Back Safely and some pictures

Hello everyone!
It's Jessica writing from home this time. We arrived safe and sound last night in Ottawa where we were met by family and friends. All of the group except for Alice, who is travelling around Europe for another month, came home last night.
We had a wonderful trip. Thank you for everyone that followed along with us on the blog. I will gather some experiences from the group and post them once we are all awake enough to write something down.
Thank you again!

I'll post some pictures too!

Here's a picture of our group with the group who is still in Zambia at Accams Lodge. It was great to meet everyone there.

Some of the girls wearing chitenges.

A group picture taken at Mindolo Ecumenical Centre, specifically at the United Church of Zambia theological college.

Another group picture taken at Victoria Falls.

With the girls at the secondary school.

Working in the library cataloging books at the girls' school.

Flight Tracking Again!

Hi everyone,

I thought you might be interested in tracking the group's flight back today and tomorrow. I was hoping that the KLM Royal Dutch website would work again, since the itinerary says that the Air France flight is being operated by KLM, but alas, it didn't work.

I did find an Air France website, but it doesn't have the real-time map updates like KLM, it just has text information. Here is the link: http://www.airfrance.fr/cgi-bin/AF/FR/en/local/resainfovol/infovols/actualiteDesVols.do

For the flight from Lusaka to Amsterdam, search 8284.
For Amsterdam to Paris, search 1341.
For Paris to Montreal, search 344.
For Montreal to Ottawa (which I'm guessing is a bus), search 7111.

I'm sure everyone will be glad to reunite with their family and friends tomorrow night! It's been fun posting updates for everyone here, and I hope they made you feel a little closer to everyone on the trip throughout the month. I'm sure there will be follow-up things to post, such as stories, pictures, etc.

The group should be boarding their first flight towards home as I write this!

Enjoy, and goodbye for now!

Victoria Falls

Hi everyone,

I was able to have a short chat with Jess online this evening. The group went to Victoria Falls today, and got soaked! They saw monkeys there too, and went shopping at a nearby market.

On Sunday, they will be going on their safari. In less than a week, they'll all be back home!

-Mike

Saying Farewell

Jess writes:

"Saturday we participated in a cultural exchange with the girls school. There was lots of singing and dancing, including us, and it was a lot of fun! Omega had all the teaching staff and heads of institutions over for a BBQ dinner at her house to say farewell to our group. Again it was a lot of fun and there was lots of dancing.

Sunday we were up bright and early for church, although it was cloudy outside, we had a good time with the two services. The first was a service that included the girls. Our group did prayers, readings and a song. We gave the school the banner which they really liked! The second was the normal service. The congregation presented out group with gifts and us them. We gave them a Bible that presbytry sent with us. Tonight we are going to Paul Samba's house, he is the head of the agriculture college, for dinner. It is going to be a great time!"

Another Update Of The Week From Jess

Hi everyone,

Jess emailed me an update of the week the group had, but it was in point form. The text below is just me rounding out what she sent.

Sunday, May 12th - The group once again attended church in the morning. This time, the congregation did not refer to them as visitors. Youth from the group and from the church met afterward to have a discussion on matters that can affect youth in both Zambia and Canada. The meeting went well, followed by an attempt by the Zambian youth to teach the Canadian youth a song. Everyone involved tried their hardest, but it just didn't quite go right. Fun was had by all in the attempt, and everyone enjoyed the meeting.

Monday, May 13th - Monday was the group's first day at the Chipembi Girls' School. They met with the teachers, and took part in a school assembly in which the group was introduced to the students. The group helped finish off cataloging the rest of the books in the library, and then had lunch. After lunch, they helped make bracelets to bring back with them to Canada for Emmanuel. Next, a few members of the group helped with herding the goats at Omega's house from one field into a smaller field. This was very funny, and resulted in at least 6 goats getting loose and having to be sought after in and around Omega's yard. To finish the day, the group split up into smaller sub-groups to make their lesson plans for the students at the school the next day.

