Parting is such Sweet Sorrow

Well, it is time to wrap up our visit.  The last 18 days have sure given us all a lot to reflect on.  We are all scrambling to keep up our journals, share our pictures, and get one last shot in with the babies.  Most of us have left on a set of "quick dry" clothes and have left out a pair of clothes to wear on the plane.  Can't really sit next to someone smelling like baby poop for 16 hours!  I am carrying home a little bit of George as a result of a direct hit with a sneeze on our visit to the BBB.

We are warned by Kevin that our suitcases will be going through a special screener to ensure that we have not taken any of the babies when we leave.  I am pretty sure that Janet is plotting how she can get one home, we shall see.

It is tough to say good bye to the kitchen staff.  We have had to walk through the kitchen every time we go to our room- most of the time I say something clever (they probably have no idea what the heck I am talking about) and that causes me to forget what I was going to the room for.  Then I would go back so I could remember and go back through the kitchen keeping my mind focused on my goal and realize I forgot a key (Linda and I were sharing)....needless to say, I walked through the kitchen ALOT!

Sometimes the girls would be singing (and we did make them sing with us - we made everyone sing with Takwava with us), sometimes they would be feeding a crowd, sometimes all alone.  There was a never ending line of mouths to feed (including ours).  They were such nice people - we had lots of questions for them, they even had some questions for us.  Sweet, sweet people.

We arrived at the airport with plenty of time to spare and some Kwachas that need to be spent and shop one more time for souvenirs.

Once we arrive in "Joburg" airport, which is like an upscale mall - Janet hunts down some contraband eggs with toys in them - apparently we have outlawed them in the US because of choking hazards for young children....it is only fitting that she brings them home after all the potential choking hazards incidents we have left behind.                                                                                      

Just 20 more hours and we will be home!

Tomorrow will be my last post - of Parting Shots and Lasting Impressions.....

Just one more sleep....

It is hard to believe that this trip is coming to an end.  We are at 17 days and counting, just one more night.  Carol, Ron and the grandkids have been packed since yesterday.  The 5 moms (so named because we have all given poor Sarah motherly advice on more than one occasion- We have given it to Ryan, too, but he seems unaffected - Sarah, on the other hand has taken to numbering us according to her favorites, let me correct that, her favorite...for some reason, unbeknownst to all of us Janet has risen to the top of the list- Mom #2 - Sarah's real mom was #1) are resisting packing until the last day.  Our dorm room looks like we have made ourselves quite at home.

We have taken to having a "spot of tea" in the afternoon and sitting outside in the fresh air.  A great way to detox and debrief at the end of the day.  Jannean not only fetches the tea, but she also serves it on a tray with a curtsy.  

The House of Moses is one of the rare places that has the luxury of grass, which they keep watered with their custom-made sprinkler system - a plastic water bottle with holes, held on with electrical tape (duct tape is hard to come by here).  One day we played the game "Head's Up" on Linda's iPad - it involves charades and other activities that might seem strange to people unaccustomed to grown women acting our animals or shouting out hints, etc.  We are sure that the kitchen staff was very entertained (or terrified!).  Turns out that the app actually makes a video of your antics - which then entertained us!  Ridiculous fun in the sun!

 Tonight, the Reverend and his family are coming to dinner!  The kitchen staff is taking care of the food, but we are on our own for the rest.  No fears though, Janet and Jannean or like Martha Stewart, Emily Post, and (insert the name of the kindest person you know here) all rolled into one.  We had a great dinner of steak, potatoes, and gravy cooked African style followed by an All-American dessert:  3 cakes, "Napolean" ice cream, vanilla ice cream, coke, coke light, orange soda and Caribbean Onion and Balsamic Vinegar Potato Chips!  What a feast!

There was no problem with dinner conversation either as Reverend M'Tonga was quite a captivating conversationalist....all was going well until  he asked "So, how is Obama doing?"  There was an awkward moment before I explained that it was best not to discuss politics at the dinner table as we Americans tend to have strong feelings in all directions and no problem expressing them.

The Reverend brought his two sons, not twins, a member of Presbytery and his sister-in-law and her daughter (I may be wrong on the relationship of the woman and her child - I spent half the night thinking that she was his wife!)  The kids loved the dessert an loved playing video games on the iPad with Linda.  (A few days ago, Tom brought his kids over and Linda took out her iPad and set up a game-they played once and beat her high score! hahaha).

