Sunday, October 12, 2008
Our last day in Kruger! A 5:30 a.m. road trip to see what we could see. It all turned out to be pretty quiet on the road and on the river. We did see a couple of striped mongoose and some kudu bulls with spectacular horns. Always an awesome sight. The rest of the day was spent shopping at the camp store, reading, resting and soaking in the magnificent calmness of the river valley over which the campsite is situated. A lone bull elephant munching away the afternoon, a lone male (an assumption, made on the basis that he is dark colored) giraffe traversing the valley from one side to the other with a pause to drink from the river, a half dozen storks standing in the river to hold their own kind of confab, herds of impala grazing and wandering, a flurry of guinea fowl hurrying to the water and then back again. Just another afternoon lived at a pace we might well learn to emulate.
This evening our last braii with Beth and Perry. Then packing, and to bed, anticipating another 5:30 start in the morning to get to Johannesburg in time for a bit of rest before getting to the airport for our 11:30 p.m. flight to Amsterdam and on to SeaTac.
It has been an outstanding month with a wide diversity of experiences, but it will be good to be home once more. This past week we have been totally out of touch with the rest of the world, and that has been a wonderful holiday. Ignorance is bliss, they say, and bliss it has been. We have no idea what is going on in either Zambia or the U.S. But in the back of our minds, we wonder how the forthcoming elections are shaping up (Zambia has a presidential election on October 30, just prior to ours), what is happening with the market, and always, we hold a concern in our hearts for our brother-in-law Henry’s declining health. We are aware, too, that we still have much to share about Zambia, our final reflections and impressions of our time there (not that they are ever final – this experience will continue to shape us and inform our thinking and feelings for a long time to come). Perhaps the long plane ride will be a good time to collect our thoughts and write.
Bruce and Paula
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Day 24/25
Saturday/Sunday October 11/12, 2008
The two-hour night drive (Friday night) proved to be interesting and fun – and surprisingly cold! Eighteen of us, mostly Afrikaners (as are most of the park visitors), piled into an open, canvas-topped safari vehicle, equipped with four floodlights, two of which were hand-held by a passenger on each side. Blankets were available for those who wanted them. We were instructed to yell “Stop!” whenever we saw (or thought we saw) any wildlife, most of which were spotted by the reflection in their eyes. And off we went, bumping along the dirt roads through the wilderness to see what we could see. At each stopping place, our driver/guide would tell us about the animal viewed. We had hoped we might find a leopard, but that was not to be. However, in addition to buffalo, elephants (a large herd, on both sides of the road), impala, and black-legged plover, we did encounter two new sightings – new for us anyway: a Spotted Genet (one of the smaller cat species, with a long striped tail) up in a tree like a Cheshire cat, and two spring hare (rabbit-like rodents but with long tufted tails). Truly a memorable experience, seeing those bright eyes peering at us from out of the darkness. And fortunately the animals seemed remarkably unperturbed by our presence and our lights.
Yesterday (Saturday) was a laid back day, spent mostly around camp. We enjoyed a leisurely time at the wonderful elephant museum here, with great exhibits and the skulls and tusks of seven of the historic great “tuskers” here at Kruger, then did some shopping at the camp store. Perry and Beth did a trial run on setting up the tent on top of their Land Rover in preparation for their continued trekking through Africa after we return home. And we all had laundry to do.
We were intrigued by the colorful weaver birds, yellow with bright red heads, building their lacy condo-style nests, hanging from the trees, swinging in the breeze. It’s the males who build the nests, and we watched them for quite a while. Late in the morning, mischievous monkeys invaded the campground, racing around, stealing food from unwary campers, scampering over the ground and through the trees. A big nuisance but fun to watch! The camp also has quite a few resident bushbuck who placidly wander around hoping to be fed, which is, of course, against the rules, as well as not being good for the animals. They often are accompanied, sometimes to their annoyance and vigorous head shaking, by red-billed ox peckers, who hop all over their bodies, pecking away at the ticks who dwell in their hair. A sight to see.
A late afternoon drive, mostly along the river, was pleasant, but didn’t reveal much game – some elephants, water buck, and saddle-billed storks. We had thought the hot, dry weather (one visitor said this was the driest he has ever seen it) would draw more animals to the water, but if that is the case, they must be sneaking in when we aren’t looking!
Saturday evening we enjoyed a great National Geographic film on elephants, shown at the camp’s outdoor amphitheater. Such noble, gentle, and family-oriented creatures. We were impressed at the tenderness displayed toward both the young and the dying. After the film, we sat on our verandah huddled around the computer and showed Beth and Perry our pictures from Zambia, bringing back for us many recent memories of the people we encountered there and touching our hearts once again. We have one more full day ahead of us in South Africa, and are beginning to shift into re-entry mode.
Paula and Bruce
The two-hour night drive (Friday night) proved to be interesting and fun – and surprisingly cold! Eighteen of us, mostly Afrikaners (as are most of the park visitors), piled into an open, canvas-topped safari vehicle, equipped with four floodlights, two of which were hand-held by a passenger on each side. Blankets were available for those who wanted them. We were instructed to yell “Stop!” whenever we saw (or thought we saw) any wildlife, most of which were spotted by the reflection in their eyes. And off we went, bumping along the dirt roads through the wilderness to see what we could see. At each stopping place, our driver/guide would tell us about the animal viewed. We had hoped we might find a leopard, but that was not to be. However, in addition to buffalo, elephants (a large herd, on both sides of the road), impala, and black-legged plover, we did encounter two new sightings – new for us anyway: a Spotted Genet (one of the smaller cat species, with a long striped tail) up in a tree like a Cheshire cat, and two spring hare (rabbit-like rodents but with long tufted tails). Truly a memorable experience, seeing those bright eyes peering at us from out of the darkness. And fortunately the animals seemed remarkably unperturbed by our presence and our lights.
Yesterday (Saturday) was a laid back day, spent mostly around camp. We enjoyed a leisurely time at the wonderful elephant museum here, with great exhibits and the skulls and tusks of seven of the historic great “tuskers” here at Kruger, then did some shopping at the camp store. Perry and Beth did a trial run on setting up the tent on top of their Land Rover in preparation for their continued trekking through Africa after we return home. And we all had laundry to do.
We were intrigued by the colorful weaver birds, yellow with bright red heads, building their lacy condo-style nests, hanging from the trees, swinging in the breeze. It’s the males who build the nests, and we watched them for quite a while. Late in the morning, mischievous monkeys invaded the campground, racing around, stealing food from unwary campers, scampering over the ground and through the trees. A big nuisance but fun to watch! The camp also has quite a few resident bushbuck who placidly wander around hoping to be fed, which is, of course, against the rules, as well as not being good for the animals. They often are accompanied, sometimes to their annoyance and vigorous head shaking, by red-billed ox peckers, who hop all over their bodies, pecking away at the ticks who dwell in their hair. A sight to see.
A late afternoon drive, mostly along the river, was pleasant, but didn’t reveal much game – some elephants, water buck, and saddle-billed storks. We had thought the hot, dry weather (one visitor said this was the driest he has ever seen it) would draw more animals to the water, but if that is the case, they must be sneaking in when we aren’t looking!
Saturday evening we enjoyed a great National Geographic film on elephants, shown at the camp’s outdoor amphitheater. Such noble, gentle, and family-oriented creatures. We were impressed at the tenderness displayed toward both the young and the dying. After the film, we sat on our verandah huddled around the computer and showed Beth and Perry our pictures from Zambia, bringing back for us many recent memories of the people we encountered there and touching our hearts once again. We have one more full day ahead of us in South Africa, and are beginning to shift into re-entry mode.
Paula and Bruce
Day 22/23
Thursday/Friday, October 9/10, 2008
Time to tell you a bit about Kruger National Park. Perhaps the best well known wildlife park in South Africa, it is about the size of Wales (but shaped like Portugal), very diverse in ecosystems, rich in game and bird species, and completely surrounded by miles of electric fence to keep the wildlife in, of course. Within the park are eleven Restcamps, also completely enclosed by electric fences – to keep the wildlife out and the campers safe. Each Restcamp has a variety of accommodations, from tent camping to fairly luxurious, a restaurant, small grocery and gift shop, laundry facilities, and petrol. Some have day parks, a small swimming pool, and evening films. All have special activities such as early morning guided walks (with an armed ranger), night rides, etc. Tonight we will go on a night ride and are looking forward to that new experience. Our accommodations have varied – from our first night in the large cabin that could sleep six with a great room and kitchen, to two smaller huts still with bathrooms and cooking facilities, to last night with private bathrooms but no cooking facilities (there are communal kitchens available), to our present camp (where we will be for our last three nights) with two bungalows, each with a sink, but communal cooking facilities and communal “ablutions” (toilets and showers). The communal facilities are very nice, however, and are nearby, so that will be just fine. Our bungalows here at Letaba Restcamp overlook the Letaba River, which is quite beautiful. We can watch impala, zebra, wildebeests, elephants, and bushbuck right from our little porch.
I keep using the word “amazing” a lot, but this whole week has been an amazing experience. We feel so fortunate to be able to be here surrounded by all these evidences of God’s incredible creativity and beauty. We also feel deeply fortunate to have Beth and Perry as our guides – so capable, knowledgeable, patient, kind-hearted, well read, always eager to learn more, enthusiastic, fun-loving, and who seem to enjoy traveling with us old coots as much as we enjoy traveling with them! We are blessed.
Yesterday held two major wildlife sightings. The first was two huge bull elephants calmly munching leaves right by the side of the road, so close it was almost scary. One of them then proceeded to march majestically right down the middle of the road behind us, obviously knowing he was king of the road. The second was a viewing from a long bridge crossing the wide expanse of the Oliphants River, long enough that it was safe to get out of the car for a leisurely look in all directions. We could see hippos, crocodiles, terrapin, a huge catfish and a variety of water birds. After a cool morning, the day became very hot, the hottest we have experienced so far in South Africa, perhaps even hotter than Zambia, although it’s difficult to tell. We were happy to get to our new camp for a rest in our cool huts, after putting our food inside to keep it safe from marauding monkeys.
Later on, going for a late afternoon drive, we were surprised by a springtime storm as the clouds moved in, the sky darkened, lightning flashed, and the wind became very blustery. It was, in fact, a quite violent spring storm which continued through the night and into the morning hours. We even had a few drops of rain, but not enough to moisten the dry ground even one iota. Instead of cooking on the braii, we had sandwiches in our bungalow – it was much too dark and windy to eat outside. A cozy picnic indeed.
After only one night in the Oliphants camp, we moved on today to our final camp at Letaba. The drive here was strangely quiet, as if the animals were still hiding out from the storm. We were surprised to see many hippo tracks by the roadside, well up into the hills above the river. Then we read that hippos leave the rivers and travel many kilometers away to graze, especially when there are storms. We kept looking for them in the bush, but couldn’t spot a single one. By late morning the sun returned, as did the animals, and everything seemed back to “normal” again.
Paula and Bruce
(Note: All blogs up to this point have been written by Bruce, with some editing and additions by Paula. This one was written by Paula, with a few additions by Bruce. Could you tell?
Time to tell you a bit about Kruger National Park. Perhaps the best well known wildlife park in South Africa, it is about the size of Wales (but shaped like Portugal), very diverse in ecosystems, rich in game and bird species, and completely surrounded by miles of electric fence to keep the wildlife in, of course. Within the park are eleven Restcamps, also completely enclosed by electric fences – to keep the wildlife out and the campers safe. Each Restcamp has a variety of accommodations, from tent camping to fairly luxurious, a restaurant, small grocery and gift shop, laundry facilities, and petrol. Some have day parks, a small swimming pool, and evening films. All have special activities such as early morning guided walks (with an armed ranger), night rides, etc. Tonight we will go on a night ride and are looking forward to that new experience. Our accommodations have varied – from our first night in the large cabin that could sleep six with a great room and kitchen, to two smaller huts still with bathrooms and cooking facilities, to last night with private bathrooms but no cooking facilities (there are communal kitchens available), to our present camp (where we will be for our last three nights) with two bungalows, each with a sink, but communal cooking facilities and communal “ablutions” (toilets and showers). The communal facilities are very nice, however, and are nearby, so that will be just fine. Our bungalows here at Letaba Restcamp overlook the Letaba River, which is quite beautiful. We can watch impala, zebra, wildebeests, elephants, and bushbuck right from our little porch.
I keep using the word “amazing” a lot, but this whole week has been an amazing experience. We feel so fortunate to be able to be here surrounded by all these evidences of God’s incredible creativity and beauty. We also feel deeply fortunate to have Beth and Perry as our guides – so capable, knowledgeable, patient, kind-hearted, well read, always eager to learn more, enthusiastic, fun-loving, and who seem to enjoy traveling with us old coots as much as we enjoy traveling with them! We are blessed.
Yesterday held two major wildlife sightings. The first was two huge bull elephants calmly munching leaves right by the side of the road, so close it was almost scary. One of them then proceeded to march majestically right down the middle of the road behind us, obviously knowing he was king of the road. The second was a viewing from a long bridge crossing the wide expanse of the Oliphants River, long enough that it was safe to get out of the car for a leisurely look in all directions. We could see hippos, crocodiles, terrapin, a huge catfish and a variety of water birds. After a cool morning, the day became very hot, the hottest we have experienced so far in South Africa, perhaps even hotter than Zambia, although it’s difficult to tell. We were happy to get to our new camp for a rest in our cool huts, after putting our food inside to keep it safe from marauding monkeys.
Later on, going for a late afternoon drive, we were surprised by a springtime storm as the clouds moved in, the sky darkened, lightning flashed, and the wind became very blustery. It was, in fact, a quite violent spring storm which continued through the night and into the morning hours. We even had a few drops of rain, but not enough to moisten the dry ground even one iota. Instead of cooking on the braii, we had sandwiches in our bungalow – it was much too dark and windy to eat outside. A cozy picnic indeed.
After only one night in the Oliphants camp, we moved on today to our final camp at Letaba. The drive here was strangely quiet, as if the animals were still hiding out from the storm. We were surprised to see many hippo tracks by the roadside, well up into the hills above the river. Then we read that hippos leave the rivers and travel many kilometers away to graze, especially when there are storms. We kept looking for them in the bush, but couldn’t spot a single one. By late morning the sun returned, as did the animals, and everything seemed back to “normal” again.
Paula and Bruce
(Note: All blogs up to this point have been written by Bruce, with some editing and additions by Paula. This one was written by Paula, with a few additions by Bruce. Could you tell?
Day 21
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
A 5:45 start puts us on the road a little after sunrise. Lovely country with varied vistas and lookouts, but initially no animals to speak of. Then a herd of 50 or 60 zebras comes into view, crossing the road in front of us. They are stunningly beautiful. It’s amazing how we can drive for miles without seeing much of anything, despite being constantly on the alert, and then suddenly there are animals that pop right up into view – a couple of giraffe, a lone rhino, or something we haven’t seen before. Each day brings new wonders.
