Last Leg

Wow! It's been a while and we have a lot to update you on so this may get a bit long. =D

Back In The Dar-Es-Salaam (to the tune of 'back in the ussr')
Epic bus rides have become something of a staple for us in Africa so far. Leaving Livingston headed for Lusaka on the 8th, we hopped onto the 'best' bus company's bus bright and early at 6am. Now it's become custom for some bus companies in Zambia to get a pastor to come onto the bus before the trip and give a prayer. You must understand that the current flavour of pastor is quite soulful and enthusiastic (many surely inspired by the most rousing speeches of Jesse Jackson, et al.). So after about 15 minutes of 'damning the devil back to the pit of hell for the sanctity of the bus and all it's precious souls - IN JESUS' MIGHTY NAME!!!!!" we set off feeling much more confident and the bus PROMPTLY proceeded to break down. Probably our fault for not making a tithe. We got to Lusaka (approximately 300km) at 4pm. Best ride yet!
After a whirlwind stay in the now-very-familiar Lusaka, we set off on our flight back to Dar. Now just to update you, we had planned on taking the train and were quite excited about it but as it turns out, if a man and woman want to share a compartment they must buy all four beds - the compartment only locks from the inside and it's common to return to your compartment to find new 'occupants' that you'll need the conductor to evict. SO... given the cost would have been comparable to a flight - we opted to fly and give ourselves an extra day to go on a more adventurous excursion to an Island in Tanzania.
When we arrived in Dar (after a few customary headaches from Air Zambezi), we found ourselves in the middle of yet another festivity - our first visit fell on the Islamic New year, this time it was Independence Day. We're convinced that Dar just likes it when we visit and decides to throw a party every time we're here. Dar is also becoming quite familiar and we had a great dinner at our 'favourite' restaurant before our next epic adventure.

There and Back Again
Since we're now seasoned African travellers (NOT tourists), or so we think, we decided we could handle a bit more of a challenge than the beaten tourist path to Zanzibar. We had heard of a smaller Island, Mafia, to the South of Zanzibar that had not been discovered yet by tourism... plus it had EPIC diving for really, really cheap, so we decided to go for it! Some helpful travellers (and our guidebook) gave us good instructions for getting there, so off we went.
We took 2 dalla-dallas (minibuses) for approximately 3 hours to a tiny coastal town called Nyamisati, where running water is nonexistent, toilets consist of a hole in the ground, and speakers of English are a seriously endangered species. Dalla-dallas are an adventure in and of themselves since all of the seats being filled has nothing to do with the bus being full. Our first bus had 14 seats and 24 passengers, and 2 children who were treated more like luggage. That is not including chickens, copious amounts of fruit, and pretty much any other goods you can imagine. Upon our arrival in Nyamisati, we purchased tickets for the 4-hour boat ride to Mafia Island, and then proceeded to spend the next hour trying to locate someone who could tell us what time the boat was leaving. We’ve noticed that people here are quite unfamiliar with the concept of waiting in line, and are always in a huge hurry to get on or off any form of transportation, even if they have nothing in particular to do afterwards. So we waited out the stampede for the dhow (boat) and finally got underway. The ride was beautiful, but the tide was low when we got to our destination, Kilindoni, so we waited for maybe 2 hours for some smaller gondolas to come and ferry us, the other passengers, and their enormous amounts of goods to shore. Again, all the seats being occupied has nothing to do with the boat being full.

Island Adventure
We had booked ourselves in at a guest house in town for that night – allegedly the best one in Kilindoni (the largest town on the island). It had no running water (although buckets of water had been generously provided for our bathing needs), and the toilet again consisted of a hole in the ground (nice porcelain frame, though). We were soon to discover that only the really expensive lodges had toilets upon which one can sit, or running water. We found a total of 2 such lodges on the island.
It’s always difficult when you arrive in a town after dark because it’s hard to get an idea of the town’s flavour or personality, or what is available there. So at this point we were a bit discouraged with Kilindoni, but our luck was soon to change. We were lucky enough to meet three gentlemen that evening who had been travelling and working in East Africa for many months, one of whom spoke very good Swahili, and they invited us to join them on a whale shark viewing excursion a few days later. Sweet!! One of them was also planning to go diving the next day, as were we, so we quickly made some friends on Mafia.
Mafia Island is incredible – an entirely new face of Africa for us. White sand beaches, gigantic, looming palm trees and a generally jungle-esque feel all over. There are 40,000 inhabitants on Mafia scattered among the villages that only the bravest Bajaji can get to. There are only really two towns – Kilindoni and Utende (which is really a village) inside a marine park where the ‘lodges’ are located. The island is in the Indian ocean and boasts some of the most incredible sunsets and some of the best diving on this coast. We were thrilled the moment we woke up and saw our surroundings.

The next morning, we hired a Bajaji (sp?) to take us across the island to Chole Bay, (the marine park) home to Big Blu, a dive operator run by three Italians (Italians on Mafia Island... how perfect!). A Bajaji is a vehicle with three wheels that isn’t quite sure whether it’s more like a car or a Vespa. After a 20 minute ride with three of us crammed into the space of about 2.5 square feet, we arrived at our destination.
Big Blu was awesome! The staff, Mario, Nicola and Matthia were welcoming and fascinating to talk to. Our first day we did two dives with our companion Jos (a Don Quixote-esque traveller from the Netherlands). We set out in a small Dhow (diving from a dhow is a novelty unto itself) and enjoyed two excellent reefs on our first day. After the dives we looked in the ‘town’ of Utende for something to eat. There were about six buildings – all multi-purpose house/shop/tour guide/bar/guesthouse/cafes. Of those six we found ONE that would serve us a meal. The house/cafe/tour guide/guesthouse/”resta-urant” served us a plate of rice or Ugali (nshima) and a small boiled fish with a bit of sauce and beans. The ‘house’ consisted of three rooms in a space of about 16 square feet. It had a dirt floor, mud walls and a single table in the main room around which the three of us found enough space to hunch over our plates. We began to realize that we were experiencing a truly remote Africa and though the island had ‘resorts’ we got a true re-definition of ‘untouched by tourists’. Fish and rice (of varying quality and expense) was pretty much what we ate for the duration of our stay on Mafia. That afternoon we discovered the upscale lodge – which was quite nice and had about 5 guests and a great view. At the lodge we discovered a true rarity – ice cream!!! We had to indulge. It was VERY GOOD! We stayed at Big Blu that night (which was also quite nice with a real toilet, shower, running water, and a view on the beach to die for) and enjoyed a nice dinner of calamari and octopus straight out of the ocean! Fresh mango made a great desert and we tucked in for the night after some great conversations with our hosts.

The next day we set off on two dives outside the bay. We were joined by three Italian men in speedos visiting from another lodge. They were very nice. We did a wall dive and an incredible reef dive at which we saw our first ever sharks – two white-tip reef sharks and a variety of coral that we can’t even begin to describe. Despite the fact that we discovered it is possible to become sea-sick WHILE diving under water, these dives were two of the best we’ve ever had and it was an incredible day. Then it was back to Kilindoni after meeting some friendly Masai and waiting for our Bijaji.

We joined our friends on the whale-shark viewing expedition but the ‘mango rains’ had kept the sharks out of view for the past 4 days and we had no luck either. But we’ve been so lucky this trip we figured we were due for at least one no-show.
We spent out last night on a beautiful camp on a cliff overlooking the Indian ocean and saw a remarkable sunset while lounging on some cots under some palms.

The next morning we repeated our adventurous trip back to Dar which brings us to now. Our last night in Africa. We set out tomorrow on a day-long plane trip back across the Atlantic. We’re sure to be in shock as we go from 34 degrees to -10 but we’re excited to see friends and family. We’ll be in touch again to let you know how the journey ends.
Until then, much love,

-- Jenny and Jimi

Livingstone and Victoria Falls

After an unnecessarily long nine-hour bus ride back to Lusaka from Chipata, we enjoyed a few of the pleasantries of the city – we treated ourselves to a movie (New Moon – we’d be ashamed if we weren’t simply lucky to see a movie at all) and a dinner out and made arrangements for our bus to Livingstone. The next morning we set out on an equally unnecessarily long seven-hour bus ride from Lusaka to Livingstone.
We arrived in Livingstone and found our way to the “Jollyboys” hostel – which had come highly recommended from Gavin, our main-man from the Safari. We checked in and found ourselves in hostel-heaven. The place is really lively and beautiful with eclectic people from around the world, networks with all the Vic Falls attractions, a small pool, bar, limited restaurant and a ton of pillowed areas under thatched roofs for lounging. Jenny was thrilled to be living the ‘hostel-life’ in true form, especially since we’d be there for a few days and might actually have a chance to meet a few fellow travelers. Jollyboys has turned out to be the best starting point we could imagine for our Vic Falls adventures, and beyond – the staff here are so knowledgeable and helpful with any travel you want to do around southern Africa.