At the end of the night, the Reverend said that he had a surprise for all of us - a gift from his church.  Each of us received a chitenga - the colorful cloth that is used as a sling, skirt, you name it.  Sarah and Ryan's were from the youth group.  Ours was from the women of the church.  Very cool!  Although I am not quite sure that we come close to knowing how to wear them correctly. Can't wait to sling mine on and head on down to ShopRite.  (Did I tell you that ShopRite is a food chain there, too?)

One Last Visit to Bed, Bath and Beyond

The Bill and Bette Bryant House, the BBB or Bed Bath and Beyond as I call it, is the orphanage for the 3-5 or 6 year old set.  We visited them AND we come bearing gifts!  Jannean and Carol have outdone themselves in shopping for the kids and we can't wait for them to see what we have for them.
  
The kids are just waking up from their nap and start to come out of the rooms, one by one to see us all sitting in the living area.  They are a just a tiny bit (and I mean tiny bit) hesitant to come into the room, but soon have all come in and found a lap to sit on.  I am sitting on the floor and have one child on my lap, another one comes and squeezes on.  We start up a song and they take over!  

The caretakers call the kids over and start putting the new shoes on them.  We are so excited - they look great!  Next each of them gets to try on a new shirt, skirt or outfit.  Now, they are really excited...about the tags. I am pretty sure that they are fascinated with the tags because we want to take them (we seem to be all consumed with choking hazards, etc).  
Some of these kids are like old (young) friends now. We know their personalities and love watching them interact with each other and all of us.  

Wrapping Things Up!

This is our last day out into the Compounds and we are heading for a Catholic Church in the Linda Compound! (Imagine, she has only been here 17 days and already has a Compound named after her!).  We have managed to talk Matilda into driving with us and we are peppering her with questions.  She was born and raised in one of the small villages outside of Livingstone. She tells us that many children in the villages do not start school until they are 7 or 8 because they have such a long way to walk (and usually have to do it on their own).  Each day her mom would pack her some food in a bowl for her lunch, but she had to walk several miles to school and would get tired and eat it before she got there.  At lunchtime she would cry because she was hungry and had nothing.  She decided that she did not want to go to school.  There is no law that says that you have to go to school, but Matilda's parents know it is important and send her to live with her half brother, who lives close to a school.  It is unfathomable how many barriers these children must overcome just to attend school!  Matilda lived in a grass thatched roof hut and said that it was cool, even in the hottest time of the summer!

Now, it's time for Matilda to ask us some questions - she will be moving to the states while Kevin goes to college.  We assure her that with a little one, it will be easy to strike up a conversation with other moms and to make friends.  We laughed together at some of the cultural differences that she has run up against - she doesn't think she would ever be able to wear a bikini in public....we all agreed, we wouldn't be caught dead in one either....of course her reason was cultural modesty, ours was cultural mortification.  Matilda is a modern African woman who is comfortable in both American business clothes, and traditional chitengas.  She wields a cell phone with the best of them.

The Linda Compound is a little bit different than the others that we have visited.  This one is further outside the city and seems to be a little more spread out than the others.  There is a big crowd of women here and we are disappointed that we don't have any balloons for them, but the bubbles are a big hit.  This time we give the bubble bottles to some of the young ladies that are here (many with babies strapped to them) and let them do the blowing.  Keeps us from hyperventilating!  We watched one of the girls slip the bubble bottle into her chitenga with the baby she is carrying - happy that we had something to give her!

Superman and his brother had a great time riding this barrow-less wheel barrow!  A valuable piece of transportation in the compound.

On the way home, Suzanne decided that we should try our hand in buying something from one of the vendors who come to the van windows.  We located one with chips (Caribbean onion and balsamic vinegar- our new favorite) and she opens the window and calls out!  He comes over and she gets out her wallet (this is where Matilda figures out what we're doing and tells her to put her wallet down, get the chips before you get the money, etc.)  She pays K2.5.  Well what good is it to successfully buy something from a street vendor if it has not been immortalized on film....do over.  She gets her money ready and she locates another chip guy (she could also have bought cell phone time, car chargers, oranges, maps of Africa, or a plunger)- Janet has the camera ready.....He tells her it is K3!  She has no more single Kwachas and traffic begins to move, she has the chips, he runs us down, Janet gets involved - somehow we end up with 2 bags, have overpaid him and still don't have a picture.  I think Matilda and Everito (our driver today) think that we are crazy.  