Today now turns into the day of the kill. First it’s a carcass of a water buffalo stripped clean just off the road side. Of course we need a picture. Then, after a couple of waterbuck stags posing as if for a picture, a giraffe conveniently presenting itself for the same, we come upon a huge gathering of vultures around the carcass of an elephant! It’s hard to tell from our distance exactly what is going on except that there are vultures on the carcass, vultures in the surrounding trees waiting for their chance at the table and vultures in the air coming in for landings at the banquet.
Fresh from our movie the previous evening we now know that there is a pecking order among vultures. And from other reading we know that there is some kind of aerial communication system among vultures: one circling vulture is seen by another circling vulture who is seen by other circling vultures and on and on until the sky is filled with circling vultures coming lower and lower toward the goal of another cleanup job with free meals as a side benefit. A fascinating study of scavenger behavior.
This afternoon, after a snack, a little rest, an early dinner (Madras chicken and vegetable curry over rice, cooked by Paula and Beth) we decided to go for a 45 minute drive (have to get back before they close the gates you know) to a nearby water hole. The red/orange sun is hanging just above the horizon in the western sky. There seems to be a hush descending over the land and as we approach the water hole a parade of elephants crosses the road in front of us heading for the water. A lioness crouches attentively at water’s edge. One elephant takes his time filling up with water. It takes a while as you might expect, especially when using only your nose! The family of elephants trudges slowly off to the shelter of a grove of trees where I suppose they might spend the night. It’s a beautiful ending to the day.
We hurry back to camp and make it just in time before the gate closure. They are showing another National Geographic film at 6:30 so we head off to watch that. It’s about a small hyena clan ruled by a dysfunctional matriarch, the “hyena queen”, who eventually gets put in her place. Hyenas turn out to be highly intelligent hunters, not scavengers, and devoted parents. They are still ugly as sin but that’s a jaundiced human point of view. The photographer followed them for 10 years, so he, at least, found them fascinating and, by his description, was invited into the intimacy of the clan.
Bruce and Paula
A 5:45 start puts us on the road a little after sunrise. Lovely country with varied vistas and lookouts, but initially no animals to speak of. Then a herd of 50 or 60 zebras comes into view, crossing the road in front of us. They are stunningly beautiful. It’s amazing how we can drive for miles without seeing much of anything, despite being constantly on the alert, and then suddenly there are animals that pop right up into view – a couple of giraffe, a lone rhino, or something we haven’t seen before. Each day brings new wonders.
Today now turns into the day of the kill. First it’s a carcass of a water buffalo stripped clean just off the road side. Of course we need a picture. Then, after a couple of waterbuck stags posing as if for a picture, a giraffe conveniently presenting itself for the same, we come upon a huge gathering of vultures around the carcass of an elephant! It’s hard to tell from our distance exactly what is going on except that there are vultures on the carcass, vultures in the surrounding trees waiting for their chance at the table and vultures in the air coming in for landings at the banquet.
Fresh from our movie the previous evening we now know that there is a pecking order among vultures. And from other reading we know that there is some kind of aerial communication system among vultures: one circling vulture is seen by another circling vulture who is seen by other circling vultures and on and on until the sky is filled with circling vultures coming lower and lower toward the goal of another cleanup job with free meals as a side benefit. A fascinating study of scavenger behavior.
This afternoon, after a snack, a little rest, an early dinner (Madras chicken and vegetable curry over rice, cooked by Paula and Beth) we decided to go for a 45 minute drive (have to get back before they close the gates you know) to a nearby water hole. The red/orange sun is hanging just above the horizon in the western sky. There seems to be a hush descending over the land and as we approach the water hole a parade of elephants crosses the road in front of us heading for the water. A lioness crouches attentively at water’s edge. One elephant takes his time filling up with water. It takes a while as you might expect, especially when using only your nose! The family of elephants trudges slowly off to the shelter of a grove of trees where I suppose they might spend the night. It’s a beautiful ending to the day.
We hurry back to camp and make it just in time before the gate closure. They are showing another National Geographic film at 6:30 so we head off to watch that. It’s about a small hyena clan ruled by a dysfunctional matriarch, the “hyena queen”, who eventually gets put in her place. Hyenas turn out to be highly intelligent hunters, not scavengers, and devoted parents. They are still ugly as sin but that’s a jaundiced human point of view. The photographer followed them for 10 years, so he, at least, found them fascinating and, by his description, was invited into the intimacy of the clan.
Bruce and Paula
Day 20
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Another 6:45 start and on to Satara campground. It starts uneventfully for miles and miles, or should I say kilometers and kilometers? A few impala here and there, a zebra or two, the usual birds, a hippo in one water hole, a crocodile and a hippo in the next where the waterboks come to drink and spar. Does that sound like the blasé eco tourist or what?
Then, all of a sudden, things start to get exciting in a hurry. The one sure sign is cars pulled over to the side of the road. The other is circling vultures. Coming in to an intersection we see a dozen or more vultures suddenly fly up. They are the scavengers of the Park, cleaning up all the left over meat from kills by lions or other cats. As we turn the corner and get a better view we see 75 to 100 vultures, some feasting on a dead giraffe, some waiting their turn in nearby trees. It seems unlikely that this big a carcass would be left by lions. We conjecture. Maybe it died in childbirth. Maybe it died of disease or old age. We don’t know, but it is a sight to see that many vultures all in one place fighting for a place at the table.
The next gathering of cars is to look at about 5 or 6 (it’s hard to tell in the bush) lions around the carcass of a water buffalo. It seems to be pretty well cleaned out so the lions are mostly just resting and people mostly just watching. That’s with way it is with lions. After watching for quite a while we drove on and suddenly here were three more lions, two females and one young male, two of which were conveniently and thoughtfully lying down right in the middle of the road! As if they had planned it, there was a turn out for the cars to pull off and take pictures. The lions all seemed to be intently focused on some impalas on the hillside a short distance away but, with no impending attack strategy evident, we moved on after taking some wonderful close-ups, more pictures than we probably need. But what an opportunity! I estimate that with yesterday and today’s sightings we have seen 0.5% of the Park’s lion population.
A little afternoon rest, a little walk around the campground (six circles of 25 nicely appointed round 2-bed thatch-roof cottages), a viewing of the evening movie, a large screen showing of Birds of Kruger, and then a lovely stir fry and rice dinner. What could be better?
Bruce and Paula
Another 6:45 start and on to Satara campground. It starts uneventfully for miles and miles, or should I say kilometers and kilometers? A few impala here and there, a zebra or two, the usual birds, a hippo in one water hole, a crocodile and a hippo in the next where the waterboks come to drink and spar. Does that sound like the blasé eco tourist or what?
Then, all of a sudden, things start to get exciting in a hurry. The one sure sign is cars pulled over to the side of the road. The other is circling vultures. Coming in to an intersection we see a dozen or more vultures suddenly fly up. They are the scavengers of the Park, cleaning up all the left over meat from kills by lions or other cats. As we turn the corner and get a better view we see 75 to 100 vultures, some feasting on a dead giraffe, some waiting their turn in nearby trees. It seems unlikely that this big a carcass would be left by lions. We conjecture. Maybe it died in childbirth. Maybe it died of disease or old age. We don’t know, but it is a sight to see that many vultures all in one place fighting for a place at the table.
The next gathering of cars is to look at about 5 or 6 (it’s hard to tell in the bush) lions around the carcass of a water buffalo. It seems to be pretty well cleaned out so the lions are mostly just resting and people mostly just watching. That’s with way it is with lions. After watching for quite a while we drove on and suddenly here were three more lions, two females and one young male, two of which were conveniently and thoughtfully lying down right in the middle of the road! As if they had planned it, there was a turn out for the cars to pull off and take pictures. The lions all seemed to be intently focused on some impalas on the hillside a short distance away but, with no impending attack strategy evident, we moved on after taking some wonderful close-ups, more pictures than we probably need. But what an opportunity! I estimate that with yesterday and today’s sightings we have seen 0.5% of the Park’s lion population.
A little afternoon rest, a little walk around the campground (six circles of 25 nicely appointed round 2-bed thatch-roof cottages), a viewing of the evening movie, a large screen showing of Birds of Kruger, and then a lovely stir fry and rice dinner. What could be better?
Bruce and Paula
Day 19
Monday, October 6, 2008
After two nights at Berg-en-dal we pack up to move on to the next campground, Lower Sabie. Leaving at 6:45 a.m., we spend many delightful hours slowly negotiating the many dirt roads which have been constructed for animal viewing. The one rule is “Stay in your car!” We take a lot of pictures but don’t open the door to the car. At certain selected places you can get out for viewing points at your own risk. The Park is replete with stories of tourists and guides who do get out, are not careful, and are attached and killed by lions!! Not our idea of a good way to go.
The day supplies several exceptional experiences: a pair of male Impalas fighting, a nervous rhino running back and forth as well as toward the car (was he feeling trapped by the cars or just in rut? We have no idea), two giraffes coming from opposite directions to eat at the same tree, and at the last possible minute our first encounter with lions. Two females with five cubs crossing the road right in front of us! The first three events we captured on video.
We have only one night in Lower Sabie, in two huts or rondevals, again with all the amenities. Tonight we decide to have a Braii (South African for barbecue), fire up the wood we purchased at the camp store in the Braiistand which comes with every unit, put on the steaks, pull the corks on two bottles of South African wine and have our late evening meal.
Tomorrow holds the promise of another camp ground, more amazing animals and more colorful birds.
Bruce and Paula
After two nights at Berg-en-dal we pack up to move on to the next campground, Lower Sabie. Leaving at 6:45 a.m., we spend many delightful hours slowly negotiating the many dirt roads which have been constructed for animal viewing. The one rule is “Stay in your car!” We take a lot of pictures but don’t open the door to the car. At certain selected places you can get out for viewing points at your own risk. The Park is replete with stories of tourists and guides who do get out, are not careful, and are attached and killed by lions!! Not our idea of a good way to go.
The day supplies several exceptional experiences: a pair of male Impalas fighting, a nervous rhino running back and forth as well as toward the car (was he feeling trapped by the cars or just in rut? We have no idea), two giraffes coming from opposite directions to eat at the same tree, and at the last possible minute our first encounter with lions. Two females with five cubs crossing the road right in front of us! The first three events we captured on video.
We have only one night in Lower Sabie, in two huts or rondevals, again with all the amenities. Tonight we decide to have a Braii (South African for barbecue), fire up the wood we purchased at the camp store in the Braiistand which comes with every unit, put on the steaks, pull the corks on two bottles of South African wine and have our late evening meal.
Tomorrow holds the promise of another camp ground, more amazing animals and more colorful birds.
Bruce and Paula
Day 18
Sunday, October 5, 2008
It’s amazing! We have seen more animals and birds of more diversity in 24 hours than we ever thought possible: Blue Wildebeests, Water Buffalo, Bushbucks, two trees full of a troop of 40 or 50 Chacma Baboons, the little Common Duiker (a tiny omnivorous antelope), Elephants, Giraffes, Hippos in and out of the water, Impala by the score, Kudu (the magnificent large antelope which is the symbol of Kruger) Plains Zebra, Spotted Hyenas, Steenbok, Vervet Monkeys, Warthogs, White Rhinoceros (one group of seven, which is quite unusual we are told), Crocodiles, and birds you never heard of, colorful in the extreme (African Licana, Bateleur, Blue Waxbill, Cape Glossy Starling [makes you rethink what a starling looks like but not their personality] Dark-capped Bulbul, Goliath Heron [the world’s largest], Green Pigeon, Helmeted Guineafowl, Laughing Dove, Lilac-breasted Roller, Magpie Shrike, Martial Eagle, Red-billed Oxpecker, Saddle-billed Stork, Southern Yellow-billed Hornbill, Tawny Eagle, White-fronted Bee-eater, Marabou Stork, Fish Eagle, Steppe Eagle, Gray Go-away).
Tired of reading? We’re almost tired of looking, at least for now. Another pasta dinner and off to bed.
Bruce and Paula
It’s amazing! We have seen more animals and birds of more diversity in 24 hours than we ever thought possible: Blue Wildebeests, Water Buffalo, Bushbucks, two trees full of a troop of 40 or 50 Chacma Baboons, the little Common Duiker (a tiny omnivorous antelope), Elephants, Giraffes, Hippos in and out of the water, Impala by the score, Kudu (the magnificent large antelope which is the symbol of Kruger) Plains Zebra, Spotted Hyenas, Steenbok, Vervet Monkeys, Warthogs, White Rhinoceros (one group of seven, which is quite unusual we are told), Crocodiles, and birds you never heard of, colorful in the extreme (African Licana, Bateleur, Blue Waxbill, Cape Glossy Starling [makes you rethink what a starling looks like but not their personality] Dark-capped Bulbul, Goliath Heron [the world’s largest], Green Pigeon, Helmeted Guineafowl, Laughing Dove, Lilac-breasted Roller, Magpie Shrike, Martial Eagle, Red-billed Oxpecker, Saddle-billed Stork, Southern Yellow-billed Hornbill, Tawny Eagle, White-fronted Bee-eater, Marabou Stork, Fish Eagle, Steppe Eagle, Gray Go-away).
Tired of reading? We’re almost tired of looking, at least for now. Another pasta dinner and off to bed.
Bruce and Paula
Day 17
Day 17
Saturday, October 4, 2008
A glorious night of rest at the Airport Grand, a wonderful breakfast (included), and then we’re off to the Kruger National Park, a 7 hour drive, mostly on freeway. Along the way we are struck by the contrast between the apparent prosperity of South Africa (freeways, large houses, shopping malls, lush farms, mines, nuclear power plants, etc.) and the poverty of Zambia, or at least the part that we have seen. We arrive around 4:15 and decide to take advantage of the late afternoon light to see if we can see a few animals. We are not disappointed (more on that tomorrow) as we quickly spot many impala and a wonderful herd of elephants, all free roaming, which seems so amazing. But there is no time for further exploring as we need to check in at our camp. We are booked at Berg-en-Dal and they close the gates at 6. You dare not be late or will be fined. Our accommodations are a two bedroom cabin made all of brick (including the floor) except for the thatched roof, complete with clean sheets and towels, kitchen, living room, shower, bath, toilet (three separate rooms) and outdoor BBQ with table and chairs. Beth cooks a delicious pasta dinner with salad and wine and we are off to bed for a 5:30 start to see the animals. This is camping???
