You may be wondering...

..who I am:
My name is Amanda Baxley and I am from the teeny town of Hartsville, South Carolina. I went to the College of Charleston and graduated in 2006 with a BA in Biology and a minor in Psychology. After taking a year off to work, I got accepted to the Medical University of South Carolina College of Nursing. I graduated from the Accelerated BSN program this past December and am now officially a RN!!! I have had the same amazing boyfriend for the past 4 years now and will hopefully be lucky enough to be engaged to him very soon! And I definitely can't go without mentioning the other love in my life...my sweet, adorable 4 year old Daschund named Sadie. She is my best friend and always beside me!

...what this blog is all about:
Giving others a chance to experience Livingstone, Zambia right along with me.

...when I will be in Zambia:
From January 31 until March 2 of this year.

...where Livingstone, Zambia is located:
Livingstone is the current capital of Zambia, a country in the southern portion of Africa. Livingstone is approximately 10km south of Victoria Falls, one of the largest waterfalls in the world.

...why I am going there:
To provide healthcare to the disadvantaged citizens of Livingstone. Zambia is one of the world's poorest countries in the world and, as a result, healthcare is ineffecient. Because of the lack of adequate healthcare and health related education, Zambia is one of the countries in Sub-Saharan Africa most affected by HIV and AIDS. Growing up, I was lucky enough to see the way that my dad cared about people other than himself. So...long story short, about 10 months ago, I made the decision to go to Zambia so that I could begin using my medical skills like my father used his - to help those that are unable (no matter what the reason) to help themselves.

“For the first time in human history, we have the science, the technology, and the money to end extreme poverty. With this unprecedented historic opportunity comes the responsibility to act”.

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

February 21, 2009

Today I went to Zambezi Sun for the first time! I can’t believe that I have been here for almost 3 weeks now and have not been to this resort yet. The staff let African Impact volunteers use the pool on the weekends – as long as we buy a drink or something while we are there. It is an amazing place and would be such a cool place to go on your honeymoon b/c it is right beside Vic Falls! I mean, it literally took us 2 minutes to walk to the falls from the pool! Amazing!! While you lay out by the pool, there is a band over by the bar that plays really relaxing African music. They had all these African instruments that made the music sound even better than it already was. While we were at the pool swimming and sunbathing, a herd of zebra walked by the pool on the way to go munch on some grass!! Yeah….an actual herd of zebra! How cool is it that I am now able to say, “So…the other day, I was laying out by the pool and looked up from reading my book, only to realize that about 7 or 8 zebra were coming towards me”! Yeah…pretty awesome huh?! I was absolutely speechless but was able to grab my camera and get a pretty good video of the whole thing. About an hour later, I was lying in the shallow end of the pool still reading the book when, out of the corner of my eye, I thought I saw something move. Well, I looked up and saw a monkey running over to where my lounge chair was. I had heard that the monkeys around this resort were really notorious for stealing food and other things from the guests at the pool. So, as soon as I saw the monkey making its way towards my lounge chair, I just knew that he had his mind set on getting something of mine. I started to climb out of the pool to try and go stop the monkey but as soon as I stood up, I saw him hop on my chair, reach over to the table beside the chair, and steal my pack of breath savers that I had opened just 15 minutes before. I was so surprised that I just kind of loudly said “Hey! That monkey just stole my mints!!” My waiter just happened to be nearby at the time and promptly decided to throw down his tray and run after the monkey. So…just imagine seeing this….a red butted monkey (that also had really obvious, crazy looking blue balls) sprinting across a lawn with a stolen pack of mints in his mouth – and following quickly behind is a young, African, sharply dressed waiter that has a look of absolute determination on his face. He didn’t catch up with the monkey but it was absolutely hilarious…and now that monkey has some serious fresh breath.

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