M&M Part 2

Another day of packing Van#1 and Van#2 for another Milk & Medicine run.  This time there was a group waiting for us.  They greeted us with a song of welcome and blessed us for coming all the way from the US to see them. Milk and medicine gives families the support they need to keep their children in the home.  Each child was weighed and measured.  A full report is made on the children who are sponsored by people in the US.  It is amazing that the women are carrying home enough food to allow their families to eat three meals a day with a snack.

                                   

The program empowers women by supporting their efforts to become independent. The women are put into groups according to neighborhood and are asked what they thought they could afford to contribute to the group.  They put their 2 kwacha apiece together and buy something in bulk, like charcoal, and sell them in their neighborhood.  So they have made an investment and share the returns.  This gives them ownership and starts them on their way to begin to support their families.  As with all programs, some take off with it and do become independent, some just cannot do it.  When it works, it keep families together and children where they belong, in a loving home.

      

While the parents received their food supplies, Team Zambia pulled out the backpack 'o fun!  We are getting smarter, though and brought yarn to tie on to the balloons.  Even though they were not helium, the wind took them fast and far - over walls and out of the church yard.  You could spot the bright color of the balloons in and around the compound as we drove away.  

Breaking News!  

We just learned that one of the littlest babies here at the House of Moses is heading to a home full of love.  Sarah has given a lot of special attention to this baby, just 27 days old.  We have quietly watched the process over the last few days, as the mother has visited with our little Alice.  The woman adopted Alice's sister in 2011 from BBB.  With children in and out of the hospital while we have been here, it has been a true joy to see a child leave in the arms of a loving mom.  

      

We sent the mom off with one of the blankets that Janet's mom made.  What a great way to illustrate that it takes a village to raise a child-from the administrators, caretakers, staff and missionaries of the House of Moses to program directors, school teachers and staff in the schools and communities, to the volunteers and churches of the US and the people who supported them with their katumbas, knitting skills, cash and clothing donations, the combined effect is to make a difference in the life of a child.

 (This post by my sister Linda was cross posted on the team blog at http://branchville-zambia2014.blogspot.com/)

Making a Milk and Medicine Run

Today we loaded up Van #1 with nutrient packs (enough for one a day for 30 days), 20 pound bags of Roller Meal (corn meal), bottles of cooking oil, ground nuts (peanuts), and formula (Zambians are encouraged to breast feed, so it is just provided for those that can't).  Van # 2 we loaded up with people and headed out to the Matera Compound.

We pulled into the Church of Christ parking lot where women and children were waiting.  First, we sing! I love that everything here starts with a song - everyone joins in - we are even singing in the vernacular, thre is always someone who starts us and cues us in for each verse and their are great harmonies.   Kevin interviews the families of those children who have been sponsored and Matilda, a social worker (and also Kevin's wife), start the weighing and measuring of every child under 18 months.  

The mothers sat on the grass and wait their turn with their babies as the older siblings run around.  We got the bubbles and balloons going and soon there was screaming and running and the general chaos of kids at play. After chasing down several balloons in the wind, we have decided next time we will bring string!

Once the food was distributed, the moms (or grandmas) all lined up for clothing donations -  They were handed some clothes and got to the back of the line until all of the donations were distributed - there were shirts, curtains, blankets, sheets, even a Christmas decoration (which they could not figure out what they were supposed to do with it - I am sure it will be turned into some kind of jacket by the end of the day).   You could just imagine this bag of stuff coming straight from one of the parking lot bins in Andover.  I have to tell you that we often wonder if our donations make it all the way to Africa - let me tell you they are wearing your cast-offs -shoes, NFL shirts, jeans, Hello Kitty pants, Happy 13th birthday Amanda, etc. -if you have ever donated clothes, they are wearing them and wearing them and wearing them and wearing them!