Bruce and Paula
Saturday, October 4, 2008
A glorious night of rest at the Airport Grand, a wonderful breakfast (included), and then we’re off to the Kruger National Park, a 7 hour drive, mostly on freeway. Along the way we are struck by the contrast between the apparent prosperity of South Africa (freeways, large houses, shopping malls, lush farms, mines, nuclear power plants, etc.) and the poverty of Zambia, or at least the part that we have seen. We arrive around 4:15 and decide to take advantage of the late afternoon light to see if we can see a few animals. We are not disappointed (more on that tomorrow) as we quickly spot many impala and a wonderful herd of elephants, all free roaming, which seems so amazing. But there is no time for further exploring as we need to check in at our camp. We are booked at Berg-en-Dal and they close the gates at 6. You dare not be late or will be fined. Our accommodations are a two bedroom cabin made all of brick (including the floor) except for the thatched roof, complete with clean sheets and towels, kitchen, living room, shower, bath, toilet (three separate rooms) and outdoor BBQ with table and chairs. Beth cooks a delicious pasta dinner with salad and wine and we are off to bed for a 5:30 start to see the animals. This is camping???
Bruce and Paula
Day 16
Friday, October 3, 2008
Bittersweet farewells to Baptista at the airport. What looks like a security check turns out to be just the trappings without the reality. I’ve forgotten to give her a hug but she waves me back through the phony electronic gateway and we say good bye. It’s hard to leave her there knowing the life of service to which she is committed and yet knowing that she has chosen that life with joy.
The passport check, the customs check, the security check (real this time), all involve long lines. The whole procedure reminds us a bit of the Soviet Union in 1989: not many signs, no directions, no announcements. We just follow the crowds and eventually end up in the right place and on the right plane. We find our assigned seats, sit down and look at each other. We’ve done it! We traveled through Zambia for 16 days having very little idea of what we were getting into. We are full to overflowing with new information, new insights, new emotions. It’s all a jumble right now but it is inside us and we will sort it out and make some sense of it all. In the meantime we are off on a brand new adventure. Reflections will come sooner or later. Now it’s on to Johannesburg.
The two hour flight is uneventful. We get our bags and after some wandering get the shuttle to our hotel, the Airport Grand. It is the Airport because the landing pattern comes noisily low right over the hotel. It is Grand because it just is. All the amenities and we settle in to the comfort without too much guilt. My niece, Beth, and her husband, Perry, are already there to greet us, and what a welcome reunion! It seems a world away from our last two weeks. They are full of questions about our trip and we about theirs, but most of that can wait. They have a fully equipped Land Rover for their three months in Southern Africa and need to finish getting that all packed. Paula and I enjoy a leisurely salad luncheon on the inner terrace overlooking the swimming pool. I find out how to get online and publish my blog posts at last and download 206 emails, including some from you all. We send a brief email to close family and friends, letting them know we are OK and have safely arrived in Johannesburg, and are amazed a few minutes later when our daughter, Becky (from Walla Walla), calls us on Skype! She happened to have the day off work, got our email, knew we were on line, and made the connection. We are thrilled to hear from her, and we marvel at the technology that makes this possible. Then it is time for a long evening dinner, sharing and talking with Perry and Beth, beautiful friends.
Bruce and Paula
Bittersweet farewells to Baptista at the airport. What looks like a security check turns out to be just the trappings without the reality. I’ve forgotten to give her a hug but she waves me back through the phony electronic gateway and we say good bye. It’s hard to leave her there knowing the life of service to which she is committed and yet knowing that she has chosen that life with joy.
The passport check, the customs check, the security check (real this time), all involve long lines. The whole procedure reminds us a bit of the Soviet Union in 1989: not many signs, no directions, no announcements. We just follow the crowds and eventually end up in the right place and on the right plane. We find our assigned seats, sit down and look at each other. We’ve done it! We traveled through Zambia for 16 days having very little idea of what we were getting into. We are full to overflowing with new information, new insights, new emotions. It’s all a jumble right now but it is inside us and we will sort it out and make some sense of it all. In the meantime we are off on a brand new adventure. Reflections will come sooner or later. Now it’s on to Johannesburg.
The two hour flight is uneventful. We get our bags and after some wandering get the shuttle to our hotel, the Airport Grand. It is the Airport because the landing pattern comes noisily low right over the hotel. It is Grand because it just is. All the amenities and we settle in to the comfort without too much guilt. My niece, Beth, and her husband, Perry, are already there to greet us, and what a welcome reunion! It seems a world away from our last two weeks. They are full of questions about our trip and we about theirs, but most of that can wait. They have a fully equipped Land Rover for their three months in Southern Africa and need to finish getting that all packed. Paula and I enjoy a leisurely salad luncheon on the inner terrace overlooking the swimming pool. I find out how to get online and publish my blog posts at last and download 206 emails, including some from you all. We send a brief email to close family and friends, letting them know we are OK and have safely arrived in Johannesburg, and are amazed a few minutes later when our daughter, Becky (from Walla Walla), calls us on Skype! She happened to have the day off work, got our email, knew we were on line, and made the connection. We are thrilled to hear from her, and we marvel at the technology that makes this possible. Then it is time for a long evening dinner, sharing and talking with Perry and Beth, beautiful friends.
Bruce and Paula
Day 15
Thursday, October 2, 2008
My fourth and last day on anti-malarial drugs. We leave the seminary after visiting the farm with Stefan and Rachel briefly and head for Lusaka. Two and a half hours on a paved road with nary a pot hole. Returning to the big city seems both familiar and strange. We go to the best hotel in town (the Intercontinental, where South African Airways has its office) to confirm, and pay for, our new reservations. Baptista seems a bit blown away to be inside such magnificence. We don’t know if she has never experienced a four star hotel before or not, but she is amazed by all the signs of wealth. Boarding passes are obtained and we return to the Kapingila Guest House (where we first stayed in Lusaka) to check in. It is too late for lunch there, so we decide to go out to eat. A block away from our rooms we stop at a little shopping center and dine – at some fast food places. Talk about cultural disjuncture! We share a pizza and Kaoma has fried chicken and chips. So much for African immersion.
After lunch, while Paula and Baptista go shopping for ichitengas (the traditional Zambian fabric wraps that all the women wear ) and crafts, I settle into the Intercontinental Hotel lobby to write my last blogs from Zambia in air conditioned comfort. By the time the shopping and writing are done it is late afternoon. We had hoped to be able to have a brief visit with Father Peter Henriot, a Jesuit priest from Tacoma serving in Lusaka, but he calls and says he had forgotten that he has a 6:00 o’clock mass. So we return to our guest house for dinner and then have a wonderful phone conversation with Peter afterwards. We are a bit disappointed that our schedules did not ever jibe (when we were in Lusaka he was gone, and vice versa), but are grateful to have talked with him by phone at least. Tired and hot, we pack up, give our remaining kwachas to Baptista for her return trip and to share with the sisters, and collapse into bed. Morning will come early with a 4:15 a.m. rising to get to the airport by 6:00 for our early flight to Johannesburg.
Bruce and Paula
My fourth and last day on anti-malarial drugs. We leave the seminary after visiting the farm with Stefan and Rachel briefly and head for Lusaka. Two and a half hours on a paved road with nary a pot hole. Returning to the big city seems both familiar and strange. We go to the best hotel in town (the Intercontinental, where South African Airways has its office) to confirm, and pay for, our new reservations. Baptista seems a bit blown away to be inside such magnificence. We don’t know if she has never experienced a four star hotel before or not, but she is amazed by all the signs of wealth. Boarding passes are obtained and we return to the Kapingila Guest House (where we first stayed in Lusaka) to check in. It is too late for lunch there, so we decide to go out to eat. A block away from our rooms we stop at a little shopping center and dine – at some fast food places. Talk about cultural disjuncture! We share a pizza and Kaoma has fried chicken and chips. So much for African immersion.
After lunch, while Paula and Baptista go shopping for ichitengas (the traditional Zambian fabric wraps that all the women wear ) and crafts, I settle into the Intercontinental Hotel lobby to write my last blogs from Zambia in air conditioned comfort. By the time the shopping and writing are done it is late afternoon. We had hoped to be able to have a brief visit with Father Peter Henriot, a Jesuit priest from Tacoma serving in Lusaka, but he calls and says he had forgotten that he has a 6:00 o’clock mass. So we return to our guest house for dinner and then have a wonderful phone conversation with Peter afterwards. We are a bit disappointed that our schedules did not ever jibe (when we were in Lusaka he was gone, and vice versa), but are grateful to have talked with him by phone at least. Tired and hot, we pack up, give our remaining kwachas to Baptista for her return trip and to share with the sisters, and collapse into bed. Morning will come early with a 4:15 a.m. rising to get to the airport by 6:00 for our early flight to Johannesburg.
Bruce and Paula
Friday, October 3, 2008
Day 14
Day 14
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
The Feast day of St Theresa, patron saint of the Sisters of the Child Jesus
We begin the long drive south with Kaoma again as our driver. Baptista is especially relieved not to have that responsibility. We have bid a fond farewell to the Sisters in Kasama, thanking them for all their love and care during our time with them. Our goal today is Mpima, the seminary we stopped at briefly on our way north. We do decide to make a brief stop at St. Therese school in Mpika because today is a school day and the children are there. Last time they were not. Paula takes some pictures and tells them how we enjoyed the video of the drama they did on HIV/AIDS, while I sit wearily in the car. I really am feeling stronger but don’t want to push it too much.
We are privileged, on arriving at Mpima, to find that the Sisters have planned a party in honor of St Theresa and invited the faculty and staff of the seminary to attend. As usual, they know how to do it right (of course, knowing the Sisters as we do now, we believe that there are similar parties going on this evening at all the places we have visited). The entire courtyard is set out with their best chairs, the tables are laden with food and drink and at the appointed hour the festivities begin with, what else, a prayer of thanksgiving to Theresa! The head of the seminary, Fr. Cale, is from eastern Montana and I could understand him!! No accent, just good old American English! We talked over news from America, commiserating over the state of the world. He is a Sulpician and their order is devoted to work in seminaries. He has been there 16 years. A delightful man. Fr. Michael, who teaches Church History and English, is from Cork, Ireland. Also a delightful conversationalist. Two Zambian faculty I only had brief conversations with (I wasn’t moving around a lot). One was leading a seminar on church planting and looking forward to a visit from a woman from the US with a focus in that area with a special emphasis on social justice. Everyone seemed very in touch with the Church and the World.
The delightful surprise of the evening for me was the presence of a young Swiss couple who run the farm. He has been there for three years, she for just one. Both very bright, scientifically trained in modern agricultural methods, focussed on sustainable farming. Since farming is not my line, being a city boy born and bred, he spent a good bit of time opening my mind to the realities of the business end of farming. And it was an eye opener. What a pleasure to have that opportunity. What a serendipidy to come down with malaria and have to travel back to Lusaka by way of Mpima. As Beatrice and the rest of the Board of HFZ keep reminding us and each other, God’s timing is best!
After an energizing evening like that (I even managed a small glass of sparkling wine) it seemed best to rest up for the final leg of the Zambian journey to Lusaka on the morrow.
Bruce and Paula
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
The Feast day of St Theresa, patron saint of the Sisters of the Child Jesus
We begin the long drive south with Kaoma again as our driver. Baptista is especially relieved not to have that responsibility. We have bid a fond farewell to the Sisters in Kasama, thanking them for all their love and care during our time with them. Our goal today is Mpima, the seminary we stopped at briefly on our way north. We do decide to make a brief stop at St. Therese school in Mpika because today is a school day and the children are there. Last time they were not. Paula takes some pictures and tells them how we enjoyed the video of the drama they did on HIV/AIDS, while I sit wearily in the car. I really am feeling stronger but don’t want to push it too much.
We are privileged, on arriving at Mpima, to find that the Sisters have planned a party in honor of St Theresa and invited the faculty and staff of the seminary to attend. As usual, they know how to do it right (of course, knowing the Sisters as we do now, we believe that there are similar parties going on this evening at all the places we have visited). The entire courtyard is set out with their best chairs, the tables are laden with food and drink and at the appointed hour the festivities begin with, what else, a prayer of thanksgiving to Theresa! The head of the seminary, Fr. Cale, is from eastern Montana and I could understand him!! No accent, just good old American English! We talked over news from America, commiserating over the state of the world. He is a Sulpician and their order is devoted to work in seminaries. He has been there 16 years. A delightful man. Fr. Michael, who teaches Church History and English, is from Cork, Ireland. Also a delightful conversationalist. Two Zambian faculty I only had brief conversations with (I wasn’t moving around a lot). One was leading a seminar on church planting and looking forward to a visit from a woman from the US with a focus in that area with a special emphasis on social justice. Everyone seemed very in touch with the Church and the World.
The delightful surprise of the evening for me was the presence of a young Swiss couple who run the farm. He has been there for three years, she for just one. Both very bright, scientifically trained in modern agricultural methods, focussed on sustainable farming. Since farming is not my line, being a city boy born and bred, he spent a good bit of time opening my mind to the realities of the business end of farming. And it was an eye opener. What a pleasure to have that opportunity. What a serendipidy to come down with malaria and have to travel back to Lusaka by way of Mpima. As Beatrice and the rest of the Board of HFZ keep reminding us and each other, God’s timing is best!
After an energizing evening like that (I even managed a small glass of sparkling wine) it seemed best to rest up for the final leg of the Zambian journey to Lusaka on the morrow.
Bruce and Paula
Day 13
Day 13
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Back on the killer roads until we get to within a few kms of Kasama, where we once more are blessed with well graded dirt roads and finally black top. We spend the night in the Mother House and I begin to take more solid food and believe that I will, indeed, survive. The whole day is rather a blank so I’ll just leave it at that. (Paula and Baptista go into town to exchange money, get fuel for the long journey to Lusaka, and then return to attend evening prayer.) How we do appreciate the material comforts of civilization! It’s a little embarrassing and guilt enhancing to even mention that, but there it is.
Bruce and Paula
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Back on the killer roads until we get to within a few kms of Kasama, where we once more are blessed with well graded dirt roads and finally black top. We spend the night in the Mother House and I begin to take more solid food and believe that I will, indeed, survive. The whole day is rather a blank so I’ll just leave it at that. (Paula and Baptista go into town to exchange money, get fuel for the long journey to Lusaka, and then return to attend evening prayer.) How we do appreciate the material comforts of civilization! It’s a little embarrassing and guilt enhancing to even mention that, but there it is.
Bruce and Paula
Day 12
Day 12
Monday, September 29, 2008 (Again written after the fact.)
Mporokoso, the School for the Blind, opened in 1962, now has 68 students, grades 1 through 9, class size 5 to 10, 14 teachers, four dorms, 2 female, 2 male, large meeting room, staff room, library.
Now, how about the depressing picture first?
