London

Yesterday we did the whirlwind tour of London ... we were on the first Hop on Hop Off bus in the morning to see all that we could see.  From Buckingham Palace, Big Ben, London Bridge, Tower Bridge, The London Eye and of course the Markets.

We were quite disappointed as the Queen neglected to show up for her High Tea appointment with us.  Feeling a little snubbed we moved onto Westminster Abbey for a few photo opportunities. 

During our stay most of use indulged in the legendary "Fish and Chips."  With very large portions few of us managed to finish our orders.  Next time we will do a little more sharing.

To pull our trip together we took the Tube to the theatre to watch the show Billy Elliot last night.  It was a wonderful show filled with comedy and ongoing entertainment.  We laughed until our guts ached.  Perhaps  a few too many "Papaya" words were said (talk to Zee about the meaning of "Papaya") but with the English accents it was easily overlooked.

Well ... our trip is winding down ... we are all gathering in the Hotel Lobby awaiting the arrival of our bus to the airport in the next 20 minutes.  We have all had a great time and we will all be suffering from smile, laughter, tears, children, new friend and overall Zambia withdrawal.

We can't thank everyone that made our stay and experience in Zambia enough.  Everyone was so welcoming, accomodating and took wonderful care us.  Thank you for opening our eyes, helping us through the challenges awhile accepting us and our crazy Canuk ways.  We look forward to being with you once again.

To an incredibly bonding experience ...   "Cheers to Our Family of MT Commandos!!!"

Over  and out for now the MT Commandos!

Watch for a few more pictures that will be posted in the next couple of days ...

Safe and Sound

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> We are all safe and sound in Lusaka and hopefully starting to stir to depart for Lusaka Airport. It is 5 am and we will be starting the first major leg if our journey home this morning. London here we come!!!
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> We had a few hours yesterday before departing from Livingstone. There was just enough time to step off the edge ... Down into Victoria Falls by bungee and across the Falls by Zipline.
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> Hmmm... How many participants do you think there were? Was one of them your family member?
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> Make you guesses... Find out if you are right soon.
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> Sent from my iPhone

Safari

Baboons at Victoria Falls, Van Travel & Cross Border

Victoria Falls

Swimming and Braii Celebration with the Children

More Feeding Day

Miscellaneous Pictures

Preparing the Soya Bags to Handout

Market

More Feeding Program Day

Launch of the Feeding Program

Safari

We all had a great time on the Safari today. It was a great way to pull all we have done in Zambia together.

Hope you enjoy the pictures of the wildlife.

Sent from my iPhone

Zebra

Safari Jeep

More Elephants

Elephant Herd

Elephants

Hippos

Safari Day

We crossed the border into Botswana after a fast trip from the Hotel. Watching the speedometer hit 150 km/hr as we drove down the two lane highway.

Luckily we were crossing on foot and then by speedboat across the water to Botswana. Those bringing transport trucks full of goods had up to a week wait at the border in order to load onto a ferry for the crossing.

On our way to the lodge we saw many elephants roaming along with Warthogs. Can't wait to go into Chobe National Park where the animals are protected and roam freely.

Off we go...

Sent from my iPhone

Livingstone.

We arrived by prop engine plane in Livingstone early yesterday morning. The plane we traveled on only held 17 passengers.

Our flight from Ndola to Lusaka was uneventful. We did have a minor holdup on the flight to Livingstone though ... After we were all loaded into the plane and heading to the runway the captain informed us that the right engine wasn't getting power. Needless to say we turned around so that the engineers could check it out. We were then on our way thirty minutes later.

We then spent the rest of the day at Victoria Falls in Livingstone. Although it is the dry season and the falls are not in their most grandeur they were still amazing to see and hear.

We walked down to the "boiling point" where the falls meet at the bottom. In our walk we encountered a huge troop of baboons. The babies swung in the trees near us. At some points on our walk we could have easily touched them they were do close.

We then walked through the rocks at the top of the falls where the water flows. There are pockets if water throughout with some deeper than others and still being fed by the Zimbeze river. We were all do hot that it didn't take long for us to strip down and go swimming.

A little shop was also enjoyed at the falls as a small craft market was set up.

Time to go ready to start the day. It is 5:45 am here and we need to be on the bus at 6:45 am. Today we are off to Botswana on Safari.

We have wireless in our hotel room so it looks like our updates will continue via iPhone typing and email. I'll try to get a couple pictures on my phone to share and if possible will hook up to a computer to send more.