We are amazed that there are so many multiples of children, two women with triplets and one with twins at this site.  Just one more reason not to drink the water here.  (Which by the way, did I mention that I had to throw out my toothbrush after day one when I rinsed it with water from the sink?!  Thank goodness they gave us toothbrushes on the plane) We wondered how these women would get the 30+ pounds of food and their babies (children have to be younger than 18 months) back to their homes.  Moments later, we watched them wrap up their children in a sling (Chitenga) on their backs and wrap up their food and put it on their heads.  

Since the moms with the triplets had 90 pounds of food to carry, each one of the vans gave one of them a ride.  The woman we drove had recently moved and had a child that was sponsored, so the program director had to see where she lived.  They keep good track of these kids - weight and height, interviews, etc.  We drove through one spot between a bush and a wall that scraped both sides of the van.  Getting stuck in the compound is not an option.  When we arrived at her two room home, her other five children ran out to greet us.  She helped us get out of the maze between the houses, not really roads at all.  I wish you all could get in a van simulator that would toss you around to experience our rides through these neighborhoods.

Once again we eat our packed lunch on the road - pbj, plain pb's and cheese sandwiches.  

When we got back we could not wait to deliver the 3 walkers that we bought for the kids outside.  The kids were thrilled with the toys in the tray and looked as if they were ready for the roller derby!  

Happy 35th Anniversay to my husband Ed - who said he was celebrating with a beer and bruschetta with the dog- I told him I was drinking Parmalat and eating deep fried caterpillars!  (Which were quite crunchy and salty - like any good snack food!)

Against all Odds

Our last school visit was scheduled for Helen DeVos School which the Administrator in charge of our visit is rightly proud of.  This school houses grades 7-12 and takes kids from all of the other schools that we have visited that show great promise.  The children coming to this school have a full day, many of them starting with a long walk (miles - and as our parents would say uphill both ways).  The students here arrive at 7:45 and leave at 4.  

We arrived at lunch time and the cafeteria looked much like the others we had visited with a big pot of n'shima on a coal burner, BUT, they had snacks you could buy!  Students were all in uniforms, boys with slacks, white shirts (unbelievable - they must be washed by hand every night), ties, sweaters, girls with skirts, white knee socks, black shoes, white shirts and sweaters.  As we keep saying, "Kids are kids" and they spent their lunch time talking in small groups, etc.  

We visited the library, which was small compared to what we are used to - most of their books were sets of books like a nature series, or each one of the United States, even a set of National Geographics (which I somehow find ironic).  They had 7 computers set up in a row in the front and guess what they were preparing for?  TESTING!  There is a state test that they must pass and it is that time again.  This school has an unbelievable 100% pass rate for the Zambia National Exam!  These children are the poorest of the poor in this capital city - they are going places!

As an aside, I cannot imagine what it is like trying to keep those computers going - sparse internet signals, power outages and the biggest threat - dirt and dust!  Students use brooms found in the corners of every classroom to sweep out the rooms at the end of the day, sweep the walks in front of the doors, sweep the dirt off the dirt. 

Each time we entered a room, all students stood and greeted us in English.  The principal that was guiding us, asked each class if they had any questions for the American visitors.  It never failed that someone asked us our names and we would introduce ourselves down the line.  We have a young girl named Sarah with us....I think they may have just been trying to get her name.  As we were leaving one classroom, a young man called out Goodbye Sandra....and I of course turned flattered, they all laughed, then it dawned on me that he meant to get Sarah's attention, not mine!  

In the 12th grade class, they laughed when I said my name because there was a Sandra in the class, there was also a Suzanne! Each student introduced themselves and told us what their future plans were.  There were kids who wanted to be doctors, accountants, nurses, mechanics, one girl wanted to be the President of Zambia!  It was just like standing in a classroom in the US.  There were kids that were serious, kids that joked, and kids that "busted each other's chops" (a phrase that I had to explain to Tom and he soon turned on me!).  I even felt like, just like their American peers, they enjoyed the interruption in their class and tried to stretch it out!  One student asked us to explain what a "state" was.  One student asked about Obama - they seem to take a certain pride in Obama- and we got into a discussion about presidential terms (our terms are four years, theirs is five).  One girl asked about Chicago-we wondered if she might have family there.   It was really fun talking to these kids, I wished that we had planned more time to talk to them (I wanted to stretch it out too!).  