They have a well but the pump is old. They have a bore hole but there is not sufficient water. They are able to get water from the public water supply only from 5:30 to 7 a.m. but the storage tank leaks. There is a hand pump for water (undrinkable) for washing, toilets and gardens. There is no fence around the property so the place is not secure. They could make the bricks themselves but they have no sand and cement for the mortar. The classrooms and meeting room have broken windows. There are no Braille textbooks, only two Braille typewriters, Braille typing paper costs K500,000 a ream and the teachers have to transcribe all books and lessons by hand. The kitchen has an electric stove but only one burner works. The Home Economics classroom depends entirely on a charcoal burner because the electric stove doesn’t work.
Is there anything positive? Of course: A positive attitude and point of view determine everything. The Sisters and staff supply that in abundance. When you hear the children playing, singing into the evening you believe that miracles are being accomplished with very little. The school motto - Break the Barrier to Thrive! Their focus for the children: train them to be self reliant. Could they use some help? Certainly! But where to start? Try these on for size: sand and cement to build a wall; a better water supply system; a bus to transport more children here for school – many blind children are totally unserved because they have no transport to the school; a new dorm; canes for the children; a laboratory so they can expand up to grade 12 (when the children go on to high school they have less attention than at Mporokoso becaue there are no special education classes and so they do not thrive as well); a couple of commercial stoves; Braille typewriters and paper; Braille writing styluses and hand frames for the younger children; a Braille press. Is that enough???
It was here, as I lay abed for 36 hours, that we changed plans and decided we needed to forgo the trip to Kawamba with its orphanage, school for the blind and high school, and head back to Kasama. That also meant missing Victoria Falls and Livingstone. There just wasn’t the time or energy to do the full schedule.
Paula’s note : During the time that Bruce was really sick, worrying us all, we had no running water (getting water from a barrel in a bucket) and part of the time no electricity. And malaria is messy business! But we were so lovingly and prayerfully cared for, as we have been this whole trip. We are more grateful than words can say, and count our blessings every day.
Monday, September 29, 2008 (Again written after the fact.)
Mporokoso, the School for the Blind, opened in 1962, now has 68 students, grades 1 through 9, class size 5 to 10, 14 teachers, four dorms, 2 female, 2 male, large meeting room, staff room, library.
Now, how about the depressing picture first?
They have a well but the pump is old. They have a bore hole but there is not sufficient water. They are able to get water from the public water supply only from 5:30 to 7 a.m. but the storage tank leaks. There is a hand pump for water (undrinkable) for washing, toilets and gardens. There is no fence around the property so the place is not secure. They could make the bricks themselves but they have no sand and cement for the mortar. The classrooms and meeting room have broken windows. There are no Braille textbooks, only two Braille typewriters, Braille typing paper costs K500,000 a ream and the teachers have to transcribe all books and lessons by hand. The kitchen has an electric stove but only one burner works. The Home Economics classroom depends entirely on a charcoal burner because the electric stove doesn’t work.
Is there anything positive? Of course: A positive attitude and point of view determine everything. The Sisters and staff supply that in abundance. When you hear the children playing, singing into the evening you believe that miracles are being accomplished with very little. The school motto - Break the Barrier to Thrive! Their focus for the children: train them to be self reliant. Could they use some help? Certainly! But where to start? Try these on for size: sand and cement to build a wall; a better water supply system; a bus to transport more children here for school – many blind children are totally unserved because they have no transport to the school; a new dorm; canes for the children; a laboratory so they can expand up to grade 12 (when the children go on to high school they have less attention than at Mporokoso becaue there are no special education classes and so they do not thrive as well); a couple of commercial stoves; Braille typewriters and paper; Braille writing styluses and hand frames for the younger children; a Braille press. Is that enough???
It was here, as I lay abed for 36 hours, that we changed plans and decided we needed to forgo the trip to Kawamba with its orphanage, school for the blind and high school, and head back to Kasama. That also meant missing Victoria Falls and Livingstone. There just wasn’t the time or energy to do the full schedule.
Paula’s note : During the time that Bruce was really sick, worrying us all, we had no running water (getting water from a barrel in a bucket) and part of the time no electricity. And malaria is messy business! But we were so lovingly and prayerfully cared for, as we have been this whole trip. We are more grateful than words can say, and count our blessings every day.
Day 11
Day 11
Sunday, September 28, 2008 (Written several days later, and you will see why!)
We take our leave of Lucena in the morning. The previous evening before going to bed I caught my first sight of the Southern Cross along with the great sweep of the milky way. No city lights to interfere and also no big dipper pointing to the pole star to orient me to the north.
Today we are going to make a visit to Baptista’s home village of Kaoma. We have come all this way on a wonderful dirt highway (!?!) but as we reach the turn off marked toward Kaoma we are in for the ride of our life – 48 km of it. Baptista recalls that she and her class mates made this journey every weekend, being dropped off at the junction and left to either walk or hitch a ride on the very infrequent vehicles that happened along that road. She says that many times they would walk the whole distance, at night because it was cooler. Then of course they would have to get back to the junction and wait for the bus to pick them up and take them back to school. Actually the village itself is quite a little commercial center. We visited the primary school she attended and the church where her cousin is the pastor. They were just beginning the procession in to the church so I took a few pictures. We made our apologies as we didn’t have time to stay for mass, and went on to Baptista’s sister’s home which was, in itself, an interesting ride. Her sister Agatha and her husband Pascal and their grandsons’ Stephen, Peter and Richard, greeted us graciously. We offered them a football which they enjoyed immediately and immensely. I then embarrassed my self by vomiting in the back of the house, not being able to make it even to the screened pit toilet. I didn’t know it yet but that was only the beginning. Many pictures were taken and we took our leave back down that killer road toward the dirt highway (no bed of roses either) which leads to Mporokoso and the School for the Blind.
During the journey I was increasingly aware that I was not well but there was nothing to do but in the masculine way, tough it out. We arrived and I was in desperate and immediate need of a toilet. I tried to eat a little but all food was anathema. Another embarrassing vomit on the flower bed a temperature check (102), and the universal consensus was – Malaria!! They took me to the rural health clinic (that’s a story in itself!) where a blood smear confirmed that I indeed had one of those pesky little spirochetes in the smear. That means it is a light case, attributable to the anti-malarial drug we had been taking since before leaving for Zambia. They gave me the medicine of choice, a thing called Coartem, 20 mg of Artemether and 120 mg of Lumefantrine (I always like to know what I’m putting in my body). The dosage is 4 a day for four days after which they said I would feel better and would start to eat again (and because of my advanced age they didn’t charge me a cent!). So for the next 36 hours I lay in bed with a fever, being hovered over by Paula and 6 attentive nuns, and running at both ends. I’m sure that is more than you ever wanted to know but there it is.
So you have two days in one. All I can say with no little perverted pride is that I have now had the Full Zambian Experience. The next time I feel like writing I’ll tell you from Paula’s notes about the School for the Blind.
Bruce and Paula
Sunday, September 28, 2008 (Written several days later, and you will see why!)
We take our leave of Lucena in the morning. The previous evening before going to bed I caught my first sight of the Southern Cross along with the great sweep of the milky way. No city lights to interfere and also no big dipper pointing to the pole star to orient me to the north.
Today we are going to make a visit to Baptista’s home village of Kaoma. We have come all this way on a wonderful dirt highway (!?!) but as we reach the turn off marked toward Kaoma we are in for the ride of our life – 48 km of it. Baptista recalls that she and her class mates made this journey every weekend, being dropped off at the junction and left to either walk or hitch a ride on the very infrequent vehicles that happened along that road. She says that many times they would walk the whole distance, at night because it was cooler. Then of course they would have to get back to the junction and wait for the bus to pick them up and take them back to school. Actually the village itself is quite a little commercial center. We visited the primary school she attended and the church where her cousin is the pastor. They were just beginning the procession in to the church so I took a few pictures. We made our apologies as we didn’t have time to stay for mass, and went on to Baptista’s sister’s home which was, in itself, an interesting ride. Her sister Agatha and her husband Pascal and their grandsons’ Stephen, Peter and Richard, greeted us graciously. We offered them a football which they enjoyed immediately and immensely. I then embarrassed my self by vomiting in the back of the house, not being able to make it even to the screened pit toilet. I didn’t know it yet but that was only the beginning. Many pictures were taken and we took our leave back down that killer road toward the dirt highway (no bed of roses either) which leads to Mporokoso and the School for the Blind.
During the journey I was increasingly aware that I was not well but there was nothing to do but in the masculine way, tough it out. We arrived and I was in desperate and immediate need of a toilet. I tried to eat a little but all food was anathema. Another embarrassing vomit on the flower bed a temperature check (102), and the universal consensus was – Malaria!! They took me to the rural health clinic (that’s a story in itself!) where a blood smear confirmed that I indeed had one of those pesky little spirochetes in the smear. That means it is a light case, attributable to the anti-malarial drug we had been taking since before leaving for Zambia. They gave me the medicine of choice, a thing called Coartem, 20 mg of Artemether and 120 mg of Lumefantrine (I always like to know what I’m putting in my body). The dosage is 4 a day for four days after which they said I would feel better and would start to eat again (and because of my advanced age they didn’t charge me a cent!). So for the next 36 hours I lay in bed with a fever, being hovered over by Paula and 6 attentive nuns, and running at both ends. I’m sure that is more than you ever wanted to know but there it is.
So you have two days in one. All I can say with no little perverted pride is that I have now had the Full Zambian Experience. The next time I feel like writing I’ll tell you from Paula’s notes about the School for the Blind.
Bruce and Paula
Day 10
Day 10
Saturday, September 27, 2008
Not a long drive today so we leave about 9:30, again taking Sister Sabina with us. We’re going to visit Kapatu where there is a church of St Leo the Great, the Postulant Training Center for young women beginning their training to enter the Sisters of the Child Jesus, and the Lucena Farm where we will spend the night.
Lucena is a 400 hectare farm managed for the SCJ by Sisters Clare and Clementina. Clare has been there just two years and three months, and, to my mind, has worked miracles in that time. They now have three functioning fish ponds and have dug out two more which are temporarily providing homes for banana plants. The ponds get their water from a small stream which runs down the hill above the farm. Water, as you can guess is a precious commodity and the joint use of it necessitates considerable meeting and talking and working out mutually acceptable agreements. The Sisters have managed that with grace and humor so that now they can use the run off from the ponds (yes, fish need living water) to a beautifully designed gravity flow irrigation system for their hillside gardens which run down to the small river which borders the property. This has been done by women who were never farmers before coming here. And of course the farm has not enough water (have you heard that before?) to irrigate the flat lands which comprise the major cultivation areas of the property, They too need a bore hole and pump. Then there are the animals: goats, cattle, pigs, chickens, all of which is a handful for the two nuns and five farm families which make up the work force. They hope some day soon to be a demonstration farm like Chilabula. Already neighboring farmers are learning from them some new methods.
It is afternoon and youth choir is practicing for mass the next morning. They sing lustily, in perfect intonation with drums as usual. To that accompaniment we go in and meet the 11 postulants ages 18 to 20. Bright, cheerful, respectful, giggly: all you would expect from most girls that age. We leave them a football and an Aerobie. Then we are shown around the grounds passing the two vehicles, one donated from USAID after they had worn it out, the other in similar condition. It’s a wonder they were useful at all. The gardens are hand watered, each postulant having her portion to care for. The inevitable chicken pen and piggery we had come to expect. They raise as much of their own food as possible. Yes, they work, they study, they play, they pray, they are beginning to learn how to live out the motto of SCJ “Apostles to our own people in their own language.” From the gardens we move further away and are shown with a great deal of pride the mill: two motorized grinding mills which serve the surrounding farms enclosed in the little house which also contains a small very basic grocery store and a store room, all under lock and key, not once, not twice, but with eight significant padlocks, four on the regular door and four on the grilled iron work door outside that!! I guess security has its place in this world. We meet some of the residents living in the former dispensary. One little girl has a special attachment to our guide and walks happily along with us the rest of the way until she becomes disconsolate at having to go home,
It is dusk now and in the cool of the evening we meet and chat with three mothers, each with her baby carried in her mother’s wrap, looking out at the world from the security of that warmth. One baby fusses and is immediately offered a breast to nurse, all with no fuss, flair or embarrassment. Then back to the farm for dinner and rest. There is no electricity at the farm, so we eat by candlelight, and follow candles down the hall way to our candlelit room. Cooking is over charcoal, and water is heated so we can bathe with warm water in a plastic tub. Not a problem for a night or two, but to live like this all the time? These sisters are amazing! And in the midst of all their hardships, they remain cheerful, gracious, and loving. Such an inspiration to us.
Bruce and Paula
Saturday, September 27, 2008
Not a long drive today so we leave about 9:30, again taking Sister Sabina with us. We’re going to visit Kapatu where there is a church of St Leo the Great, the Postulant Training Center for young women beginning their training to enter the Sisters of the Child Jesus, and the Lucena Farm where we will spend the night.
Lucena is a 400 hectare farm managed for the SCJ by Sisters Clare and Clementina. Clare has been there just two years and three months, and, to my mind, has worked miracles in that time. They now have three functioning fish ponds and have dug out two more which are temporarily providing homes for banana plants. The ponds get their water from a small stream which runs down the hill above the farm. Water, as you can guess is a precious commodity and the joint use of it necessitates considerable meeting and talking and working out mutually acceptable agreements. The Sisters have managed that with grace and humor so that now they can use the run off from the ponds (yes, fish need living water) to a beautifully designed gravity flow irrigation system for their hillside gardens which run down to the small river which borders the property. This has been done by women who were never farmers before coming here. And of course the farm has not enough water (have you heard that before?) to irrigate the flat lands which comprise the major cultivation areas of the property, They too need a bore hole and pump. Then there are the animals: goats, cattle, pigs, chickens, all of which is a handful for the two nuns and five farm families which make up the work force. They hope some day soon to be a demonstration farm like Chilabula. Already neighboring farmers are learning from them some new methods.
It is afternoon and youth choir is practicing for mass the next morning. They sing lustily, in perfect intonation with drums as usual. To that accompaniment we go in and meet the 11 postulants ages 18 to 20. Bright, cheerful, respectful, giggly: all you would expect from most girls that age. We leave them a football and an Aerobie. Then we are shown around the grounds passing the two vehicles, one donated from USAID after they had worn it out, the other in similar condition. It’s a wonder they were useful at all. The gardens are hand watered, each postulant having her portion to care for. The inevitable chicken pen and piggery we had come to expect. They raise as much of their own food as possible. Yes, they work, they study, they play, they pray, they are beginning to learn how to live out the motto of SCJ “Apostles to our own people in their own language.” From the gardens we move further away and are shown with a great deal of pride the mill: two motorized grinding mills which serve the surrounding farms enclosed in the little house which also contains a small very basic grocery store and a store room, all under lock and key, not once, not twice, but with eight significant padlocks, four on the regular door and four on the grilled iron work door outside that!! I guess security has its place in this world. We meet some of the residents living in the former dispensary. One little girl has a special attachment to our guide and walks happily along with us the rest of the way until she becomes disconsolate at having to go home,
It is dusk now and in the cool of the evening we meet and chat with three mothers, each with her baby carried in her mother’s wrap, looking out at the world from the security of that warmth. One baby fusses and is immediately offered a breast to nurse, all with no fuss, flair or embarrassment. Then back to the farm for dinner and rest. There is no electricity at the farm, so we eat by candlelight, and follow candles down the hall way to our candlelit room. Cooking is over charcoal, and water is heated so we can bathe with warm water in a plastic tub. Not a problem for a night or two, but to live like this all the time? These sisters are amazing! And in the midst of all their hardships, they remain cheerful, gracious, and loving. Such an inspiration to us.
