Be the change you want to see

Our Trip to South Luangwa

Sue and I took a 4 day trip to South Luangwa National Park over the holidays. It was a nice break away before our 2 week stint managing the farm in the Directors absence over Christmas and New Years season.

Sue's friend from England Brenda and her longtime friend from Scotland, Fisherman Donnie joined us on an excursion to the Wildlife Camp that we will not soon forget.

So many things to share with you that I don't know where to begin!

There is a true essence about driving around in an open jeep searching for African wildlife. I mean really, it is so easy to come upon these wonderful beasts and just stop the truck and stare into their amazing eyes. I can't even describe the feeling -- Africa is all you've ever heard it to be when you travel deep into the bush and experience the safari world. Hey, I got excited about another impala (antelope) prancing past us, even though we saw thousands of them in our travels.

My favourite animal since I was a small child is a Zebra. I didn't want to leave them. Amazing creatures with their stripes and learning new things about them through our Safari guide, Andrew.

The giraffes were HUGE! We laughed so hard at the amount of pee and the speed at which it comes! The darker the giraffe, the older! Did you know that girls have fur on their horns and the boys are bald?

One of our favourite encounters was a pack of 3 lioness's just in front of our dining area at 5:30a.m. on our last day. We noticed pink fur around their mouths and Andrew knew it was blood from a kill. We searched along the shoreline and finally came upon a hunted baby hippo -- blouted in the river. What a sight!

One of my favourite dessert drinks is Amurula! This is a photo of the tree where the fruit grows.

Please go out and get some from your local LCBO, yummy, yummy!! remember to keep it in the fridge and always serve it chilled...

Our infamous hospitality team -- Henry the bartender, Andrew, our guide, ME, Andrew, another guide, and Robert our server. The food and service was amazing. We stayed in safari tents with self-contained toilets and optioned for the all-inclusive with meals provided. Best part -- considering it was rainy/low season, the camp was quiet and we basically had the place to ourselves!

Here is their website:

http://www.wildlifecamp-zambia.com/

Farewell beautiful Luangwa! I hope I will be back some day in the not so distant future!
I'd LOVE to bring all my friends. What a trip, what an inexpensive way to experience a safari!
A big thank you to Wildlife Camp and our special guide, Andrew. Zikomo Kwambili - Thank you!

His Precious Children

"And He took the children in His arms,

put His hands on them and blessed them."

Mark 10:16 NIV

A fond farewell to Kaushal

I've made some wonderful friends in town playing golf with the boys on my day off. It has been a blessing as anyone who knows me, realizes that I need to have a social life and this has filled that gap for me during my long stay in Zambia.

Most are from India and they were either born in Zambia or have spent the last 10-12 years here with their families who own many of the shops that we buy from in town.

One of the guys (a twin) is heading to the USA to start a new life with his family in the hotel business in West Virginia this February. The party was a farewell for Kaushal at the Kanini Club on Friday, January 12th.

Kaushal & Kalpesh

Party at Kanini (l-r: Ashley, Dyna, Dave, Keith, Dave & Mufya)

Vickey, Tracey & Bhavesh (the dancers!!)

Kaushal & buddy Manoj (Map)

East Indian dancing (just boys --arms up!!)

Dave & Ash joined me.

Thank goodness or I would have been the only girl at the party!

Dave, Sanjay (Map's brother), not sure?, and Kaushal

Good luck Kaushal, you will be missed!!

A Smile

Everybody smiles in the same language.

And for that, I am so thankful.

Leap in the dark

“Living is a form of not being sure, not knowing what’s next or how.

We guess. We may be wrong, but we take leap after leap in the dark.”

—AGNES DE MILLE

Volleyball Tournament: Lifespring Farm vs. Isubilo

Lifespring Farm hosted the Isubilo volleyball team on Saturday, December 29th with a round robin of 4 teams playing each other once plus two afternoon matches to see the Isubilo team take the most points to win the tournament.

For fun, we had a final game whereby we placed the top 6 guys on both teams to play it out! Isubilo won again!!

We took a break for a bun & orange squash (drink) and ball cap prizes were handed out before the Isubilo team climbed on the bus to head back to Chifubu.

Captain Chonde and Captain Tracey were most happy with the boys as they hadn't practised in some time so the calibre of play was quite surprisingly good! Needless to say, I feel every Zambian is very athletic and the hand-eye co-ordination just comes naturally -- quite impressive actually!Next tournament is scheduled for February. Lifespring Team Masters & Team Bombers have been practising every Mon, Wed, & Friday to get ready to beat the opponents...

Isubilo Trip to GOMES - January 4th

One of my favourite things over the Christmas holiday was visiting Gomes Park with the Isubilo kids. The last time that I visited was in November, 2003 and I must say that day I captured some of my best photos of zambian children posted on my walls at home in Toronto.

2 large buses landed at the park at about 10:00a.m. and many of the children went directly to the water to swim in the mucky river waters. It is amazing to watch these children stand up, bend over and just put their head face down in the water to show you that they can hold their breath. The water isn't very deep so no diving or dumping off the river bank. Most Zambians don't swim as there are not many rivers/lakes/ponds around, but also due to crocodile habitat.

The park provides little rowing boats, bouncy castles, slippery slides and a place to setup picnic. They even had donkeys this time, roaming around which amused the children especially when they let out their 'call', ohhhh I wish you could be here to see their intrigued faces!

You can see from these photos what a great day was had by all!!!

This was a year-end gift to celebrate Christmas and the coming year. Hope gift packs were handed out at the end of the day and although I wasn't on the busride home, I don't doubt much singing and maybe even some sleeping occurred on the trip back to Chifubu...

Truth has become a Woman

Truth has become a Woman -- Everybody recognizes her and yet, nobody knows her

The woman of Zambia are the hardest working...

Carrying 25kg bags of mealie-meal, no problem!!

My Namesake...

When I volunteered at Isubilo in 2005, a young man by the name of Michael walked around the Chifubu compound assisting us with home visits. Michael would help to translate the bemba language plus just fill me in on day-t0-day life here in Zambia. He would protect me from drunken men making passes, pick sugar cane for my liking, and always be waiting when I arrived to Isubilo with a smile on his face and excited to spend the day together.

Michael and his wife had a baby girl on November 23rd and called her Tracy!!!

Sister Given & cousin Blessings are also included in the photo.

It is quite something to have a namesake - I feeled both honored and blessed to be here when she arrived!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

Happy New Year

All the best in 2008!!!