March 7th, 2012: After a long journey home, I have finally arrived home safe and sound. As strange as this may sound, being home feels different. Returning back to a state of normal from being on a constant adrenaline high while in Africa has been a challenging task for me. I am still operating on African time, much like all my other nursing friends who went to Africa! We phone each other at 3 am trying to pass the time before we can get up at an acceptable Canadian time for the day. While up at all hours of the night I have had a chance to think about what I have learned on my trip. I have learned many things but the most important thing that I learned was that I am so lucky and do not appreciate what I have at home in Canada. I have learned that I do not need all the material things which I treasured so much before going on my trip. Before this trip, the idea of moving out of of Kelowna and starting a new life somewhere else petrified me. Now, I figure if I can live in Africa for 2 months then I can go anywhere that my job may take me. I cannot fully realize how much I have grown as a nurse until I start working in the hospital here but I can already tell that without this experience I would not be the nurse that I am today. These last few days have encompassed unpacking and getting all my affairs in order with graduation which is coming so soon! I have also been visiting or talking with everyone that I missed on my trip which has been the best part of returning home. Telling my stories and sharing my photos has reminded me of how much I loved my trip and how thankful I am that I was able to go.
I wanted to say thank you to everyone who has been reading my blog and supporting me while on this trip. I didn't think anyone would actually read this! It means so much to me that although I was a million miles away, you guys were still thinking about me, were interested in my well being and were curious as to how my trip was going. It means more than I can put into words. So thanks once again and if I haven't already seen you or talked to you, it won't be long!
Love,
Amanda
Wednesday 7 March 2012
Thursday 1 March 2012
Feb. 29th, 2012: Today, on the Leap Year day, I decided to leap off of a cliff on the Victoria Falls over a 150 metre gorge! I ziplined all the way across the gorge. It was so much fun!! I got to see the gorge from right above the water and I even got to see a circle rainbow that was spread out over the gorge. I span for a little bit of the trip which was really fun because then I was doing the ziplining backwards! I couldn't see anything but the falls in front of me. Then you have to climb up on this ledge that is right over the gorge and walk across the bottom of the bridge to safety. It was amazing! I then watched two of my friends bungee jump off of the bridge. I was sweating even putting my camera over the ledge and despite the peer pressure I refused to jump and kept my feet firmly on the bridge. Ziplining was as far as I was going! We then went out to Olgas (again) for some really delicious spaghetti. After a quick nap, I went to the craft market to trade many things that I don't want to bring back home. Or that just won't fit in my very stuffed suitcase :). It was really cool, the people I traded with were so excited to get my things and I was so excited to get their things! The craft market is rather intimidating but so much fun. It is a long strip of shops, each one selling different items but they are all roughly the same thing. As soon as you walk near the market you are hounded, the shop owners trying to get you to come into their shops to buy their stuff. I start out really polite but by the time I have finished the entire strip, I usually end up not so polite as I have been harrassed the entire way down, haha. What amazes me, is that you can see people making their crafts right in the market. They say they can take up to a month to make and they only sell them for roughly $10.00 Canadian. Bargaining is a blast. Some of the shop owners don't like to bargain much, so I find the ones that really do like bargain and we have fun going at it. I had a quiet night after my big day, resting and enjoying the sunshine.
March 1st: Today, I rode and fed an elephant and played/walked lions and cheetahs!!! I started my adventure at 9 am, with the elephants. I was very lucky that one of my friends agreed to come with me to the elephant back safari because otherwise I wouldn't have been able to go with only person. There were 7 elephants in the herd with the oldest being 36 years and huge! I rode a 13 year old elephant named Sondelo, with a tour guide named Bonaface. He told me about the elephants while we walked through the forest up and down hills with me gripping tightly onto the seat that was strapped onto the elephant. The ride was a little bit bumpy, I definetly got my ab workout for the day! Up close, Sondelo was very brown and muddy. He had little balls of mud on his head from the last time he took a mud bath to keep cool. His ears were huge and very strong. His tail was very strong as well with a little black tuft at the end. I heard how the elephants communicate which was really cool. They were telling the other elephants to hurry up according to Bonaface. All 7 of the elephants came on the walk although only two were being ridden because Bonaface said that the others will get lonely and angry if they are not brought along. One of Sondelo's tusks were broken off because he had tried to dig for a branch a little too roughly. They say that it will grow back within 2 years or so. He responded to commands like "stop" and "walk on" but would constantly reach his long trunk to the side and grab some snacks of branches along the way. After the walk, I got to feed Sondelo! I said "mouth open" and he curled up his trunk above his head to reveal a very large mouth and tongue onto which I put the handful of snacks onto. Then, I said "truck down!" and he stretched his trunk back down to vaccuum suck the snacks off of my hands. It was really, really cool!!!
I then visted the lions!! There were two. One was a brown lion aged 17 months and the other was a rare white lion aged 11 months. I stood behind the lion holding a stick in case the lion saw me and decided I looked rather tasty. The stick did work, it distracted the lions when they looked at me like I was a big piece of meat. I pet the lions and even gave one a belly rub! Then, I walked with the lions. I was able to hold onto the tail of both lions as we walked. I saw their huge paws and their huge, sharp teeth which were a really good reminder to only do what the guides were telling me. They say that even they need to watch their backs when with the lions. Even though they are very tame, they still have the instinct to kill and are still very wild. I found it really interesting to learn that they had spots only because they are still young. You can tell how old a lion is by how dark their spots are! They are used for camouflage while they are still young and at risk for being eaten by other animals. Apparently, after they are released into the wild, the lion has no problem adapting to it's new life and can hunt and resume a normal lions life. This place takes lions which have been abandoned by their mother because of unfortunate circumstances, like the mother being poached or something. Lions are not born with the ability to walk so they need to be carried by their mother for the first 3 months of their life. So if the mother is killed, the baby lions are left for dead unless they are picked up and brought to this place. They are then raised to tolerate humans for a few years (usually up to the age of 5) and then they enter the 'wildlife' phase where they are slowly introduced into the wild and eventually set free into a private national park. They were so very beautiful and and powerful. I am so happy I got to see them and touch them like that! Who knew lions liked belly rubs?
I then visted the cheetahs. There are 9 cheetahs altogether at this place. Cheetahs are still an endangered species, so this place took in 3 cheetahs that were bred in captivity somewhere else and are using them to help re-populate the species! The females choose their mates and after a 3 month pregnancy they give birth to 3-5 pups which are released into the same private national park as the lions at the age of 10 months. The older cheetahs that started the family cannot be released back into the park because they were born in captivity. The cheetahs were much less intimidating versus the lions. The first thing I noticed was their colour. Their black spots cover their entire brown body ending at the tail, which ends up looking like stripes as the tail ends. They have beautiful black markings on their face, leading from their hazel coloured eyes down to their mouth. I was so surprised when the cheetah started to purr! Like a really, really big cat. They loved to be pet. Especially on the chin. I could pet anywhere on the cheetah except on the legs. I sat down to pet one of the females and the male walked right over to me and sat right on me, jealous of all the petting that the female was getting! I thought that was really funny. They loved to play and tried to eat my water bottle after demolishing the stick that I had brought from the lion encounter. I got to walk the cheetahs like a really big cat (with a leash and everything) which was interesting because there were 3 of them and 1 of me. So trying to walk all 3 of them was really entertaining. One escaped from me at one point and I was really happy that it didn't run because at the speed of 120 kms, you can only hope that they come back! There is no chasing them. They are one of the animals that are often hunted by others because they are very weak. Their teeth are not very large and they are not very muscled compared to other animals. They are built to run and like to eat the gazelles! I felt like I was famous with all the photos that the guides took. They were awesome. Because I had booked these activites so last minute, I got to have a private encounter with the lions and the cheetahs which the guides said never happens and the experience that I had was something to be jealous of. I will be posting all of my pictures as soon as I get home!
I am so happy that I was able to do everything that I did today. All in all, it was too much of an amazing day to really put into words. The fact that I had to wash my pants of cheetah, lion and elephants before I left for home was pretty awesome. I can't believe it, but I leave for home tomorrow! Saying goodbye to Africa is hard. I really like it here. As much as I miss home, I will miss Africa a lot. Someday, I plan to return here. Hopefully with more money so I can see more of this continent.
PS: I will be turning my phone off and will most likely not have any access to internet until I get home so I will have to talk to everyone then. Canada and Tim Hortons, here I come! :)
March 1st: Today, I rode and fed an elephant and played/walked lions and cheetahs!!! I started my adventure at 9 am, with the elephants. I was very lucky that one of my friends agreed to come with me to the elephant back safari because otherwise I wouldn't have been able to go with only person. There were 7 elephants in the herd with the oldest being 36 years and huge! I rode a 13 year old elephant named Sondelo, with a tour guide named Bonaface. He told me about the elephants while we walked through the forest up and down hills with me gripping tightly onto the seat that was strapped onto the elephant. The ride was a little bit bumpy, I definetly got my ab workout for the day! Up close, Sondelo was very brown and muddy. He had little balls of mud on his head from the last time he took a mud bath to keep cool. His ears were huge and very strong. His tail was very strong as well with a little black tuft at the end. I heard how the elephants communicate which was really cool. They were telling the other elephants to hurry up according to Bonaface. All 7 of the elephants came on the walk although only two were being ridden because Bonaface said that the others will get lonely and angry if they are not brought along. One of Sondelo's tusks were broken off because he had tried to dig for a branch a little too roughly. They say that it will grow back within 2 years or so. He responded to commands like "stop" and "walk on" but would constantly reach his long trunk to the side and grab some snacks of branches along the way. After the walk, I got to feed Sondelo! I said "mouth open" and he curled up his trunk above his head to reveal a very large mouth and tongue onto which I put the handful of snacks onto. Then, I said "truck down!" and he stretched his trunk back down to vaccuum suck the snacks off of my hands. It was really, really cool!!!
I then visted the lions!! There were two. One was a brown lion aged 17 months and the other was a rare white lion aged 11 months. I stood behind the lion holding a stick in case the lion saw me and decided I looked rather tasty. The stick did work, it distracted the lions when they looked at me like I was a big piece of meat. I pet the lions and even gave one a belly rub! Then, I walked with the lions. I was able to hold onto the tail of both lions as we walked. I saw their huge paws and their huge, sharp teeth which were a really good reminder to only do what the guides were telling me. They say that even they need to watch their backs when with the lions. Even though they are very tame, they still have the instinct to kill and are still very wild. I found it really interesting to learn that they had spots only because they are still young. You can tell how old a lion is by how dark their spots are! They are used for camouflage while they are still young and at risk for being eaten by other animals. Apparently, after they are released into the wild, the lion has no problem adapting to it's new life and can hunt and resume a normal lions life. This place takes lions which have been abandoned by their mother because of unfortunate circumstances, like the mother being poached or something. Lions are not born with the ability to walk so they need to be carried by their mother for the first 3 months of their life. So if the mother is killed, the baby lions are left for dead unless they are picked up and brought to this place. They are then raised to tolerate humans for a few years (usually up to the age of 5) and then they enter the 'wildlife' phase where they are slowly introduced into the wild and eventually set free into a private national park. They were so very beautiful and and powerful. I am so happy I got to see them and touch them like that! Who knew lions liked belly rubs?
I then visted the cheetahs. There are 9 cheetahs altogether at this place. Cheetahs are still an endangered species, so this place took in 3 cheetahs that were bred in captivity somewhere else and are using them to help re-populate the species! The females choose their mates and after a 3 month pregnancy they give birth to 3-5 pups which are released into the same private national park as the lions at the age of 10 months. The older cheetahs that started the family cannot be released back into the park because they were born in captivity. The cheetahs were much less intimidating versus the lions. The first thing I noticed was their colour. Their black spots cover their entire brown body ending at the tail, which ends up looking like stripes as the tail ends. They have beautiful black markings on their face, leading from their hazel coloured eyes down to their mouth. I was so surprised when the cheetah started to purr! Like a really, really big cat. They loved to be pet. Especially on the chin. I could pet anywhere on the cheetah except on the legs. I sat down to pet one of the females and the male walked right over to me and sat right on me, jealous of all the petting that the female was getting! I thought that was really funny. They loved to play and tried to eat my water bottle after demolishing the stick that I had brought from the lion encounter. I got to walk the cheetahs like a really big cat (with a leash and everything) which was interesting because there were 3 of them and 1 of me. So trying to walk all 3 of them was really entertaining. One escaped from me at one point and I was really happy that it didn't run because at the speed of 120 kms, you can only hope that they come back! There is no chasing them. They are one of the animals that are often hunted by others because they are very weak. Their teeth are not very large and they are not very muscled compared to other animals. They are built to run and like to eat the gazelles! I felt like I was famous with all the photos that the guides took. They were awesome. Because I had booked these activites so last minute, I got to have a private encounter with the lions and the cheetahs which the guides said never happens and the experience that I had was something to be jealous of. I will be posting all of my pictures as soon as I get home!
I am so happy that I was able to do everything that I did today. All in all, it was too much of an amazing day to really put into words. The fact that I had to wash my pants of cheetah, lion and elephants before I left for home was pretty awesome. I can't believe it, but I leave for home tomorrow! Saying goodbye to Africa is hard. I really like it here. As much as I miss home, I will miss Africa a lot. Someday, I plan to return here. Hopefully with more money so I can see more of this continent.
PS: I will be turning my phone off and will most likely not have any access to internet until I get home so I will have to talk to everyone then. Canada and Tim Hortons, here I come! :)
Monday 27 February 2012
Botswana Safari!
Feb. 26th, 2012: Today I had a lazy day, it was wonderful. I spent the day by the pool hanging out with some new friends that I have met while staying here at Jollyboys. The pool is really nice and very needed in the blazing hot 40 degree weather! I had a rather blonde moment when I hard boiled my eggs in the morning. I started them and then forgot about them until an hour later and had to explain to the person in the kitchen why my eggs were STILL there. They actually tasted pretty good!
