I have linked each day of this blog to the photos that correspond to it and have also placed an album on picasa that can be found below:
http://picasaweb.google.com/105226841757151966002
I had mentioned that I would put up another list of memorable moments/facts/thoughts, and so in no specific order at all, here goes:
the sizes of the loads on the locals heads and bicycles
don't pet the dogs!
has everyone taken their Malarone?
eating Nsima with our fingers
'left' hands are only used for wiping (can you believe 5/13 of us are lefties?
Babie announcing "time to knock off"
Robin's beautiful window
the talent required to actually ride a bike on their roads
Facebook is truly EVERYWHERE!
50% of Malawians have AIDS
Enter to learn, Depart to serve - sign on the secondary school
Heathrow doesn't make typos!
Robin reprimanding Juma for 'rubbing me out' on the brick line.
the airport in Blantyre
touching African soil
looking at the Sudan desert out of the airplane window - sand as far as you could see
the look of total awe on the toddlers face when I touched his hand
Tadeo's passion for what he does and his goals
Tadeo's new found love of youtube!
Nancy's beautiful smile and spirit
the lump that formed in my throat everyday when we pass the coffin shops
the sight of Mount Mulanje everyday from the worksite
jumping into the pool at the base of the waterfall
Sue trading her clothing for curio items
the Lion-Pig jokes
Malawi - easy
monkeys outside our dorm - seriously?!
the tiny shops in the 'shopping malls' with all signs in English
operation "eagle" - yahoo Ken
operation "Zebra" - yahoo Karyn
operation "Wilda beast" - how is that one going Karyn?
Barb's luggage arriving and the photo with her Dad's trowel
ladies tailored skirts paired with a North American t-shirt
cell phones and i pods everywhere
Carlsberg clubs everywhere
the soccer match vs the private girls school
the belly laughs of the children lining up to wave to our van
aloe vera plants the size of a small table and poinsettia trees
Robin's huge smile every morning
Market days in Chitikale and Nkamvo
monkeys playing in the yard, trees, rooftops
the children of Juma skipping rope, playing soccer and coloring
making scaffolds out of the tree branches beside the house
the view from Grandma's 'new' bedroom window - breathtaking!
Limbani driving while talking on his cell phone
Tadeo exclaiming 'on your face' to Sue after a serious game of 'Bawo'
Sue placing her Mom's photo in the mortar of the wall
Vera with the machete
the safari lodges, tranquility pool, exotic animals everywhere!
the school visit - broke my heart
the beautiful music at the final celebration on home made instruments
operation 'MONKEY'
the dancing moves of the small children
Kevin opening the Kuche Kuche with a water bottle
mission - find us a giraffe Paxon!
the sunset while at the safari
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Habitat Thank - you
received the following from Habitat, it has tips on how everyone can make a difference.
http://habitat.ca/welcomehomeletterp1790.php
my favorite line:
"Our lives become dead the day we go silent about the things that matter.” – Martin Luther King
http://habitat.ca/welcomehomeletterp1790.php
my favorite line:
"Our lives become dead the day we go silent about the things that matter.” – Martin Luther King
sleep and photos
Got to bed at midnight and was out like a light, up at 6:45 - actually a sleep in considering our African schedule, called home, blogged my little heart out and am off to print some photos to take to the golf tourney tomorrow and to Neepawa for the weekend!
Taking the photo of my feet on African soil was pretty great but to be standing back on Canadian soil is even better (so was the cup if Tim's last night!!)
xo
I plan to do another blog of highlights, factoids and such later on today (or possibly tomorrow)
thanks to those of you that followed our journey (remember I warned you at the beginning that I am not a writer - I teach math not ELA)!
Special thanks to our fearless leader Kevin and to my team of: Deb and Taylor, Karyn and Ken, Meag and Sue, Marleen, Lisa, Sue K and my travel buddies Vera and Barb!
see you in September to share photos, share laughs and share wine!
Taking the photo of my feet on African soil was pretty great but to be standing back on Canadian soil is even better (so was the cup if Tim's last night!!)
xo
I plan to do another blog of highlights, factoids and such later on today (or possibly tomorrow)
thanks to those of you that followed our journey (remember I warned you at the beginning that I am not a writer - I teach math not ELA)!
Special thanks to our fearless leader Kevin and to my team of: Deb and Taylor, Karyn and Ken, Meag and Sue, Marleen, Lisa, Sue K and my travel buddies Vera and Barb!
see you in September to share photos, share laughs and share wine!
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Lilongwe home. Hee hee. Kenya to Heathrow tonight!
Tuesday July 20th
Woke up at the Longonut Lodge (district 3 of Lilongwe), ate, attempted to blog and headed downtown by foot to do our last bit of shopping at a curio market (the airports of course have shops too). Once again the curio shop owners are very, very aggressive and all try to talk to you and push their goods at once. It is a very uncomfortable feeling and certainly killed the joy of shopping for me.
Back to the lodge, loaded bus and Shorai joined us to the airport. The lineups were huge and there was anxiety about making our flight. Turns out all was good as the planes were all somewhat delayed. Kevin waited until we were checked in to head out for the rest of his week in Africa - Tadeo made plans to meet him in Mulanje to climb the mountain with him. We were at our gate in sufficient time and boarded the first of many planes home.
Boarded the plane was the key statement here as we sat on the tarmac for 2 hours as there were concerns about some tar on the runway. Barb, Vera and I played 2 games of crib and Barb won both to kill some time and reduce anxiety - we now have 3 hours rather than 5 to make our connecting flight to Nairobi.
Once in the air all was good. Flight to Nairobi was short and sweet ( about 2 hours). Did some last chance souvenir shopping, bought a 26 of African rum (made from sugar cane) for Derricks' 40th bday and awaited the next flight. Barb started to feel ill and we are hoping the flight will go well.
Nairobi to Heathrow - 9 looooong hours, I am clearly not meant to sleep on a plane. Cannot complain about the Kenya airlines service or planes at all. The staff are wonderful, food is fine and the planes all have individual TV's with a bout a dozen recent Hollywood movies, TV shows, Children's' movies music and more. Our only issues with Kenya airlines was in the bookings or should I say lack of bookings department - our trip down was great on the plane but was a nightmare for checking in and getting connections and boarding passes.
Wednesday July 21, 2010
Arrived at Heathrow international airport and made our way to gate 3 - Air Canada here we come! Was very sad when they took away my bottle of rum for Derrick they did not seem compassionate for the fact that we could not check it in in Nairobi as our bags were already checked through to Toronto or that the Nairobi Duty free sealed the already sealed bottle in a plastic wrap - shucks!
Although we had a 5 hour layover, we immediately made our way to the check in counter as a few members of the group had been given boarding passes in Lilongwe for the flight to Toronto but most of us did not have one. Turns out air Kenya did it to us again. Five of the 10 of us planning to fly home to Toronto were checked in.
Marleen Jonker, Vera Rumley, Meagan and Sue Luckay and Sue Krakolovich were good to go. The rest of us were to report back in 4 hours to see if we could go standby. The airline reported that summer break had just begun in Europe and the Air Canada flights were all overbooked, we knew not to hold our breath.
An hour later we were once again trying our charm.
We maintained some optimism that there would be some no shows for the flight to Toronto but unfortunately that was not the case. We told the staff that we would be happy to get to Wpg through Calgary, Edmonton, Montreal or Toronto if that would help, and that we would be willing to split up the group. She was appreciative of that and tried to do magic but told us to return again in an hour to see if there would be standby seats on the Calgary flight. She said every flight out for the day was overbooked.
An hour later, she called us off to the side and handed 4 boarding passes over for Lisa Ferguson, Barb Birch, Ken and Karyn Fanstone and one with the hand written message 'if possible please let her on last minute pass' for me. We were off to the gate and I was fine with the situation until Barb hugged me and the tears started.When boarding time came I was told - sorry we can't do it. Was OK until Ken's big bear hug and again the tears erupted.
Back to the lovely Air Canada desk once more. This time the check in staff were expecting me as the boarding staff had already radioed to them I was given the now expected 'please come back in an hour' message but also a 'we will try really hard to get you onto the Edmonton flight' to go with it, they were very all nice to me.
Off for a bag of chips and chocolate bar for both comfort and distraction!
It was very sweet when the lady from check in (that had worked her magic earlier with he boarding passes) came over to my usual seat on the floor near the window to say she was going off shift but that she had made sure to tell the other check in staff to take care of my pass. A half hour later, I was once again in line and given a standby pass for Edmonton and off to another gate. There were about 20 of us with standby passes and so I was not certain that I should feel so optimistic about my flight.
At one point an boarding staff member came out to call names but mine was not on the list - darn - she returned a while later and said if you are on a standby ticket please back away as they want the other passengers to not be confused about the line up - I ventured over to say - that I was on standby but did have a boarding pass for a connecting flight from Edmonton to Winnipeg but unfortunately was snubbed).
About 10 long minutes later another lady came out and said is there a Dawn Birch here?
Music to my ears!
I went in and the original lady actually apologized and told me a window seat was awaiting me and enjoy my trip home! 36 hours of no sleep and tension took its toll as I could only mumble a quiet thank-you through my third set of tears for the day!
off to Canada I go!
Arrived in Edmonton with an hour to my connecting flight, texted Barb to say I was in Canada and could she let me know if my luggage made it to Winnipeg, also send it with Vera and I would cab it over there when I landed.