Sent from my iPhone

Updates

We have had a very busy  time working on the Farm.  Most of us have been up by 6:30 am each day as  breakfast was at 7 am each morning and once we were finished we were on the move.  Most days we did not start getting ready for bed until after 10 pm.  We have tried to write the blog updates with as few errors as possible each day but unfortunately time, exhaustion and technology often made it impossible to post our blogs.

We hope you enjoy the back log of blogs we have just posted.  We all have so much more to share to but if we tried to write down all we experienced and observed in a day the writing would not stop.

As of tomorrow we will be in Livingstone until Wednesday.  Then we will be headed to Lusaka where we will overnight andfrom there we will catch our flight to London on Thursday.   We will then be leaving London early Saturday and arriving in Calgary late Saturday. 

We hope to continue to post blogs over the next week and as well as  pictures. Hopefully once we reach London the SPOT locator will work once again.  It has come to our attention that we are out of the SPOT area and are not being located.

Last Day in Ndola

November 13, 2011

Today was our last day in Ndola area.  We started our day off by going to Pastor Mukwavi’s Church.  Once again the Church service was uplifting and a great way to start our day.  Jason shared the history of Remembrance Day while Reg and Shelley led the membership in a few songs.

After Church we all mobilized to go to Kitswe (another city) approximately 45 minutes away from Ndola.  The market is known for having great arts and crafts.  Those of us that reached the market enjoyed our shopping time and returned with bracelets, paintings, wooden bowls and much more.

Those that did not shop (Sandra, Shelley and Brian) instead spent the day sitting on the side of the road with one of the vans.  We had all piled into the two vans but as we caravanned to Kitswe the radiator hose blew on one of the vans.  Lucky for the group that stayed with the van a couple of men decided to be good Samaritans and help them out.  One of the men walked off to a friend’s house and returned with the hose off of the friend’s vehicle.  With a little fancy mechanical work they all got the hose hooked up and were able to head back to Ndola after about six hours.

We are all now frantically preparing and organizing for our early departure to Livingstone tomorrow morning.  We could not come all this way without seeing Victoria Falls and going on a Safari.  The next couple of days are full but will be full of new adventures.

Swimming and Braii

November 12, 2011

Today was the last full day with the children from the Farm and from the Oil of Joy Home.  To celebrate all the work completed during the week and to just have time to have fun with the children we all went swimming at the pool at one of the hotels.

For the majority of the children it was their first or second time to even have the opportunity to go swimming.  Swimming here is not a common activity and the children do not know how to swim.  Many members of our team took it upon themselves to help the children learn how to swim.  Instructions like keep your legs straight, move your arms and keep your belly up could be heard throughout the pool area. 

It was amazing how quickly the children started to feel comfortable in the water.  Cannonballing into the pool soon became the excitement of the day.  Even those that could not swim jumped in to see if they could make the biggest splash.  Jason remained in the deep end on stand bye to escort the non-swimmers to the edge of the pool after they made their big splash.

After swimming we returned to the Farm for a Braii (Zambian Barbeque).  We feasted on chicken, beef and sausages cooked over a charcoal barbeque.  While the food cooked everyone enjoyed the vibrant music that played while they danced.

We all had a great day although it was tough to say goodbye to the children and all the caregivers at the farm.

Feeding Program

November 11, 2011

Today was the official launch of the feeding program.  The turnout was great … we know that we had at least 275 children in addition to their parents and extended in family in attendance.  As well, we had government representatives and many special guests. 

The community volunteers worked hard preparing food for the children to eat.  Most of the meals were cooked outdoors on the charcoal fire.  The children were served an enriched soy porridge in the morning and then a lunch that included meat, vegetables and nshima.  The children devoured their meals.

The excitement for the children was receiving the special gifts in Ziploc bags.  The children all sat in a circle and waited patiently as we made our way around to hand out the gifts.  The children were bursting with excitement as they delved into their bags to see what they received. 

Children in the feeding program are all at risk due to low weight.  They come to the program on Fridays to be weighed by the Community volunteers to check if they are gaining week.  Those children that are still underweight then receive a bag of enriched soy porridge powder to make eat at home. The Community Volunteers do a wonderful job of running the program.

It was a very emotional yet enriching day.

Off to the Market in Ndola

November 10, 2011

This morning we had the opportunity to embark on an adventure to see the market in the City of Ndola where we are staying.  The market was composed of stand after stand covering a few blocks.  This is where the locals in Ndola purchase the majority of their groceries.