Livingstone is known to be the adventure capital of southern Africa, and we’ve definitely taken advantage! Our first afternoon here was pretty relaxed, with a visit to one of the best markets we’ve seen since we got to Africa, and generally organizing the rest of our stay in this town. The next day, we set off on our first excursion: A trip by boat to Livingstone Island, which is right in the middle and on the edge of Vic Falls. This was our first view of the Falls, and it was like nothing you can imagine. It’s low-water season right now, so the Falls is really a series of pretty impressive waterfalls, but at its height, it’s a 1.7-kilometre-wide unbroken fall of water. Just imagine that for a second. While some people might say we came here in the wrong season, we definitely think we lucked out. We would never have been able to experience the Falls from the edge otherwise, and… get ready for this… we had the opportunity to take a SWIM right on the edge!! There is a spot called the Devil’s Pool where a submerged rock wall rises just before the water spills over, so you can jump in, look right over the edge, and not worry about falling over. It is like nothing else we’ll ever experience in our lives. After our swim on the edge of the world’s largest waterfall, we had a lovely breakfast on Livingstone Island (where Livingstone first viewed the falls – the first non-African ever to be taken there). That afternoon, we decided to take advantage of being close to the falls and did a walk around the Vic Falls Park. While walking from our drop-off point (from the island) to the park entrance, we encountered three giraffe which we were able to approach within 30 feet – it was incredible. After yet another breathtaking moment we continued on the path until we found ourselves surrounded by frolicking baby monkeys who were very curious about us and a small herd of Zebra – again which we were able to get exceptionally close to. It was fantastic. From there we toured the park around the falls. The views were incredible and the walk was invigorating, if hot. We saw someone bungee from the legendary bridge between Zambia and Zimbabwe and saw the falls from a number of wider angles – many photos followed =). Later in the afternoon we decided we needed another swim, so we began an ambiguous and ambitious quest across the top of Vic falls to find a place called ‘the angel’s armchair’ – another location on the edge of the falls that you can swim in. We tried to avoid the local people unofficially acting as guides (for a tip), but were lost without them. Our quiet and somewhat grumpy guide Collins lead us across rocks and streams and fast-moving currents of the rushing river until, finally, we reached a breathtaking pool of water. Unlike the devil’s pool, this one still had rock visible between it and the edge and water wasn’t quickly flowing through, but it was a much bigger pool and we had an incredible swim – taking some breaks to gaze over the edge of the vast canyons beyond us. By the time we got back to shore our feet were raw from the two hours of journeying barefoot across rocks and through currents. We decided to wrap up our epic first day and tucked in at ‘Jollys’ for the night.

Next adventure: White-water rafting on the Zambezi River, known to be one of the best in the world… and did it ever live up to its reputation! The trip began just below the falls and continued on through several Class V rapids – the toughest that can be navigated in a raft. We had a fantastic international crew in our boat as well as Sven, our intrepid guide! While 3 of the 5 boats on the trip flipped in the first rapid (great start to the day!), our crew successfully navigated through the first several major challenges… that is, until Jenny, who was in the front of the boat, went for an unintentional swim in the first Class V rapid! After a moment of panic for Jimi, the crew rallied and quickly rescued Jenny and the other man overboard, and we continued on, undaunted. As Sven learned that we were up for some excitement, he began providing more of it. He would give us several options for routes and tell us the likelihood of our boat flipping in each one – knowing full well, we’re sure, that we would always choose the option likeliest to acquaint us more intimately with the river, and greatly enjoying that. Sure enough, we flipped our boat in the next big rapid, and most of us rode through it on the bottom of the boat! So we definitely got a full taste of everything the Zambezi has to offer! Another fun highlight was the opportunity to swim through a smaller rapid, and we got spun around in a number of small whirlpools… awesome! The half-day trip ended with an epic hike straight up the gorge wall in the noon heat… nobody told us that if we did the full day, we could have taken a cable car to the top!! It was Jimi’s first rafting experience and he smiled throughout (except maybe the moment the wave took Jenny away). All in all a blast was had and Jimi is extremely excited for the next opportunity he’ll have to do rafting.

We got a really great deal on the rafting plus a sunset cruise later that evening, and it was the perfect way to relax after such an action-packed day. The Zambezi river above the Falls winds slowly through a small national park, so we spotted plenty of wildlife as we drifted lazily along. Great company, a nice dinner, and a beautiful sunset. We returned to Jollyboys around 7 PM and promptly (and unintentionally!) passed out for the night!

All of that adventure brings us to today, which has been a pretty relaxing day. We’re working on our next travel arrangements, which, if all goes according to plan, should take us to Mafia Island, Tanzania, in a few days. But, as we’ve seen before, when does everything ever go according to plan? We’ve hit a few roadblocks in our arrangements so far. We were really excited for the Tazara Train – a train running from Lusaka, Zambia to Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania – but the more we learn about it the more it seems like it won’t be suitable for our itinerary (or pocketbooks or maybe even safety). So we’re adjusting and we’re confident we can work everything out and do some fantastic scuba diving (and see some whale sharks!!!) before we head home in about 9 days! While we’ll be sad to leave Africa, we’re also so excited to get home and see all of you, and especially to share the holidays with both of our families together!!

Much love,
- Jimi and Jenny

On Safari

(This is our second post in an hour, so make sure you didn’t miss the last one!)
We thought long and hard about our next adventure after leaving Chishawasha, and after extensive research, we determined that the absolute best place to go on safari in Zambia was South Luangwa National Park, which we heard is among the best parks in Africa… cool! We were very lucky to find one company, Jackalberry Safaris, that does all-inclusive budget safaris in South Luangwa, and picks clients up from the nearest city, Chipata. Since the rainy season had started and would likely affect the safari itinerary, Gavin, the man in charge, gave us a big discount on an already great deal for a five-day safari. So, from Chipata, we set off on probably the roughest four-hour drive of our lives with two fun-loving drivers, Chris and Aaron, to South Luangwa National Park. Take it from us, Gravol is a wonderful thing! Nevertheless, we arrived unscathed at Wildlife Camp on the outskirts of the park having gained some great knowledge about traditional medicines along the way from a really interesting gentleman named Thomas.
We met Gavin there, and got along really well with him right away. He’s a South African expat who’s been working in Zambia for many years, and Jackalberry is his latest project. We had many great conversations with him throughout our time there, and he contributed a lot to our education about all things southern African. He showed us around Wildlife Camp, which is a beautiful spot on the Luangwa River with a swimming pool and a bar, and the sturdiest tents we’ve ever seen with real beds inside! After getting to know the local pod of hippos, we set off on our first evening and night game drive with our awesome guide, IB, who is considered one of the best guides in the park – lucky us!
It took us about 10 minutes to realize that this would be the greatest safari EVER. As soon as we left the camp and before we even got into the park, we met a big family of elephants with several babies… unreal!! And it only got better from there. By sunset, we had encountered several giraffes, puku, impala, bushbuck, waterbuck, zebras, many more elephants, hippos, crocodiles, a huge water monitor lizard, and a whole host of fascinating birds, just to name a few. We had also had an encyclopedia’s worth of knowledge imparted to us from IB, whose capacity for information about the natural world is astounding. After a stop for sundowner drinks at a beautiful spot, we set off on our first night drive – a whole different kind of experience. During night drives, a spotter shines a bright light around looking for nocturnal animals, and you spot them by their shining eyes. Sightings of gannets, civets, and other denizens of the night quickly took a backseat when we came upon a pride of lions on the hunt… or rather, when they came upon us, and passed so close to our truck that we could have reached our hands out and touched them. IB promised us that if we didn’t stand up, the lions would think we were just part of the vehicle, and we can tell you that we remained firmly planted on our seats… especially when the alpha female turned around suddenly and stared us down hungrily. We were able to follow them for a while and saw them chase (but not catch) an impala and get rid of some hyenas who were following them, hoping for their leftovers. What an exhilarating first day!
Since the early morning and late afternoon and evening are the best times to spot animals, life on safari involves very early mornings (6:00 AM game drives or walks), lazy afternoons by the pool when the sun is strongest, and evening/night drives or walks, followed by a late dinner and early bedtime. We were unbelievably fortunate with the weather, which was beautiful almost without exception. Since it’s the rainy season, by all rights we should have had plenty of rain, which would have seriously curtailed some of the activities we could do. As it was, we were able to do and see everything almost exactly as planned, and it was far beyond anything we could have hoped for.
Aside from many game drives, the major highlights were two bushwalks, which are so amazing in that they put you within and among the natural landscape in a completely different way than a drive ever could. You notice so many small things that you would miss otherwise, and the walking guides have amazing knowledge to share along the way. During a walk, you really begin to understand how an animal must feel when it sees a storm coming, or when the savannah is deserted and you have the feeling that a predator could be following you from any direction. It’s eerie, exhilarating, humbling, and a completely unique experience. We got up close and personal with zebras, elephants, impala, an owl that we surprised from its rest, and an impressive array of birds and insects, as well as a pretty epic storm that we just managed to outrun.
We also had the opportunity for an all-day drive from 6:00 AM to 8:00 PM – Jackalberry is the only company that runs all-day drives, so we were very lucky! Since we had such an enormous amount of time, we were able to explore more of the park than we ever could have otherwise, and it is exceptionally beautiful, especially now that the rains have begun. An all-day drive is yet another kind of immersion into this world as you tend to forget about taking pictures and just soak everything in. Just sitting among a mixed herd of impala, zebra, and elephants and watching them go about their daily lives all around you is such an incredible thing. Throughout the day, we spent many hours watching giraffe, warthogs, and other animals, stumbled upon two tortoises (which we’re told means we’ll have a lucky journey), spotted more lions, and even came across a lone wildebeest who should never have been in that area of the park (we’re chalking that one up to the tortoises’ luck). That evening was capped off by another real highlight: an amazing sighting of a huge leopard, who we followed for a while as he marked his territory. They are indescribably beautiful animals, and you really have trouble deciding whom to root for: the adorable baby impalas or the leopard!
There were so many moments and experiences that made this safari memorable, such as the fact that there were babies of almost every species of animal we saw, and IB’s propensity to discuss everything in wildlife terms (he told us about all of the different “species” of beer at the local bar), and the opportunity to visit the village and meet the families of the safari guides, that we can never cover everything here. We’ll have plenty to tell you when we get home… and you won’t believe our pictures!!!
We’re back in Lusaka now after an epically lengthy bus ride back from Chipata, and tomorrow we head for Livingstone, the adventure capital of Africa! We have grand plans for whitewater rafting and viewing of Victoria Falls, and then it’s off to Tanzania for some scuba diving before we head home… stay tuned!
Much love,
-Jenny and Jimi