Flight form Edmonton to Winnipeg was great. Sat with a structural engineer and that provided some very interesting conversation to both keep me awake and pass time quickly.
Arrived in Winnipeg!!
Text from Barb saying glad to hear I was in Edmonton. Let her know when I get to Winnipeg. Called Vera's house and found out they were not home yet, texted Barb and turns out that she was still in the parking lot. Vera also responded from minutes away she and Wayne turned around and came back for me.
As it turned out the flight from Toronto was delayed so the Calgary travellers arrived an hour earlier that everyone else as well as an hour before the luggage that was on the Toronto plane. My flight arrived only a half hour later and since I had no luggage to pick up I had just barely missed everyone.
What an incredible end to an incredible journey!
Woke up at the Longonut Lodge (district 3 of Lilongwe), ate, attempted to blog and headed downtown by foot to do our last bit of shopping at a curio market (the airports of course have shops too). Once again the curio shop owners are very, very aggressive and all try to talk to you and push their goods at once. It is a very uncomfortable feeling and certainly killed the joy of shopping for me.
Back to the lodge, loaded bus and Shorai joined us to the airport. The lineups were huge and there was anxiety about making our flight. Turns out all was good as the planes were all somewhat delayed. Kevin waited until we were checked in to head out for the rest of his week in Africa - Tadeo made plans to meet him in Mulanje to climb the mountain with him. We were at our gate in sufficient time and boarded the first of many planes home.
Boarded the plane was the key statement here as we sat on the tarmac for 2 hours as there were concerns about some tar on the runway. Barb, Vera and I played 2 games of crib and Barb won both to kill some time and reduce anxiety - we now have 3 hours rather than 5 to make our connecting flight to Nairobi.
Once in the air all was good. Flight to Nairobi was short and sweet ( about 2 hours). Did some last chance souvenir shopping, bought a 26 of African rum (made from sugar cane) for Derricks' 40th bday and awaited the next flight. Barb started to feel ill and we are hoping the flight will go well.
Nairobi to Heathrow - 9 looooong hours, I am clearly not meant to sleep on a plane. Cannot complain about the Kenya airlines service or planes at all. The staff are wonderful, food is fine and the planes all have individual TV's with a bout a dozen recent Hollywood movies, TV shows, Children's' movies music and more. Our only issues with Kenya airlines was in the bookings or should I say lack of bookings department - our trip down was great on the plane but was a nightmare for checking in and getting connections and boarding passes.
Wednesday July 21, 2010
Arrived at Heathrow international airport and made our way to gate 3 - Air Canada here we come! Was very sad when they took away my bottle of rum for Derrick they did not seem compassionate for the fact that we could not check it in in Nairobi as our bags were already checked through to Toronto or that the Nairobi Duty free sealed the already sealed bottle in a plastic wrap - shucks!
Although we had a 5 hour layover, we immediately made our way to the check in counter as a few members of the group had been given boarding passes in Lilongwe for the flight to Toronto but most of us did not have one. Turns out air Kenya did it to us again. Five of the 10 of us planning to fly home to Toronto were checked in.
Marleen Jonker, Vera Rumley, Meagan and Sue Luckay and Sue Krakolovich were good to go. The rest of us were to report back in 4 hours to see if we could go standby. The airline reported that summer break had just begun in Europe and the Air Canada flights were all overbooked, we knew not to hold our breath.
An hour later we were once again trying our charm.
We maintained some optimism that there would be some no shows for the flight to Toronto but unfortunately that was not the case. We told the staff that we would be happy to get to Wpg through Calgary, Edmonton, Montreal or Toronto if that would help, and that we would be willing to split up the group. She was appreciative of that and tried to do magic but told us to return again in an hour to see if there would be standby seats on the Calgary flight. She said every flight out for the day was overbooked.
An hour later, she called us off to the side and handed 4 boarding passes over for Lisa Ferguson, Barb Birch, Ken and Karyn Fanstone and one with the hand written message 'if possible please let her on last minute pass' for me. We were off to the gate and I was fine with the situation until Barb hugged me and the tears started.When boarding time came I was told - sorry we can't do it. Was OK until Ken's big bear hug and again the tears erupted.
Back to the lovely Air Canada desk once more. This time the check in staff were expecting me as the boarding staff had already radioed to them I was given the now expected 'please come back in an hour' message but also a 'we will try really hard to get you onto the Edmonton flight' to go with it, they were very all nice to me.
Off for a bag of chips and chocolate bar for both comfort and distraction!
It was very sweet when the lady from check in (that had worked her magic earlier with he boarding passes) came over to my usual seat on the floor near the window to say she was going off shift but that she had made sure to tell the other check in staff to take care of my pass. A half hour later, I was once again in line and given a standby pass for Edmonton and off to another gate. There were about 20 of us with standby passes and so I was not certain that I should feel so optimistic about my flight.
At one point an boarding staff member came out to call names but mine was not on the list - darn - she returned a while later and said if you are on a standby ticket please back away as they want the other passengers to not be confused about the line up - I ventured over to say - that I was on standby but did have a boarding pass for a connecting flight from Edmonton to Winnipeg but unfortunately was snubbed).
About 10 long minutes later another lady came out and said is there a Dawn Birch here?
Music to my ears!
I went in and the original lady actually apologized and told me a window seat was awaiting me and enjoy my trip home! 36 hours of no sleep and tension took its toll as I could only mumble a quiet thank-you through my third set of tears for the day!
off to Canada I go!
Arrived in Edmonton with an hour to my connecting flight, texted Barb to say I was in Canada and could she let me know if my luggage made it to Winnipeg, also send it with Vera and I would cab it over there when I landed.
Flight form Edmonton to Winnipeg was great. Sat with a structural engineer and that provided some very interesting conversation to both keep me awake and pass time quickly.
Arrived in Winnipeg!!
Text from Barb saying glad to hear I was in Edmonton. Let her know when I get to Winnipeg. Called Vera's house and found out they were not home yet, texted Barb and turns out that she was still in the parking lot. Vera also responded from minutes away she and Wayne turned around and came back for me.
As it turned out the flight from Toronto was delayed so the Calgary travellers arrived an hour earlier that everyone else as well as an hour before the luggage that was on the Toronto plane. My flight arrived only a half hour later and since I had no luggage to pick up I had just barely missed everyone.
What an incredible end to an incredible journey!
Monday, July 19, 2010
off to Lilongwe and then onward to Zambia
Friday - July 16th
Our new bus and driver Gideon arrived bright and early and we loaded up our luggage and bags - not much lighter considering all that we left behind but filled with souvenirs in their place.
Nancy caught a ride with us as far as Blantyre, she was signing the final papers for the loan for her restaurant and was so excited. I hunted for a lithium battery in Blantyre but they are not common and was a bit sad that my camera would be out of commission for the Safari in Zambia. We reached the community of Dezda about 5 hours into our journey and stopped to purchase hand crafted pottery and indulge in their coffee and dessert shop.
Arrived in Lilongwe at 6 pm - 9 hours on the road was certainly enough! Unfortunately our hotel reservations had been cancelled and the habitat coordinator for Lilongwe - Danny came to our rescue. We dined on burgers and pizza and then headed to a guest lodge. Lilongwe has a very diverse make up, their city hall resembles the white house - the city itself resembles Winnipeg one minute and Juma the next. One block has a mini mall with American name brands on display and the next has brick and mud shacks displaying curio wares and weaved art. Still no internet at this location but there was luke warm water! As per our usual schedule we were in bed by 9.
Saturday July 16th
Had a wonderful breakfast and were picked up by another driver named Jimmy (Gideon did not have papers to travel across the border to Zambia). As we were awaiting departure the lodge's little son (about 2) came outside and took my hand and said "come" I said "where to?" and he led me over to the door and said "to watch George", I said "George who?" and his Mom answered from the doorway "that would be George in the Jungle his favorite show" so cute!
On the drive out I saw what I presume to be a funeral service at one of the cemeteries - the headstones range from piles of rock to concrete slabs to very elaborate and ornate markers.
Made one last stop at BP for gas and a bathroom break prior to the border crossing. Kevin bought some cookies to serve as a lunch - he predicts we will be at the lodge around 3 pm.
The border crossings both went very well, we merely presented our passports and filled out exit cards/entrance cards and handed them in. Jimmy took a bit longer than expected to get into Zambia as he had never done a crossing before and was unsure of the procedures but all worked out.
Onward to Zambia - we are all very excited to be out of the bus soon - or so we thought! Turns out the road was under construction and unfortunately that was the good part (they had beautiful CAT graders and Ford tractors for road construction) after the construction the road turned into washboard that made Gunn Road after a rain look good. The washboard lasted for about 2 hours as we were unable to travel much more than 50 or 60 km's an hour for most of this distance. Within minutes of entering the South Luanga national park we saw baboons everywhere, some Hippos hanging out in a river and a pile of elephants munching on the trees - who remembered the bus ride?
At 5 pm we arrived at the lodge and I am proud to report that I did not toss my cookies along the way! I picked a very bad day to leave my gravol in my suitcase.
Within minutes of seeing the lodge and touring the past 8 hours were erased. The park is not fenced in but is protected by natural boundaries of rivers and bush. The lodge is also not fenced and so every person requires an escort to and from their chalets. This may seem a bit too much until you see the baboons hanging out on your deck, the impala walking over the sidewalk or the hippo crossover from Barb's chalet to the river!
The staff encouraged us to quickly drop off our belongings grab a quick tea and set out for the last 2 hours of a game ride (they usually start at 4 pm).