The Hole in the Wall Gang

We are finishing up our last school visits today with the school with the least resources and the school with the most (still very modest by our standards).  It will be our second visit to the schools but the first time we will be working with the kids. 

 

 

Imagine that the door to your classroom was made using a sledge hammer on the cement blocks and the only windows are slits in the wall to the outside.  There is no power, no water, no bathrooms.  The blackboards are just plain tired!  The kids in this school are not sitting and whining, they are sitting on the edge of their seats and participating!  Teachers are following the curriculum and there are just no excuses.

Our pictures do not reflect the darkness in these classrooms, but you can see the kids are happy to be there!  The head teacher here is amazing - there are 4 grade groups and the blackboards are full of lessons.  The children do a lot of group response and have each has their own well worn notebooks and a pencil (which doubles as a utensil at lunch).

 

We had kids from Lafayette, Mt. Olive, and the Sunday Schools at Branchville and APC complete a trading card for themselves - draw a picture on the front and write their favorite hobbies, sports, friend's names, etc on the back.  The kids back in the US did a great job with a promise that we would have the children here do the same thing and trade them.  

We were not sure how this was going to go over in this school, what could they say were their hobbies, etc?  The teacher in the first classroom that we did this with did a great job of giving the kids ideas of what to write on the back (Enlgish was limited but once they got it, they took off with it).  He made sure that their work was quality work (they put both first and last names, etc.)   Here we are in the middle of a compound of one room concrete houses, a shared outhouse here or there (we saw some hilarious scenes of kids walking to school and doing group pees on the way), water may be a mile or two away, but for hobbies the teacher wrote reading, music, Mortal Kombat and FIFA 2012!  What?  Turns out that here and there there is a hut with electricity, a tv and a video game set up that people can pay to play!  

The kids were so excited to look at the American trading cards, and once they got them they started trading them amongst themselves. They loved reading the backs about what our kids do (seems they all have soccer in common) and looking at their drawings!  This turned out to be a great activity and we wished we had done it with more kids!

Of course this was not the only activity we did in this school.  The smaller children made snails with tissue paper and glue (no googly eyes this time).  Some kids had a great time licking the tissue paper and sticking them on their face.  The middle kids made yarn pictures, which came out great and the older kids made silly band bracelets which they love.  The grand finale was balloon rockets, where the kids count how many pumps it will take to get a balloon to go all the way across the room on a string or how many it will take to pop it.  Either way, there was a lot of excitement that day for both students and teachers alike!

Got Some Kwacha Burning a Hole in my Pocket

Our next trip to the Sunday market, we are prepared.  We have cheat sheets made up that convert varying amounts of kwacha to dollars so we can haggle with a little expertise.  We had previously scoped out the wares and we are ready with our lists to take on the hawkers!

Excited to make our first purchase, the hawker tells us the price and we just say yes and pay it...so much for haggling, cheat sheets and lists!  We are saavy shoppers though and return to the booth we visited last week where a gentleman has these handcrafted nativity scenes.  A few of us purchase one and when it comes to my turn, they are out of the animal that goes in it.  The gentleman say, "no problem, I will make you one, come back in 15 minutes."  We came back an hour later and he still did not have it done.  We shopped a little more and returned again.  As we approached, the stall a gust of wind came and blew over a couple of tents, his included:  fabric, tent poles, the tinkling of broken glass, displays upset, etc.  He apologizes over and over and I tell him I'll be back.
 

After lunch, I stopped by the booth again and he is putting the animal together - wire, felt, cotton- which he is sewing up while I wait.  Cool to see it being made.  None of that "made in China" stuff for me!

Finished up the day with ice cream cones!  Need I say more?

Sunday 2: The Sequel

We, once again, donned our church lady clothes and headed over to Chelston Presbyterian.  The minister, had not forgotten that Linda and I asked if we could go to Sunday School with the kids today.  He says "where are my American veeeseeetors?" a couple of times before we realize he is talking about us and we went up and got in the line of children marching out the door.

Outside, could have been a scene from any Sunday School (except it was outside) as the kids all had to grab chairs from a pile and put them in a circle....not easy...and who is going to sit next to the white women?  We are a bit of a curiosity and the children are not running and jumping on board our laps as they do at The House of Moses.