Feb. 27th, 2012: Today I visited the Chobe National Park in Botswana! My day started out with a 45 minute bus ride to Botswana, where I had to go through immigration and got some new exciting stamps on my passport. I thought it was really funny how I had to walk on this little cement block with a towel on it which was supposed to help to prevent foot and mouth disease. I was confused on how that worked but walked on it anyways seeing as I didn’t have a choice. Botswana is very beautiful. It is a very nice place, with the most interesting part in my opinion being the animals that wander wherever they wish. This includes the roads. Cars have to stop for elephants and cows and many more animals to cross. There are no fences to keep the animals in one area! I was greeted with a very yummy little breakfast of muffins, coffee/tea and fruit. I then boarded the boat which we would be cruising down the Zambezi on for the first part of the safari. It was nice, I sat on the top floor to get a better view and some sunshine. I saw hippos, an elephant, lots of birds and a crocodile (in the water). It was really peaceful to just sit on the boat, listen to the waves, rock gently and every once and a while look up to see the gorgeous view. I stopped back at the chalet for a delicious lunch before heading out on the game drive. The lunch was so yummy. I had salad, like at home, for the first time since leaving home. I never realized how good salad was before! After lunch I boarded a little speed boat which brought me over the river to where we would be boarding the cars to go on the land safari. I couldn’t help but notice how the huge trucks were transported across the river. It looked like big pieces of a bridge had been detached and made to float. It was easy to see how all the trucks lined up waiting could wait a VERY long time to get across. It was rather creepy, hearing about the stories of human trafficking and why the new rule to check all the trucks cargo was put in place at the border. It was really cool because standing on the speed boat, I was at a 4 country corner with Botswana, Zambia, Nimibya and Zimbabwe around me. They say there is only one other place you can do this in the world!
I then began my game drive! I saw so many amazing animals very close up. I saw a LOT of elephants. There are 40000-60000 in total in the park. At one point, we were surrounded by about 10 elephants and had a chance to see them very up close. They were so close that they could have touched the front of the car. They are a chocolate colour with very wrinkly skin. Considering they are born at 90-120 kg, you can imagine how large they are fully grown. They can grow to be 60-80 years old. The oldest one that the guide thought we saw today was 55 years-he was massive! I saw one scratch itself on a tree and understood how they can rip their ears so easily when they scratch like that. I watched one have a mud bath and have a clear water bath in the river. I watched them eat and drink up close and flap their ears when they wanted to cool themselves. At one point, one little elephant started to play with us. It mock charged, flapping its ears and shaking its trunk at us. Then, when we stopped to take pictures of it and look at it, the elephant gave a large grunt of disapproval and hid behind a tree, all bashful about his recent behaviour! It was really cute. I saw a 2 week old elephant hiding behind it’s mom and I really wanted to take it home. I saw many hippos. Looking out at the river from afar, there were so many hippos it looked as though they were just rocks in the grass! At one point we ran into a big herd of them (called a pod) and got to see them all yawning, showing us their huge teeth, as a warning to back off. So we did and pretty fast because those teeth were pretty huge, haha. I saw a lioness in the heart of the jungle walking around, apparently looking for a place to rest after her hunt. She was beautiful. I saw a lot of impala and was surprised to learn that for every year that a male lives, he gets another twist in his horns. They can live up to 15 years old and I can’t even picture the horns at that point, how their heads would stay on I have no idea! They have little black boots on it looks like and white lines on their bodies. My favorite animal that I saw was the giraffes. I had been waiting to see them as they were not at the last safari we were at! They are amazing. So tall and graceful. They are brown and yellow in colour and I learned that the darker they are the older they are. Like many of the animals that I have described, little birds love to sit on the giraffe and eat little bugs off of it, in return for safety.
I got home from the safari at 7 pm. As tired as I was from my long day, I didn’t want to cook so I went with some friends to an Italian place called Olgas. Together with a friend I shared a pizza and a pasta. It was delicious. I am now just learning how to braid using hemp! I am looking forward to another lazy day tomorrow. I can’t believe I only have a few more days here in Livingstone, it is rather sad but also nice to know i'm on the home stretch here. Will be seeing everyone in a few days, or talking with you if you are out of Kelowna as usual!
Feb. 27th, 2012: Today I visited the Chobe National Park in Botswana! My day started out with a 45 minute bus ride to Botswana, where I had to go through immigration and got some new exciting stamps on my passport. I thought it was really funny how I had to walk on this little cement block with a towel on it which was supposed to help to prevent foot and mouth disease. I was confused on how that worked but walked on it anyways seeing as I didn’t have a choice. Botswana is very beautiful. It is a very nice place, with the most interesting part in my opinion being the animals that wander wherever they wish. This includes the roads. Cars have to stop for elephants and cows and many more animals to cross. There are no fences to keep the animals in one area! I was greeted with a very yummy little breakfast of muffins, coffee/tea and fruit. I then boarded the boat which we would be cruising down the Zambezi on for the first part of the safari. It was nice, I sat on the top floor to get a better view and some sunshine. I saw hippos, an elephant, lots of birds and a crocodile (in the water). It was really peaceful to just sit on the boat, listen to the waves, rock gently and every once and a while look up to see the gorgeous view. I stopped back at the chalet for a delicious lunch before heading out on the game drive. The lunch was so yummy. I had salad, like at home, for the first time since leaving home. I never realized how good salad was before! After lunch I boarded a little speed boat which brought me over the river to where we would be boarding the cars to go on the land safari. I couldn’t help but notice how the huge trucks were transported across the river. It looked like big pieces of a bridge had been detached and made to float. It was easy to see how all the trucks lined up waiting could wait a VERY long time to get across. It was rather creepy, hearing about the stories of human trafficking and why the new rule to check all the trucks cargo was put in place at the border. It was really cool because standing on the speed boat, I was at a 4 country corner with Botswana, Zambia, Nimibya and Zimbabwe around me. They say there is only one other place you can do this in the world!
I then began my game drive! I saw so many amazing animals very close up. I saw a LOT of elephants. There are 40000-60000 in total in the park. At one point, we were surrounded by about 10 elephants and had a chance to see them very up close. They were so close that they could have touched the front of the car. They are a chocolate colour with very wrinkly skin. Considering they are born at 90-120 kg, you can imagine how large they are fully grown. They can grow to be 60-80 years old. The oldest one that the guide thought we saw today was 55 years-he was massive! I saw one scratch itself on a tree and understood how they can rip their ears so easily when they scratch like that. I watched one have a mud bath and have a clear water bath in the river. I watched them eat and drink up close and flap their ears when they wanted to cool themselves. At one point, one little elephant started to play with us. It mock charged, flapping its ears and shaking its trunk at us. Then, when we stopped to take pictures of it and look at it, the elephant gave a large grunt of disapproval and hid behind a tree, all bashful about his recent behaviour! It was really cute. I saw a 2 week old elephant hiding behind it’s mom and I really wanted to take it home. I saw many hippos. Looking out at the river from afar, there were so many hippos it looked as though they were just rocks in the grass! At one point we ran into a big herd of them (called a pod) and got to see them all yawning, showing us their huge teeth, as a warning to back off. So we did and pretty fast because those teeth were pretty huge, haha. I saw a lioness in the heart of the jungle walking around, apparently looking for a place to rest after her hunt. She was beautiful. I saw a lot of impala and was surprised to learn that for every year that a male lives, he gets another twist in his horns. They can live up to 15 years old and I can’t even picture the horns at that point, how their heads would stay on I have no idea! They have little black boots on it looks like and white lines on their bodies. My favorite animal that I saw was the giraffes. I had been waiting to see them as they were not at the last safari we were at! They are amazing. So tall and graceful. They are brown and yellow in colour and I learned that the darker they are the older they are. Like many of the animals that I have described, little birds love to sit on the giraffe and eat little bugs off of it, in return for safety.
I got home from the safari at 7 pm. As tired as I was from my long day, I didn’t want to cook so I went with some friends to an Italian place called Olgas. Together with a friend I shared a pizza and a pasta. It was delicious. I am now just learning how to braid using hemp! I am looking forward to another lazy day tomorrow. I can’t believe I only have a few more days here in Livingstone, it is rather sad but also nice to know i'm on the home stretch here. Will be seeing everyone in a few days, or talking with you if you are out of Kelowna as usual!
Saturday 25 February 2012
Livingstone from beneath the falls!
Feb. 25th, 2012:
Last night after I entered my last blog, I got to watch some of the local Zambian people dance for the guests at Jollyboys! They strapped on big beads that shook when they danced. They are so good at their dancing. Can they ever move! Their were two men playing the drums and the dancers sang and chanted while they danced. It was really cool to watch! Then, they danced with shetanges tied on like belts. I really enjoyed it, the colourful outfits were beautiful.
This morning I left to see the falls via the national park. We walked down many trails. The first trail we went down led us to a bridge right beside the falls. We didn't bring enough money for rain coats, so we stripped down into our bikinis and it was a good thing we did that because we got SOAKED! It was so beautiful. It's no wonder it is one of the 7 wonders of the world. We were a little bit disappointed because we weren't able to go around to where the biggest falls are because of the mist from the rain season but the "little" falls were pretty huge so that was okay. We then went down to "Boiling Point". As soon as we even stepped on the path a local Zambian stopped us and warned us about the baboons. He said that they will attack you and grab your bag if they think you have food, so we should bring his sling shot with us because they are scared of it. So we did and it was a good thing! On our way down to boiling point, which was a work out let me tell you (so many stairs and nature to climb over and under) we ran into a HUGE baboon! I ran behind my friend Amy and she shrieked. At the beginning of our trip, we met a nice man named Mattious who was travelling alone so he joined our group. He was at the front of the trio when the baboon came and we were happy he was with us. Not only was he great company, but he was also very tall and knew how to shoot the sling shot. The Boiling Point turned out to be the bottom of the massive bridge and the falls itself. The bridge is huge, 111 metres and it is the bridge that people bunji jump off of! I saw a few people jump and after watching them, I knew that I really really didn't want to do that, haha. The pool of water pools so rapidly in circles that it looks like a boiling pot of water. It was amazing and worth the rather sweaty walk back up :).
After the falls we went on a sunset booze cruise! it was really nice. it was rather cloudy so we couldn't see much of the sunset but the food was pretty good and it was nice to be back on the Zambezi River. When we got back, my friend Rachel and I played pool for an hour. We found some fellow backpackers to play and had a blast. Now, very tired but very happy, I am headed to bed. Tomorrow I am looking forward to a day of rest. Relaxing by the pool reading in the sun sounds like a pretty good day to me!
Last night after I entered my last blog, I got to watch some of the local Zambian people dance for the guests at Jollyboys! They strapped on big beads that shook when they danced. They are so good at their dancing. Can they ever move! Their were two men playing the drums and the dancers sang and chanted while they danced. It was really cool to watch! Then, they danced with shetanges tied on like belts. I really enjoyed it, the colourful outfits were beautiful.
This morning I left to see the falls via the national park. We walked down many trails. The first trail we went down led us to a bridge right beside the falls. We didn't bring enough money for rain coats, so we stripped down into our bikinis and it was a good thing we did that because we got SOAKED! It was so beautiful. It's no wonder it is one of the 7 wonders of the world. We were a little bit disappointed because we weren't able to go around to where the biggest falls are because of the mist from the rain season but the "little" falls were pretty huge so that was okay. We then went down to "Boiling Point". As soon as we even stepped on the path a local Zambian stopped us and warned us about the baboons. He said that they will attack you and grab your bag if they think you have food, so we should bring his sling shot with us because they are scared of it. So we did and it was a good thing! On our way down to boiling point, which was a work out let me tell you (so many stairs and nature to climb over and under) we ran into a HUGE baboon! I ran behind my friend Amy and she shrieked. At the beginning of our trip, we met a nice man named Mattious who was travelling alone so he joined our group. He was at the front of the trio when the baboon came and we were happy he was with us. Not only was he great company, but he was also very tall and knew how to shoot the sling shot. The Boiling Point turned out to be the bottom of the massive bridge and the falls itself. The bridge is huge, 111 metres and it is the bridge that people bunji jump off of! I saw a few people jump and after watching them, I knew that I really really didn't want to do that, haha. The pool of water pools so rapidly in circles that it looks like a boiling pot of water. It was amazing and worth the rather sweaty walk back up :).
After the falls we went on a sunset booze cruise! it was really nice. it was rather cloudy so we couldn't see much of the sunset but the food was pretty good and it was nice to be back on the Zambezi River. When we got back, my friend Rachel and I played pool for an hour. We found some fellow backpackers to play and had a blast. Now, very tired but very happy, I am headed to bed. Tomorrow I am looking forward to a day of rest. Relaxing by the pool reading in the sun sounds like a pretty good day to me!
Friday 24 February 2012
Livingstone!!
Feb. 24th, 2012:
I have finally made it to Livingstone! I have been sick with a very nasty cold and am just starting to feel better today, so took the last few days off doing nothing but resting. I did go to Hope church on Sunday in Mongu which I really enjoyed. I was a little bit put on the spot when they asked if anyone was a visitor, of course I wasnt about to shout "i am!" in a church full of people who all carried their own personal bibles...my friend, however, decided that she should raise my arm for me, so I got a pamphlet and a sucker. It was pretty funny. She said that we were even, after she came to Safula Secondary School and stood infront of 200 kids and spoke when I had told her it was about 15 kids! The choir had beautiful voices and although I couldnt sing to any of the songs it was wonderful to listen. Many people have beautiful voices here. At the Zen Nursing School, the class sung a song called My Desire which sounded like an orchestra it was so beautiful. They sing a song each morning before class. At Metoya Camp, my friend Catherine sang for me and it was amazing. I love to listen to their voices :).
After a long 8 hour bus ride on a rather rickety bus, we arrived in Lusaka to our Kalulu Backpackers Hostel! It was very nice. We went out to dinner at an Italian Restaurant called Papitos and I had pizza for the first time in 6 weeks, it was heavanly! I also had steamed milk. It was delicious, I didn´t realize how much I missed it until then. We went to bed pretty early that night as we had to get up the next morning at 5 to catch the bus to Livingstone. When we boarded the next bus, which was much nicer (had an emergency exit and much nicer seats) I couldn´t figure out why my legs were so itchy....only to find 30 misquito bites! There were no nets at Kalulus and I guess one misquito got in my little cotton sleeper and ate me alive. I think I fed it for the next month? I will definetly request a net on my way back, haha. After that bus ride which was only 6 hours this time, we arrived at Jollyboys. It is gorgeous here. There are two pools, a bar, a ping pong table, a pool table, lots of squishy chairs to sit and read your book, souvenir shops and computers to use internet on. I gave up last night on the internet when the one computer shut down randomly and the next one i tried to use had a haunted keyboard which garbled up your typing to what ever it thought looked better. I have been forced to ask random people to use their computers, haha! We are in Zebra room which is nice. We went to the Ocean Basket and I had delicious fish and chips. A huge storm rolled in when we got home so we had to wait that out before getting into bed.