Our guide Charles managed to find in those short 2 hours the following: a bush hare, impalas, a family of lionesses, zebra, hyenas, hippos, white tailed mongoose and baboons by the hundreds.
Came back to a buffet dinner, glass of red wine and live drama performance from a local drama group. Then off to a hot shower and bed - the game drive starts at 6:30 am.
Sunday July 17th
Up at 5:45 - dressed and ready to get on the road. Today our guide Paxon was behind the wheel of the land rover. He had been a guide for 19 years and was trained by the legendary Norman Carr - a famous ranger for the Mfuwe park. His voice and laugh are a dead ringer for James Earl Jones and so it was a phenomenal morning. Today we saw: Impala (hundreds of them - are in the antelope family), their cousins the Puku, elephants, zebra, lionesses, water buffalo, hippos, wart hogs, pelicans, stork, an eagle - their national bird. Paxon had descriptions and history and commentary for everything we saw. He also took us to the grave marker of Norman Carr. ON the way to our brunch in the park we discovered an impala hanging in a tree that a leopard had recently caught and would dine on later. The lunch in the park was incredible - we dined amongst the trees with a river in the backdrop - and hippos lazing in it.
back at the lodge shortly afternoon for siesta time - next game drive is at 4 pm. Had a chance to swim in the pool and enjoy a beer as the baboons, impala and water buck wandered just below. Was very, very surreal. Also a bit disturbing in the stark contrast to Juma village. But it needs to be pointed out that although the Mfuwe lodge is 5 star luxury they are very aware of the needs of Africa. They employ 80 people, their gift shop sells items made from the local textile shop (hand made and hand painted fabrics), they use solar power to heat the water, they give thousands of dollars to the conservation district and sponsor the local school much as Unicef would (provide supplies etc). Paxon said most of the guides all live 5 minutes away in the village of Mfuwe and that it is a great lodge to work for (his last 8 years), he had also worked for the mushroom lodge and directly for the park prior to this. Again - I could listen to him talk and laugh all day long! He took us out at 4 pm and said he do his best to show us the elusive giraffe. We saw so much! He drove us to a sandy beach like spot along a river to watch the sunset and have a beer (and listen to the hippos snort). The giraffe where not meant to be spotted but we saw the most incredible thing ever after dark. Paxon could hear something and killed the engine - listened - looked in his binoculars and then announced that a leopard had just killed an impala and a nearby hyena was taking his kill. We raced over and saw the leopard stalking off (licking her lips) and then saw two hyenas feast on the impala - we were about 10 feet away - it was disgusting and fascinating all the same.
Paxon explained later that hyenas will always be able to out power a leopard, lion, hog and so if they are in the area of a kill the leopard has to concede his food to them. It was so crazy to hear them bark and howl as they fed - I swear I thought that I should hear 'Whoopi or Cheech's' voice come out of them (Lion King).
Then, we were off to see if the implala in the tree was still there. Much to Barb's joy, the leopard was sitting in the tree guarding it. We were able to stay and watch and photo for about 10 minutes. Paxon said that the animals are very accustomed to the sounds of the vehicles and as long as there is not a lot of movement or talking the animals will stick around for us to observe.
Incredible evening! We returned to the buffet, hot showers and very comfortable beds. I was very upset with myself as I lost Barb's camera case somewhere on the drive - one minute it was on the seat with my room key and the next only the room key was on the seat. She was so amazing about letting me 'share' her camera, when we came to something awesome she would hand it over and let me pop in my memory stick so I could take photos too - how great is that?
Monday July 19
Final morning and once again Paxon is determined to show us a giraffe. We spotted their hoof prints (took a photo actually) and tried to track them. Saw the usual (can you believe that we now are considering zebras, hippos, elephants,water buffalo, baboons and impala the usual?) We stumbled across an elderly female elephant paying respects to the bones of a bull elephant that had passed away a couple of years ago and she had a pregnant female and 6-7 year old male with her. Then along cam another female and a baby! So tiny compared to the grandma. It was totally incredible to see their interactions - the mom's instincts were very strong as the Grandma came right up to the land rover (we are talking about 6 feet away) and flashed her ears out and pawed the ground) as the mom and baby passed by us) I was in absolute awe as elephants have been my favorite animals since I saw a National documentary about them about 15 years ago- ironically it was narrated by James Earl Jones), I did not realize that the rest of my group were near loss of kidney function and and hearts racing!
The most iron thing then happened - Paxon's radio went off and another guide said that the giraffes were out, they were at the spot we saw their prints. The elephants were now far enough away that we could speed off but by the time we got to the spot the giraffes were once again gone. Paxon laughed so hard it made the rest of us giggle too. He said that the giraffes are usually out and cannot believe that we still have not seen them.
Headed back to the lodge early so we could be on the road by 10 am. Jimmy was already there and our suitcases were loaded when we got back.
Not gonnna lie, I was really not looking forward to our bus ride but I did take a Gravol this time.
The ride seemed to go by a bit faster this time - probably because we knew what to expect, our border crossings were very smooth again as well.
Back in Malawi and off to Lilongwe for our final night in Africa! Arrived at the Longonot Lodge about 8 hours after leaving Mfuwe. Amazing that 9 pm now constitutes a late night out.
Our new bus and driver Gideon arrived bright and early and we loaded up our luggage and bags - not much lighter considering all that we left behind but filled with souvenirs in their place.
Nancy caught a ride with us as far as Blantyre, she was signing the final papers for the loan for her restaurant and was so excited. I hunted for a lithium battery in Blantyre but they are not common and was a bit sad that my camera would be out of commission for the Safari in Zambia. We reached the community of Dezda about 5 hours into our journey and stopped to purchase hand crafted pottery and indulge in their coffee and dessert shop.
Arrived in Lilongwe at 6 pm - 9 hours on the road was certainly enough! Unfortunately our hotel reservations had been cancelled and the habitat coordinator for Lilongwe - Danny came to our rescue. We dined on burgers and pizza and then headed to a guest lodge. Lilongwe has a very diverse make up, their city hall resembles the white house - the city itself resembles Winnipeg one minute and Juma the next. One block has a mini mall with American name brands on display and the next has brick and mud shacks displaying curio wares and weaved art. Still no internet at this location but there was luke warm water! As per our usual schedule we were in bed by 9.
Saturday July 16th
Had a wonderful breakfast and were picked up by another driver named Jimmy (Gideon did not have papers to travel across the border to Zambia). As we were awaiting departure the lodge's little son (about 2) came outside and took my hand and said "come" I said "where to?" and he led me over to the door and said "to watch George", I said "George who?" and his Mom answered from the doorway "that would be George in the Jungle his favorite show" so cute!
On the drive out I saw what I presume to be a funeral service at one of the cemeteries - the headstones range from piles of rock to concrete slabs to very elaborate and ornate markers.
Made one last stop at BP for gas and a bathroom break prior to the border crossing. Kevin bought some cookies to serve as a lunch - he predicts we will be at the lodge around 3 pm.
The border crossings both went very well, we merely presented our passports and filled out exit cards/entrance cards and handed them in. Jimmy took a bit longer than expected to get into Zambia as he had never done a crossing before and was unsure of the procedures but all worked out.
Onward to Zambia - we are all very excited to be out of the bus soon - or so we thought! Turns out the road was under construction and unfortunately that was the good part (they had beautiful CAT graders and Ford tractors for road construction) after the construction the road turned into washboard that made Gunn Road after a rain look good. The washboard lasted for about 2 hours as we were unable to travel much more than 50 or 60 km's an hour for most of this distance. Within minutes of entering the South Luanga national park we saw baboons everywhere, some Hippos hanging out in a river and a pile of elephants munching on the trees - who remembered the bus ride?
At 5 pm we arrived at the lodge and I am proud to report that I did not toss my cookies along the way! I picked a very bad day to leave my gravol in my suitcase.
Within minutes of seeing the lodge and touring the past 8 hours were erased. The park is not fenced in but is protected by natural boundaries of rivers and bush. The lodge is also not fenced and so every person requires an escort to and from their chalets. This may seem a bit too much until you see the baboons hanging out on your deck, the impala walking over the sidewalk or the hippo crossover from Barb's chalet to the river!
The staff encouraged us to quickly drop off our belongings grab a quick tea and set out for the last 2 hours of a game ride (they usually start at 4 pm).
Our guide Charles managed to find in those short 2 hours the following: a bush hare, impalas, a family of lionesses, zebra, hyenas, hippos, white tailed mongoose and baboons by the hundreds.
Came back to a buffet dinner, glass of red wine and live drama performance from a local drama group. Then off to a hot shower and bed - the game drive starts at 6:30 am.