Everything starts with a song, and as they are singing I am trying to write the words down for our Sunday School.  There is a boy in a 3 piece black suit and another in a white tux jacket, with tails, like a concert pianist would wear.  Some of the girls are in fancy dresses with well worn rubber boots or some other incongruous footwear.  At one point, some older boys are talking and the teacher asks them to stand in the middle of the circle and explain what she just said (sound familiar?). 

The lesson is simply taking a few verses of the bible and asking "what is your understanding of this?" to random students.    After reading one of the verses, the teacher turned to Linda....who put on her deer in the headlights look and stammered out, "could you repeat it?"  I have to tell you, I knew I was going to be next AND still had to have her repeat the verse.  We sang a song about running and shaking your body (pronounced booty) and off the kids went - apparently to run back into the church and get their offering kwacha (by the way, inside, when offering is taken everyone goes to the front and puts their money in one of three buckets depending on what area you are from).  The kids collect the offering in an open bible.  More music and then it is just play time!  We asked if we could take a picture of the group and the teachers were thrilled - everyone likes to see themselves in a picture. Then the two teachers literally ran in to join the choir (sound familiar?) and the kids just ran around outside (that's right, unattended! there must be a shortage of lawyers in this country as kids are pretty much allowed to be kids at all times.  Choking hazards be darned!)

Linda and I convinced some of the older girls (who were joined by some smaller boys who wanted in on the action) to sing some of the songs so that we could record them.  Can't wait to share some of these with the kids!

 

Back to our New Reality

Time to settle up our bill and move on! As we paid up, the manager handed us the dirtiest two kwacha bill you could possibly imagine! haha!  Here we are bringing the crispiest US dollars that we can find only to be given the filthiest of kwacha in return. (If I was an African, I would set up a stand selling hand sanitizers to tourists).  Time to load up the van and get back to work.

We did take a little side trip on our way back home.  Linda and I had been in contact with our cousin Robin, whose foundation supports over 30 schools in Kafue through the Room to Read program.  Not only did we drive through Kafue, but we saw a sign for Room to Read and drove on in.  It turns out it was the office for the program, and they had gone home for the day, but the guard let us take a peak behind the metal door and take some pictures.  It was very cool to be able to make the connection between what Robin does and what we were seeing.

 

After our 8 hour ride back on Mr. Toad's Wild Ride (where we saw our 3rd flipped over truck since we have been here - roads are not too good here and the ditches next to them are even worse) we are back to our new reality, the House of Moses. The house is not named after Moses in the Bible, but they had their first infants lined up for their new found orphanage, and Moses was one of them. Unfortunately, he died in the night and never got the chance to live here, the House of Moses was named after him.  

Saturday at the house of Moses, is like any other day.  All work here is centered around the children. While half of our group headed out to shop for those items to big to carry here, the rest headed up to the nursery.  

This is not a run-of-the-mill orphanage, the House of Moses takes the children who are considered at-risk (either because of their health or their home situation).  That means that the staff here faces the potential heartbreak of a child dying here everyday.  While we were here, Joshua passed during the night.  We were all a bit stunned, and very saddened, but it is the unfortunate reality that the staff here must deal with.  The property walls are topped with broken glass shards and barbed razor wire, the doors are locked and a guard is posted outside - all to protect the little ones.  (Note that we are not allowed to post any pictures of children from the orphanages on the internet for their protection- we do have some great pictures and hope to share some of our favorites with folks back home the old fashioned way - by powerpoint...hahaha).

The nurse here prepares bottles of varying amounts and mixtures and passes out the bottles and the babies.  It is great to look into their eyes, and give them that nourishment that they need.  After lunch , they are full a of smiles and gurgles and gas! 

From there we moved down into the toddler room, and turned a nice calm room into the bedlam of toys, kids and cooing adults.

When the shoppers returned we filled the table with the the gifts that we are donating to the houses-shoes, socks, blankets, and three deluxe walkers!  We cannot wait to put them together and load them up with babies!