Bruce and Paula
Day 9
Day 9
Friday, September 26, 2008
A five o’clock start for the long drive northeast to Lake Tanganyika and the city of Mpulungu. We are accompanied by Sister Sabina for the day. Baptista drives the Land Cruiser, skillfully avoiding the thousands of potholes on the highway. Those she can’t avoid we go over veeerrry slowly. What does this country do with their road taxes?? Probably spends them fixing the roads that carry more than a dozen cars an hour!
Our first stop is at Mbala where several Sisters live who work in the government hospital there, as well as doing home care visits to parish families. They fed us breakfast at 7 a.m., and we visited with Sister Theresa, now retired, who helps keep the house running. A brief visit to the Cathedral across the street is impressive. A concrete parabolic roof gives the acoustics a marvelous three second reverb time. I was tempted to break out in songs. Wish I had my quartet there.
On to more potholes and to Mpulungu where those forest service roads they choose to call streets got Baptista lost (she hasn’t been there in years), She had to ask directions at least three times. Finally we arrive at Stella Maris Convent School. There Sister Barbara introduced us to the school and all the classes. They currently have 428 students but they began in 2000 with only preschool children ages three or four. They have steadily added one grade each year until now they teach through grade 7. They may add additional grades as funds become available. We visited each of the classes from 7th grade through preschool. In every class the routine was the same: as we entered the entire class immediately stood and said in unison, “Good morning, Teacher Barbara. How are you today?” Sister Barbara would respond, “I am well, and how are you?” To which they would respond: “We are fine, thank you.” Then Barbara would say, “I am not alone today. I have brought some visitors.” At which the children would say, “Good morning. Visitors. You are welcome. How are you today?” We would say we were fine and ask them how they were. They would say, “We are fine, thank you.” Then they would be invited to sit down. We would tell them our names and they would repeat them back. We would invite them to ask any questions, then take a picture (and walk through the room showing them the picture, which totally amazed and delighted them), and then go on to the next class. A charming and decent way to treat your guests, don’t you think?
We had brought a couple of footballs and two Aerobies but didn’t have a chance to try them out since the students were all in class. We saw the playing fields for the boys and girls, rocky places mostly level, but found that there was no place for the preschool and reception (kindergarten) classes to play safely on that rocky hillside. We talked to Barbara about developing a plan for such a space, without promising anything.
Moving on we went down to the shore of Lake Tanganyika where we visited the fish market. What an experience!! This is a major market for the nation with wholesalers coming from as far away as Lusaka and Livingstone to purchase the small dried fish which the population enjoys as a major protein source in their diet. Millions and billions and trillions of fish along the lake shore, drying, being bagged in large 100 kg bags, being sold to individuals for their own consumption. The Sisters were shopping for fish for several of their projects, and we came back with 10 of the large bags and a few others. Needless to say the mini bus we borrowed (just for the trip to the fish market) was packed. And reeked of fish!
We then took all the fish back to the Convent, unloaded and enjoyed a pleasant lunch. During lunch, chatting with Sister Barbara, we discovered to our surprise and amazement that the school had no water at all!!! They have to transport water in containers twice a day from the Convent to the school. How in the world can you run a school of 428 students with no running water? Very creatively it turns out – and pit toilets for kids and staff alike! They have a plan to get water piped from the government well across the street, including signed permission letters, contractor estimates, etc. All they lack is the money.
The school gets no government money and is completely independent. Of the 428 srudents about 100 receive some kind of scholarship aid. So you can see that it’s going to be a tight budget any way you look at it. One of the interesting aspects of student life at each of the schools we visited is that students all have cleaning assignments related to the maintenance of the building and/or the managing of the school garden which supplies much of the food they eat while at school. When we mentioned that students in the US don’t have such assignments the startled response was, “Well, what do the students do???” That, among several other differences in our educational systems, gives pause for considerable reflection.
The long drive home was tiring for Baptista so, after a few minutes of dodging pot holes, she turned the driving over to me. This was my first long distance drive on the left side of the road and I managed it without killing all of us and without blowing out any tires on those miserable pot holes. Paula managed to stay amazingly sane during that whole drive home.
Bruce and Paula
Friday, September 26, 2008
A five o’clock start for the long drive northeast to Lake Tanganyika and the city of Mpulungu. We are accompanied by Sister Sabina for the day. Baptista drives the Land Cruiser, skillfully avoiding the thousands of potholes on the highway. Those she can’t avoid we go over veeerrry slowly. What does this country do with their road taxes?? Probably spends them fixing the roads that carry more than a dozen cars an hour!
Our first stop is at Mbala where several Sisters live who work in the government hospital there, as well as doing home care visits to parish families. They fed us breakfast at 7 a.m., and we visited with Sister Theresa, now retired, who helps keep the house running. A brief visit to the Cathedral across the street is impressive. A concrete parabolic roof gives the acoustics a marvelous three second reverb time. I was tempted to break out in songs. Wish I had my quartet there.
On to more potholes and to Mpulungu where those forest service roads they choose to call streets got Baptista lost (she hasn’t been there in years), She had to ask directions at least three times. Finally we arrive at Stella Maris Convent School. There Sister Barbara introduced us to the school and all the classes. They currently have 428 students but they began in 2000 with only preschool children ages three or four. They have steadily added one grade each year until now they teach through grade 7. They may add additional grades as funds become available. We visited each of the classes from 7th grade through preschool. In every class the routine was the same: as we entered the entire class immediately stood and said in unison, “Good morning, Teacher Barbara. How are you today?” Sister Barbara would respond, “I am well, and how are you?” To which they would respond: “We are fine, thank you.” Then Barbara would say, “I am not alone today. I have brought some visitors.” At which the children would say, “Good morning. Visitors. You are welcome. How are you today?” We would say we were fine and ask them how they were. They would say, “We are fine, thank you.” Then they would be invited to sit down. We would tell them our names and they would repeat them back. We would invite them to ask any questions, then take a picture (and walk through the room showing them the picture, which totally amazed and delighted them), and then go on to the next class. A charming and decent way to treat your guests, don’t you think?
We had brought a couple of footballs and two Aerobies but didn’t have a chance to try them out since the students were all in class. We saw the playing fields for the boys and girls, rocky places mostly level, but found that there was no place for the preschool and reception (kindergarten) classes to play safely on that rocky hillside. We talked to Barbara about developing a plan for such a space, without promising anything.
Moving on we went down to the shore of Lake Tanganyika where we visited the fish market. What an experience!! This is a major market for the nation with wholesalers coming from as far away as Lusaka and Livingstone to purchase the small dried fish which the population enjoys as a major protein source in their diet. Millions and billions and trillions of fish along the lake shore, drying, being bagged in large 100 kg bags, being sold to individuals for their own consumption. The Sisters were shopping for fish for several of their projects, and we came back with 10 of the large bags and a few others. Needless to say the mini bus we borrowed (just for the trip to the fish market) was packed. And reeked of fish!
We then took all the fish back to the Convent, unloaded and enjoyed a pleasant lunch. During lunch, chatting with Sister Barbara, we discovered to our surprise and amazement that the school had no water at all!!! They have to transport water in containers twice a day from the Convent to the school. How in the world can you run a school of 428 students with no running water? Very creatively it turns out – and pit toilets for kids and staff alike! They have a plan to get water piped from the government well across the street, including signed permission letters, contractor estimates, etc. All they lack is the money.
The school gets no government money and is completely independent. Of the 428 srudents about 100 receive some kind of scholarship aid. So you can see that it’s going to be a tight budget any way you look at it. One of the interesting aspects of student life at each of the schools we visited is that students all have cleaning assignments related to the maintenance of the building and/or the managing of the school garden which supplies much of the food they eat while at school. When we mentioned that students in the US don’t have such assignments the startled response was, “Well, what do the students do???” That, among several other differences in our educational systems, gives pause for considerable reflection.
The long drive home was tiring for Baptista so, after a few minutes of dodging pot holes, she turned the driving over to me. This was my first long distance drive on the left side of the road and I managed it without killing all of us and without blowing out any tires on those miserable pot holes. Paula managed to stay amazingly sane during that whole drive home.
Bruce and Paula
Day 8
Day 8
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Visits to villages today with two of the students at Tetekela: The first is Mofya, 16 years old, who is in 9th grade, wants to finish high school, then go to college and become a doctor. He took us into the large and very crowded compound called Musenga, where he lives with his uncle, on the edge of Kasama. This is not a traditional African village but a place set aside for families moving into Kasama for one reason or another but who have no place to live. The families build their own small village type houses out of fired mud brick with thatched roofs. Musenga has grown in a topsy turvy way since it was set aside for that purpose. There seems to be no rhyme or reason for the way the dirt streets and alleys wind around. Small businesses, including a high number of home brew beer parlors (alcoholism is epidemic.), crowd the streets everywhere. People always are trying their best to eek out a living. No one seems to know how many people are living there but the place is teeming with people. Children are everywhere, especially preschoolers, and they follow us around like pied pipers. We visit a couple of families but not Mofya’s. Maybe he is too embarrassed to have us there. One family is a mother, a widow with several children, who is struggling just to survive and sees no hope of anything better. Another is a grandmother caring for her two grandchildren and her husband who has suffered a stroke that leaves him lying in bed (a mat on the dirt floor) , unable even to walk. Their whole house floor plan could be laid out in our bedroom! Even in this bleakness a type of community emerges but it is temporary. Nobody except the very young were born there. There are no ancestral roots to bind them to that land. If they have a choice of where to die they would probably choose to go back to their home village, but the cost makes that unlikely.
Gift, 10 years old, takes us to Lualuo, his traditional village west of Kasama. He lives with his grandmother and his younger brother. Nobody knows how many generations of their family have lived there but the ruined house where he lived with his parents when they were still alive stands a few yards away. His grandmother brews home beer to sell in order to make ends meet and dreams that Gift will grow up to be a big strong educated man, and to that end he walks every day to Tetekela, a distance of several kilometers, where he is seen by his teachers as exceptionally bright. Maybe he has a chance! A neighbor girl walks by in her school uniform. We chat. She is in 4th grade and wants to finish high school and become a Sister. Is that something she says because there are two Sisters sitting right there translating for us ? Or has she seen the kind of work they do with Gift at Tetekela and that strikes a fire in her heart?
Back at Tetekela we join the staff for lunch and then are treated to an afternoon performance of traditional African dances by a group of girls first and then a group of boys, both of whom are accompanied by three boys beating the rhythms on drums. Each group gets enthusiastic cheers and applause by the other children, returning for encores. Then we are totally surprised and honored when two girls dance forward in their traditional way bearing gifts for us: a gorgeous African dress for Paula and a handsome shirt for me, both beautifully crafted by Sister Beatrice. We are blown away! We don our new outfits to wild applause and Joachim says now we look like real Africans! Then things really get going: the drums keep beating, the whole group starts singing in harmony and everyone gets up and dances, the two of us included! It goes on for quite a while. Then they want to end by singing a couple of gospel songs. I tell you, these kids really know how to party.
In the evening we meet with the Kasama Rotary Club and I have a chance to tell them about Hearts for Zambia and our dreams for the work of the SCJ. I commend them for the two projects they have already done: installing a pipe line three years ago from an upland spring to the Hospital at Chilonga so that the hospital, the School of Nursing, and the surrounding community now have adequate water supply; and the installation of a new pump at Tetekela this year when the original one failed. I then emphasized the crucial nature of their financial commitment to the well project on the new property. At Frank Erickson’s suggestion (he is spearheading the Tacoma Narrows Rotary Club focus on this) I told them that a minimum of $1000 USD would be essential if the matching funds from Rotary International are to be realized. They indicated that they are already committed to the project and that they will take that recommendation under consideration. We took a picture of the whole group, including Sister Baptista, and received two copies of their Club banner which we are to present to the Tacoma Narrows Rotary and Tacoma #8 Rotary. They will cherish receiving banners from those two clubs in return. Following adjournment we were treated to an excellent dinner by Emmanuel, our host.
Bruce and Paula Foreman
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Visits to villages today with two of the students at Tetekela: The first is Mofya, 16 years old, who is in 9th grade, wants to finish high school, then go to college and become a doctor. He took us into the large and very crowded compound called Musenga, where he lives with his uncle, on the edge of Kasama. This is not a traditional African village but a place set aside for families moving into Kasama for one reason or another but who have no place to live. The families build their own small village type houses out of fired mud brick with thatched roofs. Musenga has grown in a topsy turvy way since it was set aside for that purpose. There seems to be no rhyme or reason for the way the dirt streets and alleys wind around. Small businesses, including a high number of home brew beer parlors (alcoholism is epidemic.), crowd the streets everywhere. People always are trying their best to eek out a living. No one seems to know how many people are living there but the place is teeming with people. Children are everywhere, especially preschoolers, and they follow us around like pied pipers. We visit a couple of families but not Mofya’s. Maybe he is too embarrassed to have us there. One family is a mother, a widow with several children, who is struggling just to survive and sees no hope of anything better. Another is a grandmother caring for her two grandchildren and her husband who has suffered a stroke that leaves him lying in bed (a mat on the dirt floor) , unable even to walk. Their whole house floor plan could be laid out in our bedroom! Even in this bleakness a type of community emerges but it is temporary. Nobody except the very young were born there. There are no ancestral roots to bind them to that land. If they have a choice of where to die they would probably choose to go back to their home village, but the cost makes that unlikely.
Gift, 10 years old, takes us to Lualuo, his traditional village west of Kasama. He lives with his grandmother and his younger brother. Nobody knows how many generations of their family have lived there but the ruined house where he lived with his parents when they were still alive stands a few yards away. His grandmother brews home beer to sell in order to make ends meet and dreams that Gift will grow up to be a big strong educated man, and to that end he walks every day to Tetekela, a distance of several kilometers, where he is seen by his teachers as exceptionally bright. Maybe he has a chance! A neighbor girl walks by in her school uniform. We chat. She is in 4th grade and wants to finish high school and become a Sister. Is that something she says because there are two Sisters sitting right there translating for us ? Or has she seen the kind of work they do with Gift at Tetekela and that strikes a fire in her heart?