Wrapping up and Moving on

Our last day at Chishawasha was sad but amazing. We had our last workshop with the Chishawasha staff, which went incredibly well. We facilitated some work on organizational and team communication and strategic planning, and in the end they said that ‘chishawasha will never be the same’ after the time we shared. And while this is the best compliment we could ask for, the reason it won’t be the same is because of the incredible resources within the staff team that have become unlocked during our time there. The ideas and communication and goals that came out of that session were nothing short of inspiring. We are so excited to see where they will go next and how they will continue to build on the work we did together.
Later that night we had our last dinner – we’re really going to miss nshima. Near the end of dinner we noticed a lot of activity. Shortly, mummy Maureen informed us that everyone was waiting for us in House One. We went over and found all the mothers and children seated in the large living area. We took our seats and were treated to the most amazing display of singing, dancing, and poetry. The children were so talented and rehearsed. The show lasted about an hour and a half and ended with a procession of thank you cards and handshakes and hugs from the entire 92 person family of Chishawasha. We were so moved. Jenny had to speak because Jimi couldn’t get a word out (which was funny because men aren’t usually supposed to show emotion that way in Zambian culture… but I think they overlooked the happy tears for the white guy). He’s almost tearing up now just thinking of it… jeeze man, pull it together!
The next day we got organized and said our final goodbyes. The staff at chishawasha gave us a beautiful gift – a traditional Zambian outfit for each of us (yes, we match). We were really not expecting it but were so grateful. We had a nice dinner out with Philip and Mary and then took a nap at a hostel until our 3am departure to Chipata.
Leaving Chishawasha was SO difficult. We’ve been so blessed by this opportunity and while we leave reluctantly, we leave feeling excellent about the work we did and knowing that we will always be welcome back. As Philip has said a number of times we ‘have no choice but to come back’. And we can’t thank the children, mothers, teachers, staff and Philip enough for all they have given us.
Safari Stories next,
Much Love – Jimi and Jenny

Observations about Privilege

Naturally, our adventures have been wrought with educational moments and realizations about privilege – ours and otherwise. Some big, some small, some expected, some genuine educational moments. We thought it would be important to share some of these moments with you from our time at Chishawasha.

Picky Eating

We knew we’d be in for an education when it came to food. Every night we eat with the families and they have a rotation of set meals each night. Each dinner includes nshima and usually lunch does too. If asked what their favourite food is, most of the children will reply nshima. Nshima, as we’ve experienced it, is usually served with some vegetable (cabbage for the most part given it’s the end of the dry season – sometimes pumpkin leaves or sweet potato leaves or cassava leaves), a form of protein (beef, dried fish, beans, or chicken), all topped with some form of gravy or relish. It’s been delicious and very filling. We’re told that if you serve a meal without nshima, your guests will come home saying they haven’t eaten – because a meal without nshima is not a meal, and a home without nshima is not a home. This lesson was courtesy of Miriam the teacher =). But when people (usually shocked that we had never previously eaten nshima) ask us ‘What is your staple food in Canada?’ we have no real answer. Some families may stick to meat and potatoes, others various cultural foods, but we have come to appreciate the diversity of our food and the choice. Choice is such an incredible thing – and we often take it very much for granted. One day we were cooking a pasta lunch on a weekend. We had bought it because it was one of the cheapest things for us to make. We realized then that what is one of the most ‘affordable’ meals at home is still expensive by standards here. Why buy pasta and a can of sauce when you can get a bag of mealie-meal (corn powder used for making nshima) that’ll last a month when combined with leaves from the vegetables in the garden and some simple additions like tomato bits or ground nuts? And just so you know, the children here eat very well. We’re told some of the children from the communities around that also come to school here, may or may not have eaten since they were last served lunch (which is provided to the students and staff at the school each day – usually with nshima). So you can imagine that even the regular rotation of meals at Chishawasha may seem like a diversity of food compared to the regular diets in some of the subsistence farms or villages nearby.

Oh, and one other small moment about food. We bought some 2% milk - which was hard to find (they usually use pure milk or long life milk). We were all excited for our Maize Flakes (a local no-name cornflakes) and we discovered our milk was bad before its expiry date. We were sad and had a moment of silence as we poured the milk down the drain. When we told Philip about it, he explained their use of milk and then got excited as he asked what we did with it. Right then we knew we were in trouble. We abashedly told him we poured it out and his eyes widened in horror. Note: Never throw out food – however bad or gross you may deem it without consulting a local first! Apparently one of the tribes (of which a number of the children and a few staff belong to) love to have curdled milk chunks with their nshima. We felt so wasteful – we really should have thought to ask first. Philip got a good laugh out of it though =).

Movie

On Friday night (two Fridays ago, actually), we had the opportunity for a special treat: Philip’s and some of the kids’ church was holding a movie premiere fundraiser for youth development camps (an important experience for the teenagers here), and we attended it along with several of the oldest children from Chishawasha. It became clear how rare and precious an opportunity the outing was for them when we saw how carefully they chose their outfits and groomed. Later, they all told us that it was their first time ever seeing a movie in a theatre – how cool for them, and what a revelation for us, who see movies whenever we feel like it. The movie was “Surrogates”, which is about people using robots essentially to replace them in all of their daily tasks for safety purposes. No one ever left their homes. It’s a disturbing concept, and we could tell that the kids had been pretty affected by it when they asked us if we had robots like that in Canada. We assured them that no such thing existed, and we hoped that it never would! They were very relieved.

Gadgets

One evening in the second week of our stay, a group of children came to visit us, and we had a great time playing music and games with them – as we often do on the weekends here. They really enjoyed trying out our guitar and drum, and when we pulled out our cameras, they got even more excited. They absolutely loved taking pictures – of each other, of the landscape, of anything, really – and we think it’s pretty awesome that some of our pictures will show how the kids see their world. At the same time, it’s yet another illustration of how something we take so much for granted, like taking pictures, is such a novelty for these children. The point was driven home even more strongly when a few of them followed us into our room when we went to put our instruments away. Until this point, none of the children had been in our room - we weren’t thinking. Our belongings were strewn about all over. One girl first noticed the velvet bag that our engagement ring came in, and she asked if she could have it. Although we certainly wouldn’t mind parting with the bag, we realized that we couldn’t give it to her because it would be unfair to the other children and would very likely create conflict. Unfortunately, the situation escalated from there. The children were examining our belongings – before we realized what was among our mess, they were looking at or playing with our iPods, cameras, Game Boy, and other simple things like decks of cards and our travel-cribbage board. Taking the first girl’s cue (which was innocent enough), they began to ask if we’d be leaving some of our toys with them when we depart – which soon turned into half-joking comments like ‘I’ll take this’ or ‘you can leave this with me’. We had done such a good job of being sensitive – culturally, economically, etc. And here we were having to tell them ‘no, that’ll be going with us’. We couldn’t help but wonder what this must look like to the children. This incident really threw us for a loop. We’d been very careful until that time so we hadn’t had too many ‘foot in mouth’ or ‘ignorant tourist’ moments. Our collection of things must have looked like extravagance in their eyes, and we are realizing that, in fact, it really is. It was an uncomfortable realization for several reasons: first, how superfluous a lot of our possessions are, and second, what kind of impact this moment could have with the children. Now, certainly they recognize that some people have things that others don’t – one child has managed to work enough doing side jobs here and there to save enough money for a PSP and a number of the older children have cell phones. Still – this moment definitely betrayed our ‘low profile’ and certainly could have changed the way some of the children saw us. Our biggest worry was that we may have alienated ourselves or, worse, that the children might want some things that they just couldn’t have. Fortunately, in the end, our actions speak louder than our possessions and we’re pretty confident that it was a fleeting moment. Needless to say, we’ve been a lot more careful about our room and our belongings since =).

Education

We all ‘know’ that education is a privilege, but our time here has shown us just what that means, in a number of ways. Every single child here recognizes that education is one of the most incredible things that they have here at Chishawasha. When we ask what their favourite thing about living here is, many of the children reply immediately ‘education’. And many more anticipate the end of holidays so they can get back to school the way the kids in Canada anticipate summer break. To see students appreciate their education this way is humbling. For these children, education is more than a means to an end. Most of these children recognize that education is not only about a better future but also about safety and citizenship. It appears that the education Chishawasha is offering is very good. There are a number of stories of students here going to other schools and being placed in higher grades. There are also a number of high-school students who are succeeding very well academically and have gotten themselves into excellent private schools and some, like Thokodzile, John, and Wisdom are even prefects.

The impact of education here is deeper than we could have anticipated. Even in Zambia, where public education is largely ‘free’, something as simple as paying for a school uniform can be prohibitive for many families. And for teens the pressure is especially complex. A number of the teenagers have expressed the difficulties that many of their peers have. They talk about an ‘old mindset’ that people have – the idea that wealth is shown by how many children they have – and so many people will have more children than they can support (we heard similar things in Zimbabwe). The students explain that some people think that if they have enough children, the children will take care of them and they won’t have to work. True or not, the pressure for a teenager to bring home an income is very real. At very least, many report that if you are a boy and are a teenager then you are expected to provide for yourself if not for the family. Where does that leave a 16 year old boy who wants to go to school if he can’t afford his own uniform? School or subsistence? They have night schools for older young adults or adults who wish to catch up with school, but even that is only semi-functional. If you are working to bring home dinner and then have to go to school, how much can you really concentrate and learn? What if you have children – which it seems many older teens and twenty-somethings have? And with the significant scarcity of jobs in Zambia, how many teens sell things on the street or have to turn to crime? Maybe this seems dramatic but hearing it from the children and seeing it on our occasional trips through compound areas to town have made it all too real. And so education is more than about getting a good job. It’s about learning a new way of thinking, an alternative way of life. It’s about learning life skills. And so Chishawasha is so much more than an orphanage with a school. It’s a family, a community, a sanctuary and a privilege that these children both understand and cherish. It is truly moving.