Tuesday, May 14th - Tuesday was the group's first day teaching at the school. Each ran different seminar groups on various topics, such as peer pressure, self-esteem, study skills, time management, and education in Canada. There was also time for students to ask personal questions of the group at the end of the day. The group worked with grade 8 girls this day, and things went really well. The girls asked some really good questions, and were engaged in the topics of the seminars. After lunch, some of the group returned to the school to teach a Powerpoint lesson to the grade 12 girls. The rest of the group went on a tour of the Agricultural College. The staff at the College explained each of the different programs that were offered, and how each worked. That evening, everyone went to bed very early, around 7:30 pm Zambia time.

Wednesday, May 15th - On Wednesday, the group spent the morning together at the school and taught similar seminars as the day before, only this time to grade 9 students. After that, Ryan and Jess stayed at the school, and ate lunch with some of the faculty. Since Jess was the only woman present, all of the men waited for her to begin eating before they began themselves. Lunch was good, with lots of variety. The girls that served lunch did so on their knees. In the afternoon, Jess and Ryan taught several of the teachers how to use Powerpoint. The teachers were extremely interested in learning about the software, and were very grateful to the group for showing them how to use it. The rest of the group went to the basic school, where they played football, made kites, and had lots of fun with the younger children. Alice came back to the school to teach some of the grade 12 girls how to play Ultimate Frisbee. They had a lot of fun, and it was very entertaining.

Thursday, May 16th - On Thursday, the group went to the school to teach the grade 11 girls. The seminars were mostly the same, except for a few subjects that were changed. The two new subjects were substance abuse, and political structure in Canada. The older girls were more engaged, and asked questions that were more to the point. Substance abuse was the most engaging topic for the students, and asked some very difficult questions of the group, who answered to the best of their ability. After lunch, the group enjoyed quiet time at Omega's house. They painted some boxes for bees to live in, spread manure, watered plants, and caught up on laundry.

Friday, May 17th - Today, the group did their last day of seminars with the grade 11 and 12 girls. Both groups of students were very engaged and asked more great questions. Again, there were some very difficult questions, and the group tried to answer them as best they could. After lunch, the group once again had a quiet afternoon at Omega's. Most took naps, while others finished the painting and did more laundry.

This concludes the update from everyone in Zambia. The group has a cultural exchange, and then church on Sunday. After that, they are leaving for Kitwe, and then on to Livingstone for touring. Exciting times were had, and more exciting times are to follow! Stay tuned!

An Update Of The Week, From Jess

Tuesday we spent the morning at the Chipembi Girls’school with teaching professionals about how to improve the testing results and raise the literacy rate. We were split into groups of two with the teachers. The groups were; head teachers, deputy head teachers, PTA and the senior teaching staff. All of the groups approached the problem in different ways. For example, the head teachers group was run by the head of the district and he was asking questions for the head teachers to answer concerning the role that they play in the school. In the afternoon the group was invited to the Agricultural college to shell beans. To do this we had to hit the pile of beans with sticks which breaks the beans apart so that they fall to the ground, then pour those beans from one bucket into another bucket so that all the chaff blows away with the wind.

Wednesday we were fortunate enough to be able to attend the health clinic seminar for expecting mothers. Before the meeting began we were given a tour of the clinic.  The clinic itself has an open air feel to it. The main part of the building has an open area with patient rooms and offices around it in a rectangular shape. The meeting for new mothers was being run by, the equivalent to our UCW, and they began with explaining what was going to happen. Omega translated for us as most of the mothers did not speak English. The women’s group sang a few songs, Reverand Hastings said a prayer and then the group handed out bundles of baby clothes to the expecting mothers.  One mother that we talked to said that she rode her bike to the clinic about 30km away and she was 8 months pregnant. She was planning on riding the bike back to her village after delivering her baby with the baby tied onto their back with a large piece of material.

In the afternoon we went on a walk of Omega’s property to see all the land that isn’t visible from the house. On the walk the cows were following us around because they thought that we were going to feed them.  We also got to see the two baby goats and had the chance to hold them if we chose to. The babies were twins and the mother was not too happy with us.  We also helped out a bit in the corn field by picking up  stalks of corn and piling them into a tee pee formation so that they stalks don’t get eaten by termites and destroyed.