Back at Tetekela we join the staff for lunch and then are treated to an afternoon performance of traditional African dances by a group of girls first and then a group of boys, both of whom are accompanied by three boys beating the rhythms on drums. Each group gets enthusiastic cheers and applause by the other children, returning for encores. Then we are totally surprised and honored when two girls dance forward in their traditional way bearing gifts for us: a gorgeous African dress for Paula and a handsome shirt for me, both beautifully crafted by Sister Beatrice. We are blown away! We don our new outfits to wild applause and Joachim says now we look like real Africans! Then things really get going: the drums keep beating, the whole group starts singing in harmony and everyone gets up and dances, the two of us included! It goes on for quite a while. Then they want to end by singing a couple of gospel songs. I tell you, these kids really know how to party.
In the evening we meet with the Kasama Rotary Club and I have a chance to tell them about Hearts for Zambia and our dreams for the work of the SCJ. I commend them for the two projects they have already done: installing a pipe line three years ago from an upland spring to the Hospital at Chilonga so that the hospital, the School of Nursing, and the surrounding community now have adequate water supply; and the installation of a new pump at Tetekela this year when the original one failed. I then emphasized the crucial nature of their financial commitment to the well project on the new property. At Frank Erickson’s suggestion (he is spearheading the Tacoma Narrows Rotary Club focus on this) I told them that a minimum of $1000 USD would be essential if the matching funds from Rotary International are to be realized. They indicated that they are already committed to the project and that they will take that recommendation under consideration. We took a picture of the whole group, including Sister Baptista, and received two copies of their Club banner which we are to present to the Tacoma Narrows Rotary and Tacoma #8 Rotary. They will cherish receiving banners from those two clubs in return. Following adjournment we were treated to an excellent dinner by Emmanuel, our host.
Bruce and Paula Foreman
Day 7
Day 7
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
What a day!! What projects, what people, what accomplishments, what need!! Don’t know if I can compress it all but I’ll try. I’m kind of at the end of my energy tonight but tomorrow will bring even more to relate, so here goes.
Today’s trip was to Chilubula, the site of the original Mother House of the SCJ Order. We’d heard about it all year from Baptista but we still were not sure what to expect. Turns out that, spread out over considerable territory are St. James Hospital, the SCJ Novitiate, St. Theresa’s Girls Secondary School, and the Demonstration Farm.
Let me explain first of all that to get there you travel down what seem like endless dirt roads, many of them comparable to poorly maintained Forest Service roads in the US. It is inconceivable to us that in what feels to us like dry wilderness there could be any people at all, let alone a substantial population. It turns out that the hospital serves a catchment area consisting of about 10,000 people. Sure didn’t look like it to us. Yet all along the way, there were people walking along the side of the road and occasional clusters of huts scattered out in the bush, seemingly miles from nowhere, except that this is home to them and has been for their ancestors for hundreds of years.
St. James is tasked with providing the full range of care in this area with very meager facilities. Oh, they have buildings with many of the departments of a regional hospital, but when compared to the hospitals we know it seems almost hopelessly inadequate. The bright spot is that the number of new cases of HIV/AIDS has been dropping this year. And the advent of the new retroviral treatment drugs has significantly reduced the number of beds filled. Of 490 registered HIV positive patients on the hospital caseload, 290 are on retroviral drugs. They come in for monthly testing and treatment and then go home to live their lives as fully as they can. Sort of like in Tacoma in that respect. The ward beds (in twelve-bed open wards) were antiquated at best but precious few of them were filled except in maternity, due primarily to lack of supplies and equipment for adequate patient care. The lab was valiantly doing its work with a minimum of equipment. The surgery was constructed a few years ago and that was the end of that. Never finished and left in its post construction mess. But that’s OK since they don’t have a graduate physician anyway, except the irregular drop in. The dispensary works in sparse surroundings with sparsely stocked shelves, that scarcity being necessitated in part by the lack of adequate refrigeration storage. The staff is attentive, competent, caring, forward looking and hopeful in spite of the challenges they face. Most patients now are seen on an outpatient basis, and a primary emphasis is education and provision of food.
Right next to the original Mother House is the Novitiate where 7 young women are going through the training leading up to final vows as members of the SCJ. A beautiful facility with energetic, faithful and growing novices, ages 17-20, who appreciated our gifts of a football and an Aerobie. Baptista regaled us with stories of her time in this house, including battles with the local snakes who sought refuge in their chapel and dining hall.
St. Theresa’s School is full of 409 students, virtually all of whom are residents in the crowded dorms. Several teachers allowed us in to say hello to their classes. The universal response to our entrance was the immediate standing up of all students who said, in unison, “Good afternoon, Sister” to Sr. Sylvia who was showing us around, and then “Welcome” to us when we were introduced. Then they were given permission to sit down, we’d ask a few questions or make a brief comment, and take our leave, at which time they would all say, again in unison, “Thank you for coming.” Imagine that! Classrooms were crowded , but generally the facilities were in good condition except for the science lab which was showing the destructive results of termites’ voracious appetite and was not in use. The textbooks were old when one of the teachers studied there, with sometimes only three available for the full class. They have a development plan (among other things they need additional living space for students and teachers, uniforms for their winning sports teams, and did I mention textbooks?) and continue the struggle to provide quality education for young women. Sister Sylvia, who teaches the sciences, confided in us at the end that her dream was to become a doctor if she could just find a sponsor. More about that when we get home.
The Farm is at the end of another very long, bumpy road. We were warmly welcomed (as we are everywhere we go!) and served a delicious lunch before our walking tour around the property. They grow primarily maize, cassava, soybeans, and sunflowers (for the oil and animal feed). In addition they raise hatchery supplied chickens,200 at a time, for slaughter at seven weeks. Today they had 200 at six weeks and 200 at four days. In a separate building there was a flock of local chickens, and in the yard ten ducks. Two pig buildings housed two boars, several mama pigs and a number of smaller pigs growing to slaughter size. Vegetable gardens completed the picture. Five Bemba families and two nuns live on the property. Their mission is two fold: supply food and resources for the school, the Novitiate, the Mother House, and Tetekela; and act as a training center for small farmers in the area who want to learn better farming methods. All this on 250 hectares with no watering system (no running water at all except in a couple of small creeks on the property), no tractor or plough, no truck. Beats me how they do it but I really admire their pluck and commitment.
This evening, back in Kasama at the new Mother House (called the Generalate, where we have been every evening for dinner), we were treated to an especially festive dinner, a gracious “Thank you and wishing you God’s blessing in all you are doing to help us” and a singing procession presenting us with two beautiful, finely crafted woven baskets. Completely unexpected but happily received. Now off to bed for another long day tomorrow.
Bruce and Paula
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
What a day!! What projects, what people, what accomplishments, what need!! Don’t know if I can compress it all but I’ll try. I’m kind of at the end of my energy tonight but tomorrow will bring even more to relate, so here goes.
Today’s trip was to Chilubula, the site of the original Mother House of the SCJ Order. We’d heard about it all year from Baptista but we still were not sure what to expect. Turns out that, spread out over considerable territory are St. James Hospital, the SCJ Novitiate, St. Theresa’s Girls Secondary School, and the Demonstration Farm.
Let me explain first of all that to get there you travel down what seem like endless dirt roads, many of them comparable to poorly maintained Forest Service roads in the US. It is inconceivable to us that in what feels to us like dry wilderness there could be any people at all, let alone a substantial population. It turns out that the hospital serves a catchment area consisting of about 10,000 people. Sure didn’t look like it to us. Yet all along the way, there were people walking along the side of the road and occasional clusters of huts scattered out in the bush, seemingly miles from nowhere, except that this is home to them and has been for their ancestors for hundreds of years.
St. James is tasked with providing the full range of care in this area with very meager facilities. Oh, they have buildings with many of the departments of a regional hospital, but when compared to the hospitals we know it seems almost hopelessly inadequate. The bright spot is that the number of new cases of HIV/AIDS has been dropping this year. And the advent of the new retroviral treatment drugs has significantly reduced the number of beds filled. Of 490 registered HIV positive patients on the hospital caseload, 290 are on retroviral drugs. They come in for monthly testing and treatment and then go home to live their lives as fully as they can. Sort of like in Tacoma in that respect. The ward beds (in twelve-bed open wards) were antiquated at best but precious few of them were filled except in maternity, due primarily to lack of supplies and equipment for adequate patient care. The lab was valiantly doing its work with a minimum of equipment. The surgery was constructed a few years ago and that was the end of that. Never finished and left in its post construction mess. But that’s OK since they don’t have a graduate physician anyway, except the irregular drop in. The dispensary works in sparse surroundings with sparsely stocked shelves, that scarcity being necessitated in part by the lack of adequate refrigeration storage. The staff is attentive, competent, caring, forward looking and hopeful in spite of the challenges they face. Most patients now are seen on an outpatient basis, and a primary emphasis is education and provision of food.
Right next to the original Mother House is the Novitiate where 7 young women are going through the training leading up to final vows as members of the SCJ. A beautiful facility with energetic, faithful and growing novices, ages 17-20, who appreciated our gifts of a football and an Aerobie. Baptista regaled us with stories of her time in this house, including battles with the local snakes who sought refuge in their chapel and dining hall.
St. Theresa’s School is full of 409 students, virtually all of whom are residents in the crowded dorms. Several teachers allowed us in to say hello to their classes. The universal response to our entrance was the immediate standing up of all students who said, in unison, “Good afternoon, Sister” to Sr. Sylvia who was showing us around, and then “Welcome” to us when we were introduced. Then they were given permission to sit down, we’d ask a few questions or make a brief comment, and take our leave, at which time they would all say, again in unison, “Thank you for coming.” Imagine that! Classrooms were crowded , but generally the facilities were in good condition except for the science lab which was showing the destructive results of termites’ voracious appetite and was not in use. The textbooks were old when one of the teachers studied there, with sometimes only three available for the full class. They have a development plan (among other things they need additional living space for students and teachers, uniforms for their winning sports teams, and did I mention textbooks?) and continue the struggle to provide quality education for young women. Sister Sylvia, who teaches the sciences, confided in us at the end that her dream was to become a doctor if she could just find a sponsor. More about that when we get home.
The Farm is at the end of another very long, bumpy road. We were warmly welcomed (as we are everywhere we go!) and served a delicious lunch before our walking tour around the property. They grow primarily maize, cassava, soybeans, and sunflowers (for the oil and animal feed). In addition they raise hatchery supplied chickens,200 at a time, for slaughter at seven weeks. Today they had 200 at six weeks and 200 at four days. In a separate building there was a flock of local chickens, and in the yard ten ducks. Two pig buildings housed two boars, several mama pigs and a number of smaller pigs growing to slaughter size. Vegetable gardens completed the picture. Five Bemba families and two nuns live on the property. Their mission is two fold: supply food and resources for the school, the Novitiate, the Mother House, and Tetekela; and act as a training center for small farmers in the area who want to learn better farming methods. All this on 250 hectares with no watering system (no running water at all except in a couple of small creeks on the property), no tractor or plough, no truck. Beats me how they do it but I really admire their pluck and commitment.
This evening, back in Kasama at the new Mother House (called the Generalate, where we have been every evening for dinner), we were treated to an especially festive dinner, a gracious “Thank you and wishing you God’s blessing in all you are doing to help us” and a singing procession presenting us with two beautiful, finely crafted woven baskets. Completely unexpected but happily received. Now off to bed for another long day tomorrow.
Bruce and Paula
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Day 6
Day 6
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Paula woke up this morning feeling much better so we spent the whole day at the Tetekela Day Care Center with 150 or more kids, ages 3-16 or so. Wonderful, high energy, shy and brassy, older and younger, caring and helpful, respectful and obedient, boisterous and pushing the edge – all the things you expect children to be. We brought three footballs, two Aerobies, and four bags of beads to string, and we first had to find who would be in charge of which. Paula went with the older teen girls to string bracelets and necklaces and I went out to find the boys. They were all in a round, thatched roof gathering place making all the noise boys can make. As I approached and they noticed me an absolute silence ensued with them all looking at me and I at them. Since I don’t speak a word of Bemba and they speak very little if any English it was rather hopeless until Sister Petronella showed up to translate. I told them a bit about myself and mentioned the Aerobies (they had no idea what those were) and footballs (they went wild). I told them a bit about myself and then Sister suggested that they ask me some questions. That was not particularly productive because of their shyness (which later gave way to ready smiles and eager high five’s!) so she suggested a break so they could think of them, I took that as an excellent suggestion and went for the Aerobies.
There is a young man, Joachim, in charge of sports, so it seemed best to wait until he could organize the football game. I thought I could manage an Aerobie free for all. And free it was what with learning how to sail the Aerobie, retrieving the ones that went over the wall, fights over who got there first, tussles that threatened to tear an Aerobie apart, and general chaos. I tried to take some action pictures to send to the Aerobie Corporation for posting on the website but every time the camera came out they forgot about playing and wanted to be in the picture. It occurred to me that most of these kids had never seen themselves, so even that tiny screen on the back of the camera was a complete novelty. Besides which they seemed not to understand Movie or Video. All they knew was still picture taking. So I finally retrieved the Aerobies and retreated to where Paula was working with beads.
The girls were having a great time stringing beautiful bracelets and necklaces. The literally thousands of beads which we thought would last for several sessions were all used up before lunch! We both needed a rest so I took Paula on a tour of the facilities and took a few more pictures.
Lunch is amazing. The children line up outside the dining hall and come in, a few at a time to receive their trays piled high with food (much more than I could eat but probably the only meal most of them will have today), go find a place at the table and sit quietly (mostly) until everyone is served and a prayer is said, and then they dive in. The menu today (and it would be much the same every day) was maize, a very thick white cornmeal porridge, rather like polenta, cooked in a huge vat over a charcoal fire, dried yellow peas cooked in a similar fashion, and some cooked vegetables that appeared to be mostly cabbage. No spoons, forks or knives. It’s all eaten with the hands in communal style, adults and children. Then tables are cleared and cleanup is done. We never did figure out how the assignments were made but the cleaners were marvelously creative and energetic in the tasks, down on their hands and knees with rags and buckets of water. Soon the dining room was spotless.
An after lunch gathering with both Paula and me (Joachim translating) gave a chance for more questions. After a while the three footballs were brought out (miraculously fully inflated) and three games ensued – one for the older boys; one for the girls (a vague resemblance to Keep Away) , both of them skillfully played and hard fought on the large play field; and another football game with the younger boys in the drive way, intense but less skillful. It was a HOT day so water and cleanup with outdoor showers were welcome, after which the children slathered on lotion.