Much Love,
-Jimi and Jenny

Moments In Between, Part 2

The Gardens


One day last week we needed a break from workshop prep and the sun was shining for the first time since the rains had started full-swing. We decided to go for a walk around and check out the gardens behind the houses. The gardens are beautiful, and as the rains have picked up, they have gone from dusty and dull-green to lush and flourishing shades of deep greens in only a few days. Cabbage heads and tomatoes dominate the gardens with a helping of maize and a smattering of other veggies like peppers, cassava plants, and a few others. Some fruit trees line the areas and are just waiting for enough rain to inflate their respective mangoes, peaches, guava, and bananas. It was a beautiful walk and between the mummies, gardener, some of the children who were off school, and uncle Philip, we were able to identify most of the plants. We spent some time marveling at how banana trees work and observing the bunches in mid-bloom. But what really took up our time was when Jimi spotted a chameleon perched on one of the tomatoes. We were told they were very friendly so we had him in hand in moments. He was beautiful – about six inches long head-to-tail and he instantly changed colour when he climbed onto Jimi’s arm. We marveled at him for a while as we watched his two eyes move in different directions. Before long, one of the mummies pointed out another that had coloured itself like a snake and had scared her. We went to investigate and found a second beautiful chameleon. We spent at least half an hour with our two chameleons – the second being very adventurous and fearless – snapping her tongue at a fly from the palm of Jimi’s hand and climbing all over Jenny until she needed a quick rescue from Jenny’s hunched-over back before she ended up in Jenny’s pants! It was such a cool break from our planning! Before long we put them back and watched them disappear into the long grass and tomato plants, shifting colours as they moved like leaves blowing in the wind.

Rain-Rain-Rain

Whenever we seem to think we’ve seen the true ‘rain’ of the ‘rainy season’ we’re quickly shown otherwise. This week it has rained for nearly three straight days – stopping only briefly enough to give you the false sense that you might actually be able to get some laundry done. Needless to say, we’re running out of underwear fast and have resigned to hanging it to dry inside tomorrow! Sometimes the rains are beautifully refreshing and warm. The other day during one of our sessions we noticed that it was lightly raining on one side of the school but not the other – we could see rain out the windows to the left and yet it was dry to the right. After five minutes of this we stuck our hands out the windows to make sure we weren’t imagining it – we weren’t. It stayed that way for about 20 minutes before gradually drifting on. Often the storms come quickly, without notice, and with much ferocity. After our first ‘flood’ we’ve gotten better at keeping the water outside, but some nights the rain comes in droves, intensifying and relaxing and intensifying again, to the point that we can’t get to sleep or wake out of paranoia that we need to double-check our water-proofing. The nicest nights, however, are those that come with rain falling gently on the tin-roof all night long, drumming you softly to sleep. We hope for these each night. And every morning the greening world around us is deeper, taller, thicker, and more and more alive. The transformation is remarkable.

Night Times in the Houses

As our dinner traditions continue, we’ve expanded our repertoire of helping with reading, homework, dance lessons and card games to include a few new treats. We started bringing our guitar and drum to dinners for some after-meal jamming. Some nights this has us playing songs for them and singing ‘Amazing Grace’ together, while others are a trade – song for song with the children. It is such a thrill to hear their beautiful voices in chorus. Other times it turns into a raucous jam session. The other night a few songs turned into a virtual ‘stomp’ show in the dining room, and Jenny began arming the family with found objects from the kitchen and we showed them how interesting sounds could be produced from anything. By the end, every person of every age was playing something – drums, guitar, spoons, tables, chairs, water-jugs, scrub-brushes, bottle-caps, glasses, even a box of kapenta (tiny dried fish). It was a blast and the rhythms were incredible. It’s like every child here is born with the ability to keep a beat. What a highlight!

We had also decided that we needed to bring some Robert Munsch and other Canadian stories with us and have had a wonderful time reading to the children. Everyone, little or big, gathers around as we share some of the favourites form our childhoods. “Thomas’s Snowsuit”, “I Have To Go”, “Mortimer”, and “Jonathan cleaned up – then heard a sound” being some of the bigger hits. We also had a great moment the other night when we read “The Hockey Sweater” by Roch Carrier. At first we weren’t sure how well they would relate to it, but as soon as we opened the pages we realized it was a great fit. While once upon a time (and still in some places) Canadian life was all about the school, the church, and the hockey rink, much of Zambian life (Chishawasha in particular) is spent in three places: The school, the church, and the soccer pitch. I think this story was particularly enchanting to the older boys who seemed to have a deep appreciation for the trappings of the story and for Roch’s plight. It was an excellent feeling that immediately connected our seemingly alien worlds in some very basic and true ways. Maybe the world isn’t so big after all.

Much love,
Jenny and Jimi

Workshop 'til ya drop!

We have to apologize for seriously neglecting our blog lately. As promised, the less we’re blogging, the busier we are doing awesome things, and the past couple of weeks have been especially busy and awesome! When we last discussed our activities at Chishawasha, we were preparing to deliver a series of workshops to the mothers, teachers, and other staff members here. We have since conducted a fantastic professional development program over the course of four days with the Chishawasha staff, which we had a great time doing and which they absolutely loved... so much so that we’ve been asked to do one more afternoon session on our last day here (tomorrow! Can’t believe it!). We’ve also run a short workshop series with the middle age group of children, a career development and visioning program with the oldest children, a “playshop” with the youngest children (hilarious and so much fun!), and we’re currently running a girls’ group and a boys’ group to discuss important issues in the older children’s lives. We’ve been facilitating something every single day for the past several weeks, and our free time is spent preparing for whatever is coming up next (also cribbage games... but our laundry has been seriously neglected... we blame the weather).


First off, the staff workshops. The mothers and teachers here are such wonderful, passionate, caring women, and it was such a pleasure to spend some good time working with them and getting to know them better. Since the Chishawasha school has many students of various ages who are going to school for the first time, the teachers have the daunting task of managing classrooms in which the students are a wide range of ages and learn at completely different paces. Their proficiency in English also varies a lot, but even with these challenges, the teachers here are providing quite a high quality of education to children who would likely not otherwise get one. We really admire what they achieve every day. Since they are all elementary school teachers, we prepared a workshop for them about working with adolescents, as well as several sessions about some of the groundbreaking theories about intelligence and learning, and how to recognize and support a child who may be dealing with a learning disability. It was a pretty enormous amount of information to unload on them in a short period of time, but they assured us that it was extremely helpful and that they were thirsty for more.

The mummies, as they are called, are so clearly experts at their jobs: Being mothers and raising children. Many of them raised families of their own before building new families at Chishawasha, and some are juggling both at the same time. Their commitment to the children is amazing to us, and we couldn’t help but feel completely inspired hearing Mummy Martha talk about how God brought her to be with her children in House 4. Just like all parents, these mummies are often baffled by the inexplicable behaviour of their teenagers, so we spent quite a while with them discussing adolescent psychology and strategies for working with teenagers – which seemed pretty exciting and informative for them.

(At this point, we’re sure our parents are laughing their heads off at the thought of us educating people about dealing with teenagers. Jenny’s parents in particular like to tell everyone how she was like the girl from The Exorcist when she was 14, and they really hope Jimi knows what he’s getting himself into. We figure our parents are waiting for Karma to jump up and bite us when we have our own teenagers, and THEN we’ll see just how much we know about dealing with them!)

Aside from teenagers, we did sessions on active listening, conflict mediation, and community building with the mummies. We suspect they are already experts at all of the above, but perhaps we offered them some ways of explaining what they do intuitively. At any rate, they were very engaged and asked many questions, especially about teenagers, and they were so excited about everything they were learning. We got some great reactions from them – and many were eager to tell us how much of a difference it made for them. We only wish we could tell them how mutual that feeling is.

With both the mummies and the teachers separately, and with the whole Chishawasha staff together, we did leadership development and teambuilding, which involve a substantial amount of silliness and very active learning. We thought it might be difficult for these professionals to take us seriously if we began our sessions with funny icebreaker games, but it turned out to be absolutely hilarious to see how much they got into it! They had so much fun and we all laughed until we cried. They really loved the team initiative tasks as well, which begin as challenging but essentially meaningless activities, but then turn into incredible ways of looking at team dynamics, communication, problem-solving, etc. Our favourite: The Blind Rope Square, where the group has to make a perfect square out of a rope while everyone is blindfolded. We had some fantastic discussions about how they can all work better together as Chishawasha staff, and what it means to be successful as a team. Afterwards, Mummy Miriam told us we had “brainstormed” her. We’re not sure exactly what that means, but we think it might be the best compliment we’ve ever had on our facilitation skills!

Finally, we did a session with the whole staff on shared vision, values, and strategic planning. This session might have been the best in a series of really amazing sessions because by this point the group had become comfortable enough with each other to be really open and honest. The staff were able to discuss frankly and constructively what their weaknesses and insecurities were and what they could do to improve, and we think it’s safe to say that everyone left that session with some really valuable insights and an excitement for how they can move forward. Overall, they were an absolutely wonderful group to work with, and we had an incredible time. We’ve had some really encouraging and positive feedback on the sessions from everyone from Philip to the Chishawasha driver, Peter (really great guy with a beautiful family), so we’re holding out hope that they might be willing to let us come back someday to do more workshops!

While we hope that people learned something from us, there is no doubt that we learned more from them than we can ever express. We’re so grateful for how freely they share their culture, from patiently teaching us Nyenja and traditional dances to helping us understand their distaste for owls (apparently a sign of witches in Zambian tradition... not what we expected when using owls as an example of good leadership qualities!). Mummy Christine has even promised to teach us how to cook nshima tomorrow... we can’t wait!