Sunday July 17th
Up at 5:45 - dressed and ready to get on the road. Today our guide Paxon was behind the wheel of the land rover. He had been a guide for 19 years and was trained by the legendary Norman Carr - a famous ranger for the Mfuwe park. His voice and laugh are a dead ringer for James Earl Jones and so it was a phenomenal morning. Today we saw: Impala (hundreds of them - are in the antelope family), their cousins the Puku, elephants, zebra, lionesses, water buffalo, hippos, wart hogs, pelicans, stork, an eagle - their national bird. Paxon had descriptions and history and commentary for everything we saw. He also took us to the grave marker of Norman Carr. ON the way to our brunch in the park we discovered an impala hanging in a tree that a leopard had recently caught and would dine on later. The lunch in the park was incredible - we dined amongst the trees with a river in the backdrop - and hippos lazing in it.
back at the lodge shortly afternoon for siesta time - next game drive is at 4 pm. Had a chance to swim in the pool and enjoy a beer as the baboons, impala and water buck wandered just below. Was very, very surreal. Also a bit disturbing in the stark contrast to Juma village. But it needs to be pointed out that although the Mfuwe lodge is 5 star luxury they are very aware of the needs of Africa. They employ 80 people, their gift shop sells items made from the local textile shop (hand made and hand painted fabrics), they use solar power to heat the water, they give thousands of dollars to the conservation district and sponsor the local school much as Unicef would (provide supplies etc). Paxon said most of the guides all live 5 minutes away in the village of Mfuwe and that it is a great lodge to work for (his last 8 years), he had also worked for the mushroom lodge and directly for the park prior to this. Again - I could listen to him talk and laugh all day long! He took us out at 4 pm and said he do his best to show us the elusive giraffe. We saw so much! He drove us to a sandy beach like spot along a river to watch the sunset and have a beer (and listen to the hippos snort). The giraffe where not meant to be spotted but we saw the most incredible thing ever after dark. Paxon could hear something and killed the engine - listened - looked in his binoculars and then announced that a leopard had just killed an impala and a nearby hyena was taking his kill. We raced over and saw the leopard stalking off (licking her lips) and then saw two hyenas feast on the impala - we were about 10 feet away - it was disgusting and fascinating all the same.
Paxon explained later that hyenas will always be able to out power a leopard, lion, hog and so if they are in the area of a kill the leopard has to concede his food to them. It was so crazy to hear them bark and howl as they fed - I swear I thought that I should hear 'Whoopi or Cheech's' voice come out of them (Lion King).
Then, we were off to see if the implala in the tree was still there. Much to Barb's joy, the leopard was sitting in the tree guarding it. We were able to stay and watch and photo for about 10 minutes. Paxon said that the animals are very accustomed to the sounds of the vehicles and as long as there is not a lot of movement or talking the animals will stick around for us to observe.
Incredible evening! We returned to the buffet, hot showers and very comfortable beds. I was very upset with myself as I lost Barb's camera case somewhere on the drive - one minute it was on the seat with my room key and the next only the room key was on the seat. She was so amazing about letting me 'share' her camera, when we came to something awesome she would hand it over and let me pop in my memory stick so I could take photos too - how great is that?
Monday July 19
Final morning and once again Paxon is determined to show us a giraffe. We spotted their hoof prints (took a photo actually) and tried to track them. Saw the usual (can you believe that we now are considering zebras, hippos, elephants,water buffalo, baboons and impala the usual?) We stumbled across an elderly female elephant paying respects to the bones of a bull elephant that had passed away a couple of years ago and she had a pregnant female and 6-7 year old male with her. Then along cam another female and a baby! So tiny compared to the grandma. It was totally incredible to see their interactions - the mom's instincts were very strong as the Grandma came right up to the land rover (we are talking about 6 feet away) and flashed her ears out and pawed the ground) as the mom and baby passed by us) I was in absolute awe as elephants have been my favorite animals since I saw a National documentary about them about 15 years ago- ironically it was narrated by James Earl Jones), I did not realize that the rest of my group were near loss of kidney function and and hearts racing!
The most iron thing then happened - Paxon's radio went off and another guide said that the giraffes were out, they were at the spot we saw their prints. The elephants were now far enough away that we could speed off but by the time we got to the spot the giraffes were once again gone. Paxon laughed so hard it made the rest of us giggle too. He said that the giraffes are usually out and cannot believe that we still have not seen them.
Headed back to the lodge early so we could be on the road by 10 am. Jimmy was already there and our suitcases were loaded when we got back.
Not gonnna lie, I was really not looking forward to our bus ride but I did take a Gravol this time.
The ride seemed to go by a bit faster this time - probably because we knew what to expect, our border crossings were very smooth again as well.
Back in Malawi and off to Lilongwe for our final night in Africa! Arrived at the Longonot Lodge about 8 hours after leaving Mfuwe. Amazing that 9 pm now constitutes a late night out.
Sunday, July 18, 2010
School visit Thursday morning and final Celebration
link to photos for July 15th
We were once again up early and loaded the van with the garbage bags of clothing, school supplies and sports equipment that we wished to leave behind with Tadeo at the Habitat office. Nancy wore a "I heart Canada" t-shirt to serve us breakfast in.
Kevin mentioned that we will stop at Chitikale on the way home for the people that wished to buy some of the cloth wraps that the women wear as skirts. This worked out great as a number of us had planned 'operation monkey' for Thursday evening. (Operation monkey - buy some local beer and have one after our official last day of work).
We were off to the village and our school village at our usual time and made the stop to buy eggs and actually met George the brick supplier at the store.
We headed to the Nsanjam F.P. School in Thuchila on the way to our celebration.
Driving up it was incredible to see so many children, again they fought to get close enough to wave and touch our hands. The headmaster came out and he asked us to join his staff for a welcome.
He informed us that it is a co-ed elementary school (Tadeo told us it has a great reputation) with 1475 students registered and 15 teachers (you can do the math on that one!!). The teachers all dress in suit and tie and females in dresses as it is government protocol to do so. When asked what concerns they have and older teacher (Moses Mangwaya - 30 years teaching experience) that they have 3 main concerns:
school supplies - the government is to provide one notebook and one pen to every student but the shipments rarely arrive on time, or at all (a neigbhouring school gets theirs from Unicef).
sports supplies - they have 2 soccer balls (we brought them 2 more and 2 skipping ropes)
infrastructure - the 15 buildings housing these 100 students have dirt floors and no desks, the facility has 10 portable latrines for the students. They have one map of Malawi that the entire school shares.
The schools services several communities and students walk from 0.5 to 4 km to get there and so during rainy season they also have attendance concerns above the regular absences due to illness and orphan status.
The students were happy to show us their notebooks and most have a dry erase tablet that they carry with them. On the drive off I noticed that they had a water supply system that I had recently heard about. It looks like a merry go round that the students play on but is actually a water pump (sort of a horizontal water wheel) as the students push it around it fills a holding tank with water.
on to the celebration!
As we drove up a group of drummers started playing and the ladies and kids began dancing. The music was excellent and our thoughts of performing the bird dance paled in comparison. We were amazed at the hip and butt action that the dancers of all ages exhibited. We joined in and after about 4 songs we even managed to drag Robin off of his scaffold to join in. Two young boys dressed up in corn skirts and performed a traditional type of dance. The drummers then had to leave to perform at a wedding and loaded up their equipment onto a bicycle and off they went. We were not sure what to expect next and were awaiting a few more dignitaries before the official start. We ended up doing the hokey pokey with some of the kids and it was a huge hit so we also did if you are happy and you know it.
Then it was time to officially begin the celebration and a group of teenagers brought out some home made instruments (drums, a slide bass, banjo) and proceeded to blow me away with their talents. They were so good!
There were speeches from several sources (habitat, OVC, the chief) and all blessed God for our presence and help with the house and Juma. They told us to please return again and to encourage others to do the same and they blessed our safe journey home.
We presented Grandma with a Canada polar fleece blanket, courtesy of Sue L, that we all signed and pressented a soccer ball to one of the boys - Shorai had the photo of Grandma and her grandchildren with her and did not make it, so she will have it delivered to them this week, Deb bought a pretty hand carved frame to place it in.
It was very joyous and it made leaving the site much easier than I expected.
We drove away on last time and were quite quiet on the drive to Chitikale. (Limbani had a rough trip - hit a dog and a prairie chicken on the way home - weird that it should happen on our last day)
In Chitikale we made our purchase of some Kuche Kuche beer (500 ml bottle costs 61 cents US) and headed to the lodge.
We had a final meeting with Shorai, Tadeo and Limbani prior to their heading back to Blantyre. Tadeo and Shorai both spoke so well and again thanked us for coming, hope we return and thanked God for bringing us to Juma and asked that he watch over our journey home. (Habitat expects to be done their builds in the Mulanje district by next July)
Back to the dorm for a beer and an opportunity to socialize and then to supper. Nancy made pizza for our farewell dinner and a cake for dessert!
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Last day to build
link to photos:
Today was our last day to build the house and I was certain it would be a difficult day to face. It rained last night and was still misty on the drive to Juma, I saw the second rainbow since arriving, it crossed the entire sky and actually touched the African earth - sadly there are no pots of gold at their ends.
Umbrellas and yellow slickers were everywhere as pedestrians and cyclists went about their daily treks. Homeowners swept their driveways free of the leaves and debris that accumulate overnight and the sun was nowhere to be found.
We stopped at a post office in Chisitu to purchase some stamps - stayed longer than anticipated as it is impolite/disrespectful to say 'keep the change' and the postmaster needed to send for some currency. This allowed for an opportunity for Meag to hold a baby on her back! Limbani noticed a lady with a 6 month old walking by and asked if she would be OK with it, then he called Meag out of the van and before we knew it she was strapped on.
Stopped at the Zofunazanu Grocery on route for some eggs - turns out it is the village of Nkanvo not Chitikale. We met Tadeo's roommate, he is a 17 year old orphan that has lived with him for the last 6 months. Tadeo is happy with him as he cooks, Tadeo buys the food and Kevin prepares it, he also added that his previous roommate stole from him but Kevin does not. He also said that living on his own did not work as everyday while he was at work (and his place was empty) his food and clothing would get stolen.