This morning, we went to Livingstone Island! It was AMAZING. You leave from the Royal Livingstone Hotel which was so beautiful, it even had people singing at the front when you walked in. After a short boat ride you are instructed to strip down and leave all your items in a tent with the staff. Now I didn´t think that I should wear my bikini. I was also not wearing the best underwear to take my shorts off unfortunetly....so I went in with my shorts on and my sports bra. The guides thought that was really funny and so did we. You hike up a little bit and then you dive in the water. It is so warm, like a really nice hot bath. You sit right on the edge of the falls! The guide is very careful, you don´t move a muscle without him with you. He says no one has fallen off the falls with them there and I can understand why with how careful they are. You can see Devil´s pool and right down the falls. It is 108 metres down. I stood right over the edge, it was so cool! Then you wade into another little pool to get a different view of the falls. The guide escorts you to this little rock and then he said "okay, no I will hide". Before I could even say anything he was gone! All I could think was "oh my god, now i´m stuck on the edge of Victoria Falls. great!" He then brought me where he was hiding and it turned out to be under this little bit of spray, it was awesome to sit under it and see the water. On the swim back, I slipped and was flailing my remaining limbs so scared I was going to go right over the falls! The guide had such an iron grip on me though that he just dragged me back to a rock. It was so exciting!
After the island, we bought our bus tickets home and checked out the craft market. Which was a huge mistake because I wanted to buy the whole market. You can bargain as well, so I was having a blast! It is really cool because you can trade Canadian things in for the items, like socks, sunscreen, etc. I was asked 3 times if I wanted the hair elastic I was wearing! There are about 15 little shops all in a strip that sell roughly the same thing but are all hand made. Most things they say take a week to a month to make. Very cool. I played a lot of ping pong and chess and am now just sitting waiting to eat some dinner. I am very excited to go to the National Park tomorrow and see the falls from the bottom this time! They say you get just as wet from the spray, which you can see miles and miles away. We are also going on the Booze Cruise tomorrow which will be interesting. I am excited to go with the people that we have met here, I have met so many people here from all over the world, all here for different reasons. It is really fun here, a wonderful way to end my trip to Africa! Until next time, I hope everyone is well at home and I wish you were here with me to see one of the 7 wonders of the world :).
I have finally made it to Livingstone! I have been sick with a very nasty cold and am just starting to feel better today, so took the last few days off doing nothing but resting. I did go to Hope church on Sunday in Mongu which I really enjoyed. I was a little bit put on the spot when they asked if anyone was a visitor, of course I wasnt about to shout "i am!" in a church full of people who all carried their own personal bibles...my friend, however, decided that she should raise my arm for me, so I got a pamphlet and a sucker. It was pretty funny. She said that we were even, after she came to Safula Secondary School and stood infront of 200 kids and spoke when I had told her it was about 15 kids! The choir had beautiful voices and although I couldnt sing to any of the songs it was wonderful to listen. Many people have beautiful voices here. At the Zen Nursing School, the class sung a song called My Desire which sounded like an orchestra it was so beautiful. They sing a song each morning before class. At Metoya Camp, my friend Catherine sang for me and it was amazing. I love to listen to their voices :).
After a long 8 hour bus ride on a rather rickety bus, we arrived in Lusaka to our Kalulu Backpackers Hostel! It was very nice. We went out to dinner at an Italian Restaurant called Papitos and I had pizza for the first time in 6 weeks, it was heavanly! I also had steamed milk. It was delicious, I didn´t realize how much I missed it until then. We went to bed pretty early that night as we had to get up the next morning at 5 to catch the bus to Livingstone. When we boarded the next bus, which was much nicer (had an emergency exit and much nicer seats) I couldn´t figure out why my legs were so itchy....only to find 30 misquito bites! There were no nets at Kalulus and I guess one misquito got in my little cotton sleeper and ate me alive. I think I fed it for the next month? I will definetly request a net on my way back, haha. After that bus ride which was only 6 hours this time, we arrived at Jollyboys. It is gorgeous here. There are two pools, a bar, a ping pong table, a pool table, lots of squishy chairs to sit and read your book, souvenir shops and computers to use internet on. I gave up last night on the internet when the one computer shut down randomly and the next one i tried to use had a haunted keyboard which garbled up your typing to what ever it thought looked better. I have been forced to ask random people to use their computers, haha! We are in Zebra room which is nice. We went to the Ocean Basket and I had delicious fish and chips. A huge storm rolled in when we got home so we had to wait that out before getting into bed.
This morning, we went to Livingstone Island! It was AMAZING. You leave from the Royal Livingstone Hotel which was so beautiful, it even had people singing at the front when you walked in. After a short boat ride you are instructed to strip down and leave all your items in a tent with the staff. Now I didn´t think that I should wear my bikini. I was also not wearing the best underwear to take my shorts off unfortunetly....so I went in with my shorts on and my sports bra. The guides thought that was really funny and so did we. You hike up a little bit and then you dive in the water. It is so warm, like a really nice hot bath. You sit right on the edge of the falls! The guide is very careful, you don´t move a muscle without him with you. He says no one has fallen off the falls with them there and I can understand why with how careful they are. You can see Devil´s pool and right down the falls. It is 108 metres down. I stood right over the edge, it was so cool! Then you wade into another little pool to get a different view of the falls. The guide escorts you to this little rock and then he said "okay, no I will hide". Before I could even say anything he was gone! All I could think was "oh my god, now i´m stuck on the edge of Victoria Falls. great!" He then brought me where he was hiding and it turned out to be under this little bit of spray, it was awesome to sit under it and see the water. On the swim back, I slipped and was flailing my remaining limbs so scared I was going to go right over the falls! The guide had such an iron grip on me though that he just dragged me back to a rock. It was so exciting!
After the island, we bought our bus tickets home and checked out the craft market. Which was a huge mistake because I wanted to buy the whole market. You can bargain as well, so I was having a blast! It is really cool because you can trade Canadian things in for the items, like socks, sunscreen, etc. I was asked 3 times if I wanted the hair elastic I was wearing! There are about 15 little shops all in a strip that sell roughly the same thing but are all hand made. Most things they say take a week to a month to make. Very cool. I played a lot of ping pong and chess and am now just sitting waiting to eat some dinner. I am very excited to go to the National Park tomorrow and see the falls from the bottom this time! They say you get just as wet from the spray, which you can see miles and miles away. We are also going on the Booze Cruise tomorrow which will be interesting. I am excited to go with the people that we have met here, I have met so many people here from all over the world, all here for different reasons. It is really fun here, a wonderful way to end my trip to Africa! Until next time, I hope everyone is well at home and I wish you were here with me to see one of the 7 wonders of the world :).
Saturday 18 February 2012
Metoya Camp!
Feb. 12-17th 2012: This week I spent the week at Metoya Camp. It is about 25 minutes from my home in Melengwa where I usually live. My first impression of Metoya was that it is beautiful. It sits right on the flood plains, which are now starting to fill with so much rain that you can see it coming down the plains. Soon, in April, the whole plains will have flooded! Our house was about a five minute walk from the Health Clinic and the Feeding Clinic. There were about 2 rather steep sand hills and some stairs to go up and down so needless to say I got my exercise there, haha. My feet got so dirty from all the sand it was really funny. A day later I am still trying to scrub them clean!
Each day, the three of us would rotate places. So I started at the Health Clinic. It was very strange diagnosing and prescribing medications to patients. Granted, I didn't see any very serious conditions, but it was still very weird because in Canada as a nurse you can suggest what you think the patient has to a doctor but obviously we don't prescribe. I saw a lot of lung infections, malaria and skin conditions. I used a lot of books that were there and my friends and I worked together on the harder cases to figure out what was going on.
I then moved on to the Feeding Clinic, which is attached to the Health Clinic. Every four hours I supervised the child's guardian as they fed their child. Yes, even during the night we would wake up at 2 am and go up all the stairs and hills to make sure they ate! That was a really funny experience. I never fully appreciated a full nights uninterrupted sleep before that point! The whole point of the program is to teach the caretakers how to care for the child, so that when they go home, they can keep the child healthy! The program also helps the parents get on their feet and start little businesses so that when they leave the program they can afford to feed their child. We fed the kids a special recipe of milk, oil, sugar and water. They also got eggs, fruit and food from home if they could tolerate it. There were two children. One of the children was older and had a special kind of malnutrition where their skin pales (sometimes they can be as white as me) and their hair pales. Their bodies literally are using up everything they have to keep them going! This little child amazed me. The grandmother had stepped in to care for the child as the mother was not fit to care for the child, the reason the child was brought to the clinic in the first place. The child had already improved so much and gained so much weight while we were there :). This kid gave the best hugs I have ever received. I would come in the morning and get bulldozed by a running child who would wrap her legs around you and squeeze until I couldn't even breathe! The smile always made me smile, it was so big and so brave. The second child was younger and had been born blind. Because of the blindness the mother abandoned the child so other members of the family stepped in to care for the child. Each day we had to do physio with this child as on admission, the limbs were so stiff that the kid could not even open the hand (due to the lack of nutrition, including calcium, the muscles couldn't work properly). This little kid was so brave. On admission the child couldn't swallow and wouldn't smile. Now, the child is laughing and smiling like crazy. Especially when we put on Disney music and when the family communicates with the kid. The child can now stretch out all limbs and is moving voluntarily!! Even during the five days that we were there, I saw a HUGE improvement. The lady in charge of everything said that within 6 months, this child will be walking out of here. The family is learning how to help their child grow up in a world without sight in this program as well. My only wish is that I could see these kids years from now and see how they have grown up. The program is truly amazing. 3 people started this program from nothing and now they help around 30 children each month. Mothers from the community come once a week with their children to get them weighed and get their food as well. It is run purely on donations and it costs $75.00 a month to feed these kids. To sponser, you commit to 6 months worth of food. This is something that when I actually have money, I will sponser. Because I have been there and I have seen how it saves lives. If anyone is looking for something to put their money towards, this would be it in my opinion!
The other thing that I did while at the camp is work with the Community Health Care Workers. There were 9 students and each one of them was so friendly and were so wonderful. They are all volunteers which amazed me, considering many of them had at least 7 children to look after at home as well as their other jobs. I went out into nearby villages with these women and one man and it was the most interesting experience yet for me. These villages were truly African villages. Every person clapped and shook hands when you met. The houses were made of 'rib' or branch like sticks from the river. Some were made out of mud and bricks. Some of the houses were run down and others were nice enough that I would live in them! Just like in Canada, it depends on your financial situation. The all 10 of us would squish into these little houses and the workers would assess their patients, letting them know whether they think they should go to the hospital or not. It was funny because my job was to make sure that they were recommending the right thing. This task became really difficult though, because none of the patients spoke english! Luckily a few of the workers spoke really good english and translated for me. But sometimes they would all stop and look at me like I should be saying something and it would be a really awkward moment before I would laugh and say, "um, excuse me, remember, I don't know much Lozi.....". We would care for all these women's children at the Feeding Clinic while they were out in the field which was a blast. They were all so cute I wanted to take them all home. On the last day that we were at the camp, they graduated! We threw them a big party, printed them off certificates and gave them little gifts from Canada. I made them a little story book of their journey in their program which they thought was really funny.
I learned many things at this camp. The workers taught me how to make nshima! This is the staple food here in Zambia. It is so hard to make. I broke a sweat 5 minutes in! You start with a powder and add water and boil it, stirring constantly until it becomes like a hard paste which you eat. Kind of like a potatoe? They also taught me how to pound Kasava leaves. They thought it was so funny because I tried so hard but this task was also really hard! You really have to pound them. They then boil the leaves with salt and oil and eat them with nshima. I took some funny pictures which I will post when I get home :). I learned that they also eat pumpkin leaves. They thought it was really funny that we carved pumpkins on Halloween. Talking to a lady that worked there I learned a lot I didn't know about the culture here. Things that aren't exactly advertised. I learned that marraige here is something that women really have to think about. Culturally, it is more acceptable for a man to have many wives. They are not expected to help with house work or they are ridiculed by other men. So the women do all the housework and care for the children. This may be how the culture is, but it is not how all the families work. There are people here who want to change this. Like this one lady, they realize that they have rights and that a marraige should be a partnership. She said that one day she saw a pregnant lady carrying a child on her back and a huge box on her head while the husband carried his briefcase walking beside her. This lady approached the couple, offering to help the lady and this request was not smiled upon. Even so, she walked a half an hour out of her way to help this woman. It is really nice to see that there are people here who see that some things need to change. That they can be different. And they are trying to change it, even if it is hard and seems impossible.
This camp was a wonderful way to end my nursing experience here in Zambia. So much hope here. I am so thankful that I came to this camp and had the opportunity to meet so many wonderful people. I will never forget those people or any one that I have met here. After I got home from the camp we had a retirement party for my professor who came here with us. It was a lot of fun! They had a traditional Lozi 'missis' made for her which was beautiful. It is a huge honor to be given one so my professor was overjoyed and wore it with pride.
Today I am going to visit the museum and go for a walk in Lumilinga, the first placement that I had here in Zambia. I am sad that my time here in Mongu is coming to an end. It is very hard to explain, but going home seems like such a strange dream to me. I have adapted to this way of life, with no running water and power some days, riding the mini bus and taking public transit all the time and living with little material things. I am excited to come home, though. I am excited to see my family and friends, to drink fresh dairy milk (not long-life shelf milk), have power all the time, have my cell phone back, my computer that always has internet, eat my regular foods, drive my own car and most of all (sadly), eat Tim Hortons!!! I will miss much here though. I will miss the Mongu rice which is to die for, the welcoming and friendly people, the markets, the music and most of all the relaxed way of life here. I am so happy that I have come here. It has truly changed my life :).
Each day, the three of us would rotate places. So I started at the Health Clinic. It was very strange diagnosing and prescribing medications to patients. Granted, I didn't see any very serious conditions, but it was still very weird because in Canada as a nurse you can suggest what you think the patient has to a doctor but obviously we don't prescribe. I saw a lot of lung infections, malaria and skin conditions. I used a lot of books that were there and my friends and I worked together on the harder cases to figure out what was going on.