Our three-day workshop with the 10-13-year-olds was also a total blast, but a bit more of a challenge. We wanted to offer them some of the same leadership development lessons that we facilitated for the older children, and we struggled to find a way to make it accessible for them. As usual, we had a great time playing games with them, and worked in some good lessons on trust and leadership in between. The third and last session on teamwork was definitely the most powerful. We did some tasks with them that look very simple on the surface, but require a really high level of cooperation in order for a team to be successful with them. The kids went through a very challenging process to get to the point of understanding not only why they needed to cooperate, but also how to do so, but ultimately all of the struggles resulted in some really impactful learning. What was most exciting for us, aside from these learning moments, was seeing the kids come out of their shells with us and show us who they really are. Through the workshops, we got to see the true colours of some of the kids who had been exceptionally shy with us previously, and it was amazing! They are all such wonderful people, and we’re lucky to be getting to know them.

Our career development and visioning workshop, on which we worked particularly hard, was looking to be a bit of a bust at 9:30 AM last Saturday, half an hour after the designated start time. Then we saw one gentleman, Lazarus, heading in the direction of our classroom, and we asked him if anyone else was coming. He explained that everyone was busy doing laundry, which we immediately understood. It was the first day in quite a long time during which the weather was good enough to hang clothes out to dry (we probably should have taken advantage too... but we were preparing workshops...). Jimi investigated the situation with the kids, who looked sheepish when he asked if they were coming when their laundry was done. We had planned for an all-day workshop, but that would conflict with the Zambian national team’s football game at 2:00 PM! Since football trumps pretty much everything else around here, we quickly adjusted our time frame, and managed to deliver a very useful workshop based almost entirely on self-reflection and still get the kids home on time for the football match! It was amazing to see how engaged the kids seemed to be with the challenging personal reflection questions we gave them. They were so focused... or maybe they just wanted to make sure they finished before the game started... But career decisions and envisioning the future are clearly on the minds of the oldest children. They will have a significant transition when they finish high school and have to leave the safety and shelter of Chishawasha, and much as they are ambitious and look forward to their future, they know it won’t be easy. Their adjustment to living independently will involve more change and more learning than most other young adults’ departure from their homes, and they want to take advantage of every opportunity to make that transition easier.

For the youngest children, we decided to engage them in the purest form of learning: Play! Last Sunday afternoon, we spent about 2-3 hours with them just teaching them some of our favourite games, and it was so much fun! Just like with the 10-13-year-olds, the kids’ true personalities really came out throughout the time we spent playing with them, and they got more and more comfortable with us as well. Jenny was definitely immobilized for about 3 minutes straight, by children when our game of ‘everyone’s it tag’ turned into ‘everyone get Jenny tag’. She loved it! The kids here all have designated chores and they are all ready and willing to help anytime something needs to be done, so it’s wonderful to see them having fun as well. These kids will be amazing older brothers and sisters one day if the way they treat the youngest ones is any indication. There is one young boy, James, who is several years younger than any of the other kids, and he’s the only one who’s too young for school. He just arrived at Chishawasha a few months ago, so he’s been pretty quiet and nearly avoidant of us most of the time. In the last few days, however, we’ve gotten a few waves and smiles from him which made our days! James came to our ‘playshop’ - he speaks hardly any English so far, so he couldn’t understand any of what we said. The other kids, especially the ones from his house, made sure he was always included and having fun, and really wanted him to be part of everything, which was really heartwarming. Otherwise, it’s a pretty amazing feeling of acceptance when a young child wants nothing more than to hold your hand every chance he or she gets, and there was plenty of that during the afternoon.

Our last big project is the girls’ and boys’ groups we’ve been running since the middle of last week. It’s Jimi’s first time running something like a counselling group, and he loves it! And Jenny’s very excited to be getting back to her counselling roots. It has been amazing to see what happens when you separate the boys and the girls and give them the opportunity to talk about whatever they want. The insights we’ve gained into how these kids look at their lives have been unbelievable, and we’ve been amazed and humbled by how freely and openly they are sharing with us. Hopefully we are able to give them an opportunity to talk about ideas and issues that don’t normally come up, and answer a few of their more burning questions along the way.

Through our work here, we can feel ourselves becoming more and more a part of the community. We are so grateful to have had the opportunity to contribute as much as we feel we have, and to have gotten to know everyone here so well. We cannot believe how quickly our time here has flown by, but we definitely feel like we have given the best we could to Chishawasha. We have one more group session left and one more staff workshop, and then we’ll be off on adventures on our own, but we are feeling deeply how much our departure will affect us. We asked Philip if we could come back again someday, and his response was that we have no choice but to come back as soon as possible. We couldn’t agree more.

Much love,

Jenny and Jimi

Moments In Between (Part 1)

We’re three-quarters of the way through at time at Chishawasha - it's unbelievable! Last week was extremely busy. We were prepping and delivering workshops for the mothers and school staff. They went very well, but the days have been very long and exhausting as we continue to take in as many moments as we can. We’ll post our blog about last week’s work in a day or so, but wanted to take a moment to reflect on some of the “moments in between” – which, we all know, are what life is really all about! =)


Getting Comfy

Shortly after last weekend (when we got engaged), we found that things here started to shift. Our tenure as ‘visitors’ was beginning to give way to a newfound comfort. For the first two weeks we were not allowed to contribute to the dinners we received each night in the houses – as customary, guests were served with incredible hospitality. Our constant requests to say thank you by doing dishes, etc were met with ‘next week’ over and over. Now, though, we’re beginning to be welcomed as more permanent fixtures… at least a little. The children are opening up more and more, and each day previously quiet and shy faces come alive with questions and discussions and requests to play and talk and read together. We’re getting more frequent curious visitors to our makeshift home, which has been a real pleasure, since the unscheduled times are some of the best opportunities to really get to know the kids. They really like to come by for opportunities to practice on our mini djembe and sing and dance, which we also absolutely love! Our Nyanja is getting better (marginally) as our number of language teachers is growing. Our post-dinner time in each house has begun to shift from surface questions like: ‘what do you want to be when you grow up’ and ‘what is your favourite thing to eat with nshima?’ – to discussions about politics and football, jam sessions, and (our favourite) dance parties! Moreover, we’re being allowed to do dishes after dinner and hope soon to learn to cook nshima.

“Movious”

Our exposure to daily life and our immersion in it is getting deeper and deeper with every passing hour. The children are so unbelievably kinesthetic! There is a cultural piece to this phenomenon, but with little to do but run around and play football (soccer, remember) and dance, it’s no wonder many of the boys can easily cartwheel into a hand-spring at top speed in bare feet across gravel. A few of them in particular have technique and ability that would make any gymnast jealous. One young gentleman named Ryan is so gifted and inclined towards movement that every now and then when he’s sitting down listening, he just needs to get up and do a back-flip before he can concentrate again. It’s not just that they’re active, and they are very active – one mother remarks that some of them are ‘too movious’ (they move too much. We love the appropriateness of this term so much that we have adopted it!). It’s also that they all have an exceptional understanding of how their bodies move in space and how to express themselves physically. We are constantly in awe.

While most of the boys and a few girls show this off in the field, the rest show it off on the dance floor. The dancing is incredible and beautiful – both traditional and more modern African dancing is all about the hips. Some of the girls can move in ways that make us cross-eyed as we try to follow their waists and torsos, which often appear to be heading in opposing directions seemingly unattached – we’re not exactly sure how they stay in one piece. A number of our dinners have turned into full-fledged dance parties. And while often they start as a show of the best dancers (girls and boys), they soon want to see us dance. We do our best to humbly make a few swing moves before they join in and we all let loose. We’re both trying to learn to do a few traditional dances as well and the lessons are going pretty well, although Jenny’s hips seem incapable of moving independently of her shoulders, which draws a lot of giggles each time we take to the floor.

Rains, Hail and Inswa

As the children and mothers and teachers open up to us, so too does Africa show us more of itself. The rainy season is starting up in good fashion. Some days are cool and overcast, others rain off and on. The storm clouds gather and move in with little warning. Sometimes they will have short pours, sometimes only threats that leave the land humid and sweltering without a real drop. Other times the rain falls intensely, bringing out the frogs and all new kinds of insects.

Last week after our first workshop with the mothers, we got a beautiful sun-shower. The sun was beginning to set and lit the red, red soil with golden light as the rains began to fall gently. It was beautiful and the children playing football were half playing the game and half catching rain in their mouths or sliding through the slippery parts – all loving it. As we were leaving the school we noticed the rain got thicker and very cold. By the time we got to our house, the rain had gotten intense, and as we looked back from our porch we saw balls of hail pounding the ground. Needless to say we were surprised to see hail. Our porch became shelter to two of the girls who were walking by, and they explained that the ice comes when the rain is ‘too much’. Moments later the storm had whipped into something that looked like a hurricane. Windows and doors are often left open here, so within two minutes of the storm intensifying, our bed and couch were soaked and Philip’s electronic cords in the next room had been engulfed by a small but growing lake. As quickly as it began, the storm subsided, and we were able to ensure that no major damage was sustained.

