Moving On

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Last pictures loaded until I get home! They have been added to :Getting Down to the End and Final Days. Enjoy!

So let’s see…where did I leave off? Friday night we had an amazing night! Yara, Harriet, Jenni, Catrin, Tobi, Phil, Tom, Warren, Tim, and I all went out on the town! We started out at Limpo’s near our house and ended up at Step Rite for dancing. Basically it was just a big party and a lot of fun! Saturday was Zambezi Sun until it started pouring and then Sunday was rafting! I wasn’t going to go because I’ve gone rafting before, but I am soooooo glad I did! It was absolutely amazing! And when I say amazing I mean spectacular! It was a great river and we had a fun group! (Yara, Harriet, Tim, Phil, Warren, and I). And we had a good guide which helped as well. There was a wide range of rapids, but most were pretty intense; even some class 5! We only flipped once although we tried to flip a couple times. When we flipped we didn’t have time to re-flip the boat so we went down the next rapid on top of the upside-down raft. One of the highlights of the day! There were also some calm parts where we had a chance to get out and swim and consequently there was a lot of pushing people in… It was amazing and I would do it again in a heartbeat! Definitely my favorite Zambian activity!

Today I had Linda Home-based care in the morning and then Adult Literacy at Malota in the afternoon. At home-based care we saw a man with leprosy. First time I’ve seen that. He had massive holes in the bottom of each foot and one on one of his ankles. It was my first time at Malota for adult literacy and I was on my own so I was a little worried. Only one woman showed up. Partway through 2 other women showed up but they had never been there before. I think they had a good time so I might have recruited 2 new students! We read for most of the rest of the time. For the last 20 minutes or so we just sat and talked…about the rainy season (or lack thereof), the Zambian elections, US elections, Alaska, and they taught me some more local words. The 2 new ones laughed ALL the time so it was a lot of fun! The Zambian people are so friendly! It was a great last project!

Last bits of observations that I’ve been meaning to mention… The children here love mzungus (white people). As soon as the see us they wave and shout “Mzungu Mzungu!” Especially on home-based care we often have a group that will follow us around or come up to us to shake our hands. And driving around on the bus they always wave and shout.
Belly buttons here are weird. They often protrude more than usual. Must be from home-births and less experienced tying of the umbilical cord.
There’s garbage EVERYWHERE! Just like India and Nepal. People just throw it on the ground and the dump is just along one or two of the streets. It makes it a lot less pretty!
On home-based care we are ALWAYS offered seats. The patients dig up chairs and benches, sometimes borrowing from neighbors, to make sure we have somewhere to sit. It’s something that they feel they can do to thank us. Another thing about HBC… there isn’t really any continuity with the patients we see. We record stuff in the books so that volunteers have an idea as to what’s going on, but it isn’t the same as seeing the same patients. It would make more sense for us to each have 2 HBC sections and then always go to those same ones. That way we would have a chance to actually build relationships with the patients and see them improve (hopefully) over time and be able to tell if they are feeling worse. It would improve our caregiving impact and also we would actually get to know the patients.

I already mentioned that people here and in Nepal have been the best groups and I think my dad discovered why! (Yes, I guess he is kind of brilliant sometimes…) Both groups involved volunteering rather than just traveling. It’s a different type of person that chooses to do volunteer work; more caring, often outgoing, compassionate, etc. I think that’s a good point and it is true that I enjoy these people a lot more than the just traveling ones (for the most part). It’s hard though because by the time that we finally start cementing ties we have to say goodbye! After the Zim trip (week 2) I really started to get to know some of the people here and in the last 3 weeks even more so. And now I’m already leaving and I don’t want to! I’m really excited for my next trip, but I do wish I was staying here for longer!

By the way, what happened to the dollar? It was 4700 kwatcha to the dollar and now it's 3900! Obama being elected was supposed to help the dollar!

Tomorrow I join my overland trip group up the street from the volunteer house. We then set off to Chobe on Wednesday. I’m not sure how much I’ll see internet until I get home so blogs could be sporadic at best. Just in case, have a wonderful Thanksgiving! Now for 40 nights of camping…

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