I then moved on to the Feeding Clinic, which is attached to the Health Clinic. Every four hours I supervised the child's guardian as they fed their child. Yes, even during the night we would wake up at 2 am and go up all the stairs and hills to make sure they ate! That was a really funny experience. I never fully appreciated a full nights uninterrupted sleep before that point! The whole point of the program is to teach the caretakers how to care for the child, so that when they go home, they can keep the child healthy! The program also helps the parents get on their feet and start little businesses so that when they leave the program they can afford to feed their child. We fed the kids a special recipe of milk, oil, sugar and water. They also got eggs, fruit and food from home if they could tolerate it. There were two children. One of the children was older and had a special kind of malnutrition where their skin pales (sometimes they can be as white as me) and their hair pales. Their bodies literally are using up everything they have to keep them going! This little child amazed me. The grandmother had stepped in to care for the child as the mother was not fit to care for the child, the reason the child was brought to the clinic in the first place. The child had already improved so much and gained so much weight while we were there :). This kid gave the best hugs I have ever received. I would come in the morning and get bulldozed by a running child who would wrap her legs around you and squeeze until I couldn't even breathe! The smile always made me smile, it was so big and so brave. The second child was younger and had been born blind. Because of the blindness the mother abandoned the child so other members of the family stepped in to care for the child. Each day we had to do physio with this child as on admission, the limbs were so stiff that the kid could not even open the hand (due to the lack of nutrition, including calcium, the muscles couldn't work properly). This little kid was so brave. On admission the child couldn't swallow and wouldn't smile. Now, the child is laughing and smiling like crazy. Especially when we put on Disney music and when the family communicates with the kid. The child can now stretch out all limbs and is moving voluntarily!! Even during the five days that we were there, I saw a HUGE improvement. The lady in charge of everything said that within 6 months, this child will be walking out of here. The family is learning how to help their child grow up in a world without sight in this program as well. My only wish is that I could see these kids years from now and see how they have grown up. The program is truly amazing. 3 people started this program from nothing and now they help around 30 children each month. Mothers from the community come once a week with their children to get them weighed and get their food as well. It is run purely on donations and it costs $75.00 a month to feed these kids. To sponser, you commit to 6 months worth of food. This is something that when I actually have money, I will sponser. Because I have been there and I have seen how it saves lives. If anyone is looking for something to put their money towards, this would be it in my opinion!
The other thing that I did while at the camp is work with the Community Health Care Workers. There were 9 students and each one of them was so friendly and were so wonderful. They are all volunteers which amazed me, considering many of them had at least 7 children to look after at home as well as their other jobs. I went out into nearby villages with these women and one man and it was the most interesting experience yet for me. These villages were truly African villages. Every person clapped and shook hands when you met. The houses were made of 'rib' or branch like sticks from the river. Some were made out of mud and bricks. Some of the houses were run down and others were nice enough that I would live in them! Just like in Canada, it depends on your financial situation. The all 10 of us would squish into these little houses and the workers would assess their patients, letting them know whether they think they should go to the hospital or not. It was funny because my job was to make sure that they were recommending the right thing. This task became really difficult though, because none of the patients spoke english! Luckily a few of the workers spoke really good english and translated for me. But sometimes they would all stop and look at me like I should be saying something and it would be a really awkward moment before I would laugh and say, "um, excuse me, remember, I don't know much Lozi.....". We would care for all these women's children at the Feeding Clinic while they were out in the field which was a blast. They were all so cute I wanted to take them all home. On the last day that we were at the camp, they graduated! We threw them a big party, printed them off certificates and gave them little gifts from Canada. I made them a little story book of their journey in their program which they thought was really funny.
I learned many things at this camp. The workers taught me how to make nshima! This is the staple food here in Zambia. It is so hard to make. I broke a sweat 5 minutes in! You start with a powder and add water and boil it, stirring constantly until it becomes like a hard paste which you eat. Kind of like a potatoe? They also taught me how to pound Kasava leaves. They thought it was so funny because I tried so hard but this task was also really hard! You really have to pound them. They then boil the leaves with salt and oil and eat them with nshima. I took some funny pictures which I will post when I get home :). I learned that they also eat pumpkin leaves. They thought it was really funny that we carved pumpkins on Halloween. Talking to a lady that worked there I learned a lot I didn't know about the culture here. Things that aren't exactly advertised. I learned that marraige here is something that women really have to think about. Culturally, it is more acceptable for a man to have many wives. They are not expected to help with house work or they are ridiculed by other men. So the women do all the housework and care for the children. This may be how the culture is, but it is not how all the families work. There are people here who want to change this. Like this one lady, they realize that they have rights and that a marraige should be a partnership. She said that one day she saw a pregnant lady carrying a child on her back and a huge box on her head while the husband carried his briefcase walking beside her. This lady approached the couple, offering to help the lady and this request was not smiled upon. Even so, she walked a half an hour out of her way to help this woman. It is really nice to see that there are people here who see that some things need to change. That they can be different. And they are trying to change it, even if it is hard and seems impossible.
This camp was a wonderful way to end my nursing experience here in Zambia. So much hope here. I am so thankful that I came to this camp and had the opportunity to meet so many wonderful people. I will never forget those people or any one that I have met here. After I got home from the camp we had a retirement party for my professor who came here with us. It was a lot of fun! They had a traditional Lozi 'missis' made for her which was beautiful. It is a huge honor to be given one so my professor was overjoyed and wore it with pride.
Today I am going to visit the museum and go for a walk in Lumilinga, the first placement that I had here in Zambia. I am sad that my time here in Mongu is coming to an end. It is very hard to explain, but going home seems like such a strange dream to me. I have adapted to this way of life, with no running water and power some days, riding the mini bus and taking public transit all the time and living with little material things. I am excited to come home, though. I am excited to see my family and friends, to drink fresh dairy milk (not long-life shelf milk), have power all the time, have my cell phone back, my computer that always has internet, eat my regular foods, drive my own car and most of all (sadly), eat Tim Hortons!!! I will miss much here though. I will miss the Mongu rice which is to die for, the welcoming and friendly people, the markets, the music and most of all the relaxed way of life here. I am so happy that I have come here. It has truly changed my life :).
Friday 10 February 2012
February 9th and 10th: These last few days have been wonderful! One of my favorite parts was going out for dinner at Oasis Restaurant with my friend Esther. We both had a huge chick slovaki dinner, presented the old way with the chicken on a huge fork thing hanging above the rest of the meal. It was delicious and looked amazing. On the way home in the taxi we met some nice new people who drove us by the Mongu Airport which is currently not operating unfortunetly. Work wise, I spent Thursday on children's ward and spent the day in the malnutrition room. I ensured that the patients were eating what they were supposed to and took care of them in general. The patients were adorable and it was wonderful to see the parents so devoted to their children's well-being. There was one sad incidence of a patient passing away in very sad and unfortunate circumstances. I discovered that the respect for people who have passed away here is very different than at home.
Today, I spent the day at Lewanika Nursing/Midwifery School. It was a blast! I didn't get to teach unfortunetly as we ran out of time, but the Canadian students taught the Zambian students about baby resusitation, cancer and cardiac complications. Then, the Zambian students taught us about malaria! They laughed at me because I took so many notes. It was so interesting, especially to hear how they care for these patients without all the resources we have at home. Their knowledge is so vast. They listened much more than I expected them to, the student beside me had his entire question worksheet filled out before the Canadian students even started the worksheet. It was awesome to be able to interact with all the students that I have met throughout my time at the hospital. After the lecture we did a simulation of a patient with severe malaria. It was very challenging. There were a lot of people and the Zambian students have never done anything like this before so we all were trying to do the same task. It was really interesting though! :)
There is a concert tonight and I am very excited to go because many of the students that have become my friends are coming! It will be sad leaving them. They say that they will miss us when we leave as well. The nurses that I worked with at the Female Ward found me on Children's and were sad to hear that I was not coming back to the Female Ward. One of my favorite parts of this trip has been meeting people. Especially the Zambian nurses and nursing students. This entire experience has been a huge eye opener for me. As I stay here longer, I can see that the traditional culture is engrained in this country everywhere you go. It is wonderful. I try to think of Canadian cultures to share with the people here but I find it hard to find really interesting ones to compare them to the customs here. More than anything, the people here have such big hearts. They will drop everything to help you, even the Makuwas! Many people I have met have voiced their concerns about Zambia. They are fighting for more education and more services, like a working airport. They all have such high hopes for their country and I really hope that this new government listens to them this time around as the last government was tragically corrupt. Looking at Zambia from a distance, it may seem as though the issues that they have are too rooted to some day be fixed. But as I talk to the people here I see first hand that they will some day be fixed because of the determination of the people living in this country.
I can't believe I only have a week (roughly) left in Mongu. I leave for Metoya camp on Sunday with 2 colleagues after the football match. We will be running the rural health clinic while the supervisor is out with other nursing students for the week. Apparently we will be diagnosing patients, running the feeding clinic as well as teaching community health workers with the help of the nurses at the clinic of course. A little nerve racking as diagnosing and prescribing are definitively not in our scope of practice at home. Wish me luck! I will blog if the internet is working.
Today, I spent the day at Lewanika Nursing/Midwifery School. It was a blast! I didn't get to teach unfortunetly as we ran out of time, but the Canadian students taught the Zambian students about baby resusitation, cancer and cardiac complications. Then, the Zambian students taught us about malaria! They laughed at me because I took so many notes. It was so interesting, especially to hear how they care for these patients without all the resources we have at home. Their knowledge is so vast. They listened much more than I expected them to, the student beside me had his entire question worksheet filled out before the Canadian students even started the worksheet. It was awesome to be able to interact with all the students that I have met throughout my time at the hospital. After the lecture we did a simulation of a patient with severe malaria. It was very challenging. There were a lot of people and the Zambian students have never done anything like this before so we all were trying to do the same task. It was really interesting though! :)
There is a concert tonight and I am very excited to go because many of the students that have become my friends are coming! It will be sad leaving them. They say that they will miss us when we leave as well. The nurses that I worked with at the Female Ward found me on Children's and were sad to hear that I was not coming back to the Female Ward. One of my favorite parts of this trip has been meeting people. Especially the Zambian nurses and nursing students. This entire experience has been a huge eye opener for me. As I stay here longer, I can see that the traditional culture is engrained in this country everywhere you go. It is wonderful. I try to think of Canadian cultures to share with the people here but I find it hard to find really interesting ones to compare them to the customs here. More than anything, the people here have such big hearts. They will drop everything to help you, even the Makuwas! Many people I have met have voiced their concerns about Zambia. They are fighting for more education and more services, like a working airport. They all have such high hopes for their country and I really hope that this new government listens to them this time around as the last government was tragically corrupt. Looking at Zambia from a distance, it may seem as though the issues that they have are too rooted to some day be fixed. But as I talk to the people here I see first hand that they will some day be fixed because of the determination of the people living in this country.
I can't believe I only have a week (roughly) left in Mongu. I leave for Metoya camp on Sunday with 2 colleagues after the football match. We will be running the rural health clinic while the supervisor is out with other nursing students for the week. Apparently we will be diagnosing patients, running the feeding clinic as well as teaching community health workers with the help of the nurses at the clinic of course. A little nerve racking as diagnosing and prescribing are definitively not in our scope of practice at home. Wish me luck! I will blog if the internet is working.
Thursday 9 February 2012
And the stories continue...
February 7th, 2012: Today I was on the ICU unit of the Children's Ward. I started out taking care of a young patient who had drank cleaning solution and was poisoned because of it. It was interesting because on my assessment I thought I felt a hernia, but later found out that it was just stool. The things you learn here! I was worried he was getting pneumonia and his heart rate was not steady so I was happy to see he was in the ICU where he could be monitored. Out of no where, a doctor rushes in and says "get this child out of here right now!" we tried to suggest that the patient that was coming in be put in the bed beside the child but he refused, so we unhooked the child, found a bed and I focused on my new patient that had arrived. The nursing student that was working on the ward where the patient came from briefed me and I discovered that the patient had been admitted with uterine prolapse but it was obvious there were many other things going on. Turns out, the patient was HIV and TB positive with esphageal varices and DIC (Dissemenated Intervascular Coagulation). For any non-medical people reading this, this is a very sick patient. We started many IVs and eventually the blood pressure improved enough to sit the patient up to help the patient breathe as breathing was very laboured from all the secretions from the patient's throat. We had to do the blood pressure on the patient's leg which was new for us. We hung blood, got many samples to see what was going on and observed a femoral blood draw which was very interesting. The other nursing student went to the lab to deliver the blood and about 2 minutes after she left I noticed the heart rate decreasing. At a stable heart rate (75 beats/minute) I told the Zambian nursing student to run for help, this patient is going to crash. So she goes to get the nurse. Who stands there beside the other nursing student watching me try to get ready to resusitate the patient. Finally, at a heart rate of 42 I yelled "FIND ME SOMEONE WHITE!" As racist as I felt saying that, I knew that if they found a doctor or student from Canada they would help me resusitate. A doctor from home came in at that moment and after I inserted an airway he bagged. I was very upset because a student had borrowed my stethoscope for their exam and I could not listen for an apical heart rate to determine whether I should do compressions or not. The doctor on call came in at this point and using his stethoscope determined there was no heart beat so I started compressions. As soon as I saw that all the little blood vessels in the patient's throat had burst and she was bleeding out from everywhere, I listened for a full minute for any heart beat and the doctor called the patient. I was very composed until one of the graduated nurses that came with us came in the room. Then I heard the wail. It is so haunting it makes my skin crawl even thinking about it now. I just lost it then and had to leave the room to compose myself. I was so frustrated. It is said that the most important part of nursing is knowing when your patient is unstable and call for help. I was so angry because I did recognize it and I did call for help with ample time to get help, but there were no resources and no people that were helping me. After that bad day at the hospital I went to Safula Secondary School with 5 of my collegeaes and we spoke to 150 students about nursing and why you should enter it. It really helped me deal with the day that I had just had. It was really cool, they were so excited and asked many questions. At the end we let them listen to their heart beats and I was thrilled to meet a student who wanted to become a doctor. We set it up with the next year's group that this school will be a placement for nurses to come again and again. We got many amazing pictures! After the school we had dinner at Oasis Restaurant which was really good and that was the end of my day.
February 8th, 2012: Children's ward again today. Refused to go into the ICU so did general peds. Saw a few hydrocephalis patients, hernia patients, malaria patients and burn victims. Alot of the patients were improving which was wonderful! After my day my friends and I met up with a couple from America and a friend that I met on the boat cruise on the weekend to watch the football match at Nalumba 2 pub. It was so crazy! The food there was amazing. It took a long time to get but it was worth it. We were eating when Zambia scored and won the game! It was raining so hard it was flooding the shelter we were in, but people were outside dancing and sloshing beer everywhere and celebrating. I wouldn't be surprised if everyone at home couldn't hear us! The final game is on Sunday against the Ivory Coast so I am looking forward to that.
