and a large wave hit us very fast. Tim at the front is seen being blown backwards across the raft into the water. The rest of us disappear into the froth, with our heads bobbing up a few seconds later (it only seemed a long time while living it).

The rest of the trip was simple after that, though we were quick to grab the Oh Shit! line for much lighter rapids. We pulled up on shore after #25 where there was a cable car to carry people and gear up to the top of the gorge. In true African fasion, it wasn't working, but would be fixed 'soon'. Since 'soon' didn't seem to be in the next hour or so, we climbed up the switchback trail, feeling every step. The trail was a great improvement over the makeshift ladder we used to get down the gorge, but it was still a struggle to the top. The porters of course, made several trips with heavy gear without breaking a sweat. A cold bottle of water, then a cold beer revived us at the top.

Thursday was a travel day, flying from Livingstone to Lusaka, where we met up with Moira and Daphne, then on to Mfue and Flatdogs Camp. Flatdogs is a nickname for crocidiles. We rode in an open topped Toyota Land Cruiser over a good (for Zambia) road and reached the camp in about 30 minutes. The camp is along the Luwangwa river which is the boarder for South Luwangwa National Park. We were warmly greated and given our safety talk. The animals here are wild. The elephants and hoppos will trample you if they feel you are too close. The baboons and monkeys will eat any food you leave unattended, including food inside your tent, and the crocs will just eat you if you come too close to the river. A bit of paradise here. Jeanette and I are in a solid chalet building while the others are in luxury safari tents with a view onto the river. Did I mention the wild animals? Right. They come into the site any old time they want, so there are watchmen on the camp trails with flash lights to walk you to/from your bed just to keep you safe.

Thursday night from 16:00 - 20:00 was a night drive (sundown around 18:30) in the park and we all went in two land rovers. We saw many animals; elephants, impala, hippo, warthog, giraffe, and too many birds to mention. A small pride of lions had brought down a water buffalo the day before, and were lying around like house cats in the sun, with noticably round bellies. One group saw a lepard, while the other a hyena. It was a great experience and it was great fun.

This morning the younger 4 all slept in while the older 6 got up for a 6:15 departure back into the park. We saw many birds, as well as zebra this time, plus the usuall impala, elephant, warthog and hippo. It was a great morning and just wonderful to be out and about. This evening is another night drive, and tomorrow is a full day drive, going deeper into the park. Looking forward to it.

Doug

Livingstone

We have finished with the school and are now in Livingstone. On Monday we flew on Pro Flight Zambia, a small local airline, and arrived early in the afternoon. We were met by our hosts, Allan and Oriel with their Land Rovers (how classic is that??) and taken to Victoria Falls. What can I say about this natural wonder? Wow is the closest I can come.We spent the afternoon walking there and getting soaked by the spray which was more like rain than mist. Monday evening we were at Bushbuck lodge, and a hippo came up onto the lawn to eat the grass. It delayed supper a bit until he went away, but no one complained!

Tuesday was a full day with some of us going to see some lion cubs first thing in the morning. We walked with them through the park and were able to pet them. They acted much like house cats do, except their teeth and claws are as long as my fingers... Next we all went back to the falls and took a boat to Livingstone island. There we were able to walk right up to the edge of the falls, and with the assistance of our guides, look over the edge of the 110 metre gorge. Again, wow! We were taken to the market for a short time while we waited for our transfer back to the same place as the lion cubs. A few of us bought some souvenirs and negotiated with the shop keepers. The last activity was elephant riding. It was exciting to be up so high and feel the strength under us. The skin is like hard leather and very thick.

Today is whitewater rafting for some, and canoeing for others. We have definitely switched from mission mode to tourist mode.

Doug