The Zambezi River

I went whitewater rafting today with a girl named Gemi - she is another medical volunteer for African Impact. We rafted on the Zambezi river, right below Victoria Falls. It was so much fun!!!! We have every weekend off from our projects so we have to do our excursions on either a Saturday or Sunday. Our guide for the day was a Zambian man who goes by the nickname of "Baby face". We really lucked out by getting this guide because he is a really fun person and really knew what he was doing.......thank god! :) There was a point in the rafting trip where we were able to get out of the raft, climb up the side of the canyon, and jump off the cliff into the Zambezi - but only if we wanted to. Well, of course I chose to do it. You could choose to jump from the lower level cliff or from the higher level cliff. Well, of course I chose to jump from the higher one. It was so freaking high.....but it was so thrilling to do. I'm glad that I did it. After we got back into the raft, we had some really scary rapids ahead of us. Well...one of the rapids that we went over was named Terminator 2. :) It definitely got the best of us....as soon as we hit the rapid, it flipped the boat over and we all went flying out. As I was being thrown out of the boat, I was hit in the mouth by someone's paddle. Pretty hilarious huh??!!! When I came up out of the water, my immediate reaction was to put my hand to my mouth and check and see if my teeth were still there....and I found that all of them were still in the right place but my mouth was already bruised and swollen. Looking back now, it is really, really funny but at the time....it was really scary. The rest of the trip was so much fun and I soon forgot about my busted lip - although the mirror reminded me about it later. The canyon surrounding the Zambezi river is absolutely beautiful! Gemi and I both said later that it was exactly the way we imagine heaven to be with little waterfalls everywhere and the greenest plants you have ever seen - absolutely incredible. This trip was definitely one for the record books and I can't wait to be able to post all the pictures from it!!!!

First day at one of the clinics...

February 4, 2009
Wow….sitting on the couch in the common room after my first day of projects. I went to Dwamba clinic in the morning and triaged with Sally. I saw soooo many sick people….adults and babies alike. It was amazing to see these people…they were so sick but still so willing to wait until the doctor was able to see them. There was only one doctor there today and these ladies, with like three sick babies a piece, were so patient and cooperative. I specifically remember one lady who had a child with an incredibly high temperature (like 100.5)….this baby was unable to hold its head up (and it should have been able to at 6 months old!) and its eyes were rolling back in its head. She was so sick and it was so scary to really not be able to do that much for her.
After the clinic, we went back to the house where we had a language lesson. Victor taught us some common words that are used in one of the 12 languages here in Zambia (there are 73 tribes!!!!). I kept a sheet from the lesson and am ready to be able to understand at least a small part of an African language. It impresses me though to see the HUGE amount of natives here that speak English. So impressive….
I then went out to the farms in the afternoon and “slashed” the fields. This was an incredibly difficult job and one that has already given me blisters. You “slash” the fields by swinging this long machete type tool back and forth like you would a golf club. The long fields are cut back like this so that the ground can be used to plant crops – they use it in place of a lawnmower (they don’t have those here). On the Mwramba farms the crops are grown and sold to local restaurants. The money that is made from this is used to support the town orphanage. The ladies that run the farm do it completely voluntarily – no pay whatsoever. Isn’t that incredible?
So, I “slashed” the fields for two and a half hours (yeah….really tired….couldn’t imagine doing it everyday like the ladies that own the farm do) then waited on the bus to come pick us up. While I was waiting, some of the orphans started doing back flips in the air for me so that I would take pictures of them. I took a picture of each one mid-flip. As soon as they were done with their flip, they would run to me, grab hold of my arm, and beg to see the picture. They were so amazed by the fact that they could see themselves on the screen – it was so freaking cute and I could have done it for hours…..