February 8th, 2012: Children's ward again today. Refused to go into the ICU so did general peds. Saw a few hydrocephalis patients, hernia patients, malaria patients and burn victims. Alot of the patients were improving which was wonderful! After my day my friends and I met up with a couple from America and a friend that I met on the boat cruise on the weekend to watch the football match at Nalumba 2 pub. It was so crazy! The food there was amazing. It took a long time to get but it was worth it. We were eating when Zambia scored and won the game! It was raining so hard it was flooding the shelter we were in, but people were outside dancing and sloshing beer everywhere and celebrating. I wouldn't be surprised if everyone at home couldn't hear us! The final game is on Sunday against the Ivory Coast so I am looking forward to that.
Monday 6 February 2012
February 6th, 2012: I had a very nice weekend! On Friday I stayed home to try to beat my strep throat. I was sad that I couldn't go to the female ward. Today when I was back at the hospital on childrens ward (which is where I will be all week), I was touched that the students from the female ward found me and made sure that I was doing okay because they heard I had been ill.
On Saturday, all 22 of us went on the "Zuno-Canadian Nurses Fundraiser". It was a boat cruise down the Zambezi for $10.00 Canadian. There was food provided for us (some interesting meat, pasta salad and lots of alcohol and softies) and music for the ride back that we danced to. I even learned a few Zambian moves! I taught one lady that I met named Monde the sprinkler. It was really funny :). We stopped half way down the river to see the lower royal village in Mongu where the King has one of his palaces. We listened to one of the royal members talk about the palace. I learned that the king has one wife which bears the royal children, but the king has many other women he can call on that live in the palace. I thought it was interesting how the queen and king live in separate buildings. You never speak directly to the king. You speak to the king's speaker who then speaks to the king and then tells you what the king has said (even if you have heard it from the king). We saw where the king sits before he starts the big Koemboka Ceremony. The ceremony is huge here. People come from all over, my other friend Memory said that about 8,000 people show up and it continues to grow. The king starts from this palace that we saw and starts on the boat on the river which by the time the ceremony comes, is at it's peak and very high. He sits in a white tent thing on the boat which has 200 paddlers. It is said that if you make a mistake while rowing, you are thrown out of the boat and then someone in a speed boat comes to get you. So, don't make any mistakes! One of the customs is that when you see the king you kneel and clap three times as a sign of respect. Every member of the palace wears a red hat to signify royalty. We saw the man who whips you if you do not behave while in the palace. The whip was rather intimidating, it was made out of layers and layers of rhino skin. After the boat ride most people went to Oasis to dance and continue the party but I went home to sleep and make sure I was better for work on Monday!
Sunday was a lazy day. I did my laundry, bought many beautiful bracelets that were made by women who are HIV positive. They are made out of paper and say inspirational things on them like 'peace' and 'passion' and that. Buying one bracelet fed one child for a month and buying three fed a malnourished child for a month. So needless to say, I loved them so much and the cause that the money was going to that I think I fed a few kids for a year? We played some crib and while we were making dinner the biggest storm to come to Mongu since we have been there hit. Some of the girls were outside excersizing and they were drenched! I couldn't believe the rain and the thunder. I even did some of my laundry outside in the rain :). We watched Harry Potter before going to bed which was nice, it reminded me of home a little bit.
Today I was at the Children's Ward. I was delighted to see the little boy that had severe malaria and almost didn't make it through go home today. It was a really nice reminder that through all the deaths here, some do survive and what we do can make a difference. The family agreed to let me put the child's picture on the internet, so when I can, I will. I saw many malnourished children and it was interesting to see what the doctor's did about the malnutrition. A pediatrician from Kelowna arrived today and it was wonderful to work with him. He is so knowledgable and joked that he probably cared for me as a baby, considering he has been practising for 30 years in Kelowna! We saw a dose of Digoxin that was for an adult, not an infant. The pediatrician from Kelowna caught it and the dose was changed which was excellent. I saw a lot of malaria and a hernia. Working with the students was interesting as always! I really like working on the children's ward but find that besides assessments, not much can really be done until the pediatricians come around. Which is different for me coming from the female ward where I could a LOT.
On Saturday, all 22 of us went on the "Zuno-Canadian Nurses Fundraiser". It was a boat cruise down the Zambezi for $10.00 Canadian. There was food provided for us (some interesting meat, pasta salad and lots of alcohol and softies) and music for the ride back that we danced to. I even learned a few Zambian moves! I taught one lady that I met named Monde the sprinkler. It was really funny :). We stopped half way down the river to see the lower royal village in Mongu where the King has one of his palaces. We listened to one of the royal members talk about the palace. I learned that the king has one wife which bears the royal children, but the king has many other women he can call on that live in the palace. I thought it was interesting how the queen and king live in separate buildings. You never speak directly to the king. You speak to the king's speaker who then speaks to the king and then tells you what the king has said (even if you have heard it from the king). We saw where the king sits before he starts the big Koemboka Ceremony. The ceremony is huge here. People come from all over, my other friend Memory said that about 8,000 people show up and it continues to grow. The king starts from this palace that we saw and starts on the boat on the river which by the time the ceremony comes, is at it's peak and very high. He sits in a white tent thing on the boat which has 200 paddlers. It is said that if you make a mistake while rowing, you are thrown out of the boat and then someone in a speed boat comes to get you. So, don't make any mistakes! One of the customs is that when you see the king you kneel and clap three times as a sign of respect. Every member of the palace wears a red hat to signify royalty. We saw the man who whips you if you do not behave while in the palace. The whip was rather intimidating, it was made out of layers and layers of rhino skin. After the boat ride most people went to Oasis to dance and continue the party but I went home to sleep and make sure I was better for work on Monday!
Sunday was a lazy day. I did my laundry, bought many beautiful bracelets that were made by women who are HIV positive. They are made out of paper and say inspirational things on them like 'peace' and 'passion' and that. Buying one bracelet fed one child for a month and buying three fed a malnourished child for a month. So needless to say, I loved them so much and the cause that the money was going to that I think I fed a few kids for a year? We played some crib and while we were making dinner the biggest storm to come to Mongu since we have been there hit. Some of the girls were outside excersizing and they were drenched! I couldn't believe the rain and the thunder. I even did some of my laundry outside in the rain :). We watched Harry Potter before going to bed which was nice, it reminded me of home a little bit.
Today I was at the Children's Ward. I was delighted to see the little boy that had severe malaria and almost didn't make it through go home today. It was a really nice reminder that through all the deaths here, some do survive and what we do can make a difference. The family agreed to let me put the child's picture on the internet, so when I can, I will. I saw many malnourished children and it was interesting to see what the doctor's did about the malnutrition. A pediatrician from Kelowna arrived today and it was wonderful to work with him. He is so knowledgable and joked that he probably cared for me as a baby, considering he has been practising for 30 years in Kelowna! We saw a dose of Digoxin that was for an adult, not an infant. The pediatrician from Kelowna caught it and the dose was changed which was excellent. I saw a lot of malaria and a hernia. Working with the students was interesting as always! I really like working on the children's ward but find that besides assessments, not much can really be done until the pediatricians come around. Which is different for me coming from the female ward where I could a LOT.
Thursday 2 February 2012
February 2nd, 2012: Another day at the hospital. I spent a lot of time with the students today showing them how to do head-to-toe assessments and such. I felt like a few students really learned something. If that is all that I accomplish this trip, then that is good enough for me! That student will graduate and share their knew knowledge with other nurses, and so on. We dressed the wound that I described yesterday. My friend did a wonderful job and all the nursing students were referring to her as the 'wound nurse'! It is what she is thinking of doing after she graduates so it was really nice to see her doing her thing. I discovered that the patient who had what I thought was a urostomy actually had 2 fistulas, or tunnels from the bladder to the skin that were not supposed to be there. It turns out, the surgery that she had to fix her bowels and give her a colostomy was botched. So now, these fistulas are showing up. That was really frustrating to see. The student I was with helped to clean her up and such and when she aws done charting and everything I asked her if she learned this all in school? She replied yes. I asked why she doesn't do these things and she replied I don't have the time. So that was really sad to see. When I was eating my lunch, I heard a "I NEED A DOCTOR!" so I dropped my lunch and ran towards my friend who was now yelling my name trying to get me to find her. She had traveled in the back of a truck with a young patient who had been seizing from a terrible case of malaria. I hopped in the back of the truck and helped her bag the patient and such. Luckily a doctor came to our aide and he ordered some medication. We moved the patient to a room and the pediatrician joined us and helped as well. When we left, the patient had been moved to ICU and was stable. When I returned to get my bag that I had left in a hurry, it was gone. No one could find it and my instructor told me that there was a psychiatric patient that sometimes picked up stray things. So I just lost it. All I could think was that I had tried to save a little boys life and now my bag has been stolen and I am screwed because my bag had EVERYTHING in it. My visa, debit card, passport, everything. I panicked because I wouldn't be able to get home. A few minutes later my partner found me and told me that she had my bag! She had picked it up when I went running and she brought it to the ward that I was working on originally. I was so relieved. The rest of the day was good we got pictures with the students and nurses on the ward! Unfortunetly I am not feeling so well. I think I have got strep throat again, probably from such a stressful week. I am looking forward to a night of rest though and on Saturday we are going on a boat cruise which will be a lovely break. It is very emotionally and physically straining working here, but worth every minute and all the sweat.
Wednesday 1 February 2012
February 1st, 2012: Today I was working in the female ward once again. The nursing students were there today so I spent the day mostly with them. The first thing that they did was clean (dust and wash everything down). They say it is because it is a nursing duty to ensure that the environment is not dusty to protect the patients. The next thing they did was work with me on some head-to-toe assessments. It took a long time. It is not until I have come here that I have realized how much I truly know. It is really hard to start from the very beginning I am finding. I tried to teach them how to chart and they seemed to be liking that. While doing head to toe assessments we noticed a patient that was bleeding from many different areas, who was doing great yesterday after recieving blood the day before. So my colleague and I collected all the information we could on the patient and called the doctor (that was the first time I have ever called a doctor!) and he came in a few hours to assess the patient. His final diagnosis was Disseminated Inter Coagulation, which means the patient had such a big infection that the body used up all the clotting abilities it had and it is now just bleeding freely. We were so thankful the doctor came in and proud that we advocated for our patient like we did.
Another patient that I saw was a patient with a colostomy and a urostomy (hole made in the bladder for urine to come out of). They were using a garbage bag for the colostomy and nothing for the urostomy. So working with the students we practised using a proper colostomy bag and how to care for both the holes. The next patient that I saw was a patient with a very large pelvic absess that had burst. It is the craziest wound I have ever seen. The student stops, looks at it, looks at me, then says "so, I guess i'll just watch you do it tomorrow then?" I just laughed and thought holy crap. So tonight with my fellow students we are going to brainstorm how the heck we are going to help this patient out.
It was very interesting, because one of the doctors did not do rounds yesterday. So very different from home. I was lucky to have my cell phone on me to call the doctor because the power was out, so they can't use the phones on the unit. Nor do they like to phone the doctors, which reminded me of home, haha. So in all, today was very interesting. It is also interesting to see the difference in nursing programs. Here, they are very task orientated. If you ask them why they are doing something, they have to think really hard about that and sometimes aren't sure. So we are trying to teach them as much as possible about why they do what they do. I am learning alot from the nurses and nursing students here and they are learning from my collegeauges and I as well. I am doing things here that nurses would faint if they found out students were doing. I actually feel like a real nurse! People listen to you and value your opinion, it is really nice. Until next time! :)
Another patient that I saw was a patient with a colostomy and a urostomy (hole made in the bladder for urine to come out of). They were using a garbage bag for the colostomy and nothing for the urostomy. So working with the students we practised using a proper colostomy bag and how to care for both the holes. The next patient that I saw was a patient with a very large pelvic absess that had burst. It is the craziest wound I have ever seen. The student stops, looks at it, looks at me, then says "so, I guess i'll just watch you do it tomorrow then?" I just laughed and thought holy crap. So tonight with my fellow students we are going to brainstorm how the heck we are going to help this patient out.
It was very interesting, because one of the doctors did not do rounds yesterday. So very different from home. I was lucky to have my cell phone on me to call the doctor because the power was out, so they can't use the phones on the unit. Nor do they like to phone the doctors, which reminded me of home, haha. So in all, today was very interesting. It is also interesting to see the difference in nursing programs. Here, they are very task orientated. If you ask them why they are doing something, they have to think really hard about that and sometimes aren't sure. So we are trying to teach them as much as possible about why they do what they do. I am learning alot from the nurses and nursing students here and they are learning from my collegeauges and I as well. I am doing things here that nurses would faint if they found out students were doing. I actually feel like a real nurse! People listen to you and value your opinion, it is really nice. Until next time! :)
Tuesday 31 January 2012
Lewanika General Hospital
January 31st: Today was a very difficult day for me at the hospital. I was very overjoyed to discover that the woman that I was told would be giving birth to a stillborn had a live healthy premature baby. The smile on her face when she was able to see and touch her baby was incredible. The woman that was not doing very well yesterday when I left her was also doing much better after receiving some blood and fluid. I spotted a nurse trying to get an IV on a patient that seemed to be having trouble so I went to help her. We must have tried atleast 10 times and finally we got an IV. I then noticed that the woman was not looking very well, though she was still breathing. I tried to take a blood pressure and when I noticed that she did not have one and I could not auscultate any heart sounds, only observe the carotid pulse faintly, I realized this patient was in very big trouble. I asked for an ambu-bag to help the patient breathe but the unit said they did not have one. So I told my partner to stay with the patient while I ran to get one from another ward. I told the nurse that her patient was crashing and she left to go to the patient. The ward that I looked on had a hard time finding the ambu-bag so by the time that I got back I knew that the patient was not going to make it, she had been too long without help. My partner and I initiated CPR and worked on the patient for about 15 minutes. Boy, is CPR tiring. We suggested calling the doctor and giving the patient epinephrine but the epinephrine was unaffective. By the time the doctor arrived, he pronounced the patient and it was all over. We stood by the family and translated what happened and it was the hardest thing that I have ever experienced. Because I was leading the 'code' and had failed it was hard to accept that. I realize, however, that the patient was so sick with so many different illnesses that even if we had revived her, she probably would not have made it and died later. I know that I did my best with what I had and I would do it again to try to save the patient even if I knew the outcome.
Later that day, I looked after a patient that had been through a large Road Traffic Accident with many many burns, a heart failure patient and many more. I went to the baby ward to drop off a mother and while there I decided to look at one of the babies with my friend. I noticed that it was seizing right away and we called everyone that we could and realized that the baby had been dosed with way to much dextrose than it could handle. Babies' blood sugar was 31 (supposed to be 3-6 roughly). The pediatrician told us that there was nothing we could do but wait for the baby's blood sugar to drop and hope that the seizures have not caused too much brain damage. It was so frustrating to experience this, especially after my morning.