Someone made comment that there are even more children each day that run to the road to wave at us, Kevin pointed out that in this country - we are the monkeys.
At the site, I took the daily photo of our starting point on the house and then went behind it to snap a shot of some of the bricks with my gloves and trowel and was busted by Robin - he giggled at me, I was grateful he didn't see me bag up some of the broken pieces to bring home with me as a memento of our efforts. Spent the morning on a scaffold that was erected overnight for us. Had waves of emotions as this was our last day to work on the house and we know it will not be done. To use 'brick terminology' it feels pretty shitty.
Lunch was also emotional as reality hit me - when will Grandma get her next meal? (she gets our daily leftovers while we are here but prior to that she has gone days without food as she cannot garden or prepare her own and only eats if her neighbours have any leftovers to share with her).
This then led to thoughts of 'what will happen when Grandma dies?' and 'does one house even make a difference? and 'how can the kids be so happy and laugh so much when they have so little? (they have not changed clothes since we met them) and their distended tummies are a result of extreme malnutrition not baby fat.
And of course the biggest question of all - did we make a difference?
The sun made its first appearance of the day just then and I think that was God saying, "you done good here". Maybe our imprint, however small, will have a legacy to it.
The kids seemed extra clingy today too - they are aware that tomorrow's farewell celebration will be the end of our time together - the older ones sought each of us out and asked our ages - without missing a beat Vera became 29 again!
I sought out Tadeo to find out the answer to 'what happens when Grandma dies?' and was comforted to know that the house will still belong to the children - either directly or go to the family member that offers to care for them should they still be to young to manage themselves.
I was able to work a fair amount with Robin today again and was very happy to do so. It is very remarkable that we have created a house using: bricks, string, a dozen trowels and up until the scaffolds were nailed together about a dozen nails to hold the strings in place...engineering at its most primitive (and yet totally functional) design.
We were told that the layers we were placing would be covered with plaster and so I engraved 'love Dawn' on one hoping it would not be taken for vandalism as it would be covered up.
Babie announced time to 'knock off' for the last time and we gathered for a group photo, asking all of our local workers to join us, we also invited Grandma to join us and she insisted on changing her clothing for the shot. She may be poor but she is very proud :)
I was again grateful for my sunglasses throughout the afternoon and on the drive away from the village as my emotions did not stay in check very well.
Was very ironic that a couple km's out of Juma we met a young man bicycling towards us wearing a Team Canada Olympic hockey jersey.
Tomorrow we will visit a school and then have the farewell party and lunch in Juma, they plan to sing and dance for us and asked us to do something Canadian in return. You can imagine the ideas that were tossed around as we brainstormed 'what is traditional Canadian?'
In the end, we decide that since most of our audience will be children we will perform the Bird Dance and hopefully get everyone to join in and learn it too (it was that or the Hokey pokey).
xo
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Monkeys everywhere!
link to photos:
We arrived and immediately helped to construct another set of scaffolds for another outside wall, again it was made by using a machete to chop off branches of nearby trees. Tadeo can wield a pretty mean machete!
When the chopping was done Vera posed for some pretty fun machete shots too.
I made my own scaffold using bricks and branches on one of the walls and Barb made one on her side with bricks and a 2 x 4 and we were in business.
Robin was back today - I really love working with him - he is a pretty tiny 55 ish man with a smile that lights up his whole face. He inspects our row of bricks and then says 'very nice' and gives me a thumbs up. Today we discovered he knows quite a bit more than 'very nice' as we had a bit of a mix up on the row and he counted from 1 to 12 in perfect English to determine the error! Then, he looked at me winked and high fived me, soooo funny.
Laxon spent the entire day working on the tapered peak of the one wall that we finished up yesterday - we are so close to that level on the opposite wall too. (maybe rafters tomorrow)
Babie's boss showed up right near quitting time in a shiny silver chrysler and we joked that it must be the building inspector... she was very personable.
The kids were most enthralled in the car...on hands and knees looking under it.
Once again they loved the skipping rope, soccer balls and the little rubber bouncy balls. They are even getting so comfortable with us that they reached right in to the van for the skipping rope - cheeky little darlings. They are talking to us a lot more this week too.
Totally exciting to see that our bricks are truly becoming a house...we have developed our own language for the bricks in our time here and have become quite brick snobs, in fact.
There are 2 main categories of bricks:
pretty bricks - for the exterior of the house - 2 types - long pretty and short pretty
shitty bricks - for interior walls - 2 types - OK shitty and really shitty...really shitty never make the walls. We also require 1/4, 1/2 and 3/4 bricks and often they originated as a shitty brick.
Occasionally on the ride home, we will see a pile of bricks and utter, 'hmm those are some good looking bricks'.
It was super windy today and we ate our lunch in the van to spare our food from the layer of orange dirt that covers everything. At first the breeze was very welcome but then it picked up and got a bit much...hair, dirt and mud alternated hitting our sunglasses.
Two groups of Scotties have joined the lodge and the group from Edinburgh are quite fantastic - they actually managed to find a pub on Sunday and watch the world cup and we heard them return at midnight loud and clear - turns out they are so adorable that we couldn't hold it against them. They are here visiting a sister school that their school has partnered with. They were playing a very fun game of "ultimate vortex" when we got back today.
Synopsis - two teams of 3 players facing each other about 30 feet apart.
each team takes turns chucking the vortex (football like) at each other - teams earn a point if they strike the opponent in the head or crotch.
If a player flinches their team loses a point. First team to 15 points wins...very entertaining - oh to be 17 and 18 again!
Only one more full day of work - hard to believe our time here has nearly expired - Tadeo has collected our email addresses tonight so that he will be able to give us a post trip follow up of Grandma and the kids, as well as several of the other children that our group has really bonded with.
This morning Nancy popped into the computer room (I was attempting to fix last nights blog) and went 'psst' and waved me over to show me monkeys playing on the roof of the dining hall. We alerted the rest of the group and hunkered down for some monkey watching (they are not baboons but are velvet monkeys). Turns out they were really into the attention and several stopped to strike a pose for all the cameras, there were big ones, small ones, black and white but no colored ones ;)
I know that was lame but even worse was when Tadeo tried to explain that they could jump so far from branch to branch without fear of falling because they never lose their balance and someone said, "so of a monkey fell in the forest would anybody hear it?"- groan
We arrived and immediately helped to construct another set of scaffolds for another outside wall, again it was made by using a machete to chop off branches of nearby trees. Tadeo can wield a pretty mean machete!
When the chopping was done Vera posed for some pretty fun machete shots too.
I made my own scaffold using bricks and branches on one of the walls and Barb made one on her side with bricks and a 2 x 4 and we were in business.
Robin was back today - I really love working with him - he is a pretty tiny 55 ish man with a smile that lights up his whole face. He inspects our row of bricks and then says 'very nice' and gives me a thumbs up. Today we discovered he knows quite a bit more than 'very nice' as we had a bit of a mix up on the row and he counted from 1 to 12 in perfect English to determine the error! Then, he looked at me winked and high fived me, soooo funny.
Laxon spent the entire day working on the tapered peak of the one wall that we finished up yesterday - we are so close to that level on the opposite wall too. (maybe rafters tomorrow)
Babie's boss showed up right near quitting time in a shiny silver chrysler and we joked that it must be the building inspector... she was very personable.
The kids were most enthralled in the car...on hands and knees looking under it.
Once again they loved the skipping rope, soccer balls and the little rubber bouncy balls. They are even getting so comfortable with us that they reached right in to the van for the skipping rope - cheeky little darlings. They are talking to us a lot more this week too.
Totally exciting to see that our bricks are truly becoming a house...we have developed our own language for the bricks in our time here and have become quite brick snobs, in fact.
There are 2 main categories of bricks:
pretty bricks - for the exterior of the house - 2 types - long pretty and short pretty
shitty bricks - for interior walls - 2 types - OK shitty and really shitty...really shitty never make the walls. We also require 1/4, 1/2 and 3/4 bricks and often they originated as a shitty brick.
Occasionally on the ride home, we will see a pile of bricks and utter, 'hmm those are some good looking bricks'.
It was super windy today and we ate our lunch in the van to spare our food from the layer of orange dirt that covers everything. At first the breeze was very welcome but then it picked up and got a bit much...hair, dirt and mud alternated hitting our sunglasses.
Two groups of Scotties have joined the lodge and the group from Edinburgh are quite fantastic - they actually managed to find a pub on Sunday and watch the world cup and we heard them return at midnight loud and clear - turns out they are so adorable that we couldn't hold it against them. They are here visiting a sister school that their school has partnered with. They were playing a very fun game of "ultimate vortex" when we got back today.
Synopsis - two teams of 3 players facing each other about 30 feet apart.
each team takes turns chucking the vortex (football like) at each other - teams earn a point if they strike the opponent in the head or crotch.
If a player flinches their team loses a point. First team to 15 points wins...very entertaining - oh to be 17 and 18 again!
Only one more full day of work - hard to believe our time here has nearly expired - Tadeo has collected our email addresses tonight so that he will be able to give us a post trip follow up of Grandma and the kids, as well as several of the other children that our group has really bonded with.
Monday, July 12, 2010
back at work
link to photos
Saw a cemetery on drive to work - they are hidden in the bushes and I had mentioned that I have never seen one but a few had spotted them so pointed it out, today the coffin shop had children's boxes on display, so terribly sad - makes me very grateful to be Canadian every day.