Thursday morning we went to the school to help out in the library. We spent time there cataloguing books that had just arrived from a donation. The books were sent from Canada, even though they were all British curriculum books. We are going to return to the library to continue that work as there were a lot of books left to be put on the shelves!  In the afternoon one of the neighbours came and taught us how to make bread. He had built a bread oven for Omega just for this purpose! He made a fire in the oven first to heat up the bricks and once that was done we put the bread in to cook. It didn’t take very long for the bread to bake in the oven. Our group volunteered to make dinner that night. We made various salads to use on the bread we had just baked. That night we all gathered around a bonfire and had a discussion on how people in Zambia are able to live positively with HIV. We were able to talk to a woman who is HIV positive and hear her story from how she found out to how she is living her life to the fullest now.  It was an emotional conversation but also a very powerful one.

Friday we were presented with an incredible opportunity, we were invited to help out with a mobile clinic. We drove about 20km to a nearby village where we jumped right in. We were weighing children under 5, some were as young as one week old, keeping records of immunization and distributing condoms. The work wasn’t easy and the conditions of some of the records were less than ideal, but we made do with what we had and kept on going. The children were weighed using a scale similar to a vegetable one that hangs and then placed into a piece of fabric to get their weight. Others that were older were able to just grab onto the scale and hang of it. Since this was a clinic that dealt with over 200 children, we were helping there all day. There weren’t enough vaccinations to go around and there were also several children there who presented with malaria symptoms (and given medication for it). One thing that the whole group noted was that the mothers walked and waited for long periods of time to ensure that their children received some medical care. Mothers are the same in every country; they do whatever they need to in order to care for the children.

Saturday was a tourist day for us. We were taken to the Chaminuka game reserve.  We went on the safari drive, cheese tasting and boat cruise.  We were able to see many animals including; zebras, elephants, giraffes, birds, antelopes and some wild cats as well. The cats were kept in a separate area that was completely fenced in and some were even covered over the top because they would try to jump over the fence. We tasted the best cheese in Africa, and for a tasting we were given much more than we needed. We tried to eat it all but it was done right before lunch. The tasting was held in a fabricated cave because that is how they discovered how to make cheese. This whole outing was made possible by the partnership with the girls’ school.  The manager of the reserve was gracious enough to give us the day at the reserve and out meals because we were working with the girls’ school here in Zambia.

After that we went to a reptile park where we saw snakes (mostly behind glass), crocodiles and various other lizards.  The crocodiles were the most impressive just based on the large number that they had there. After a busy day, and a bumpy ride home, we were able to eat dinner and relax for the evening.

Seeing the School and Meeting the Chief

Hilary writes:


Today was our first day at the Chipembi Girls' School.  Albert, the head teacher, gave us a history of the school and then we gathered with teachers from across Zambia who are there for a conference.  They had heated discussions about who is responsible for the low literacy rate of the children of Zambia...the teachers, the students, the families, the low teacher:student ratio , the government or who???  It was very interesting, with some of the discussions mirroring what we might hear at home.  We brought greetings from Canada, the United Church of Canada and Ottawa Presbytery to the teachers' gathering.

This afternoon we met the chief of the village who is actually chief of about 400 villages with about 600, on average, in each village.  All the girls had to put on chitenge, the traditional, wrap-around skirts.  We were told to address the chief as "royal highness".  Omega, being our host, had to lie on the ground in front of the chief and clap her hands as she reported that she had brought us to visit him.  We each were invited to kneel before him and introduce ourselves and tell a bit about ourselves, one at a time.  He then talked about his kingdom and the joys and challenges the people face.  The rains came late and left early this year, so they anticipate that they're going into a cycle of drought and will have to plan to make sure they have enough to see them through.  We hadn't realized, but he was in church yesterday.  He says that although people kneel before him, he bows down to a Chief higher than him.  We had a short question and answer time, before presenting him with pottery mugs from Canada as a gift.  He was very appreciative and said that we're welcome in his village as long as we wish to stay.

The experience has left us with some interesting questions about the place of  power and authority and traditions...all of which we have yet to discuss properly as a group.  However, I think we all agree that he was a very nice and intelligent man who has a good grasp of the needs of this community and ideas of how to work towards his vision for Chipembi.  He is chief for life and it is an inherited position.  Each village has a head, which is not passed on by blood lines, but chieftainship must stay within the blood lines of a family, although it isn't necessarily passed on to immediate family.