Today was the hardest day I have ever had in nursing. I am very proud of myself for not freezing up and I know that I helped those people as much as I could. I know that I will never forget today. I thought that the female ward would be boring....but was I ever wrong. I hope everyone is well at home.
Later that day, I looked after a patient that had been through a large Road Traffic Accident with many many burns, a heart failure patient and many more. I went to the baby ward to drop off a mother and while there I decided to look at one of the babies with my friend. I noticed that it was seizing right away and we called everyone that we could and realized that the baby had been dosed with way to much dextrose than it could handle. Babies' blood sugar was 31 (supposed to be 3-6 roughly). The pediatrician told us that there was nothing we could do but wait for the baby's blood sugar to drop and hope that the seizures have not caused too much brain damage. It was so frustrating to experience this, especially after my morning.
Today was the hardest day I have ever had in nursing. I am very proud of myself for not freezing up and I know that I helped those people as much as I could. I know that I will never forget today. I thought that the female ward would be boring....but was I ever wrong. I hope everyone is well at home.
Monday 30 January 2012
Limulenga, Mongu and Safari
January 24th: Today I spent the day at the Feeding Clinic with Nurse Elizabeth. We saw 6 children. The first child was very malnourished, it was very hard to treat her. She did not have a proper support system to ensure she was eating and developing properly. We encouraged her to take the baby to hospital, even giving the grandmother some money but baby never made it to hospital according to my colleagues who were working on the children's ward that day. I was confused when the person in charge of the vehicle that took emergency cases to the hospital did not consider this baby to be an emergency. It was very frustring and very heartbreaking. I have not stopped thinking about this child since we tried to help her and I can only hope she is in a better place than she was. The rest of the patients that we saw were doing well with the formula that is provided for them at the clinic. One of the mothers' who delivered twins had a mental illness and did not recognize one of the twins to be hers. So I was relieved to see that Grandma was taking care of both the twins. She let my friend and I practice wrapping a baby on our backs, like they do here. It was a blast! After the Feeding Clinic we got a tour of the actual rural clinic. I was surprised to hear that they are funded K600,000 to run the clinic per month. These people truly do wonders with what they are given. The doctor only comes Wednesday and Friday so when he is not there, the nurse acts as the doctor. Like at home, there are levels of education with the health care workers. 1. Clinical officers 2. practical nurses (3 years) 3. enrolled nurses (2 years).
January 25th: Today I spent the whole day at the Rural Clinic. They were overjoyed when we brought them supplies from our house in Melengwa like bandages, etc and gave us a very long list to bring next year. I sat in with the screening nurse and assessed patients. I saw many diagnosis different than Canada. Much malaria, gastroenteritis, peritonitis, Pelvic Inflammatory Disease, a woman who was in labour (I practised the Leopold Maneuver or feeling where baby was positioned in the abdomen and used the Fetal Scope (a large wooden device used to detect baby's heart beat). I found it interesting that they give antibiotics often here. The nurse says it is because although there is no infection now, more often than not, especially because of the high rates of HIV and malaria, infection does develop.
January 26th: Spent the day at the Rural Clinic again today! Saw many things while in the screening room. I removed stitches, helped the nurse diagnose, requested treatment for patients and assessed all the patients coming through. One patient that stood out was a young girl with a fever of 105F and a very low blood pressure. Malaria is so nasty and the nurses are very good at spotting which patients are infected. The test that diagnoses malaria takes about 5 minutes so it was interesting to see which patients came back positive and which didn't. One little boy did not come back positive so we thought the infection in his chest may have entered his blood making him so sick. I preformed breast examinations and referred a woman to the cancer clinic. I saw very high blood pressures. For example, two people came in with blood pressures around 220/110. I was surprised that they were still walking, the nurse said to me that the African people are much tougher than the people at home most likely. It is difficult because at home I would know how to help these people but here they often do not have what I know will help them. After the clinic I went to a nice woman's house and measured her blood pressure and met a young boy along the way who offered to carry my very heavy bag. I later learned that this young man is deaf from meningitis when he was very young. It is my hope that the ministry will listen to this young man's advocate and get him off the streets to a school where he can learn with other deaf children because it is very apparent he is very smart. After visiting with this lady I went to the Girls Orphanage. Along with my friend Julet, we taught 15 girls aged 14 and up about menstruation and pregnancy. It was a blast and a wonderful experience. They listened to every word (giggled a lot) and at the end they could answer all of our questions. We had put together little hygiene packs the night before and they were overjoyed to receive them. We also encouraged them to listen to their own heart beats and their faces were amazing to see once they heard it.
January 27th: Today we arrived at Kafue Safari Lodge! After a long bus ride we were introduced to a beautiful lodge. There were 2 pools over looking Kafue River. There were many carvings, statues, snake skins, turtle shells and pictures of Basil, the hippo that lives at the lodge. I was staying in a tent with my friend Amy. It was a very nice tent actually. It was a bit of a walk from the lodge itself and the ground was extremely muddy because of all the rain. I am unsure if my toes will ever turn back from orange to their normal colour! On my first safari we went on a 'game drive' or went by truck into the bush. I saw antelope, Kupu, birds and scary ants. These ants that have very large pincers travel in a big line, the ants on the side acting as soldiers and the ants on the inside acting as workers. It is said that if an animal angers the chimpanzee, the chimpanzee will throw them into these ants. I did not enjoy the biting flies that followed the truck! I saw a sausage tree which the hippos eat. It is said that the juice from this fruit can help cure skin infections. On my way to dinner walking from my tent, I was chased by some wart hogs. Or so I thought. It turns out they took the same path as us to their feeding place and we were just in the way. The food here is excellent. A delicious buffet and a treat to have food served to us.
January 28th: Another day at the Safari Lodge! Basil scared me last night. I heard these big foot steps and I thought it was a lion coming to eat me. Everyone told me I was crazy until we saw Basil sitting by the lodge. So he had in fact walked by my tent! On a game drive I saw: a pack of zebras, lions, elephants and heard lots of noisy frogs. I learned that there are 3 zones when it comes to wild animals. The comfort zone, the warning zone and the crticial zone. We must have entered the elephants warning zone because it started to shake it's head. The guide got the message and we moved away fast. There have been some scary stories about messing with elephants so I was happy to move away from them. We were able to see the sun rise on the safari which was beautiful. The boat safari couldn't depart this night because of a massive storm, so instead we just had a few drinks and enjoyed the night. I tried shima and was not all that impressed. I decided to stick with potatoes. I played a game of chess with Amy and thought the chess board was very cool, being different animals instead of the normal pieces.I learned many things about the different animals around Zambia and what to do if I either ran into them or were bitten by them.
January 29th: Morning boat cruise safari! Saw lots of hippos, the national King Fisher Eagle of Zambia, an alligator, lots of birds and learned about many trees. I even tried a bite of one of the leaves that was said to relieve stomach pains. We headed home today :(.
January 30th: Today was my first day on the Female Ward at Lewanika Hospital. I am still processing what I experienced because it is so different than my experience at the Rural Clinic in Lumulenga. They have such scarce resources it scares me. A patient today was stable but her level of consciousness was so low that I knew that she would probably not make it much longer. The most that we could do for her was give her IV fluids until the doctor came and the nurse had no idea when he/she would be in. The nurses are very knowledgable. I observed 'rounds' with the gynecologist doctor which was interesting. I did a few vaginal examinations to check to feel for babies head and drew blood for one of the women. We were expecting some trauma cases from a village nearby but they never came. It is so different than home. They do not do assessments and morning baths. The pace also seems slower although there is roughly 2 nurses for 24 very sick patients with a variety of health problems. I am curious to see how I will enjoy the hospital. It is very challenging, that is for sure.
January 25th: Today I spent the whole day at the Rural Clinic. They were overjoyed when we brought them supplies from our house in Melengwa like bandages, etc and gave us a very long list to bring next year. I sat in with the screening nurse and assessed patients. I saw many diagnosis different than Canada. Much malaria, gastroenteritis, peritonitis, Pelvic Inflammatory Disease, a woman who was in labour (I practised the Leopold Maneuver or feeling where baby was positioned in the abdomen and used the Fetal Scope (a large wooden device used to detect baby's heart beat). I found it interesting that they give antibiotics often here. The nurse says it is because although there is no infection now, more often than not, especially because of the high rates of HIV and malaria, infection does develop.
January 26th: Spent the day at the Rural Clinic again today! Saw many things while in the screening room. I removed stitches, helped the nurse diagnose, requested treatment for patients and assessed all the patients coming through. One patient that stood out was a young girl with a fever of 105F and a very low blood pressure. Malaria is so nasty and the nurses are very good at spotting which patients are infected. The test that diagnoses malaria takes about 5 minutes so it was interesting to see which patients came back positive and which didn't. One little boy did not come back positive so we thought the infection in his chest may have entered his blood making him so sick. I preformed breast examinations and referred a woman to the cancer clinic. I saw very high blood pressures. For example, two people came in with blood pressures around 220/110. I was surprised that they were still walking, the nurse said to me that the African people are much tougher than the people at home most likely. It is difficult because at home I would know how to help these people but here they often do not have what I know will help them. After the clinic I went to a nice woman's house and measured her blood pressure and met a young boy along the way who offered to carry my very heavy bag. I later learned that this young man is deaf from meningitis when he was very young. It is my hope that the ministry will listen to this young man's advocate and get him off the streets to a school where he can learn with other deaf children because it is very apparent he is very smart. After visiting with this lady I went to the Girls Orphanage. Along with my friend Julet, we taught 15 girls aged 14 and up about menstruation and pregnancy. It was a blast and a wonderful experience. They listened to every word (giggled a lot) and at the end they could answer all of our questions. We had put together little hygiene packs the night before and they were overjoyed to receive them. We also encouraged them to listen to their own heart beats and their faces were amazing to see once they heard it.
January 27th: Today we arrived at Kafue Safari Lodge! After a long bus ride we were introduced to a beautiful lodge. There were 2 pools over looking Kafue River. There were many carvings, statues, snake skins, turtle shells and pictures of Basil, the hippo that lives at the lodge. I was staying in a tent with my friend Amy. It was a very nice tent actually. It was a bit of a walk from the lodge itself and the ground was extremely muddy because of all the rain. I am unsure if my toes will ever turn back from orange to their normal colour! On my first safari we went on a 'game drive' or went by truck into the bush. I saw antelope, Kupu, birds and scary ants. These ants that have very large pincers travel in a big line, the ants on the side acting as soldiers and the ants on the inside acting as workers. It is said that if an animal angers the chimpanzee, the chimpanzee will throw them into these ants. I did not enjoy the biting flies that followed the truck! I saw a sausage tree which the hippos eat. It is said that the juice from this fruit can help cure skin infections. On my way to dinner walking from my tent, I was chased by some wart hogs. Or so I thought. It turns out they took the same path as us to their feeding place and we were just in the way. The food here is excellent. A delicious buffet and a treat to have food served to us.
January 28th: Another day at the Safari Lodge! Basil scared me last night. I heard these big foot steps and I thought it was a lion coming to eat me. Everyone told me I was crazy until we saw Basil sitting by the lodge. So he had in fact walked by my tent! On a game drive I saw: a pack of zebras, lions, elephants and heard lots of noisy frogs. I learned that there are 3 zones when it comes to wild animals. The comfort zone, the warning zone and the crticial zone. We must have entered the elephants warning zone because it started to shake it's head. The guide got the message and we moved away fast. There have been some scary stories about messing with elephants so I was happy to move away from them. We were able to see the sun rise on the safari which was beautiful. The boat safari couldn't depart this night because of a massive storm, so instead we just had a few drinks and enjoyed the night. I tried shima and was not all that impressed. I decided to stick with potatoes. I played a game of chess with Amy and thought the chess board was very cool, being different animals instead of the normal pieces.I learned many things about the different animals around Zambia and what to do if I either ran into them or were bitten by them.
January 29th: Morning boat cruise safari! Saw lots of hippos, the national King Fisher Eagle of Zambia, an alligator, lots of birds and learned about many trees. I even tried a bite of one of the leaves that was said to relieve stomach pains. We headed home today :(.
January 30th: Today was my first day on the Female Ward at Lewanika Hospital. I am still processing what I experienced because it is so different than my experience at the Rural Clinic in Lumulenga. They have such scarce resources it scares me. A patient today was stable but her level of consciousness was so low that I knew that she would probably not make it much longer. The most that we could do for her was give her IV fluids until the doctor came and the nurse had no idea when he/she would be in. The nurses are very knowledgable. I observed 'rounds' with the gynecologist doctor which was interesting. I did a few vaginal examinations to check to feel for babies head and drew blood for one of the women. We were expecting some trauma cases from a village nearby but they never came. It is so different than home. They do not do assessments and morning baths. The pace also seems slower although there is roughly 2 nurses for 24 very sick patients with a variety of health problems. I am curious to see how I will enjoy the hospital. It is very challenging, that is for sure.
Monday 23 January 2012
Mongu!
January 18th, 2012:
Finally, we have arrived in Mongu! We left Cheshire house at around 0630 and arrived by bus at 1630. The bus had a very rough time avoiding the huge potholes on the way here, the whole things tipped to one side when it did try to avoid them. We drove through the National Park but didn’t get to see any other animals besides antelope and hogs (like Pumba). On the way to the bus station via taxi, at a stop light we were stopped by a few men selling rabbits on the side of the road. It made me sad to see at least 20 piled into little crates stacked on top of eachother. My friend Denee wanted to take a picture and they said no, you can’t take a picture. A few minutes later, he asked her, okay, snap it!? So she replies with “great! Yes!” thinking that they meant the picture. My friend and I caught on however, that the man meant the bunny and we politely refused the offer. The taxi driver said that because there are not many jobs in Lusaka, many young adults out of high school are forced to do jobs like that. We also saw a man holding a chicken by its wings while riding a bike, the chicken did not look impressed. So it has been shocking coming here and seeing how different cultures value animals. There are also many wild dogs but it seems as if look all the same, brown, bigger and very cute. I keep thinking of the Wizard of Oz, “Toto, we aren’t in Kansas anymore!”
There are a few main streets to Mongu. Along these streets there are many shops. I find it interesting that Airtel, Zamtel, MTN (all cell phone providers) have painted their buildings red, green or white with their logo on them. It is different here versus Lusaka in terms of the amount of white people that are here. In Lusaka there were a few makuwas. In mongu, I have only seen 3 other white people! Children sit at our gates and stare at us, shouting “Makuwa, how are you?” We get “how are you” a lot because that is the first thing that the children learn in school. I felt horrible because one little extremely cute girl took one look at me and just started to bawl she was so afraid of me. Fay says that most children have never seen a white man up close before and that is why we scare them so much.
