Vic Falls Vacation
I really want the beautiful pictures, which Cameron took, to show how much fun we had on our pre-Christmas vacation to Victoria Falls. The falls are between Zambia and Zimbabwe on the great Zambezi River. I had the pleasure of visiting these breathtaking waterfalls with my mother in March 2011, but just like the differing water levels over the falls this trip was also quite different and just as perfect… perfectly adrenaline saturated that is.
Within a few hours of arriving we both jumped off the Unity Bridge which connects the two countries. The following day we made our way down the rapids of the Zambezi River on individual inflatable kayaks. I can say that I probably swam more rapids than successfully kayaked, but it was a great day nonetheless. Our guide called it the triathlon: you hiked down and then back out of the steep gorge, you kayaked some rapids, and you ended up swimming even more of them!
On our last full day in Zambia we decided to go out to Livingstone Island situated right at the top of the falls. At the backpackers we were given two options for this adventure. We could boat out there or walk for a little less. As PCVs, we are certainly not adverse to walking or saving money, so we opted for the walk. Little did we know “walking” to the island means gingerly stepping from slippery rock to slippery rock, with strong currents up to your knees, holding on to nothing but the local guide and an equally terrified Cameron. Earlier in the year the water levels are so much lower that the way is dry and much less dangerous. What takes 30minutes to traverse then took us 1 ½ hours to safely cross. They were going to close down this activity all together within two weeks due to the rising waters. We got some great pictures at the precipice of the falls, but we chose the boat ride on the way back.
While on the island, though, you can swim up and across a current to jump into Devil’s Pool. This is a small catchment of water, held in by a small rock ledge, before tumbling over the edge. Cameron and I both sat on that ledge knowing that if we moved back more than a foot we’d be heading over as well.
With all of that unexpected excitement we decided to relax that afternoon and go out for drinks and then dinner at the Royal Livingstone Hotel, on the river, that night. We bopped over to Zimbabwe for our final morning to see the falls from that side of the bridge. It was certainly a spectacular view from both sides. From that point, though, we could see the places we were walking and swimming just the day before from a completely different vantage point. Great pictures were taken.
We hurried back across the border and bridge to grab our bags and make our flight back to Jo’Burg, South Africa. I guess I carried an unwanted souvenir back with me: a stomach bug. Our night at the Jo’Burg backpackers and 4 hour shuttle ride to Swaziland the following day was not so much fun. Luckily it didn’t last for more than a couple days.
Conference Money Update & Thank Yous!
This past week we received an update on how our fund raising efforts are going for sending our Teen Club members to the International AIDS Conference. Thanks to everyone who has already contributed to this amazing effort we are currently able to send two teens to the US! We are still working to get our numbers within our goal range of 3-6 awesome representatives, but this is such an overwhelmingly positive response. For those of you who donated for me or are planning on donating: thank you so very very very much!!! I couldn’t feel more supported and loved.
We also narrowed our selection of these stellar teens from 70 to 11, based on their age (must be 16years old or older to attend this conference), their attendance and participation in teen club, adherence to their medication and clinical staff recommendations. These 11 came into the clinic this past Wednesday for our first meeting and workshop. We discussed timelines, final selection process, conference requirements, conference programs, and then had a mini-workshop on scholarship/application writing and public speaking. These truly amazing teens will come back in this Thursday to hand in their scholarship applications and give a small presentation based on a question we gave them at the end of our previous meeting. Choosing the final six to register and submit, I already know, will be very difficult.
Christmas/New Year’s Eve
I hope everyone enjoyed this holiday season as much as I did. Even carrying back the stomach bug souvenir from the Zambezi River, I had a terrific Christmas day with my PCV family. We ate good food, went to the Christmas vigil service (complete with Swazi-fied manger scene ), ate more good food, opened gifts from each other and Santa, listened to Christmas music the entire time, and watched one of my favorite Christmas movies: Love Actually.
Come to think of it, my New Year’s Eve was very similar. Same friends, same location, and the same caliber of amazing food and drinks! The only differences were that I was sans a stomach bug, we lit off fire crackers (per Swazi tradition) at midnight, and danced in our living room… ‘til 3am. It was a perfect way to welcome in 2012.
Visiting Site
The first weekend of January I took a trip to visit my host family, the Broodryks, and friends in Ekuphumleni. It is hard to believe that 5 months have come and gone since I have last slept in my thatched roof hut and dined on Make’s excellent emahewu (soured maize meal drink). To be honest, I was a bit anxious to get on my deathtraps, I mean public transport buses, and make the journey across the country. Luckily, the bus broke down only a little and I was to the Dlamini homestead by 12:30 on the Saturday afternoon. I’m also very grateful that the rare set of clouds had decided to follow me down from the mountains, cooling the blistering hot summer days I have not missed in the lowveld. It was probably only in the 80s. :-)
My family is doing great! I got to give everyone massive hugs, which they still laugh hysterically at, and twirl every child. Babe was home and even one of my sisis and her baby, who live off the homestead now. We played cards, talked, watched Cameron’s and my bungee videos (they were shocked), and made/ate every maize dish that I had not had since living there. They even kicked my bhuti, Lindo, out of “Zodwa’s house”, so I was able to sleep in my thatched hut yet again. The spiders and lizards missed me. :-P Lindo have even written “Welcome Back” in the house. It was good to be home.
Sunday I was able to walk up to A1 and visit my counterpart, Vusi, the Group 9 volunteer that was stationed in my community after I left, and the Broodryk family. This was also a wonderful afternoon spent relaxing, catching up, and even watching Extreme Home Makeover on TLC! Ha! I left to come back up to Mbabane on Monday with Johanne, who quite conveniently had to do some errands in the capital! No bumpy rattle boxes on wheels for me on the way back! Yay!
Data Collection/Grant Writing
The first Teen Club of 2012 was certainly a busy one! We are currently applying for grants to keep Teen Club going, and to do that we need to show that Teen Club works. To prove that these support groups are as awesome as I know they are, we are performing an evaluation of the program that includes 184 youth interviews, 4 volunteer interviews, 8 participant focus group sessions, and an interview with the coordinator: me.