Afternoon of February 3

Just completed my medical induction. The medical project coordinator is a Zambian native by the name of Brave. He is a very animated, verbose (to say the least) man but also a man that is very, very inspiring. He said many, many things that I found myself tearing up over. He was speaking about Africa and how important we as medical volunteers are. He was talking to us about the attitude of the Zambian people and how all Zambians treat one another equally. He says that no matter what region of Zambia a person is from, they all treat each other the same. They intermarry across regions and it is not looked down upon b/c they respect each other – they are one Zambian people. He then said something that gave me goosebumps – he looked at me and asked “If you cut yourself with a pair of scissors, blood will drop on the floor. The blood that will run out of your body will be red. If I cut myself with a pair of scissors, blood will drop on the floor. The blood that will run out of my body will be red. The same color, the same blood – no difference.” Obviously there is emotion that gets lost in translation. But, the heartfelt meaning/truthfulness that I heard in his voice is something that will always be understood.

Patience is definitely a virtue..

The internet connection in Livingstone, Zambia is so temperamental - if there is one cloud in the sky, then there is no internet connection for the ENTIRE day. Getting on the internet has been so difficult here.....the closest free Wi-fi place, which is a cool little restaurant called Zig-Zag, is about 2-3 miles away from the African Impact house.....so, I make this walk pretty much everyday - and I never know if I will even be able to get on the internet when I get there. It really makes me realize how much I rely on the internet for communication.....and how the internet really is quite a luxury that all of us in the US take advantage of. I also can't post pictures to the blog because it takes SOOO long to load them on to the blog because of the internet connection.....but, if I continue to find that I am unable to post the pics, then I will definitely post a whole slideshow of them when I get home. Since I haven't been able to keep up with the blog over the last couple of days, I have been journaling most every day. I'm going to post them as separate entries......


February 3, 2009

Raining now…the first time since I got here. It’s absolutely beautiful and so relaxing. Victor has African music playing in the background as I sit at the bar writing. I can’t believe that I am actually in Zambia. It still really hasn’t hit me yet I guess. Today we went around to all the places that we are going to working (induction is what they call it here instead of orientation). Rosie showed us around a couple of schools, a clinic, neighborhoods, farms, and the hospice house. It is really not what I signed up for seeing that I am not going to be doing that much medical work (other than taking vital signs) but a deeper part of me says that I am still making somewhat of a difference. When we showed up at the schools today the kids ran out of their classrooms to greet us. They all had huge smiles on their mud-caked faces and really wanted to just say hello to us and touch us. Several little boys ran up to me as I walked into the classroom and grabbed my hands and just held them and stroked them. It was absolutely amazing and still gives me goosebumps when I think of the pure admiration and gratefulness that I saw in their eyes. As they grabbed my hands they would shout “Teacher, teacher” and just look up at me and smile. I bent down, smiled, and proceeded to teach them the “fist bump” (closing your hand into a fist and bumping knuckles together). They caught on so quickly and wanted to do it over and over again. They are all so adorable and I want all of them to come home with me.
As we arrived, along with saying “Teacher, teacher”, they would also add in the Zambian name for “white person” which is Mazungoo.
Riding down the incredibly bumpy roads today, I looked out at the city/town and thought to myself “Wow…some of the kids, in fact most of them I’m sure, have never had a shower before and they live in mud-houses that have roofs made of garbage – I am so blessed and lucky”. I truly am so blessed and lucky.

I made it!!!!!!