The place we are staying at is called the “Sister Presentation House” and consists of a large house which houses 13 of us, 3 small private huts which house 2 people each and one hut that holds 5 people. I was so surprised by how beautiful it is! My friend Denee and I were lucky enough to get one of the private houses. It has a large living room with a couch and table, a kitchen with an electric stove, a fridge, a toaster and such. Just no microwave. There are two beds in the bedroom with a little bathroom attached. It is very cozy and about the same size compared to my basement suite so I don’t mind at all! Lots of bugs like our house, a little black gecko lives in our room, as well as many little nats, jumping spiders, crickets and huge nasty cockroaches. We are so lucky to have a laundry service here and a van that we can use as long as one of our instructors is driving (they drive on the same side as london).
January 19th, 2012:
Today we spent the day relaxing and settling in to our new home. It felt so nice to unpack, the first time in over a week. I am learning to eat instant oatmeal and things that do not require power, because the power goes out on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday from 7am-6pm roughly. This makes it very difficult to blog as the café is only open Monday to Friday. So the only days that I can blog is on Tuesdays and Thursdays after work, if the power is working (the thunder storms here are so crazy and they knock out the power quite often). We left Melengwa today (our part of town) and went into town into the ShopRite to get groceries. It was so crazy spending K630,000 at the grocery store! People here bike a lot and carry so much on the back of their bikes. Mostly you see mothers carrying babies on their backs using a shetanga (big piece of coloured cloth) and something on their head as well. Lozi people are very proud, you can see this by the way that they walk.
I have learned that the laundry service is not “one day”. It is more like 2 days. So I will be doing my laundry by hand I think from now on because I didn`t bring very many clothes! We are eating really well here when the power is working, much like I would eat at home. The nights here are a little long, it gets pitch black at around 7pm and then we sit in one of our houses and play cards, etc. We are usually exhausted by around 9 pm with the heat here and from being on high alert all the time.
January 20th, 2012:
“Take off your shoes when you walk on our ground. For the ground you are walking on, is holy.”
Today was challenging but good. At 10 am we had a culture talk with a sister from a neighbour Cheshire house. I learned many things from this lady who came from Ireland but has lived in 23 years. I learned that women here sit on the ground and men sit on stools because woman are seen as the only worthy sex to sit on the ground because they are the only ones who can bring life into this world. Men used to have to carry stools around everywhere for this reason. Many people here ask you for things (money, food, marriage proposals) because if they don’t ask, they won’t get. I discovered that the Lozi people here only answer what you ask. So for example, today I was chatting with the lady that braided my friend’s hair and I asked her if she had family. She answered “yes”. So I had to ask about 10 questions to get the full story. So we were reminded that we can never assume we know the whole story. It is important here to always ask how the person and their family is before asking people for anything. Also, people come first before tasks which is very different coming from such a task-orientated society at home. For example, if someone is supposed to come to a meeting and their neighbour shows up to talk, they will talk to their neighbour and then to go the meeting, even if they must miss the meeting.
I am practising my Lozi more and more and the locals here think it is hilarious but they say they appreciate it. I have learned a few Lozi words. “Metozi chwane” means good afternoon how are you. “metozi hande” means I am good. “Muzuhuile chwane” means good morning how are you. “nitumeziahule” means thank you very much. Clapping your hands here is a sign of respect, a greeting and much more. Women clap with their hands cupped and men clap with their hands flat, because it was believed that woman are trusted more than men so when they clap flat you know there is nothing in their hands.
After the culture chat we visited Lewanika hospital! I will never look at KGH the same again. I was surprised to see that the entire hospital is solid concrete. They have an emergency department and all the different wards like maternity and such, the only difference is that there are male and female wards here that have both medical and surgical patients on them. I found it interesting that the patients need to be referred to the hospital by a doctor in a clinic, they cannot stop in like the emergency department at home. There are private rooms but they are much more expensive than the cubes that the other people get. Their hallways are outside, so I hope I am not outside in them when it pours rain here! The OR here is also referred to as the Operating Theatre and C-sections are referred to as “cesars”. We met the nursing students that we will be teaching. I have never felt so welcome in my entire life until we entered that classroom. They clapped, slapped their desks, shouted, cheered and jumped. They wanted to meet all 23 of us, so we went one by one and they laughed at how we pronounced our names and repeated them. They would make us laugh by saying ‘wooow’ after some of our names. I am a little nervous to teach 40 high energy students but I know it will be an awesome experience.
We ordered 10 bikes so that we can choose to bike instead of taxi into town. I decided to ride one of the 10 bikes home from the hospital after our tour. The first thing I saw when I got to the bike place was a man lying in the dirt with flies buzzing around him. It was like the pictures off the TV of Africa. When I tried to leave the bike place, the locals were trying to hop on the back of the bike and buy the bikes off of us. I felt like I was in spin class in the sauna, biking in 27 degrees for 40 minutes! The roads here aren’t straight edged and are full of pot holes, so when a car comes behind you, you have to get off the road onto the sand. It makes me appreciate the bike lane in Kelowna! It is hard to ride the bike because everyone waves so you try to wave back and almost fall off the road.
After dinner, I biked to the Flood Plains. On the way, my friend``s bike broke! The seat was completely vertical. So I rode that one standing up all the way, it was a huge thigh workout especially after biking 40 minutes home earlier that day. The Plains are stunning. Very flat, so green, many trees. You can see where the floods would come. Traditionally, people who lived on the plains homes would be destroyed by the floods and they would rebuild them. So ‘maintenance’ here does not exist because of this history. We watched the sunset on the plains which was beautiful. After we got home I was sitting in my house eating dinner when I get this frantic message from one of my friends saying “help”. So my friend and I ran over to her house worried someone was hurt or something. Turns out, one of the really big ugly looking cockroaches had flown right through the window pushing through the net and flying into their room. I thought my friend was going to have a stroke. My brave friend got it outside. Needless to say, the bugs take getting used to, that’s for sure. I have only been bit a few times by bugs. We were told we will have days where we love Zambia and we will have “I hate Zambia” days. We decided that for my friend, she was having an “I hate Zambia” day. We had to talk my friend down from booking her flight home right then and there after the cockroach incident! After the cockroach scare, we sat outside for a while and looked at the beautiful stars. They are crystal clear here and I like knowing that everyone at home is looking at the same stars as me.
January 21st, 2012
Today was very hot, very sweaty and a little scary with a great ending. We started our day by unpacking and repacking all our medical supplies to ensure that we use them in our practicum which we will be starting on Monday. We went to the Black Market after this, which sells clothing, radios, sunglasses and that kind of stuff. We had an unfortunate experience today on our way to the market. Everything here is accessible only through taxi and mini bus. After waiting for 10 minutes with no luck, we decided to start walking until we could hail a taxi. A man started to walk with us and asked if it was okay if he ‘escorted’ us to the market. He was making us uncomfortable but we were trying to be nice. It is a hard place to be, because we are representing all of Canada in the way that we act, so I wanted to be nice. But this man who was very drunk, followed us around the market and refused to leave until we paid him. He was very angry when I told him I would not pay for his taxi home. I now know, that ‘escort’ here does not mean the same thing as at home. And I will be much more careful from now on. I was having an “I hate Zambia” day at that moment. He scared me and I just wanted to be home in my familiar surroundings.
Later that day though, we went out dancing which turned my day back to good. We went to a restaurant called Oasis which turns into a night club at night. We sat with the locals and watched the soccer game and cheered with them when Zambia scored against Senegal (they won eventually!). Then we danced and danced. They dance and dress much the same as a Kelowna club but I find they are much more energetic. The people were so friendly, at first it was 4 makuwas dancing by themselves but then one nice lady approached us and began dancing and soon we had so many people dancing with us we lost count. They would form a big circle and then we would get in the middle and do a little dance. They thought our dancing was hilarious, so I showed them my moves like the sprinkler and the shopping cart and they just laughed and laughed. Our taxi driver was very nice, he offered to stay in the club with us to make sure no men bothered us but we were just fine. We danced until one AM and then decided to call it a night!
January 22nd, 2012
Today was a relaxing day, our last before we start our clinical practice tomorrow. I washed my clothes by hand which was a lot of work. I stayed in the shade today, to give my body a break from the constant 28 degree weather. It hasn’t rained in a few days so I will like that when it happens. I have been very careful and have been so lucky as not to have burned or become sick like so many of the people here. There is a nasty cold going around recently and lots of people have got stomach bugs. Luckily we must have purchased half of Walmart’s medicine between all 23 of us so we have everything we need. I am wearing my shetange (used as a skirt which 98% of the women wear here and also to carry babies on mothers or father’s backs) which turns out is about 5000 degrees. I have no idea how these women wear these all the time in this heat! It is so interesting living here where power is so unreliable. For example, just now we were making a big supper for all 23 of us and the power has just gone out. I will definetly appreciate power at home more than ever. I am already appreciating home so much and I have only been here a week and have not even started my practicum! I have learned my rotation for my practicums. Week one is at Lumalinga village, where I will be teaching and helping to run the clinic that is there. Week two will be working in the female ward. Week three will be working in the children`s ward. Finally, week four I will be working in the HIV clinic. I am very excited!
January 23rd:
Today I went to Lumalika with my friend Julet. The in charge doctor didn’t show up, so we spent 3 hours walking back and forth from the health clinic to the school that is there. By the time we settled into the school, we only had time to work with the 3 year olds and the 4 year olds. I helped them write the letter “B” using little pieces of chalk on wood. My friend Julet helped them with their alphabet, their numbers and finally they got to listen to their own heart with the stethoscope she brought. I almost passed out from the heat. In scrubs it is like sitting in an oven. I have heard that a few students passed out today as well so I don’t feel quite so silly any more. Taking the mini bus is interesting, you and 12 other people are shoved in this very old bus that only has 2 windows. I will never complain about the kelowna transit system again! Going to the ShopRite, so I will talk to you soon. My cell phone number is 0962219471. It is expensive if I call you, but if you call me it is cheap for me. It is about 40 cents per text so I am not texting much and would rather you contact me through here or facebook. Love, Amanda
Tuesday 17 January 2012
January 17th: Today we are roaming around Lusaka! We are finally starting to figure out quachas. I am going to the bank machine in a few minutes here and pulling out 2 million quachas. I feel like I should be buying a house with it! In Lusaka, it is pretty expensive because it is the touristy capital. They say in Mongu it will be cheaper. I have already seen so many things I want to buy for everyone and take home, the baskets are beautiful and the carvings and paintings blow my mind. Interesting things I have seen today are two ladies balancing huge baskets full of food on their heads and a mom wrap her baby around her back with a piece of cloth. I find it a little intimidating that their are armed guards at every store and police everywhere. I bought some groceries and then realized I forgot something in the store so I went to go back in with my bags (like we do at home) and a guard stopped me right away and I thought oh no, i'm not even going to make it to Mongu, he's going to shoot me here and now for thinking i've stolen groceries! I am having a blast. The house we are staying at today is a Cheshire House for disabled children. Which, is right up my alley! They absolutely LOVE bubbles. there were a few fist fights over the bubbles. it was a good thing they were edible because one kid who also loved to wear my sunglasses upside down ate about half the bottle. we danced, they sang the zambian version of ring around the rosy im assuming and we gave them lots of canadian stickers. they decided that i would look better with 20 stickers all over me eventually so i looked like a walking canadian flag. one of the kids laughed and said "well now you don't have to tell us where you're from atleast!". i have met an incredible lady named Maureen. she is the school teacher for the Cheshire house. there is a gym and physiotherapy as well as a school, so many people come to this house. She is going to get her PHD soon in Lusaka and she absolutely loved seeing our London pictures and hearing all about Canada. We figured it out and it would cost her roughly 10,000,000 quachas to even get to Canada. So we told her that we would house her because she has been so nice to us. I gave her a little shampoo and conditioner from the body shop (courtesy of mom from xmas!) and she was so excited. We exchanged emails and she is very excited to hear about Mongu. I am getting the hand shake down, you shake once, loosely hook your thumbs together, bring hands up and then drop them. when they laugh they shake, like a high five? when they really want to show appreciation they touch both cheeks like the french but minus the kissing. when they want to show you that they consider you a friend, they hold your hand while you walk and talk. the people are amazing. so friendly. we had an interesting breakfast this morning, tea and toast with long life shelf milk. it tastes like warm milk? my stomach wasn't too much of a fan but I let it know that it better get used to it fast because that's all they have here, haha. That's it for now! I will see you on the other side of Mongu :). Love you all.
Monday 16 January 2012
Arrival in Zambia!
January 16th: I have arrived safely in Lusaka! I didn't encounter any problems getting through immigration, they forgot to stamp my visa though so it was a good thing that my professor checked that. The first thing that I noticed when I got here was the heat and humidity. Even though we have only been here for a few hours, I already feel famous! People stop their cars to stare at you, you can hear them saying 'white man' as we pass and the kids follow us around just to stare at us. Some of them played with us with bubbles and danced, they were adorable and by the time they were done their faces were plastered with stickers. We are staying in a Cheshire House with nuns who are very nice. There are 13 of us in one big room and 7 in another. The poor guy that travelled with us has to stay all alone in a separate room and is banned from coming in our room. We travelled by taxi to the house and that was an experience! They drive very fast. And when a big semi truck crosses the line by accident, the driver isn't too worried about it even though we were a little worried, haha. There are no pedestrian lights and they drive backwards (just like London) so we sprint across the street and hope that we don't get hit. It is very cheap here. It is very strange to use quachas. It is 5000 quachas to one canadian dollar. So i feel like a millionaire getting out 600,000 quachas at one time from the bank machine! A big 3L bottle of water cost one canadian dollar. It is so beautiful here. There are so many different shades of green and so much vegetation. I can see why, it rained today for a few hours and it doesn't just drizzle, it pours. It sure feels nice though after that heat. It is nice, most people speak english here. They say that once we get to Mongu though, that will chance and we will start to learn Lozi. Tomorrow we are going to the shopping mall and touring around Lusaka and then on Wednesday we take the eight hour bus ride to our final destination, Mongu! The food here is very good, I just had a steak and you can tell that they don't put all the additives like they do in Canada. It was a nice change from burgers and fries every night in London.
Until I arrive in Mongu,
Amanda
Until I arrive in Mongu,
Amanda
Saturday 14 January 2012
London!