There was a final gathering in the meeting house outdoors where the children wanted to sing to us. We were properly seated and they sang with drums beating, two songs in English (one about friends and the other “Bind Us Together, Lord” – we could sing along on that one!), and one in Bemba. Very heart warming. Then came an impromptu statement by one of the boys wishing us God’s blessing in our travels and a hope that we could come again (in Bemba, translated by Sister Petronella). As a last gesture, on Sister Baptista’s suggestion, we had purchased bags of hard candy. The very mention brought incredible cheers. It was very moving and, I must admit, significantly embarrassing for me, to place a small, paper wrapped candy in dozens of stretched out hands (did some of them come for seconds??). Children dressed in rags and hand-me-downs, dependent on relative strangers for their very survival and a glimpse of hope, so eager for a taste of sweetness. It’s a humbling experience.
We asked Joachim and Florence, the two young volunteer teachers, what kept them coming back to Tetekela Day Care. They have their own dreams but they each said, in their own way, that if they could help just one of they youngsters grow out of the life they have into a dream they may not yet be aware of, it would all be worth while.
What a moving day!
Bruce and Paula
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Paula woke up this morning feeling much better so we spent the whole day at the Tetekela Day Care Center with 150 or more kids, ages 3-16 or so. Wonderful, high energy, shy and brassy, older and younger, caring and helpful, respectful and obedient, boisterous and pushing the edge – all the things you expect children to be. We brought three footballs, two Aerobies, and four bags of beads to string, and we first had to find who would be in charge of which. Paula went with the older teen girls to string bracelets and necklaces and I went out to find the boys. They were all in a round, thatched roof gathering place making all the noise boys can make. As I approached and they noticed me an absolute silence ensued with them all looking at me and I at them. Since I don’t speak a word of Bemba and they speak very little if any English it was rather hopeless until Sister Petronella showed up to translate. I told them a bit about myself and mentioned the Aerobies (they had no idea what those were) and footballs (they went wild). I told them a bit about myself and then Sister suggested that they ask me some questions. That was not particularly productive because of their shyness (which later gave way to ready smiles and eager high five’s!) so she suggested a break so they could think of them, I took that as an excellent suggestion and went for the Aerobies.
There is a young man, Joachim, in charge of sports, so it seemed best to wait until he could organize the football game. I thought I could manage an Aerobie free for all. And free it was what with learning how to sail the Aerobie, retrieving the ones that went over the wall, fights over who got there first, tussles that threatened to tear an Aerobie apart, and general chaos. I tried to take some action pictures to send to the Aerobie Corporation for posting on the website but every time the camera came out they forgot about playing and wanted to be in the picture. It occurred to me that most of these kids had never seen themselves, so even that tiny screen on the back of the camera was a complete novelty. Besides which they seemed not to understand Movie or Video. All they knew was still picture taking. So I finally retrieved the Aerobies and retreated to where Paula was working with beads.
The girls were having a great time stringing beautiful bracelets and necklaces. The literally thousands of beads which we thought would last for several sessions were all used up before lunch! We both needed a rest so I took Paula on a tour of the facilities and took a few more pictures.
Lunch is amazing. The children line up outside the dining hall and come in, a few at a time to receive their trays piled high with food (much more than I could eat but probably the only meal most of them will have today), go find a place at the table and sit quietly (mostly) until everyone is served and a prayer is said, and then they dive in. The menu today (and it would be much the same every day) was maize, a very thick white cornmeal porridge, rather like polenta, cooked in a huge vat over a charcoal fire, dried yellow peas cooked in a similar fashion, and some cooked vegetables that appeared to be mostly cabbage. No spoons, forks or knives. It’s all eaten with the hands in communal style, adults and children. Then tables are cleared and cleanup is done. We never did figure out how the assignments were made but the cleaners were marvelously creative and energetic in the tasks, down on their hands and knees with rags and buckets of water. Soon the dining room was spotless.
An after lunch gathering with both Paula and me (Joachim translating) gave a chance for more questions. After a while the three footballs were brought out (miraculously fully inflated) and three games ensued – one for the older boys; one for the girls (a vague resemblance to Keep Away) , both of them skillfully played and hard fought on the large play field; and another football game with the younger boys in the drive way, intense but less skillful. It was a HOT day so water and cleanup with outdoor showers were welcome, after which the children slathered on lotion.
There was a final gathering in the meeting house outdoors where the children wanted to sing to us. We were properly seated and they sang with drums beating, two songs in English (one about friends and the other “Bind Us Together, Lord” – we could sing along on that one!), and one in Bemba. Very heart warming. Then came an impromptu statement by one of the boys wishing us God’s blessing in our travels and a hope that we could come again (in Bemba, translated by Sister Petronella). As a last gesture, on Sister Baptista’s suggestion, we had purchased bags of hard candy. The very mention brought incredible cheers. It was very moving and, I must admit, significantly embarrassing for me, to place a small, paper wrapped candy in dozens of stretched out hands (did some of them come for seconds??). Children dressed in rags and hand-me-downs, dependent on relative strangers for their very survival and a glimpse of hope, so eager for a taste of sweetness. It’s a humbling experience.
We asked Joachim and Florence, the two young volunteer teachers, what kept them coming back to Tetekela Day Care. They have their own dreams but they each said, in their own way, that if they could help just one of they youngsters grow out of the life they have into a dream they may not yet be aware of, it would all be worth while.
What a moving day!
Bruce and Paula
Day 5
Day 5
Monday September 22, 2008
The day began with a morning conference with Sisters Jacintha, Christine and Baptista, which went very well. We shared our mission statement and discussed what we need from them in order to fulfill that. We also went over all the questions that the board suggested and received some valuable information and the promise of more. We’ll share all that with the Board when we get home.
Paula was still not feeling well so opted out for the day in order to fully recuperate. Sisters Baptista, Jacintha, Christine, and Bruce traveled out to the property which is to be developed and saw as much as could be seen. A large swath has been cleared and an even larger piece is still in bush. They do have two wells dug, one, to be used for a hand pump, is just a large hole about 4 feet in diameter going down about 20 feet or so where they hit a large rock which stopped further progress for the time being. The hole is covered with small logs for safety. The other is a bore hole with a 16 inch pipe going down 20 meters. It is covered with a cap and a mound of dirt awaiting a power line and the installation of a submersible pump.
Following that we went to the Tetekela Day Care Center, a major project of the SCJ, where they feed, teach and play with the 203 children of all ages who are registered there. These are all half orphans, under guardianship of some kind, or full orphans without any family support and living on the street. The daily attendance varies because some are in school for part of the day or some are sick or have just decided not to walk that far. When we arrived about 160 kids were lined up for lunch, being as noisy and active as any similar group of children anywhere. I took a few pictures and they seemed delighted to see themselves on the screen of our digital camera. The kitchen was busy filling plates which were handed out in an amazingly orderly and calm process. All the cooking was done on a small apartment sized four burner electric stove and an outdoor charcoal fire on the floor of the small cooking hut. Sister Beatrice, who gave me the tour, happened to mention that they could really use a commercial electric range!! The rest of the building consists of four small class rooms, a food storage room not particularly well stocked, and shower/toilet facilities, but the showers are not all now working. They have four teachers who are not paid (they don’t have the money). Out the kitchen door she showed me the large garden where they raise a lot of the food they need but it all has to be watered by hand. Some kind of sprinkler system would be useful. We go past a small building in which another single classroom is partially filled with bags of charcoal , and then see the large dirt playfield which will undoubtedly be the scene of some spirited football (soccer) games using the footballs we brought (as well as a place to sail the Aerobies). The back part of the property is reserved for construction of dorms. It is surrounded by partially built walls and contains small piles of bricks in anticipation of further construction.
I asked why all the children were not in school and was told they don’t have the money for uniforms or books and supplies. Besides they are hungry. What does it cost to make sure that one grade school child would be able to go to school? $50 but if you want to feed that child another $50 – per year!!! High school would cost a bit more.
Paula is feeling much better this evening, after spending the day resting and eating only rice and Coke, and expects to be able to join me tomorrow when we go back to the Tetekela Day Care Center. The weather is very hot, which is very draining, so Baptista graciously brought us a fan to cool our bedroom at night. Tucked under our new mosquito netting (the original one had many holes), we hope to rest well.
Love and peace to you all,
Bruce and Paula
Monday September 22, 2008
The day began with a morning conference with Sisters Jacintha, Christine and Baptista, which went very well. We shared our mission statement and discussed what we need from them in order to fulfill that. We also went over all the questions that the board suggested and received some valuable information and the promise of more. We’ll share all that with the Board when we get home.
Paula was still not feeling well so opted out for the day in order to fully recuperate. Sisters Baptista, Jacintha, Christine, and Bruce traveled out to the property which is to be developed and saw as much as could be seen. A large swath has been cleared and an even larger piece is still in bush. They do have two wells dug, one, to be used for a hand pump, is just a large hole about 4 feet in diameter going down about 20 feet or so where they hit a large rock which stopped further progress for the time being. The hole is covered with small logs for safety. The other is a bore hole with a 16 inch pipe going down 20 meters. It is covered with a cap and a mound of dirt awaiting a power line and the installation of a submersible pump.
Following that we went to the Tetekela Day Care Center, a major project of the SCJ, where they feed, teach and play with the 203 children of all ages who are registered there. These are all half orphans, under guardianship of some kind, or full orphans without any family support and living on the street. The daily attendance varies because some are in school for part of the day or some are sick or have just decided not to walk that far. When we arrived about 160 kids were lined up for lunch, being as noisy and active as any similar group of children anywhere. I took a few pictures and they seemed delighted to see themselves on the screen of our digital camera. The kitchen was busy filling plates which were handed out in an amazingly orderly and calm process. All the cooking was done on a small apartment sized four burner electric stove and an outdoor charcoal fire on the floor of the small cooking hut. Sister Beatrice, who gave me the tour, happened to mention that they could really use a commercial electric range!! The rest of the building consists of four small class rooms, a food storage room not particularly well stocked, and shower/toilet facilities, but the showers are not all now working. They have four teachers who are not paid (they don’t have the money). Out the kitchen door she showed me the large garden where they raise a lot of the food they need but it all has to be watered by hand. Some kind of sprinkler system would be useful. We go past a small building in which another single classroom is partially filled with bags of charcoal , and then see the large dirt playfield which will undoubtedly be the scene of some spirited football (soccer) games using the footballs we brought (as well as a place to sail the Aerobies). The back part of the property is reserved for construction of dorms. It is surrounded by partially built walls and contains small piles of bricks in anticipation of further construction.
I asked why all the children were not in school and was told they don’t have the money for uniforms or books and supplies. Besides they are hungry. What does it cost to make sure that one grade school child would be able to go to school? $50 but if you want to feed that child another $50 – per year!!! High school would cost a bit more.
Paula is feeling much better this evening, after spending the day resting and eating only rice and Coke, and expects to be able to join me tomorrow when we go back to the Tetekela Day Care Center. The weather is very hot, which is very draining, so Baptista graciously brought us a fan to cool our bedroom at night. Tucked under our new mosquito netting (the original one had many holes), we hope to rest well.
Love and peace to you all,
Bruce and Paula
Day 4
Day 4
September 21, 2008
It was mostly a restful night but Paula was not feeling well, probably a typical traveler’s ailment along with some nausea, even though we have tried to be scrupulously careful about what we eat and drink.. We did make it for a simple continental breakfast provided by our guest house (owned by the president of the Kasama Rotary club) and then went to High Mass at the Kasama Cathedral at 10.
Since this is the only mass in Bemba, the language spoken by the local people, the place was overflowing with a crowd of probably a thousand or more. Most of them walked because there were very few cars in evidence. Standing room only for the incredibly young looking crowd of obviously devoted worshippers. We had seats in the very back against a cool stone wall. It was really a very exciting service even though we couldn’t understand a word. Baptista translated periodically as the service progressed.
The procession of the choir (at least 40 male and female mostly teens and 20’s, all wearing green T shirts and the women green berets) with drums beating and a slow, rhythmic, repetitious dance and song took all of five minutes. Of course they could have entered much more quickly if all you are interested in is speed, but who would want that?? Clear, bright, energetic voices, perfectly in tune, were a joy to listen to and watch. We really didn’t expect or want to get out of there in an hour. Pageantry deluxe, a bit much for my taste but, hey, this is the Cathedral and it was so well and movingly done. We were on our way in just short of 2 ½ hours. We recommend it.
One of the great joys of being here is to experience the great friendliness of the Bemba people and, for that matter, of all the people of Zambia that we have met, even in passing. It is a genuine warmth accompanied with bright smiles.
If you are reading this you realize that I finally was able to get on the internet, thanks to the help of Sister Christine, the Assistant Mother Superior. I didn’t have the right cords for their dial up connection so she let me use her computer. A combination of flash drive technology and Baptista’s guidance through the unnecessarily complex methodology of Windows and it was done. I hope to find an internet café tomorrow.
We spent the afternoon with Baptista mapping out how we are going to get in everything we want to see and do in the next week and a half, a daunting task as the Sisters have so many different ministries in such widespread locations. We continue to be impressed by their gracious hospitality, their devotion, and their unflagging willingness to be of service in the face of overwhelming need.
Bruce and Paula
September 21, 2008
It was mostly a restful night but Paula was not feeling well, probably a typical traveler’s ailment along with some nausea, even though we have tried to be scrupulously careful about what we eat and drink.. We did make it for a simple continental breakfast provided by our guest house (owned by the president of the Kasama Rotary club) and then went to High Mass at the Kasama Cathedral at 10.
Since this is the only mass in Bemba, the language spoken by the local people, the place was overflowing with a crowd of probably a thousand or more. Most of them walked because there were very few cars in evidence. Standing room only for the incredibly young looking crowd of obviously devoted worshippers. We had seats in the very back against a cool stone wall. It was really a very exciting service even though we couldn’t understand a word. Baptista translated periodically as the service progressed.
The procession of the choir (at least 40 male and female mostly teens and 20’s, all wearing green T shirts and the women green berets) with drums beating and a slow, rhythmic, repetitious dance and song took all of five minutes. Of course they could have entered much more quickly if all you are interested in is speed, but who would want that?? Clear, bright, energetic voices, perfectly in tune, were a joy to listen to and watch. We really didn’t expect or want to get out of there in an hour. Pageantry deluxe, a bit much for my taste but, hey, this is the Cathedral and it was so well and movingly done. We were on our way in just short of 2 ½ hours. We recommend it.
One of the great joys of being here is to experience the great friendliness of the Bemba people and, for that matter, of all the people of Zambia that we have met, even in passing. It is a genuine warmth accompanied with bright smiles.
If you are reading this you realize that I finally was able to get on the internet, thanks to the help of Sister Christine, the Assistant Mother Superior. I didn’t have the right cords for their dial up connection so she let me use her computer. A combination of flash drive technology and Baptista’s guidance through the unnecessarily complex methodology of Windows and it was done. I hope to find an internet café tomorrow.