That night the rains continued, and the next day brought some more new experiences. The following evening we were relaxing in our room around 10pm when we heard something like tapping on the tin roof or maybe an animal in bushes behind us. As the sound grew we turned off the lights to peer out the window to see if we could make out the source of the disturbance. The sound immediately stopped and we saw nothing. We shone our flashlight around… still nothing. We turned the lights back on and went back to our reading and relaxing. A few short minutes later, the sound was back and continued to grow. Again we switched off the lights and searched through the window with our flashlight. Again the sound had stopped and there was nothing in sight. So again we put the lights back on and continued our r and r. Again the sound grew louder and we thought maybe some of the children were playing a prank, so Jenny threw aside the curtain (lights still on) and we discovered the culprits. It was not an animal on the roof or in the bushes. It was literally hundreds of insects – each with bodies nearly an inch long and four wings about twice that length – all banging on the screen of our window. They were so light sensitive that they immediately stopped once we turned off the lights. The next day we asked about them and some of our hosts laughed. These were termites (huge ones) or flying ants, though not like any we’ve seen before. Locally they are called ‘Inswa’ (sp?) and they come out of their ‘small mountains’ of dirt after the heavy rains. We were also informed that they are quite delicious and high in fats and protein! The next day we saw a number of children snacking on fried Inswa, and when the Inswa came out next, the children collected hundreds from our windows. And yes… two nights ago we ate our first Inswa at dinner. They have a texture of popcorn with a bit of a flavour – not bad, actually. Hey, we were hoping for an authentic experience!

So there are a few 'snapshots' for sharing.  We promise we'll get some more posts up quickly - we certainly have a lot to share and are quite behind but we've been very busy (which is a good thing - it's why we're here =).  So stay tuned for more stories and reflections very soon.

Until then, Much Love, Jimi and Jenny.

“Emeralds from Mountains...”

Today we’d like to share a different kind of story with you. It’s a story best told from our points of view separately because we experienced it differently, but it has a very happy ending!


Here goes:

Jenny: Last Sunday was our one-year anniversary. We didn’t make any major plans, but we did tell our friend Philip here at Chishawasha that we’d love to go into town for a nice dinner or something along those lines. He later came back to us and told us he’d made arrangements for us to have dinner with him and his wife Mary at a nearby safari lodge that one of the Chishawasha local board members manages... cool!

Jimi: At least that’s what Jenny thought. You see, for over a week I’d been working with Philip and a few others at Chishawasha on a few top-secret-stealth missions to make our anniversary one to remember!

Jenny: Must’ve been awfully top-secret... I had absolutely no clue, and Jimi and I have been side by side literally almost every minute since we’ve been in Africa. So, on the 8th, we were having a totally relaxed day, or at least, I was. Jimi seemed restless, but I didn’t think too much of that. Actually, I barely noticed. Jimi told me that Philip would pick us up at 5 for the evening, and I was content to chill out until then!

Jimi: Restless is hardly the word, I may have seemed pretty average but under the surface there was a lot going on. I had recruited one of the house mothers, Martha, and two of the older children, John and Thokodzile, to help arrange with some of the children to surprise Jenny with a message for 12 – noon, but Thoko came by in the morning to let me know church was going to go late, so we rescheduled for 2pm. In the meantime, the surprise also included singing a song for Jenny – so to prepare her for a horde of children and a song, I let her know that a few of the kids wanted to jam at 2pm. But by 2pm there was no one in sight. A drummed-up excuse gave me the opportunity to slip out to check on things while Jenny chilled out reading on the couch – but to no avail, the children were around but there was still no sign of my three partners in crime.

Jenny: The entire day, I was blissfully unaware of anything unusual. Jimi seemed a bit anxious for me to be ready well ahead of 5 PM, but I wasn’t in any hurry... I figured I had all the time I wanted for a nice long shower!

Jimi: I finally got her to get into the shower shortly after 4pm and I saw Philip drive up in his truck – still no sign of the children. I was a bit panicked (at least as panicked as I get, which isn’t much – after all, I was prepared for such a situation). I intercepted Philip who said that the church service our co-conspirators were attending went extra-long and that they’d likely not make it back in time, so we knew we had to switch to “Contingency 1.5A”. I immediately went back and let Jenny know that Philip thought it would be cool to have a jam session after dinner so we should bring our instruments (her drum and my guitar) and we packed up and headed off – passing John, Thokodzile and Martha as we turned onto the main road... oh well, “Contingency 1.5A” was a perfectly acceptable alternative.

Jenny: I was just excited for a nice dinner out at the safari lodge! I figured we’d have a great meal with good company, and maybe see some animals as a nice bonus, and jamming would be cool. So off we went! The lodge was beautiful. We had some drinks out on a lawn that continued into some wide fields and a pond, where we saw zebra and kudu grazing in the sunset. As it got darker, the animals came closer and closer to us, until they were passing directly beside us while we relaxed on the lawn chairs. Pretty amazing, I thought to myself. What a great anniversary!

Jimi: The view was breathtaking and the animals were so comfortable. A few curious ones came to investigate us, including a number of puku and a mother water-buck and her doe. It was amazing. We simply chatted with Philip and Mary over drinks as the sun went down behind the herd of Zebra. At the right moment I excused myself to use the ‘gentlemen’s room’.

Jenny: The rest of us went to meet Jimi at the table, which was behind a screen. As I walked around the screen, there was Jimi playing his guitar and singing my favourite song: “I’ll Be” by Edwin McCain... completely romantic. I was floored. He forgot a few of the words, which actually made the whole thing even more endearing, and I absolutely loved it. When he was done, I got up to thank him properly, but he wasn’t actually done yet... Once I got finished hugging and kissing him, he said, “Jenny...” and then got down on one knee, and finished, “will you marry me?”

Jimi: I had to concentrate so hard on keeping the lyrics from flying out of my head... I was more anxious than I think I’ve ever been. When I knelt down Jenny’s eyes and mouth took a shape I’d never seen before – both shocked and excited. I could barely get the words out, and for a while I was terribly afraid they came out in some kind of dyslexic jumble, but it must have been intelligible enough, because before I could hold my breath she squeaked out ‘Yes!’ Smiles and laughs and near-tears came next, followed by ‘I think it goes on the other hand’ (which for my part, I couldn’t reach because it was covering her mouth in shock).

Jenny: I was in absolute shock – my whole body started shaking, and I remember that my voice sounded nothing like me when I said Yes – but I was completely ecstatic! When Jimi produced a ring, I was even more surprised... I couldn’t imagine how he’d had time to organize all of this without my knowing about it. He says he’s a ninja like that, and I’m starting to believe it! So as I was covering my mouth in shock, I somehow registered that Jimi was trying to slip the ring onto my right hand (not sure exactly how I picked up on that one), so I let him know that he might want to try the other hand. After that point (strange, I know), I became temporarily speechless, and just couldn’t stop hugging and kissing Jimi. It was such a beautiful moment... so pure and honest and perfect in its imperfection... so completely “us”.

Jimi: I tell you it’s the only hand I could find! Aw... who am I kidding, we all knew I was too anxious to be paying close enough attention. Humbled in the moment I slipped the ring on... a perfect fit (which is awesome because my only measurement was subtle comparisons between her ring finger and my pinky when she was sufficiently distracted reading a book or such). Now originally I had wanted to design a ring for Jenny, but given our world-gallivanting plans, I thought I’d find something more appropriate when I got to Africa – not an easy task. I knew diamonds would be a tricky thing in Africa and generally risky to buy given the market of conflict diamonds, and I knew neither Jenny nor I would be happy with that. The answer came to me in Jenny’s favourite song. There is a lyric in the second line of the song that always struck me: ‘Emeralds from Mountains’ – knowing that some of the world’s best emeralds come from Zambia, I thought it was too much of a beautiful coincidence to pass up, and it also gave me a chance to support the local economy a bit. But most of all the song had taken on so much meaning for us, and there were a number of uncanny parallels to our experiences so far here in Zambia... it was just meant to be – I could think of no better symbol for our engagement in Zambia than an emerald ring.

Jenny: It’s absolutely perfect. Aside from all of the beautiful symbolism that’s attached to it, the ring will always be a reminder of the place where we got engaged. So, afterwards, we had our dinner (or everyone else did... I had completely lost my appetite out of shock), and were generally deliriously happy for the rest of the evening.

Jimi: Endless thank you to Philip and Mary for sharing our special night and especially to Philip for making so much of this possible – Philip you are a ninja, a romantic, and a friend. Thank you!

Now that we’ve had a chance to talk with our families, we’re completely thrilled to share our great news with all of you. As promised, a happy ending: We plan to live happily ever after!

Much Love, Jimi and Jenny

Learning Reconsidered

We've now finished our first workshop series at Chishawasha, a personal and leadership development program for students ages 14 (or so) and up, and we're pretty exhausted, but so happy with the results!  We ran workshops for about 25 kids total on such topics as risk-taking, trust, leadership styles, communication, problem-solving, role modelling, coaching, and mentoring.  To the children, our 'facilitation' was clearly a different way of approaching education, so it was amazing to see them get more and more comfortable sharing their thoughts and opinions throughout the week, and to see them begin to grasp the concepts and how important and applicable they can be in their own lives.  Living in families of 8-14 children and only one or two mothers, all of the children this age have an important leadership role to play in the teaching and mentoring and caring of their younger 'siblings'.  It has been so clear that many of them take their roles very seriously and really want to be the best role models they can for their younger brothers and sisters.  The things these children have seen and experienced and the responsibilities they hold are humbling. When we see them playing games and coming to our workshops so eager to learn, the resilience of children becomes clear, and is a truly awesome thing to witness.

We've been noticing that as a whole, the children here have some really interesting and important skill sets that seem to be a bit less common in Canada.  In general, they're very kinaesthetically intelligent - they understand their bodies so well and use them with so much skill!  This observation was driven home to us pretty clearly and in a very humbling way when we asked a group of the leaders-in-training to teach us a traditional dance.  They just seem to have an ability to move so fluidly and seamlessly... impressive.  We, apparently, have no such abilities, so the kids had a great laugh while they patiently kept attempting to explain to us how to loosen up our hips.  It's also amazing to watch young boys play football (soccer) - they are so quick and skillful, they could probably put Canadian boys much older than themselves to shame. 