January 11th, 2012: London is unbelievable. The trip here was long, the bus was granted special permission to get through the cocahala because the roads were so horrible. Then we had to try to operate the tube (like the bus but an underground system) which was hillarious. We each have 3 bags and are carrying roughly 100 pounds and try to fit that on the tube at rush hour! The doors closed to fast, whether you were still in them or not. So a few times, our bags got stuck. You also have to 'mind the gap' between the platform and the train, which is rather large.We will return home with huge muscles that's for sure. It took us 4 hours to get to our hostel! We were surprised to see our cankles once we hit the hostel. After a 6 hour bus ride and a 10 hour flight on a massive 2 floor 747 plane though we weren't too surprised. Its nice here, for a hostel. We are a 20 minute tube ride to central london and in Hendon Central (where we are) there are lots of little cafes and shops around so we don't have to leave Hendon if we dont want to. We are able to walk to most places here. You risk your life trying to cross the road, though! luckily there are 'look right' and 'look left' on the cross walks for tourists. Pedestrians don't have the right of way here though, so we sprint across the road because they drive 30 miles/hour and we can't predict where the cars are coming from because everything is backwards!
January 12th, 2012: Today we woke up at 445 am! We are definetly still running on BC time, haha. Is it ever chilly here! I definetly miss my ski jacket. It is 3 or 4 degrees without the wind chill. Today we spent 12 hours out and about sight seeing. First, we visited Buckingham Palace to witness the changing of the guards. Was that ever cool. There were roughly 600 people that showed up to see it! There was a parade, where the guards played music and marched into the palace where they switched and the old guards marched back out. What impressed me was the gates to the palace. They were gold and black and massive with the British national emblems on either side. The guards wore the typical uniforms on the TV, black furry hats and the red suits with the gold buttons. We didn't get to see the queen, unfortunetly. We did get to see where her chambers were though. On our way to see Big Ben (the big clock by the parliament buildings) we visited the red telephone booths. On our way to see the London Eye, we visited Hygh park and St. James park which were beautiful. There were massive geese, pigeons, swans, fat squirrels that chased one of my friends because they thought she had food and a really pretty black bird with a bright orange beak. We then visted St. Paul's Cathedral. Unfortunetly we couldn't take pictures but I would have loved to it was amazing. In the middle is a huge dome with religious paintings all up the walls and on the ceilings. We learned about the fire in London and that Princess Diana married here when we watched a video on the cathedral in a big circular room where the video played all around us on screens, called the "inner eye of the cathedral". We visited the crypt where we saw tombs of famous people like the Duke of Wellington. We saw a plaque dedicated to Florence Nightengale (the founder the nursing) which we all touched and we think it was a sign that she was wishing us good luck in our journey to Africa. We climbed up 257 circle stairs to get to the Whispering Gallery which was awesome. My friends took at one end of the circle and I walked to 30 metres away to the opposite side of the gallery. It was a little difficult to hear because there was an orchestra playing below, but when we put our ears to the wall and whispered, we could hear eachother from 30 meteres away! From there, we walked across the London Bridge which I had expected to be much more of an ordeal. Turns out it is just a bridge that is famous? Was still cool to walk over it though.
January 13th, 2012: Today we went to the Tower of London! It was worth every pound and pence to go. The first tower we visited was the Great White Tower. We saw the crown jewels which we would have loved to take pictures of but weren't allowed to, at one point while we were talking to one of the guards before we left he noticed a lady taking pictures and threatened her with a HUGE fine if she didn't delete every one of them. The crowns were stunning. One of the septras had a 530 carret diamond that came from a diamond the size of your fist which was broken down into 9 530 carret diamonds and 48 smaller diamonds. We were amazed to learn that the crowns aren't only historical, but are still used today for coronations and such. We learned that King Charles II (the king whose wife couldn't have children but he mysteriously had many children) had ruined the reputation of one of the fonts (baptism basins) so it was now known as the "Bastard Basin". The next queen to rule made a new font (made out of gold, of course) which is still used today. We learned that only once did someone try to steal the jewels. It was a huge scheme and in the end, the guy tried to shove the septra down his pants and was caugh at the Tower of London Bridge (which is amazing by the way). The King was said to have been thought to be in the scheme as well even though he wasn't. We weren't sure how anyone would steal them, the doors were 15 feet thick and if the alarm went off the guard said there were men armed on the floor above ready to go. We learned that King Charles won't be named King Charles the 3rd because of King Charles the 2nd and his 'playboy' behavior as the guard said. Instead he will be named King Charles 7th or something of that sort. On the upper floors we visited the armory and saw the old guns, cannons, swords and lances. One of the lances was 5 metres long and was said to be used for parades not for fighting. There were heads of kings, suits of armour, replications of horses of the kings. There were displays of the gifts that were given to the U.K and we thought it was funny that Canada gave the U.K. a grizzly bear which they named Martin and kept alive at the zoo which used to be in the Tower as well. Out of the windows we could see the mote, the inner and outer walls and the ravens which they kept 6 of. It is said that if the ravens leave the tower, it will crumble. The tiolets were hillarious, little holes on a piece of wood that were up about 10 stairs with no doors. There was one stair case that ran up the entire Tower. No wonder people that lived were in such good shape! We could see the execution post which stood in the middle of the square where they said that 7 kings and queens were executed for many different reasons. One of them was killed because the current king couldn't get ahold of the lady that he wanted to kill, so instead he killed her innocent son. We saw the chapel which held all of the bodies of the people that were executed and many bodies couldn't even be identified when they were found. We saw windows that were shaped to hold a bow and arrow for defense. We visted the Prisoners Chamber which had real carvings from past prisoners there. We then saw the torture chamber which had items such as: an iron circle that was designed to keep prisoners crouched in there for days, a stretching machine that did just that and shackles that would hold the prisoners up for so long that some of them never regained use of their hands after. We learned the story of two brothers (roughly 12 and 9) who were killed and weren't found until 191 years later in the Bloody Tower and then moved to Westminister Abbey. In the Bloody Tower people were hung, quartered, stabbed, beaten and such for such petty crimes we were happy not to be living in that time, that's for sure. We saw the Old Hospital Block and were disappointed when we couldn't go in but it was awesome to see. There was Traitors' Gate and many other towers, some of which still house families of the people that work at the Tower. There was so much history there I wish that I could buy another brain to remember all of it!
January 14th: Today we slept in until 230 pm as we were out until 3 am last night. We went on the Camden Pub Crawl! We visited 3 pubs and 2 night clubs. The night clubs were so much cooler than home, they had live bands and about 7 floors in one of the clubs. We met so many friendly people last night. We met people from Spain (argentina), New Jersey, all parts of England, Australia and many more. One of the people that we met was named Santiego and we were impressed that he was travelling from Beaunos Aides and was roaming the world solo for 6 months. I wore high heels for the first time in my life and that was an experience especially because the streets are cobblestone! The people here amaze me. They are always willing to help and chat. Everyone here reads the newspaper on the tube. They dress very brightly and their fashion is so far ahead of home's that I don't know if we will ever catch up. We felt very underdressed. All the men wear peacoats and scarfs and many have beer bellies (you're lucky to find a seat at a pub, everyone goes there). We aren't sure how they have bellies because they sprint through the tube station. Other than that, there are few overweight people here which is quite different from home! Today is a lazy day, we are doing our laundry for the last time in a machine before we leave for Africa. We aren't looking forward to packing everything up and the10 hour flight to Lusaka before we bus for 11 hours to Mongu that we will be doing tomorrow morning. Luckily we have finally started to adjust to the time difference of 8 hours from home, so the extra 3 hours won't be so bad once we get to Africa. We are all getting nervous and excited and can't believe Africa is finally here! Although these extra few days have cost us extra money, we are so thankful we decided to come it has been worth it.
Until next time, I love all you guys and am missing you. It feels as though I should be coming home now after visiting London, not going to Africa for the next 6 weeks! As they say here, Cheers :).
January 12th, 2012: Today we woke up at 445 am! We are definetly still running on BC time, haha. Is it ever chilly here! I definetly miss my ski jacket. It is 3 or 4 degrees without the wind chill. Today we spent 12 hours out and about sight seeing. First, we visited Buckingham Palace to witness the changing of the guards. Was that ever cool. There were roughly 600 people that showed up to see it! There was a parade, where the guards played music and marched into the palace where they switched and the old guards marched back out. What impressed me was the gates to the palace. They were gold and black and massive with the British national emblems on either side. The guards wore the typical uniforms on the TV, black furry hats and the red suits with the gold buttons. We didn't get to see the queen, unfortunetly. We did get to see where her chambers were though. On our way to see Big Ben (the big clock by the parliament buildings) we visited the red telephone booths. On our way to see the London Eye, we visited Hygh park and St. James park which were beautiful. There were massive geese, pigeons, swans, fat squirrels that chased one of my friends because they thought she had food and a really pretty black bird with a bright orange beak. We then visted St. Paul's Cathedral. Unfortunetly we couldn't take pictures but I would have loved to it was amazing. In the middle is a huge dome with religious paintings all up the walls and on the ceilings. We learned about the fire in London and that Princess Diana married here when we watched a video on the cathedral in a big circular room where the video played all around us on screens, called the "inner eye of the cathedral". We visited the crypt where we saw tombs of famous people like the Duke of Wellington. We saw a plaque dedicated to Florence Nightengale (the founder the nursing) which we all touched and we think it was a sign that she was wishing us good luck in our journey to Africa. We climbed up 257 circle stairs to get to the Whispering Gallery which was awesome. My friends took at one end of the circle and I walked to 30 metres away to the opposite side of the gallery. It was a little difficult to hear because there was an orchestra playing below, but when we put our ears to the wall and whispered, we could hear eachother from 30 meteres away! From there, we walked across the London Bridge which I had expected to be much more of an ordeal. Turns out it is just a bridge that is famous? Was still cool to walk over it though.
January 13th, 2012: Today we went to the Tower of London! It was worth every pound and pence to go. The first tower we visited was the Great White Tower. We saw the crown jewels which we would have loved to take pictures of but weren't allowed to, at one point while we were talking to one of the guards before we left he noticed a lady taking pictures and threatened her with a HUGE fine if she didn't delete every one of them. The crowns were stunning. One of the septras had a 530 carret diamond that came from a diamond the size of your fist which was broken down into 9 530 carret diamonds and 48 smaller diamonds. We were amazed to learn that the crowns aren't only historical, but are still used today for coronations and such. We learned that King Charles II (the king whose wife couldn't have children but he mysteriously had many children) had ruined the reputation of one of the fonts (baptism basins) so it was now known as the "Bastard Basin". The next queen to rule made a new font (made out of gold, of course) which is still used today. We learned that only once did someone try to steal the jewels. It was a huge scheme and in the end, the guy tried to shove the septra down his pants and was caugh at the Tower of London Bridge (which is amazing by the way). The King was said to have been thought to be in the scheme as well even though he wasn't. We weren't sure how anyone would steal them, the doors were 15 feet thick and if the alarm went off the guard said there were men armed on the floor above ready to go. We learned that King Charles won't be named King Charles the 3rd because of King Charles the 2nd and his 'playboy' behavior as the guard said. Instead he will be named King Charles 7th or something of that sort. On the upper floors we visited the armory and saw the old guns, cannons, swords and lances. One of the lances was 5 metres long and was said to be used for parades not for fighting. There were heads of kings, suits of armour, replications of horses of the kings. There were displays of the gifts that were given to the U.K and we thought it was funny that Canada gave the U.K. a grizzly bear which they named Martin and kept alive at the zoo which used to be in the Tower as well. Out of the windows we could see the mote, the inner and outer walls and the ravens which they kept 6 of. It is said that if the ravens leave the tower, it will crumble. The tiolets were hillarious, little holes on a piece of wood that were up about 10 stairs with no doors. There was one stair case that ran up the entire Tower. No wonder people that lived were in such good shape! We could see the execution post which stood in the middle of the square where they said that 7 kings and queens were executed for many different reasons. One of them was killed because the current king couldn't get ahold of the lady that he wanted to kill, so instead he killed her innocent son. We saw the chapel which held all of the bodies of the people that were executed and many bodies couldn't even be identified when they were found. We saw windows that were shaped to hold a bow and arrow for defense. We visted the Prisoners Chamber which had real carvings from past prisoners there. We then saw the torture chamber which had items such as: an iron circle that was designed to keep prisoners crouched in there for days, a stretching machine that did just that and shackles that would hold the prisoners up for so long that some of them never regained use of their hands after. We learned the story of two brothers (roughly 12 and 9) who were killed and weren't found until 191 years later in the Bloody Tower and then moved to Westminister Abbey. In the Bloody Tower people were hung, quartered, stabbed, beaten and such for such petty crimes we were happy not to be living in that time, that's for sure. We saw the Old Hospital Block and were disappointed when we couldn't go in but it was awesome to see. There was Traitors' Gate and many other towers, some of which still house families of the people that work at the Tower. There was so much history there I wish that I could buy another brain to remember all of it!
January 14th: Today we slept in until 230 pm as we were out until 3 am last night. We went on the Camden Pub Crawl! We visited 3 pubs and 2 night clubs. The night clubs were so much cooler than home, they had live bands and about 7 floors in one of the clubs. We met so many friendly people last night. We met people from Spain (argentina), New Jersey, all parts of England, Australia and many more. One of the people that we met was named Santiego and we were impressed that he was travelling from Beaunos Aides and was roaming the world solo for 6 months. I wore high heels for the first time in my life and that was an experience especially because the streets are cobblestone! The people here amaze me. They are always willing to help and chat. Everyone here reads the newspaper on the tube. They dress very brightly and their fashion is so far ahead of home's that I don't know if we will ever catch up. We felt very underdressed. All the men wear peacoats and scarfs and many have beer bellies (you're lucky to find a seat at a pub, everyone goes there). We aren't sure how they have bellies because they sprint through the tube station. Other than that, there are few overweight people here which is quite different from home! Today is a lazy day, we are doing our laundry for the last time in a machine before we leave for Africa. We aren't looking forward to packing everything up and the10 hour flight to Lusaka before we bus for 11 hours to Mongu that we will be doing tomorrow morning. Luckily we have finally started to adjust to the time difference of 8 hours from home, so the extra 3 hours won't be so bad once we get to Africa. We are all getting nervous and excited and can't believe Africa is finally here! Although these extra few days have cost us extra money, we are so thankful we decided to come it has been worth it.
Until next time, I love all you guys and am missing you. It feels as though I should be coming home now after visiting London, not going to Africa for the next 6 weeks! As they say here, Cheers :).
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