There were vegetables, chickens, eggs and the most enormous avocados you can imagine.  Some of the stands were like the flea market stands you see in Canada as they were filled with used shoes, clothes, blankets, CD’s, cell phones and many other miscellaneous items.  As well you could find many of the items needed in the homes like brooms (made of elephant grass wrapped together) and African dress.

Back at the farm peanuts were shelled from the harvest back in the spring.  Then Regina (the Boy’s house mother) roasted the peanuts.  As a late afternoon snack we enjoyed warm freshly roasted peanuts.  Wow, talk about yummy!!

We finished up the rebuilding of the desks and organized the rooms.  Tomorrow is a big day as it is the Celebration of the Grand Opening of the Feeding Program at its new location on the Farm.  We are expecting many people bright and early tomorrow morning many of whom will be walking over 25 km’s to our location.

Painting at a Halt

November 9, 2011

A beautiful day, sun shining and very hot!  Painting clothes on once again we arrived at the farm ready to work and hopefully complete the majority of the painting.    As planned the painting crew and plumbing crew started work immediately.

We were finishing up a first coat of the coloured paint over the primer and the second coat in the first room.  The paint in the buckets was quickly running out … Andrew (contractor working on the building of the other house) was on his way with more.  Whew the last little bit of paint was used up and we could see Andrew on the horizon arriving with more.  As we pried open the bucket to our surprise … the paint was a salmon colour.  It didn’t match the taupe we were painting. 

Off to the paint store to see what could be done.  After a few hours of searching the true problem came to light … there was no pigment left and there was uncertainty as to when the next shipment would come.  Unlike Canada this does not mean you can just run to another paint store nope, the painting instead is on hold until more arrives.  We had managed to get the exterior and the rooms first colour coat completed so although it could use one more coat it still all looks great.

Onwards to the next plan … desks to fix and varnish.

Community Visits

November 8, 2011

A group of us joined the community volunteers to visit villages.  We were visiting vulnerable and orphaned children that are going to be moving into the housing program at Mercy Touch when the building is completed.  To get to the villages we walked through dirt paths and crossed a swamp.  It was amazing how well the community volunteers knew the area and knew every family home we were going to visit.  There were no street signs or directions posted and without our leaders we would surely have been lost.

In the villages there was often a store.  There was no comparison to our grocery stores. Instead it was usually a 4 x 6 building with an assortment of a few items which often included; tomatoes, onions, potatoes, seasoning.   

As we arrived in the Village and handed the first sweet out word would quickly spread that we were there.   Very quickly all the children would gather where we were.  The children were so excited to receive a sucker or a bouncy ball. 

One of the greatest novelties for the children was viewing the pictures we took of them on our cameras.  Many of the children have never seen themselves and have no idea what they look like.  The giggles that often followed were very cute.

We came across a woman doing her laundry.  She had a great set up, three wash bins were she rinsed soaped and rinsed.  She washed next to the well that had been hand dug many metres deep.  To get the water she would lower a canister by rope down the hole and then let the canister fill.  Once it was full she would pull the bucket up by hand and dump the water into her wash bins. 

All the women’s kitchens were a small designated area outside the home.  Wood is collected to keep a small fire going that they cook all their meals on.  Using charcoal to keep the fire burning is preferable but most of the women do not have the money to afford charcoal. 

Preparing meals and general housekeeping fill the women’s days.  There is no running water and the comforts that we enjoy in North America in these small villages.  There is no air conditioning to combat the heat or running water to help make the preparation of food, bathing and house chores easier. 

For most of the families living in the villages though they show great pride in their homes.  Often flowers outside the front entrance can be seen planted in disposed of containers, they are often sweeping the dirt floors and entrance to their homes or they try to hang cloth to decorate the exterior.

Most of the men spend their days working on the farms.  At this time of year they are beginning to sow their seeds by hand after having ploughed the fields by hand and when possible with the help of animals.  Some of the vegetables planted include; maize, tomatoes and onions. 

It was an emotionally exhausting day.  The homes we say were maybe 10 x 10 if lucky.  The roof was made of elephant grass, cardboard or any material that might provide protection from the elements. Most homes included extended family members and often the children of family members that had passed.  This meant that it was not unusual to have 8 to 10 people living in one house.  Feeding everyone without a stove or a fridge to store food in was difficult to comprehend let alone all sleeping together in the home and having a small area to sit.  Add to this the lack of running water and sporadic if any electricity at all.   Going to the villages was an eye opening experience and it makes one realize how very privileged we are in Canada.

MT Team

Community

Washing Clothes

Children in the Community