Was great to get back to the house today and continue with the build. Robin was off again today - this time in Chitikale on business but we did much better than Friday as we had Tadeo to translate. After working alongside a couple of teenage boys for about 30 minutes one of the started to recite the 6 continents, I asked if he knew which continent Canada was on but he did not, at one point I was uncertain if he was following the entire conversation and I guess his buddy didn't want to be outdone so he broke into 'I've got a feeling' by the Black Eyed Peas - the wonders of satellite radio! The walls are beyond our reach now and so we are using barrels as make shift scaffolding to reach.
Barb was on lunch duty today and the local ladies were baffled I am sure by all the photos of her cutting tomatoes and stirring the pot - those who know her well can appreciate why it was a Kodak moment.
Once again we had moments of downtime as Laxon cannot always stay ahead of us.
We got our first taste of sugar cane today and the group was mixed in their assessment of it. It is about the diameter of loonie and you bit off chunks chew and swallow the juice then spit out the solid - not my favorite but well worth the experience.
Went for a walk to the waterhole/creek that is used for laundry and I suspect bathing. Stopped to assist an older gentleman tie his load back onto his bicycle - he struggled to keep the bike balanced, place the load and tie it down. He was very thankful and spoke English quite well. The water hole has a very nice beachy area alongside it but the water does not flow quickly so it is more bog like than stream.
Upon return, the men were building scaffold out of the tree beside the house and so we took the time to bring out a coloring book and crayons - what a hit and how focused they quickly became, it was soon evident that they were no strangers to coloring as each child balanced the flimsy papers on their laps and outlined the image and then filled it - many never went outside the lines. Again their giggles are musical.
By the end of our work day we have 4 exterior walls that are nearly at their peak and ready for rafters, the support wall in the inside is almost as tall and the dividing walls between the bedrooms and the storage closet are getting to the 5 foot marks too - so exciting. We know that we will not be finished the house before we leave on Thursday afternoon but we are hopeful that the exterior will be done.
Prior to leaving I played catch with a soft ball about the size of a hardball and must say he could be a future goldeye - very excellent hand eye coordination. Soon there were several youngsters joining in. Sue L introduced them to a bit of baseball as she hit the ball with a makeshift bat - they were quite impressed.
It was hotter out today than any other day - must have been in the mid to high 20's and the heat brought our first encounter with flies, we thought that maybe Africa didn't have them.
Meag lent her copy of Long Way Home to Tadeo as he is very interested in reading some of our books - it is such a good choice.
He is still addicted to YouTube and was talking about how he watched some WWE Smackdown this morning - I fear I have created an addict!
Tonight we were attacked by a rather large flying worm that buzzes like a bee - makes the lion pig sound normal doesn't it?
Happy 40th Derrick!
XO
hugs to Robyn, Kylie, Dillon, Conner, Cooper and Ryanne - miss you all and look forward to seeing you soon!
ps the monkeys are not baboons - saw 4 more on the roof of the cafeteria at breakfast
Sunday, July 11, 2010
best day ever
link to best day ever and soccer photos:
http://picasaweb.google.com/105226841757151966002/AfricaJuly11?authkey=Gv1sRgCOfW2YbFlvqEoQE&feat=directlink
In no time we were back at the lodge boarding the van for the big game (see other post). The community if very near to Juma, we arrived around lunch time and discovered the students were eating lunch so we took a tour of a couple of the Habitat houses that Tadeo had coordinated the builds for in February. The one area had only women and children - not a single guy - Tadeo said it is sadly common for the men to run away.
We were also able to take a small tour of the exterior of the school buildings and peak in the windows and view their timetable, saw a great poster on one wall -
Girls wait to get married - get an education first!
Then it was game time!
The ride home was quieter than most only because people were either totally bagged or were chowing down on the oranges that Nancy had individually wrapped and sent along with Kevin for us. Spirits were very high nonetheless.
Back at the lodge, some showered, others headed to the pools, Barb and I did a bit of laundry in the sink and as I was hanging it on our newly hung clothesline I could hear some rustling in the trees and sure enough my first monkey siting overhead. (Ken, Sue and Meag saw some yesterday). I was so excited I couldn't leave my spot, once I was certain they were going to hang around for a while I grabbed Karyn from the dorm, then I got Barb from the bathroom and we spent the next 10 minutes watching 4 small baboons swing around, eat, and occasionally argue with one another, by this time Marleen, Lisa and Vera were back to the room and they got to see them too!
Supper was a wonderful casserole -spaghetti, green beans, carrots and ground beef with a good old cheese topping - can you say seconds everybody?
Nancy also brewed some locally grown coffee - would give Tim's a run for their money for sure.
(we drove by Nancy's soon to be restaurant on the way back from Namulenga - she just got her loan approved - it is very beautiful and has potted plants and a landscaped yard)
xo
http://picasaweb.google.com/105226841757151966002/AfricaJuly11?authkey=Gv1sRgCOfW2YbFlvqEoQE&feat=directlink
Woke up and grabbed a quick bite to eat, made an outdoor clothesline to dry some of our stuff that never seems to lose that damp feel, it is very sunny today.
Some ventured back to the curios to do some more purchasing others had a bit of a rest and Barb and I headed down to the pools (smaller versions of the waterfalls) to read and catch some rays. Ironically enough the spot we chose had a tree stand on either side of the river that looked a lot like a lifeguard chair but both of us agreed that being on an emergency flight home from Malawi due to falling out of a tree stand for a photo opp would not be a great thing.
In no time we were back at the lodge boarding the van for the big game (see other post). The community if very near to Juma, we arrived around lunch time and discovered the students were eating lunch so we took a tour of a couple of the Habitat houses that Tadeo had coordinated the builds for in February. The one area had only women and children - not a single guy - Tadeo said it is sadly common for the men to run away.
We were also able to take a small tour of the exterior of the school buildings and peak in the windows and view their timetable, saw a great poster on one wall -
Girls wait to get married - get an education first!
Then it was game time!
The ride home was quieter than most only because people were either totally bagged or were chowing down on the oranges that Nancy had individually wrapped and sent along with Kevin for us. Spirits were very high nonetheless.
Back at the lodge, some showered, others headed to the pools, Barb and I did a bit of laundry in the sink and as I was hanging it on our newly hung clothesline I could hear some rustling in the trees and sure enough my first monkey siting overhead. (Ken, Sue and Meag saw some yesterday). I was so excited I couldn't leave my spot, once I was certain they were going to hang around for a while I grabbed Karyn from the dorm, then I got Barb from the bathroom and we spent the next 10 minutes watching 4 small baboons swing around, eat, and occasionally argue with one another, by this time Marleen, Lisa and Vera were back to the room and they got to see them too!
Supper was a wonderful casserole -spaghetti, green beans, carrots and ground beef with a good old cheese topping - can you say seconds everybody?
Nancy also brewed some locally grown coffee - would give Tim's a run for their money for sure.
(we drove by Nancy's soon to be restaurant on the way back from Namulenga - she just got her loan approved - it is very beautiful and has potted plants and a landscaped yard)
xo
Game On!
While the rest of the World was tuned into Spain vs Netherlands, via satellite and cable TV, battle it out in South Africa, the village of Namulanga was watching Canada vs Africa LIVE.
Who know our opposition would show up with soccer uniforms (and one player in soccer cleats)? Tadeo said our jerseys were better and pointed to our white arms :)
Daunting as the full uniforms were, we knew that we were in trouble when the coach strolled across the field with a notebook in his hand.
The score at water break (or possibly half time) was a very comfortable 1-0 in favor of Team Africa.
Freshly hydrated, Team Canada returned to the pitch and were most grateful that in addition to our 'imports' Tadeo and Limbani, several other onlookers had become team Canada members. Every few minutes another body would join the field and once again smiles and laughter require no translators. Soon, their coach was even playing with us.
At one point, I was not certain what the peals of laughter and squeals on my sideline were a result of and then out of the corner of my eye I noticed that random girls were being subbed into the game as I caught sight of a girl handing off her jersey.
It was a game I will not soon forget.
Post game we asked the coach (he is one of their teachers) if we could shake hands. He called his team over and then invited everyone to form a circle and join hands so we could speak to one another. He invited Kevin to speak first and he thanked our host team for the opportunity to get some exercise and enjoy the glorious weather. I thanked to players who joined our side and allowed us to maintain a most respectable 2-0 loss.
Their coach then shared with us that this was the first ever organized game his school girls (and a few boys) had ever played and he hope it was a sign of many future ones that would begin a tradition of girls football. He then invited us to return again to Africa to play again, adding with a giggle that next time we should bring better players!
We then shook hands one by one all the way around the circle - was really neat.
The boy and girl holding my hand were very anxious to talk to me and exchanged names and the boy said, 'it is evident you have played before' I was most flattered. They then asked my age and looked very shocked and made me repeat it and I am quite certain that the 'holy sheesh' out of his mouth sounded a lot like 'holy shit' - thinking I'll take that as a compliment too.
I asked Kevin if I could leave the Canada frisbee that I had brought along with the coach and Marleen also left one, as we drove away in the van they were already once again airborn.
good times !!
Saturday, July 10, 2010
Climbing Mount Mulanje
link to photos: http://picasaweb.google.com/105226841757151966002/AfricaDay5July10?authkey=Gv1sRgCLL9kN7VoqCTHg&feat=directlink
We were up bright and early even though it was our day off, as the kitchen was going to be busy preparing for the big race.