We spent the afternoon with Baptista mapping out how we are going to get in everything we want to see and do in the next week and a half, a daunting task as the Sisters have so many different ministries in such widespread locations. We continue to be impressed by their gracious hospitality, their devotion, and their unflagging willingness to be of service in the face of overwhelming need.
Bruce and Paula
Sunday, September 21, 2008
Day 3
3rd Day
20 September 2008
Early start at 6 o'clock to drive from Lusaka to Kasama. Well, we went out of the gate by 6:10! Leaving Lusaka on the two lane Great Northern Road which goes all the way to Dar es-Salaam on the Indian Ocean. On through the Central Province. Miles and miles of flat rich agricultural land mixed with African bush as far as the eye can see - wheat, corn, vegetables. Then, as we get farther north, rolling hills with occasional great rocky up-thrusts for contrast and, increasingly, the dry African bush covering the terrain. Villages visible on either side of the road with their conical thatched roofs over small round buildings made largely of dried mud bricks. Hundreds of paths leading off the road on either side presumably toward other villages unseen.
The major mode of transportation in rural Africa uses leg power, mostly walking but also bicycles. People of all ages walking or riding along the side of the road, morning, noon and night. There are also some busses, lots of trucks, a few cars and, and an occasional ox cart but walking is the most noticeable. Driving along there are myriad produce stands. If you chance to stop at one the routine is always the same. Suddenly a half dozen vendors rush out to entice you with their product, all clamoring to be heard. We did this a few times and Baptista handled the melee quite well. We certainly wouldn't have known what to do, particularly being still unfamiliar with the currency, Kaoma, our excellent driver made all the required stops at Baptista's direction and kept us racing along between 120 and 140 KPH ((72 to 84 MPH as close as I can figure it), except when dodging trucks and potholes. It was promising to be quite a ride.
Our first stop was a very brief one in Kabwe where we made the final payment on the Land Cruiser to a long time friend of Baptista's who is a used car dealer The money we had brought from HFZ. So the car is free and clear!! Then on to the Mpima Seminary where there are four Sisters who help keep the place running and also introduce the seminarians to home care for the elderly and HIV/AIDS patients, a powerful pastoral training event. There are two hundred young men there for two years of philosophy and Scripture, most entering about the age of 20 after a year of spirituality training. The nuns fed us breakfast as seems to be the universal African custom. You must eat something.
Our next stop was at the Chilonga Hospital and School of Nursing and Midwifery. There are 12 Sisters there most of whom are on the hospital nursing staff. There are 80 students who come from all over the country to get the excellent training provided. We were given the full tour by Sister Rosaria and, of course, we were fed lunch. During the tour we witnessed a group of grade school children practicing their music with drums for mass the next day with the Dominican Sister who was their teacher. It was tempting to stick around much longer but travel intervened.
Our last stop before Kasama was to see the St. Therese School at Mpika, the site of the children's drama presentation some of us saw on DVD. Being a Saturday no students were there, but one of the lessons on the black board was a math exercise in handling Kwachas. We almost signed up for class!
As we neared Kasama, darkness fell and we began to see cooking fires in the invisible villages we passed. It was a little nerve racking to realize that foot and bicycle traffic didn't diminish just because of the lack of light. We saw only one bicycle with a light! Otherwise it was reduce your speed (down to 100 KPH, 60 MPH) and try not to hit anybody.
Finally we arrived at the Mother House of the Sisters of the Child Jesus about 7:30 and, you guessed it, we ate supper along with a half dozen Sisters who were there. Our visit has been highly anticipated but we told them we needed to learn from them how to be intelligent (a major undertaking for us) in funneling appropriate resources for their work. That will be the major focus of our stay here, along with establishing a relationship with the Kasama Rotary Club and making sure they accept their very crucial role in the well project for the Sisters' new property which will be used for services to HIV/AIDS orphans.
So to bed and the anticipation of another eventful day.
Bruce and Paula
20 September 2008
Early start at 6 o'clock to drive from Lusaka to Kasama. Well, we went out of the gate by 6:10! Leaving Lusaka on the two lane Great Northern Road which goes all the way to Dar es-Salaam on the Indian Ocean. On through the Central Province. Miles and miles of flat rich agricultural land mixed with African bush as far as the eye can see - wheat, corn, vegetables. Then, as we get farther north, rolling hills with occasional great rocky up-thrusts for contrast and, increasingly, the dry African bush covering the terrain. Villages visible on either side of the road with their conical thatched roofs over small round buildings made largely of dried mud bricks. Hundreds of paths leading off the road on either side presumably toward other villages unseen.
The major mode of transportation in rural Africa uses leg power, mostly walking but also bicycles. People of all ages walking or riding along the side of the road, morning, noon and night. There are also some busses, lots of trucks, a few cars and, and an occasional ox cart but walking is the most noticeable. Driving along there are myriad produce stands. If you chance to stop at one the routine is always the same. Suddenly a half dozen vendors rush out to entice you with their product, all clamoring to be heard. We did this a few times and Baptista handled the melee quite well. We certainly wouldn't have known what to do, particularly being still unfamiliar with the currency, Kaoma, our excellent driver made all the required stops at Baptista's direction and kept us racing along between 120 and 140 KPH ((72 to 84 MPH as close as I can figure it), except when dodging trucks and potholes. It was promising to be quite a ride.
Our first stop was a very brief one in Kabwe where we made the final payment on the Land Cruiser to a long time friend of Baptista's who is a used car dealer The money we had brought from HFZ. So the car is free and clear!! Then on to the Mpima Seminary where there are four Sisters who help keep the place running and also introduce the seminarians to home care for the elderly and HIV/AIDS patients, a powerful pastoral training event. There are two hundred young men there for two years of philosophy and Scripture, most entering about the age of 20 after a year of spirituality training. The nuns fed us breakfast as seems to be the universal African custom. You must eat something.
Our next stop was at the Chilonga Hospital and School of Nursing and Midwifery. There are 12 Sisters there most of whom are on the hospital nursing staff. There are 80 students who come from all over the country to get the excellent training provided. We were given the full tour by Sister Rosaria and, of course, we were fed lunch. During the tour we witnessed a group of grade school children practicing their music with drums for mass the next day with the Dominican Sister who was their teacher. It was tempting to stick around much longer but travel intervened.
Our last stop before Kasama was to see the St. Therese School at Mpika, the site of the children's drama presentation some of us saw on DVD. Being a Saturday no students were there, but one of the lessons on the black board was a math exercise in handling Kwachas. We almost signed up for class!
As we neared Kasama, darkness fell and we began to see cooking fires in the invisible villages we passed. It was a little nerve racking to realize that foot and bicycle traffic didn't diminish just because of the lack of light. We saw only one bicycle with a light! Otherwise it was reduce your speed (down to 100 KPH, 60 MPH) and try not to hit anybody.
Finally we arrived at the Mother House of the Sisters of the Child Jesus about 7:30 and, you guessed it, we ate supper along with a half dozen Sisters who were there. Our visit has been highly anticipated but we told them we needed to learn from them how to be intelligent (a major undertaking for us) in funneling appropriate resources for their work. That will be the major focus of our stay here, along with establishing a relationship with the Kasama Rotary Club and making sure they accept their very crucial role in the well project for the Sisters' new property which will be used for services to HIV/AIDS orphans.
So to bed and the anticipation of another eventful day.
Bruce and Paula
Day 2
2nd Day
September 19, 2008
OK, so I spelled it wrong yesterday. It's Kwacha, not Kwatcha. But it still runs through our fingers like sand, a million here, a million there. Amazing!! We just paid a million 320 thousand for our and Baptista's two days and nights, plus meals, at Kapingila ZEC (Zambian Episcopal Conference House), and a little over a half million for 69.3 litres of diesel fuel for the Land Cruiser. Yikes!!
As you can tell I finally got access to the Internet. Everyone guards their password access with a security conscious zeal that astounds me. But they would let me plug into their system and do my thing. So you got the last blog. This one may have to wait until Sunday. We leave at 6 in the morning (Saturday) for Kasama. It's a 450 mile drive with stops along the way. I bet you are waiting with bated breath for the first report of real life in the Northern Province! So are we!
Today was a day of waiting. The Archbishop left at 9 and our appointment was scheduled for 10, so needless to say we didn't get to see him . But we got to see the Cathedral. Magnificently sparse we would call it, but with a pulpit made from a drum and several large, contemporary African paintings. Quite different from St. James! And instead of visiting with the Archbishop we got our first bid on a tractor for the farming the Sisters are doing and hoping to do in a more efficient manner. We're talking big bucks here, folks, as you might expect. We'll get other bids and have a more realistic picture after we see the actual plots of land and talk to the folks involved in farming.
This evening we enjoyed a potluck at the American Embassy with hamburgers and hot dogs cooked by the Marines stationed there. It was for over 200 Americans and their families living, working and visiting in Zambia. Mostly, the Embassy staff wanted to do three things: encourage them to complete their absentee ballots, be briefed on safety issues and emphasize how to behave as polite guests of Zambia. A lot of questions and answers ensued. The Embassy staff works hard to make life here as uncomplicated at possible but they need the cooperation of all, especially by providing information on changing procedures which the staff may not be aware of. The food was good, including some fine American style desserts, and we got acquainted with some interesting folks.
Now it's off to bed for an early wake up call. We have needed a nap each afternoon so far, but hope to be pretty well adjusted to the 9 hour time change soon. Talk to you again tomorrow.
Bruce Paula, and Baptista.
September 19, 2008
OK, so I spelled it wrong yesterday. It's Kwacha, not Kwatcha. But it still runs through our fingers like sand, a million here, a million there. Amazing!! We just paid a million 320 thousand for our and Baptista's two days and nights, plus meals, at Kapingila ZEC (Zambian Episcopal Conference House), and a little over a half million for 69.3 litres of diesel fuel for the Land Cruiser. Yikes!!
As you can tell I finally got access to the Internet. Everyone guards their password access with a security conscious zeal that astounds me. But they would let me plug into their system and do my thing. So you got the last blog. This one may have to wait until Sunday. We leave at 6 in the morning (Saturday) for Kasama. It's a 450 mile drive with stops along the way. I bet you are waiting with bated breath for the first report of real life in the Northern Province! So are we!
Today was a day of waiting. The Archbishop left at 9 and our appointment was scheduled for 10, so needless to say we didn't get to see him . But we got to see the Cathedral. Magnificently sparse we would call it, but with a pulpit made from a drum and several large, contemporary African paintings. Quite different from St. James! And instead of visiting with the Archbishop we got our first bid on a tractor for the farming the Sisters are doing and hoping to do in a more efficient manner. We're talking big bucks here, folks, as you might expect. We'll get other bids and have a more realistic picture after we see the actual plots of land and talk to the folks involved in farming.
This evening we enjoyed a potluck at the American Embassy with hamburgers and hot dogs cooked by the Marines stationed there. It was for over 200 Americans and their families living, working and visiting in Zambia. Mostly, the Embassy staff wanted to do three things: encourage them to complete their absentee ballots, be briefed on safety issues and emphasize how to behave as polite guests of Zambia. A lot of questions and answers ensued. The Embassy staff works hard to make life here as uncomplicated at possible but they need the cooperation of all, especially by providing information on changing procedures which the staff may not be aware of. The food was good, including some fine American style desserts, and we got acquainted with some interesting folks.
Now it's off to bed for an early wake up call. We have needed a nap each afternoon so far, but hope to be pretty well adjusted to the 9 hour time change soon. Talk to you again tomorrow.
Bruce Paula, and Baptista.
Friday, September 19, 2008
Our First Day
September 18, 2008
Well, we made it this morning at 6:30, sleep deprived but nonetheless alert and ready to go. After 20 hours in the air (10 to London Heathrow, a three hour layover then 10 more to Lusaka, Zambia). It was great watching the sun rise over the African continent and slowly distinguishing the landscape. The International Airport in Lusaka is a bit like the one in Walla Walla. We had to circle a few times because there were three planes trying to land at the same time. The pilot said this was the first time he had experienced that kind of traffic jam at Lusaka.
Sister Baptista was there to greet us and walk us through passport entry and customs (note the high security not needed, quite unlike SeaTac) which went without a hitch. No questions asked about our more than 200 pounds of luggage.We gave Baptista a few of the hugs we had promised you we would deliver and the cards several of you wrote her. She was delighted.
Our ride through Lusaka rush hour traffic (we kid you not, it's as bad as I-5 - only 4 lanes, however, but with pedestrians and bicycles darting in and out) brought us to the Catholic Secretariat compound where we will be staying for two days. After much needed showers we were decent enough to be seen in public. We had a little breakfast and then off to the bank where we were introduced to the intricacies of Zambian currency. Talk about high finance - $1.00 USD is exchanged for Kwatcha 3600. We came away with hundreds of thousands of Kwatchas, all paper money from K100 to K50,000. It doesn't all fit in your wallet!! A little shopping for some needles to fill the 17 soccer (football) balls and make them useful and some food for the journeys next week at the ShopRite super market and we came back almost K300,000 lighter.
Sights in greater Lusaka that impressed us this first day:
Bicycles loaded to the gills with produce going to market. Women with a wide variety of loads carried in their stately manner on their heads. Men on foot, mostly younger, hawking all kinds of wares on the street and between lanes in traffic. Vacant lot vendors set up on the ground. Small store front businesses strung out along every road, mixed with the large local and international corporation buildings. Literally dozens and dozens of ways to try to make a living evident as we watched.
Lunch back at the compound (a cousin of Baptista's is the chef). Then a much needed nap in the afternoon. Paula said I was asleep 10 seconds after I hit the bed. Dinner with a group of nuns who had just arrived led to an interesting conversation about ministering to HIV/AIDS patients. there is a great deal of denial, first being unable to admit their disease, and then a lot of "Why me? Why am I being punished?" Classic grief process experiences we all go through.
The climate today (it is spring, and the dry season) is warm, perhaps low 80's with a lovely breeze. Both the temperature and the flora are much like southern California -- lots of purple jadaranda trees bouganvilla, oleander, and other colorful flowers. For two sun-starved Washingtonians, this is beautiful! But signs of poverty are very evident in groups of idle young men everywhere, no sidewalks, old cars, lots of litter, though there are efforts to "Keep Lusaka Clean". So it is quite a mix.
The used Land Cruise if sturdy and reliable, and we have a young and skillful driver named Kaoma. No relation to Baptista, though the name is the same.
Now, it's off to bed with the frogs singing us to sleep, and then tomorrow. But, as they say, that's a story yet to be told.
Love to you all,
Bruce and Paula
Monday, September 8, 2008
Sunday, September 7, 2008
Picture of Bruce and Paula with Sister Baptista
This is just to get you started, seeing who we are. We haven't started the actual journey yet but feel like this will be another life defining experience. We'll be traveling together for 16 days starting in one week on September 16. Lots of getting ready things to do this week. Keep us all in your prayers.
Bruce and Paula
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