Well hello everyone!! I made it to Zambia!!! Pretty crazy huh??!! I'm sitting at an internet cafe called ZigZag in Livingstone. The internet connection is really pretty bad here and I have not been able to upload any pictures because of how slow it is, but hopefully I will be able to at some point. I have some really, really cool photos of the view of Zambia from the airplane as well as of downtown Livingstone. The trip down here was incredibly LONG and TIRING but definitely an experience in itself. While in Johannesburg, I stayed at a little paradise of a place called the Safari Club South Africa (please google it because it is awesome)! It was an amazingly beautiful place and somewhere that I hope to return to one day. After an hour and 45 minute flight today, I finally arrived in Livingstone. The heat here is nothing like I have ever felt before but it really cools off in the evening. After I got to the African Impact house, I was given the rest of the day to get myself together and rest. I unpacked and then walked downtown (which is only about a 5 minute walk) and called Bradley and my mom from SKYPE - which really works pretty well given the fact that I am 10,000 miles away. While walking downtown I saw something in the distance that looked like smoke from a fire. I asked the African Impact coordinator about it and she said that what I thought was smoke was actually the mist coming off of Victoria Falls. It was absolutely beautiful and really told me why Victoria Falls used to be called "the smoke that thunders". Tomorrow I am going through an orientation for the project. We are going to be taken to the clinics, houses, farms, and schools that we are going to be working in and I am so excited about finally seeing where I am going to be working!!!! Can't wait for all of the experiences that I am going to have in the next 4 weeks! I also can't wait until I can upload some photos because they are absolutely amazing and I want to share them with everyone!!! Off to bed for me!!!

How do you pack for a month long trip?

Yeah...I certainly agree with what most of you are probably thinking, but I just had to take a picture of one of my suitcases (I am only taking two!) so that I could officially say that I AM DONE PACKING! I never realized how much thought and time it would take to pack for a month long trip! But thank god I am finally done! No matter how much stuff I take I'm sure that I will end up forgetting at least one thing, but at this point, I'm just thrilled to be finished getting things together. I used Space Bags to put all my stuff in before I packed it all in my suitcase and have come to the conclusion that they are one of the coolest inventions in the world. I'm sure I am the last person on the planet to discover these things but I am glad that I did! You vacuum out all the air in the bags after you put your things in them and you instantly have so much more room in your suitcase! Pretty awesome. And yes, for those of you that noticed the picture, I did pack fingernail polish and remover because you always gotta have pretty toenails...no matter where you are! :)

I also bought two headsets today (one for me and one for Bradley) that have little microphones attached and are meant to be used with a computer. We both downloaded this software called SKYPE, which is a phone that works through your internet connection, and are going to use it, along with the headsets, to call each other while I am gone. SKYPE allows you to make international phone calls over your computer for free! I'm so glad that I found this software and figured out how to use it because I am going to miss him like crazy and have to have a way to at least hear his voice...and now I do!! My mom is also going to download it and buy a pair of headsets as well so that I can keep in touch with her...and stay up to date on how my Dad, Sadie, Madeline, and everyone else are doing!

So...only two more days until I leave for Nashville...and only 4 more days until I am off to Africa! Wow...so soon!

Counting down....

Wow....it's hard to believe that a year has gone by since I started planning my trip to Zambia. And now I am actually leaving in 8 days! I am so excited about it but kinda nervous at the same time. I mean...how often does someone get the opportunity to take a trip like this? I can't wait to step out of my comfort zone and test myself as a person. I can't wait to see things I have never seen before, experience things that the majority of the world has never experienced, and be able to care for people that truly need me. And to do this all on my own - without one single familiar face anywhere around - is going to be a huge (but incredible) challenge. Simply put...it's going to be amazing. I fly out of Nashville, TN on January 31st. My first stop is in Detroit where I will have 45 minutes to catch the plane that takes me to Paris, France. After that 7 hour flight, I will be in Paris for 2 hours. I will then be on a 10 1/2 hour flight that will take me to Johannesburg, South Africa. I have a 13 hour layover in Johannesburg - but don't worry!!! I have booked a hotel room at the Safari Club South Africa (which is a hotel that is only 500 meters from the airport) so I can use at least 10 of those hours to get some freaking rest!!!! The next morning at 10:45, I have an hour and 45 minute flight to Livingstone!!!! I will get picked up from the Livingstone aiport and taken directly to the African Impact volunteer house where I will begin my medical project!!! Whew.....pretty packed schedule huh? Gonna be so tired but it is definitely going to be worth it.

I hope to be able to post to this blog at least every other day so I can document all the experiences that I have during my trip! I can't wait for it to start and just wanted to say thanks to everyone who helped make this trip possible. I am eternally grateful!!!