Then, we strolled down to the Curio Shops to purchase some souvenirs, pretty sure everyone would agree that it was quite an experience.
There were a pile of people milling around as the racers would soon be down the mountain - unbelievable to see them running to the finish line in bare feet - their race was 25 km in total but through unbelievable terrain and a very large incline.
After we were done spending all our Kwacha (and for Sue trading off clothing for goods!) we were ready for lunch and our trip up to the waterfall.
Taylor was still in the process of having her hair braided so not all of the group made the hike. Turns out it was not your typical hike and our respect for the porters that raced in earlier in the day rose exponentially. The terrain was pretty steep, we crossed small streams, required several rest stops and the view along the way was breathtaking! The waterfalls were stunning and every huff and puff to reach them was well worth it. Kevin jumped into the water and pretty soon the words 'hey Barb if you go in I will' slipped out of my mouth and Barb stripped down to her swimsuit and dove in, I was close behind her and the water was sooooo cold but I forced her to wait in with me until we could get a photo. Crazy to be treading water halfway up a mountain in Africa, Meag and Karyn were hot on our heels with full clothes on and in no time Sue K joined us too. We took an alternate route back to the lodge that was equally beautiful but much less treacherous - I made Barb pose so that it looked as though she were swinging off a vine and as she passed Lisa she said 'excuse me while I go swing off that vine', Lisa's response was no way can I let you do that!
good times!
Total trip - 1 hour up - 45 minutes down
tomorrow up at 6 so we can be to Church by 8 am in Juma - after Church we will have a soccer match versus some of our new friends - thankfully Tadeo and Limbani will play on our team so we may not get slaughtered so badly!! ;)
xo
Congratulations Tim and Laura - hope your Wedding Day is awesome!!
We were up bright and early even though it was our day off, as the kitchen was going to be busy preparing for the big race.
Then, we strolled down to the Curio Shops to purchase some souvenirs, pretty sure everyone would agree that it was quite an experience.
There were a pile of people milling around as the racers would soon be down the mountain - unbelievable to see them running to the finish line in bare feet - their race was 25 km in total but through unbelievable terrain and a very large incline.
After we were done spending all our Kwacha (and for Sue trading off clothing for goods!) we were ready for lunch and our trip up to the waterfall.
Taylor was still in the process of having her hair braided so not all of the group made the hike. Turns out it was not your typical hike and our respect for the porters that raced in earlier in the day rose exponentially. The terrain was pretty steep, we crossed small streams, required several rest stops and the view along the way was breathtaking! The waterfalls were stunning and every huff and puff to reach them was well worth it. Kevin jumped into the water and pretty soon the words 'hey Barb if you go in I will' slipped out of my mouth and Barb stripped down to her swimsuit and dove in, I was close behind her and the water was sooooo cold but I forced her to wait in with me until we could get a photo. Crazy to be treading water halfway up a mountain in Africa, Meag and Karyn were hot on our heels with full clothes on and in no time Sue K joined us too. We took an alternate route back to the lodge that was equally beautiful but much less treacherous - I made Barb pose so that it looked as though she were swinging off a vine and as she passed Lisa she said 'excuse me while I go swing off that vine', Lisa's response was no way can I let you do that!
good times!
Total trip - 1 hour up - 45 minutes down
tomorrow up at 6 so we can be to Church by 8 am in Juma - after Church we will have a soccer match versus some of our new friends - thankfully Tadeo and Limbani will play on our team so we may not get slaughtered so badly!! ;)
xo
Congratulations Tim and Laura - hope your Wedding Day is awesome!!
Friday, July 9, 2010
Friday in Mulanje District
link to photos:
http://picasaweb.google.com/105226841757151966002/AfricaDay4July9?authkey=Gv1sRgCJL49qHcttGlfg&feat=directlink
Today is market trading day and so Chitikale was hopping. People everywhere selling their goods off of blankets spread on the ground, we stopped and purchased a couple live chickens to transport to Juma with us - a few were disturbed to learn they would become todays' lunch. There were several 'Lion- pig' jokes along the ride, surprisingly enough the first one was made by Tadeo and directed at Barb - his sense of humour has come a long way in 4 days!
He has mentioned we may watch the World Cup final game tomorrow - the group is split between Spain and Belgium.
The work site was different today as Robin was sick at home and both Tadeo and Babie had to leave to attend meetings and do office work so we had a new leader named Jahn and no translators - we did very well with hand signals.
Turns out that Jahn also knew more English than we thought he did.
Work was slow though as several teenage boys also appeared today to help out so we had way more hands than jobs to do.
This allowed for opportunities to play with the kids, walk around the community and visit. The soccer balls that Taylor and Deb brought were big hits as was the skipping rope once again.
Grandma's wound got redressed and it is uncertain as to whether or not Marleen felt there was improvement but it has only been one day.
By day's end the interior walls were nearly as high as the exterior ones are and so Babie will drive to Blantyre tomorrow to purchase the timbers (used for the roof)
The only glitch we have if you can even call it one is that there is rarely hot water for showers, they are solar powered and the other group staying at the lodge gets in earlier than us and so the hot has run out by the time we get to it. We have improvised very well using water bottles and the sink to wash our hair - boy is it very dirty - the water turns rather orange in color, all the dust from the bricks.
Not gonna lie passed on the chicken for lunch - definitely not because they travelled in the van with us or I happened to stumble across the man that killed them as he was doing it but mostly because they were cooked in the same pot as their heads and feet - yup I wussed out on it...the rice and cooked veggies were fantastic though!
Tadeo arrived for supper a tad late and was most concerned because he could not make you tube work and so I am to help him out with it later.
Many members of the trip have cam corders here and so we have told both he and Nancy that we will film them and post it onto YouTube when we get home and I will send them each an email so they can watch it - they are stoked - now I will need a lesson on how one posts to YouTube!! :) pretty sure all of my SCI students could do it.
Tomorrow is the annual race up Mount Mulanje and the hike that normally takes about 5 hours will be done in about 2 by the winner - we are hoping to catch them at the finish line. The lodge is preparing lunch for 450 participants!!
http://picasaweb.google.com/105226841757151966002/AfricaDay4July9?authkey=Gv1sRgCJL49qHcttGlfg&feat=directlink
Today is market trading day and so Chitikale was hopping. People everywhere selling their goods off of blankets spread on the ground, we stopped and purchased a couple live chickens to transport to Juma with us - a few were disturbed to learn they would become todays' lunch. There were several 'Lion- pig' jokes along the ride, surprisingly enough the first one was made by Tadeo and directed at Barb - his sense of humour has come a long way in 4 days!
He has mentioned we may watch the World Cup final game tomorrow - the group is split between Spain and Belgium.
The work site was different today as Robin was sick at home and both Tadeo and Babie had to leave to attend meetings and do office work so we had a new leader named Jahn and no translators - we did very well with hand signals.
Turns out that Jahn also knew more English than we thought he did.
Work was slow though as several teenage boys also appeared today to help out so we had way more hands than jobs to do.
This allowed for opportunities to play with the kids, walk around the community and visit. The soccer balls that Taylor and Deb brought were big hits as was the skipping rope once again.
Grandma's wound got redressed and it is uncertain as to whether or not Marleen felt there was improvement but it has only been one day.
By day's end the interior walls were nearly as high as the exterior ones are and so Babie will drive to Blantyre tomorrow to purchase the timbers (used for the roof)
The only glitch we have if you can even call it one is that there is rarely hot water for showers, they are solar powered and the other group staying at the lodge gets in earlier than us and so the hot has run out by the time we get to it. We have improvised very well using water bottles and the sink to wash our hair - boy is it very dirty - the water turns rather orange in color, all the dust from the bricks.
Not gonna lie passed on the chicken for lunch - definitely not because they travelled in the van with us or I happened to stumble across the man that killed them as he was doing it but mostly because they were cooked in the same pot as their heads and feet - yup I wussed out on it...the rice and cooked veggies were fantastic though!
Tadeo arrived for supper a tad late and was most concerned because he could not make you tube work and so I am to help him out with it later.
Many members of the trip have cam corders here and so we have told both he and Nancy that we will film them and post it onto YouTube when we get home and I will send them each an email so they can watch it - they are stoked - now I will need a lesson on how one posts to YouTube!! :) pretty sure all of my SCI students could do it.
Tomorrow is the annual race up Mount Mulanje and the hike that normally takes about 5 hours will be done in about 2 by the winner - we are hoping to catch them at the finish line. The lodge is preparing lunch for 450 participants!!
Thursday, July 8, 2010
full day at site
link to photos:
http://picasaweb.google.com/105226841757151966002/AfricaDay3July8?authkey=Gv1sRgCNLr7L3i0rmRfQ&feat=directlink
this is what I would have posted last night - didn't get to it:
today we made huge progress, the walls are all between 5 and 6 feet high, 2 doors and 3 windows have been positioned in place.
The morning, on site, began emotionally as Marleen sterilized and wrapped Grandma's hand. Shorai's translation told Grandma that Marleen would continue to change the dressing while we are here and they all had some happy tears.
Today Vera and I were prep cooks and had an opportunity to visit more with Babie, he has a college degree in construction engineering with plans to continue University engineering. His wife has just finished a college program in nutrition. They have a 14 year old and 10 year old that they want to send to college and they are saving. His habitat salary is 2000 Kwacha/month with a living allowance of 1000 Kwacha (yes that is about $27 total). University cost 6000 Kwacha per term...I felt pretty crappy knowing I had just spent 2500 Kwacha on a kettle on the day previous. Also makes me ill knowing I still have 15500 Kwacha for souvenirs.