In our leadership sessions, we ask the students to do a variety of problem-solving tasks, and we've really noticed how important it is to them that when they are given an assignment, they do it as well as possible.  They will spend a long time talking through possible solutions and strategies, and they really want to be sure that their plan will work before they begin.  They've come up with some really creative approaches that we've never seen before to tasks we've facilitated many times, which is really fascinating - again many involving that kinaesthetic intelligence in new (to us) and creative ways.  Some of the insights we've heard this week, and the connections that are being made by these students, have been exceptionally high level, so we're learning as much from them as they are from us, if not more! 

One really interesting challenge has been navigating the language barrier.  All of the children speak Nyenja, and they all speak English to varying degrees.  Because the group's process is more important than our facilitation, and because we quickly found they have a difficult time expressing feelings (maybe cultural?), we've encouraged them to speak in whatever language they feel they can express themselves best.  So often their discussions in our sessions are conducted in Nyenja.  It's pretty fascinating to analyze group dynamics when you can't understand what's being said, but you would be amazed at how much you can still tell without the words.  We've had to be very conscious of the way we communicate as well, and we always need to make sure the language we're using is accessible yet not condescending.  It's an ongoing process, and we get better all the time - yet another part of our own education in this journey.

The most rewarding part, though, is when you have the opportunity to see one of the children really connected to the material.  When we hear that they've told their mothers how much they enjoyed it, or when they come to us and tell us, "I took a social risk today!", for example, that is such a reward and fortunately for us there have been many such rewards already. 

Next up is a series of workshops for the Chishawasha staff, and based on the talk about our leadership workshops, we've got a lot to live up to!  That will be our main project for the week, followed by some "playshops" for the younger kids.  So we're really busy, but completely excited, and finding some time for ourselves in between workshops, language lessons (we're learning Nyenja, they're learning French!), card games, and reading with the kids.

In other news, Jimi took a pretty big emotional risk of his own recently... but that's another story.  Stay tuned!

Much love, Jenny and Jimi

First rains of the journey!

Ever since we arrived in Africa, everyone has been telling us that the rains would be starting any time now. You can feel the tension and heaviness in the air during the days leading up to the first rains, and the resulting anticipation is unlike anything that Canadians experience. We’ve seen clouds roll in, then dissipate again several times, so that on many days we’re asking ourselves and everyone else, “will today be the day?” There is no weather forecast to let us know, so we’re left to guess (and the children are left to make bets about when it will rain!). The rains change everything here – the temperature, people’s moods, and the entire diet here at Chishawasha. The community is partially self-sufficient, so they grow much of their own produce. During the dry season, especially at the very end, pickings are slim (cabbage twice a day), but we’re told that once it’s been raining for a while, there will be a selection of fresh fruit and vegetables, and everyone is very much looking forward to that!


This evening, as usual, we were enjoying some nshima, cabbage, and beef with one of the houses, and all of a sudden we noticed that the children were all outside running around, playing, and yelling. We’d never seen them so energetic just before bedtime! Then we noticed that a wide variety of animals seemed to be furtively insinuating themselves into the kitchen where we were washing dishes. Something was clearly afoot. Then, a little later, as we were hanging out in the yard telling stories about Canadian winters to some of the more curious children (one particular character named Charles told us that if he came to visit us, he would eat all of the snow in Canada – we warned him to avoid the yellow snow), we thought we felt some sprinkles. A debate ensued about whether this was really it (and the requisite arguments about whether Charles or Monica had won the bet), and then the first drops of our first African rainy season hit us. (The spirited Charles insisted that it was not officially raining yet, and that Monica had not actually won the bet.) It was a pretty amazing moment, both for how beautiful it felt and for the children’s joy. They were so happy and so excited about everything that the arrival of the rains meant for them – from fresh mangoes to the best sleep they’ll have had in a long time. Sharing that moment with them was such a unique privilege.

Otherwise, we’ve been very busy and having an amazing time running leadership and personal development workshops for the older children here. First of all, we’re just really excited about the fact that we have the opportunity to contribute – let alone do leadership development (which we both love so much) with the children here. Beyond that, though, leadership is such an important part of these children’s lives, whether they’ve ever thought about it or not. We’re realizing more and more that many of them have incredible skills and potential as leaders already – some of the high school students earned their places in prestigious schools through stellar academic performance, and have been chosen as prefects in their schools. All of them live in houses with at least eight children and as many as 15, most of them under 10 years old, so the roles they play as older brothers and sisters are absolutely crucial to the younger kids’ growth and lives. We’re so thrilled for the chance to help further develop their potential.

Facilitating sessions that involve a lot of discussion has been a significant learning curve for us. The children have a wide range of proficiency in English, so some are much more comfortable than others with discussing their thoughts and feelings. We also have to be very conscious of the terminology we use, and of the fact that our style of teaching is completely different from much of what these children have ever experienced. We’re getting the sense that they are not often asked to share or discuss how they feel about different ideas – so exploring personal development is quite a new experience for most (if not all of them). So progress happens slowly sometimes as we break down concepts and expand the way many of the students think about topics such as personal risk taking and developing trust. We’re constantly reassessing our approach, but it has been amazing to see the way some of the children have responded. We’ve often been thrilled by their insights and how eager they are to engage with the topics, and for a few, our sessions have quite clearly been really inspiring. There have been plenty of moments of silence, head scratching and clarification but there have been equal moments of ‘ah-ha!’ and epiphany and big smiles as some of individuals grasp new ideas and discoveries about themselves. It is such a privilege for us to be a part of this and it is clear from the feedback that we’ve been getting (students, teachers and mothers alike) that these are important skills for the children to develop. But we’ve only been running workshops for two days, so we’re confident and excited that the best is yet to come - stay tuned! It sounds like there has been a lot of discussion at the houses about our workshops because the mothers keep telling us how much they’re looking forward to next week’s staff sessions (definitely a taller order for us, so we’ve got a lot of preparation to do!), so hopefully we can pull off something that will live up to the hype! But in general, we’re pretty thrilled with our situation right now – we’re spending our time with wonderful people, in a faraway place, and on top of it all we have been offered a chance to do what we do best and realize how much of a privilege that is in and of itself.

So here’s to hoping for more rains! We miss all of you, and we wish you could be here to share this experience with us.

-Much love, Jenny and Jimi

Our First Weekend at Chishawasha

It’s the weekend and we’re happy for it. We’re quickly realizing that our weekends here will be very valuable, not so much for adventures as we’d first thought, but for resting and spending time with the kids. Over the last five days we’ve been working around the site, enjoying lunches at the school – sometimes with the students, sometimes with the teachers, and dinners with the children. We’ve been to six of the seven ‘homes’ so far. We’re starting to get good at eating with our hands (as is customary here) and are very familiar with nshima (sp?) – the staple food served at all meals. Nshima is a maize (corn) based mash like corn-meal. It looks a lot like mashed potatoes and is used as the base with which every other part of the meal is eaten. All of the lunches and dinners so far have consist of a large helping of nshima, some cabbage-based slaw (very tasty) and a single portion of a meat or a helping of beans – all eaten with your hands – we’re still mastering the beans! People have been patient with us and understand that we’re in the “remedial class” – they sometimes provide a knife and fork for us, just in case, although no one else ever needs one.

This weekend was a nice break from the work we’ve been doing – especially Friday as we were working outside, and experienced the true effect of the sun. As our work partner Sam pointed out while watching us apply sunscreen, we're the wrong colour for this kind of weather!  Our weak, pasty Caucasian skin is no match for the African sun at noon, whereas the other workers think nothing of spending the entire day on a tin roof in a heavy work suit.  We were exhausted! 

Saturday morning Chishawasha was participating in a monthly market where they sell books. Philip offered to take us – more to experience the market than help with the book sale. We’d been dying to visit a craft market since we got to Africa, so we jumped at the chance. The market was fantastic and vibrant and everyone was nice enough to offer a ‘special price’ just for us! The crafts and works were amazing, and while Jenny is a bargaining expert, Jimi has a long way to go! There was a very diverse crowd – we have apparently discovered where all the tourists in Africa are.

Today, we embarked on yet another new adventure: Doing laundry by hand. Jimi has some (limited) experience in this area, so he was able to help Jenny (the extravagantly spoiled city girl) learn the process. As we were finishing up, a whole gang of the younger Chishawasha girls descended upon us, and when we told them it was our first time doing laundry by hand, they laughed at us and promptly informed us that we were doing it wrong. As they whispered and giggled at our ineptitude, we realized that it’s actually pretty embarrassing that these young children already have skills that we have never needed up until now.

Our embarrassment soon turned into one of the best times we’ve had since coming to Africa when the girls asked us if we could play them some music. They loved Jimi’s singing, and they really enjoyed taking turns on our mini djembe drum. Some of the girls really had some rhythm, and they are all great dancers! They offered to teach us some songs and games as well, so we spent the next few hours playing hand-clap games and singing and dancing games with them. Later, we had to get back to our laundry, and they sang their entire repertoire of gospel and school songs for us! This whole experience was somewhat of a departure from some of the experiences we’ve had so far as the kids tend to be a bit shy when we visit their homes in the evenings. It was so wonderful to have them come to visit us and want to get to know us. These girls were so happy, and so full of life, and quite obviously in their element while singing and dancing. It was really amazing to see their true personalities shining through – hopefully this is the first of many such experiences!

-Much love, Jimi and Jenny

First days at Chishawasha!

Mauka Bwanji!  We’ve arrived at Chishawasha Children’s Home, the main destination of our journey (and apparently, the toughest to locate!). It’s a wonderful place with incredibly friendly people and about eighty curious, enthusiastic, motivated, happy, and sometimes a bit shy kids who have already begun to steal our hearts completely.