After getting home, we fed the cows and chickens and are now getting ready for supper.  Another good day full of learning, in Chipembi, Zambia.

Church on Sunday

Hi everyone,

I've just received an update from Rob this morning, after he had talked to Hilary on the phone:


"The group made church this morning after a 30 minute walk. The service was 2 hours in length and of course welcomed our group amongst them. Hilary spoke on behalf of all and some stayed on for a second service in the afternoon. I'm guessing no Sunday shopping there!"

I also received an email from Jess that she said could be posted on the blog:

"We went to Hope and Faith school on Friday where we had a tour of their school that teaches over 600 children. This includes kids from an orphanage, that is being run by a man whom we met.  We had a great time playing with all the kids there. Most of them were on break, only the orphans (hate calling them that) were there. We sang songs with them, danced, played and did lots of laughing. In the afternoon we picked out fabric and went to the tailors to be measured and have something special made for us. It was a fun time. That night, we went to Omega's sister, Jennifer's for dinner. We had a wonderful time with her! She made us plenty of food and kept trying to get us to eat more of it!

On Saturday, we traveled to Chipembi. The road coming here was part paved and part dirt. Our bus driver, Christopher, was great. He told us what things were as we were passing by them. A family of monkeys entertained us by running in front of the bus. None were hurt! We saw more monkeys on the side of the road under the trees and in them.  The dirt road is very bumpy and not a pleasant drive. It is only a short distance, but takes much longer to drive.  At Omega's, we met with chickens who can climb trees and met the rooster who does not have a very good internal clock. He crows all the time, including in the middle of the night! We had a dinner of chicken, beans, rice, and a potato dish. All was very good! Omega's house is amazing! It is just beautiful and we were all very glad to arrive."

Arrived in Chipembi

Hi everyone,

I just received an update from Rob about 5 hours ago that the group has arrived in Chipembi, hot and tired. Apparently the roads are almost as bad as Ottawa! :)

Tomorrow, the group will be attending church, and then helping out around the school.

Visiting and Playing

Hi everyone,

I received a forwarded copy of an update from Hilary:

"The Zambia young adult team had a good day. This morning we met with United Church of Zambia and People's Action Forum staff and this afternoon we spent visiting and playing with children in an amazing school in a slum area of Lusaka. Such smiles and laughter in the face of such poverty! Of course, this brought on a range of conflicting emotions. It was hard to tear the group away to get ready for supper tonight at Omega's sister's home.  Everyone is safe and happy to be here and already learning so much!"

Hilary will send more updates once she can get a more reliable internet connection.

Everyone Arrived Safely

I've just received word from Christine that the group has arrived safely in Lusaka, Zambia. They are now with their host Omega and probably ready for a good sleep!

Flight Tracking

Hello everyone, I just wanted to post links to a cool feature that I found! You can track the flights that are carrying our group to Zambia in real time! Just go to this website and type in the appropriate flight number. I tried to post direct links, but they weren't working for me.

http://www.klm.com/travel/ca_en/prepare_for_travel/up_to_date/arrivals_departures/index.htm

Montreal to Amsterdam: KL672

Amsterdam to Lusaka: KL523 departing at 10:20

Feel free to follow along, I know I will be!

Departure!

Hilary, Korlu, Maddy, Jess, Tessa, Alice, Katie, Ryan and all their families met at the VIA Rail train station today at 2:00 pm Canada time to gather for their month-long trip to Zambia. The group met early so that checklists could be checked, a group photo could be taken, and everyone could talk for a bit before it was time to go. At about 2:30 pm, everyone gave their emotional goodbyes, the luggage was loaded onto the bus, and the 8 travellers boarded the bus and found their seats. Families stayed to wave goodbye, and the bus departed for Montreal.

At 7:15 pm tonight, the group's flight leaves for Europe, and from there, the rest of the trip to Zambia is made. Everyone involved with the trip wishes the 8 travellers God's blessings and safe travels throughout the entire duration of their trip.