He also told us that Grandma is essentially the grandma of most of the children we see as we build. The 6 houses in the immediate vicinity of hers were her 6 children's. Tadeo's office chose her and the 3 kids for the home because they lost both parents to AIDS, the other 5 children of hers died to AIDS but have living spouses to parent. Juma's wife died 3 months ago.
Relaying this info to Barb made her think of her friend Stacy who teaches a book to her grade 9's called "the Heaven Shop" it is written by a Canadian about an orphanage in a town at the base of the Mulanje and about a family that owned a coffin shop. There are several coffin shops that we have seen and Barb took a photo for Stacy to use with the novel study. It is almost as if we have found the setting of the book.
Barb brought a skipping rope to work today and it is apparent that smiles, belly laughs and playing are universal languages!!
We are finding the on site staff and community very at ease with our presence.
Did not send the blog last night as I used my online time showing Tadeo 'bears' on google. On the bus ride home they were described as a 'cross between a pig and Lion' he was intrigued (and pretty confused - good descriptor, eh?)
that led to you tube video of a bear attacking a caribou, which led to googling caribou, moose, deer, then Nancy joined us and we went back to you tube and she was thrilled with the Bob Marley music we listened too. She also was intrigued by the bears, antelope etc. We spent about an hour searching and watching and Tadeo copied and pasted the sites to his 'yahoo' mail account. I also wrote out 'you tube' for him - I think he will be a fan.
He said he hasn't used a computer much since getting this job in November, his government job had him on one a lot, now he is on his cellphone and texting mostly. There are cell phones and everywhere (several ipods too). Africa skipped the land line infrastructure and are into wireless communications.
Lisa stayed back today as she has had some stomach issues and did not want to push it, everyone else is doing well.
http://picasaweb.google.com/105226841757151966002/AfricaDay3July8?authkey=Gv1sRgCNLr7L3i0rmRfQ&feat=directlink
this is what I would have posted last night - didn't get to it:
today we made huge progress, the walls are all between 5 and 6 feet high, 2 doors and 3 windows have been positioned in place.
The morning, on site, began emotionally as Marleen sterilized and wrapped Grandma's hand. Shorai's translation told Grandma that Marleen would continue to change the dressing while we are here and they all had some happy tears.
Today Vera and I were prep cooks and had an opportunity to visit more with Babie, he has a college degree in construction engineering with plans to continue University engineering. His wife has just finished a college program in nutrition. They have a 14 year old and 10 year old that they want to send to college and they are saving. His habitat salary is 2000 Kwacha/month with a living allowance of 1000 Kwacha (yes that is about $27 total). University cost 6000 Kwacha per term...I felt pretty crappy knowing I had just spent 2500 Kwacha on a kettle on the day previous. Also makes me ill knowing I still have 15500 Kwacha for souvenirs.
He also told us that Grandma is essentially the grandma of most of the children we see as we build. The 6 houses in the immediate vicinity of hers were her 6 children's. Tadeo's office chose her and the 3 kids for the home because they lost both parents to AIDS, the other 5 children of hers died to AIDS but have living spouses to parent. Juma's wife died 3 months ago.
Relaying this info to Barb made her think of her friend Stacy who teaches a book to her grade 9's called "the Heaven Shop" it is written by a Canadian about an orphanage in a town at the base of the Mulanje and about a family that owned a coffin shop. There are several coffin shops that we have seen and Barb took a photo for Stacy to use with the novel study. It is almost as if we have found the setting of the book.
Barb brought a skipping rope to work today and it is apparent that smiles, belly laughs and playing are universal languages!!
We are finding the on site staff and community very at ease with our presence.
Did not send the blog last night as I used my online time showing Tadeo 'bears' on google. On the bus ride home they were described as a 'cross between a pig and Lion' he was intrigued (and pretty confused - good descriptor, eh?)
that led to you tube video of a bear attacking a caribou, which led to googling caribou, moose, deer, then Nancy joined us and we went back to you tube and she was thrilled with the Bob Marley music we listened too. She also was intrigued by the bears, antelope etc. We spent about an hour searching and watching and Tadeo copied and pasted the sites to his 'yahoo' mail account. I also wrote out 'you tube' for him - I think he will be a fan.
He said he hasn't used a computer much since getting this job in November, his government job had him on one a lot, now he is on his cellphone and texting mostly. There are cell phones and everywhere (several ipods too). Africa skipped the land line infrastructure and are into wireless communications.
Lisa stayed back today as she has had some stomach issues and did not want to push it, everyone else is doing well.
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
A hodge podge of information
link to photos:
http://picasaweb.google.com/105226841757151966002/AfricaDay2July7?authkey=Gv1sRgCPPz2e29nOTnrAE&feat=directlink
Our wonderful Habitat staff includes:
Shorai - I now know how to spell her name - she is the Malawi HFH contact and our key leader
Tadeo - field officer for OVC (0rphans and other vulnerable children) - he beat out 400 other applicants for the job.
Robin - he is our master mason - he inspects every row we build before we can proceed.
Juma- the village chief - the village is named after him - his father, grandfather etc were previous chiefs
Laxon - a local contractor
Limbani - drives our mini van filled with 15 people to and from the site everyday
Nancy - the Likhubula house director
Babie - he is the HFH contractor for our job (Bobby)
our HFH family - grandma and Thandizo (14), Margarite (10) and Grace (8) lost their parents 4 years ago to AIDS.
other Cliff Claven like tidbits:
6 am - most amazing sunrise reflects off of Mount Mulanje onto our site
6 pm - sunset and almost immediate drop of 10 degrees in temperature
daytime - mid 20's Celsius
night time - see your breathe cold!
we have 3 showers and 3 toilets for 11 ladies and we are managing expertly
they have termite hills rather than ant hills that are up to 3 feet high
This Saturday is the annual race up Mount Mulanje and people come from surrounding countries to participate
Without a voltage converter it is possible to FRY your coffeepot on the first day of making coffee :(
goat meat is super chewy and rather like beef jerky - you could chew it forever
fuel cost $1.60 / litre
Juma's population is roughly 400 people
coffee is instant
Habitat has built 20 houses in this district in the last 9 months
Coca - Cola is everywhere!! seriously even in Juma!
tea is grown locally
Barb excels at brushing off signals (third base coach - like)
churches seen so far - Anglican, Lutheran, Islamic, Catholic
the highway is new and named after the president of Zimbabwe
the only vehicle owners are business people or government employees
our own HFH mason slogan is: total mortar combat (oops I mean coverage)
slip up of the day - nearly diving over the seat when the van begins t0 roll away after Shorai and Tadeo hopped out only to realize the driver was sitting on the right side and actually driving the van down the hill - nearly as bad as hopping into the driver's seat of the van in London thinking it was the passenger seat.
k-8 education is free but a very large number of children do not attend.
Quote of the day: "Tadeo you lay bricks like a girl"
Happy Birthday Chrissy!
http://picasaweb.google.com/105226841757151966002/AfricaDay2July7?authkey=Gv1sRgCPPz2e29nOTnrAE&feat=directlink
Our wonderful Habitat staff includes:
Shorai - I now know how to spell her name - she is the Malawi HFH contact and our key leader
Tadeo - field officer for OVC (0rphans and other vulnerable children) - he beat out 400 other applicants for the job.
Robin - he is our master mason - he inspects every row we build before we can proceed.
Juma- the village chief - the village is named after him - his father, grandfather etc were previous chiefs
Laxon - a local contractor
Limbani - drives our mini van filled with 15 people to and from the site everyday
Nancy - the Likhubula house director
Babie - he is the HFH contractor for our job (Bobby)
our HFH family - grandma and Thandizo (14), Margarite (10) and Grace (8) lost their parents 4 years ago to AIDS.
other Cliff Claven like tidbits:
6 am - most amazing sunrise reflects off of Mount Mulanje onto our site
6 pm - sunset and almost immediate drop of 10 degrees in temperature
daytime - mid 20's Celsius
night time - see your breathe cold!
we have 3 showers and 3 toilets for 11 ladies and we are managing expertly
they have termite hills rather than ant hills that are up to 3 feet high
This Saturday is the annual race up Mount Mulanje and people come from surrounding countries to participate
Without a voltage converter it is possible to FRY your coffeepot on the first day of making coffee :(
goat meat is super chewy and rather like beef jerky - you could chew it forever
fuel cost $1.60 / litre
Juma's population is roughly 400 people
coffee is instant
Habitat has built 20 houses in this district in the last 9 months
Coca - Cola is everywhere!! seriously even in Juma!
tea is grown locally
Barb excels at brushing off signals (third base coach - like)
churches seen so far - Anglican, Lutheran, Islamic, Catholic
the highway is new and named after the president of Zimbabwe
the only vehicle owners are business people or government employees
our own HFH mason slogan is: total mortar combat (oops I mean coverage)
slip up of the day - nearly diving over the seat when the van begins t0 roll away after Shorai and Tadeo hopped out only to realize the driver was sitting on the right side and actually driving the van down the hill - nearly as bad as hopping into the driver's seat of the van in London thinking it was the passenger seat.
k-8 education is free but a very large number of children do not attend.
Quote of the day: "Tadeo you lay bricks like a girl"
Happy Birthday Chrissy!
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