First off, as seems to be standard procedure when we venture away from the help of friends, the journey here was quite an adventure. Risina ensured that we embarked safely upon the most comfortable bus available to Lusaka, which was an 8-hour journey. There was no bathroom available except at the border between Zam and Zim, and we were each able to fit one of our butt cheeks on the seats. We shared the bus ride with a horde of very enthusiastic and friendly Zambian football fans and a stowaway rat (imagine the scene when a wave of women jump up, scream, and begin alerting each other in Nyanja, while the only two foreigners on the bus keep looking around and going, “what? What?” in alarm). We made it, finally, having lost half of our body weights in sweat, only to find that we were completely unable to reach our contact at Chishawasha to come pick us up. Over the course of the night many of Lusaka’s finest tried their best to help us find Chishawasha - about 10 taxi drivers conferenced together over the matter as we ate subway (a surprising but welcome comfort after the long day we had), followed by three very friendly nuns at ‘cheshire house’ – the best solution the taxi drivers could come up with – followed by a few drivers and fransiscan monks via cell phone. In the end we spent that night at a great hostel in Lusaka. We made it to the centre the next morning, and things have been fantastic ever since!

Chishawasha is beautiful – deep red soil remeniscent of PEI dotted by surprisingly lush grass and trees and gardens (especially given it’s the end of the dry season). Free-range chickens and lizards dart about between the seven houses that are home to 80 some-odd children and eight house-mothers. The grounds also consist of a main office which currently doubles as our temporary home, a chicken coop, a newly constructed building that will soon host some skills-builidng and workshop space, and the school.

Philip is our boss here, and he’s put us to work painting rooms in the skills centre that will become sewing classes and wood shops – fantastic for the kids to develop skills that will really help them be employable later. He’s also got a ton of projects in the works for us, such as some teambuilding and training for the teachers and house mothers, some leadership development and skill-building workshops for the kids, and maybe some counselling and music and art lessons.  We're beyond excited and brimming with ideas and plans.  It looks like we’ll have some amazing opportunities to share our skills and experience here.

So far, the highlights of our time here have been the evenings. The kids all live in houses of about 10 with a house mother to look after them, and each night, one of the houses invites us for dinner. We usually spend a few hours with the kids doing whatever they like to do – read, play games, do homework, play music, tell them stories about people who live in ice houses in Canada (just doing our part to perpetuate any stereotypes we can!)... and just generally get to know them. They tend to be a bit shy at first (probably because they’ve never seen a man with as much hair as Jimi), but once they get used to us, they really seem to enjoy having us there. And we’re absolutely thrilled for every chance we get to spend time with them!

We’ve really only scratched the surface of what we’ll be doing here, but it’s already been an amazing learning experience. Everything we see is raising more questions, and we’re really looking forward to discovering the answers. Each morning we sit over breakfast at 7am and marvel at where we are and what we are doing. We are just so unbelievably privileged and thankful to be here.

Well, it’s late and our days are long so we should get to sleep. More updates and reflections soon. Thanks for tuning in and be well.

- Much Love, Jimi and Jenny

Reflections on Zim

When we decided to write a blog about our journey in Africa, we meant to share the experience with you, and we realized that so far most of what we’ve been describing has been the facts. We thought we’d share some thoughts about our time in Zimbabwe, short though it was.

First off, having the opportunity to stay with Ris and Ang made for so much more of an authentic experience than we could have had otherwise. While we came to Africa to experience new things, it has also been so amazing to see how much is universal – like having the chance to perform in a band with Kudzai (Ris and Ang’s daughter) and her friends (who sang songs from High School Musical!), and attending a kids’ birthday party. This kind of ‘real life’ was so nice to see and while many of the fetchings were very familiar there is a sense of community that may elude much of north-american life. Ris and Ang and Kudzai let us into their world in a way we can never express. Even in just a week we felt not only at home and comfortable but familial. We found fast friends in Harare and we both miss them so much already. Even in the two occasions we had to hang out with their friends we found ourselves looking forward to the next time. Welcoming and comfortable only begin to describe the hospitality we were shown. And the conversations – we’re pretty confident that we’ve given Canadians the reputation of being tirelessly curious and always wanting to discuss things. We asked many questions and loved every minute of the education we got in response. The kind of political and social discussions we had all throughout the week with many different people were so very eye-opening as well, and such a privilege. While seeing elephants close up is breathtaking, those are the kinds of experiences that showed us what Zimbabwe was really all about.

Imagine waking up one morning to find that all you’ve ever worked for – the money you’ve earned, the college funds for your children, the dollars under your mattress – even your pension are worthless. The experience of the people of Zimbabwe in the last 15 years is far too detailed for us to fully comprehend or even to begin to try to translate in this short writing – but it started to become clearer the day we were driving to The Great Zimbabwe and Risina leaned over the diver’s seat and handed me a 50-billion dollar bill and said – there you go, you’re a zimbabwean billionaire! The bill is literally worthless. When we stayed with Uncle David at the Gache-gache lodge and heard our guide Peter talk about the day people showed up at his family farm to ‘alleviate’ his family of their home and land – and how they then had to find new ways of living (hence he went from farmer to hunter to guide). Stories of people being given land to farm that might or might not rightfully be theirs - yet not taught how to farm or what to do to use the land prosperously - the stories we heard and the sights we saw were fascinating to us and each one a lesson that brought so many more questions.

Nearer the end of our stay we began asking people what they thought the answers were. Some look to the government – to the hope that soon some as-yet-unidentified politicians will step up with an understanding of what life has been like to the everyman and will hold with them clearer agendas that speak to the greater good. Some say the change needs to come from the people – for the current parents to educate their children so that their children can be the agents of change in hopes that zimbabweans will find thier voice coming from a place of knowledge and not need. And to some of the young adults, the answer starts with themselves – carying the burden that they need to be the ones to bring about change – though the ‘how’ is something they are still wrapping their growing and ambitious minds around. In all of this it is clear that the answer is both complicated and daunting. In the wake lie significant economic and life-style divides and broken families – some by choice, some by necessity, and some by the pressure of living under seemingly uncontrollable circumstances. And when we asked parents ‘do you want your children to stay in Zimbabwe or leave if they have the chance’ the answer was universal: they would love for them to stay, but until things change, they would do all they could to see their loved ones succeed – which seems synonymous with leaving their homeland. And still, life in Zimbabwe goes on. The day-to-day of farmers and business-folk and laborers and tradespersons continues much as it does everywhere. Many will remain – by cirucumstance, or by choice, because despite everything they still love their country. They are the ones who will breathe new life into Zimbabwe. And they’ll be ready, when the time is right, to welcome the world back in with legendary hospitality.

And so among the incredible animals, rich history, beautiful landscapes and indescribable hospitality, hope lives in Zimbabwe.

As for us (and our brief time as flys on the wall), it was simply amazing to see first-hand how people can be separated by so many major factors – culture, geography, life experiences, language – but they can always find ways to connect if they are open to doing so.

~ Much love, Jimi and Jenny

Our Week in Zimbabwe

Wow… it’s been a while since our last post, and as promised, if we’re not posting, it means we’re too busy having the time of our lives! In the last week we’ve learned and seen so much that it hardly feels like it can fit into only a few days!

First off, Risina and Angela have taken truly great care of us opening their home and life to us and showing us around Zim.
Ang and Ris took us to visit the Great Zimbabwe, a ruined city hundreds of years old that was the seat of the Shona empire (Risina’s ancestors). It was an incredible eye-opening experience in terms of Southern Africa’s history, both for us and for Risina and Angela, I’d say! (although we also seem to have been caught up by story of the king’s 200 wives and how he – or rather his sister, handled them all…) Great Zimbabwe is truly remarkable. We also got to meet many of the local baboons and monkeys as well.

Next up was a trip to the awe-inspiring Chinhoyi Caves, where there is a pool of water a shade of blue that we’ve never seen before. A man in front of us came out and simply said, “God is great!” That pretty much sums it up.

This past weekend, thanks to a wonderful expat Canadian named Rachel who works at the Canadian embassy here, and to Jenny’s Uncle Dave, we had the chance to visit Lake Kariba in the northern part of the country. We stayed at the Gache Gache Lodge, and the experience was absolutely phenomenal! It was our first opportunity to do some safari-ing, and I think we’ve been pretty spoiled! Between boat tours of the lake and game drives, we saw plenty of hippos, crocodiles, baboons, monkeys, impala, buffaloes, waterbuck, bushbuck, and… ELEPHANTS!!! Tons of them! The Gache Gache staff were amazing and our guide Peter even took us to meet (and play with) a 6-month old lion cub – HOW COOL IS THAT?!? Needless to say, we can’t thank Uncle Dave enough making this experience possible.

Throughout all of these adventures, we’ve had countless opportunities to meet the people of Zimbabwe – Ang and Ris’s friends, Risina’s coworkers, the people working at the places we visit – and they have welcomed us so warmly and shared their stories with us so openly. They have shown us that Zimbabwe is a country that has struggled, and is still struggling, but they know a better future is possible, and that is why they are here. We can so easily see that these people’s passion, warmth, and commitment to what they are doing will contribute greatly to Zimbabwe’s progress and though it is clear that the people of Zimbabwe are tried and tired, hope is in the air.

We feel that our time in Zimbabwe has been such a privilege – the history, the landscapes, the animals and moreover, the people. Zimbabwe is such an incredible country. Though the last decade or so have taken Zim seemingly ‘off the map’ – it is an incredible country that should never be overlooked.

So tomorrow we’re off to Zambia for our primary destination. We’re very excited and will be in touch with our first impressions of Lusaka soon. Thanks for being patient and keeping in touch!

¬ Much Love, Jenny and Jimi