Cai Turns One

On April 10 Cai turned one -already ! Gogo (granny) Jenny made him a duck pond cake which he really enjoyed.

Note the small yellow duck candle which he blew out himself (having been coached for days before by Bronwen !)

Zambian Team - Before and After

In March 2007 I led a group of three other Canadians - Harley, Logan and Milt (from left to right below) - on a trip to Zambia to visit The Simon Poultney Foundation project area there. The following entries - dated March - are related to the trip.

These are photos of the team before the trip (above) and on the last night in Zambia (below)

NOTE : All photos in the following entries were taken by Harley, Logan or Milt

Lusaka to London

Our taxis were on time at 7:00 am to take us to the airport and the check-in was smooth although laborious. The flight left on time at 9:00 am and the ten hours to London went by quite quickly. Unfortunately none of us had window seats to take advantage of flying over Africa during daylight hours but by walking around the cabin we were able to get glimpses out. Most spectacular were the red sand dunes as we flew over the Sahara Desert. It was sad to go our separate ways once we landed at Heathrow, as we were all taking different flights home after the free stop-over in England, but looking forward to getting back to our families and sharing all our experiences in person.

Last Two Days in Zambia

Tuesday - Milt and I spent our final day in the project area tying up loose ends and saying farewells with final visits to pastor, headman, clinic and school. Late in the afternoon we saw the first sheets of corrugated iron being put up for the roof of the new houses so it was again good to see progress there. On Tony's insistence we ended our stay the same way as we had begun it with a delicious dinner of Zambian steak and vegetables. Alberta produces good beef but Zambian beef is as good !

Wednesday - late morning, after final farewells to people on the farm, Tony drove Milt and I to Lusaka. After a late lunch and a final visit to The Lowdown to check e-mail and say farewell to Heather and Mark we checked into a guest house that had been recommended by another traveler that we met. Very spartan but clean and cheap so suited us fine. We went for a walk in the neighborhood to get some exercise and check out somewhere to eat later. Harley and Logan arrived back from Livingstone at 7:00 pm and all walked down to a local mall for supper where they told us all about their exciting trip. We were up quite a late as we spent time afterwards downloading and looking at a bunch of photos and reminiscing about the experience we'd just had in Africa.

One of the highlights of their trip - Logan and Harley got to "meet" a large crocodile at the croc farm in Livingstone !

Lusaka and Livingstone

Harley, Logan and I left the farm at 5:30 am and had a good trip into Lusaka. They caught a bus to Livingstone in the South West of Zambia to be tourists for a couple of days at the home of Victoria Falls. I went off to find the laboratory to deliver the water samples, which turned out to be a failure. Despite having a letter from the Ministry of Health in Kapiri to authorize the tests the lab director refused to accept them because I was delivering them and not the ministry officials ! She stated that if I wanted the tests done then I would have to pay the fees myself. Apart from the fees being exorbitant I had no cash with me and it would have taken a couple of hours to get to the bank and then back again. Very frustrating as we were needing the test results in order to move forward with the pumps that have been donated to SPF for the community - I had no choice but to abandon the process. My bad mood cleared over lunch with Jennifer Moumane. She worked with KidZCan in Zimbabwe and we had met her there in 2005. Her husband was transferred to Zambia in mid-2006 with the Catholic Relief Commission and she is currently on a contract with the Children's AIDS Fund out of Washington, DC organizing their Zambian operation. She has a soft spot for SPF so was keen to hear how things are going for us and is interested in helping as much as possible in Zambia as the project moves forward. Much later in the afternoon Tony arrived on a flight from Zimbabwe and we drove back to the farm for a late supper.

Harley and Logan saw the Victoria Falls from ground level and from the air :

Coffin for a Baby

Today we woke up to the sound of hammering and sawing going on in the back yard. Investigations lead us to find the farm carpenter in the process of making a coffin for a two-year old who had died on Saturday, apparently from malaria, in a village near the school; so the funeral was to be this afternoon.

Harley and Milt went to church at Kakulu Pentecostal while Logan and I went for a 9 km walk. A circular route which took in the school where we checked on further progress on the building project. (The builder is a Seventh Day Adventist so had taken Saturday off to go to church and was back on the job on Sunday.)

On our way from there we met people going home from another church so we chatted to them as we walked and before going our separate way. It was a very hot day so good to have a swim in the pool when we got back to the house. Late in the afternoon Harley and I went to collect water samples from three wells so that we could take them through to Lusaka on Monday morning for testing.

Visit to a Farm and Soccer

In the morning we all went into Kapiri. Harley and I went to a short meeting with some officials regarding the water wells while Milt and Logan went to have coffee and a chat with Khalil. We all then went out to Khalil's farm just east of Kapiri as he wanted to show it to us. With cattle, sheep and goats around it reminded me very much of the place I grew up on in Zimbabwe although a very much smaller scale and we had a pleasant couple of hours walking around seeing everything. He has a good selection of bulls and so does well at breeding his own stock. There is obviously a lot of potential for farming in the area if set up and managed properly. Later in the afternoon we went to Sungula school for a community league soccer game. As usual a lot of excitement at Logan playing on one of the teams (which won the match !) while the rest of us were supporters on the side lines. The game was disrupted by a heavy rain storm during which everyone took shelter in the classrooms but it soon passed and the game resumed and was completed.