The Other Side of the River

Phew, we made it to the other side of the River and were met by the Safari guy, who helped us through the next round of immigration procedures.  Again, we queued up to be ignored by the people on the other side of the glass, and handed over our passports and visas (no one so far has looked at our medical records).  I am very excited that I am getting some stamps in my brand new passport - feel like a legitimate world traveller.  Next we had to go wipe our feet - no, not a ancient African tradition, it is one of the precautions that they have set up to prevent the spread of hoof and mouth disease in the country.  We even had to drive the van through a trough of water to wash the tires.  I have to tell you, it might be a legitimate way to prevent hoof and mouth disease, but wiping my feet on the filthy antiseptic soaked rags felt more like I was contaminating them than cleaning them.

Property in towns and cities is surrounded by walls (usually with glass and barbwire along the top) and a big metal door that you have to drive through (like the doors in the Wizard of Oz) and the Safari Outfitter place was no different.  Once inside the walls (which did not look so hot from the outside), we entered a little oasis, complete with swimming pool (and robot vacuum!).  We had a nice little breakfast (our second of the day, but who is counting- just seems like you cannot refuse food in Africa!).  We took a short walk down to the Chobe River where a double decker boat is waiting.  Our boat has a captain and two guides who did a great job of answering all our questions and giving us fun facts about the animals we were seeing.  The nine of us have full run of the boat.

We sat on our deck chairs and headed out (once again stopping to register at some official looking station) into the waters.  We didn't get very before our guide spots a crocodile on the river bank.  There are a number of tour boats in the area and at some point the whole thing seems Disney-like.  A little further down (where some other boats have stopped) we see our first big bachelor!  The land in the area is all parched and dry and we watch as this huge tusked elephant approaches the water to drink.....at least we think that is why he is approaching.  Our guide explains that the island in the middle of the Chobe is prime feeding territory and these big animals swim to the Island to eat.  Really?  Sure enough, the elephant enters the water and begins to walk deeper and deeper, until he is swimming (Janet says he is doing the buterfly, but I am pretty sure he was doing the breast stroke), dipping his head under the water and leaving his trunk up, like a snorkel!  I am feeling like Marlin Perkins - whispering as he approaches the Island and moves back up on land.  (Insert commercial break for Mutual of Omaha)

As we traveled around the Island we saw three of the big five (those are the 5 animals that can and will kill you if provoked, the elephant, hippo and Cape buffalo. (We did not see the leopard or rhino).  Four of them will give you a warning shot, but the Cape Buffalo prefers to just get down to business, thus they call him "the boss."  We also spotted some of the Ugly 5:  Malibu Stork, baboon (who are just running all over the place), and Warthog (we do not see the wildebeest or hyena- but we do hear them at night). There were lots of little impala around - what we in the safari business call "fast food"  Hippos were laying around like a big pile of rocks.  It truly is a National Geographic moment when you can see the hippos with the white birds around them, Elephants in the background, small impala on the edges and a couple of Pumbas running along the edge of the water.  

We're feeling pretty good about how our animal spotting is going as we arrive back at base for lunch.  This time we load up in a safari jeep right out of Jurassic Park and head on down the road.  We entered the park from the land side to get a new perspective.  Linda (who is channeling my dad) has been spotting all kinds of animals all day.  She is the first to see a giraffe (which I swear sounds like Your Ass when Janet says it, must be her French accent).  Now we see elephants playing, fighting, showering, one even gets a little aggressive on my side of the jeep ("just act unafraid" Really?  Didn't you just tell us these things kill people?).  

The bottom line is that the animals in this park look like God and Dr. Seuss worked together on their creation.  We have deer, they have deer with big spiral horns (Kudu), between the long necks and deelybobbers on their heads, the giraffes have a silly look, hippos have ridiculously small ears for a one ton animal, elephants?  Well the trunk just says it all - imagine sucking up water with your nose and blowing it into your mouth, or sucking up dirt to throw on your back and then using it as your utensil.  Yup, God does have a sense of humor.

We did not see any big cats, but did see the carcass of an impala up in a tree after a cougar? had it for breakfast.  Zebras are not in the area during this time of year.  Tom, the driver takes care of us though and pulled off on the side of a local zoo so we could see a lion and slowed down in the middle of traffic so we could see a zebra in another area.  TIA.  Driving in Africa could be a whole separate book.

Back to Waterberry for a little pampering....