Monday 20.05.2013

Blogging every move of an adventure like this can be a seductive past-time, the danger being that more time is spent blogging than doing

So was going to start with a hazily remembered quote about "emotion recollected in tranquillity" (which I think was Wordsworth) but then got sidetracked by a spat between poets (as you do) because apparently T.S.Eliot said:

"We must believe that emotion recollected in tranquillity is an inexact formula. For it is neither emotion, nor recollection, nor without distortion of meaning, tranquillity.


Well, sorry T.S. but it`s the best I can do, as this last post is being done in relatively tranquil circumstances, 9 days after leaving Zambia: it may well, therefore, contain some `inexactitudes` so anyone who spots them please correct them!

During the rest of our week at Sende we spent some time at each session learning names(written in black marker on strips of masking tape - instant badges).



They ranged from the familiar - Ruth, Joshua,Kerry,Henry - to those which Kelly explained would have related to something specific at the time of that child`s birth - what could have inspired the name Loveness for instance? - to the ones that made you smile - Innocent for example might have been more appropriately named Mischief.

The week included a guided tour of the village conducted by Lillian, one of the pre-school teachers.


It felt like a genuine privilege to be invited to do this. Each family, or extended family, have their own designated plot and there was a feeling of security and community support which probably has a lot to do with the fact that it takes several weeks and interviews by the headman before a family is permitted to live in the village.

Lillian explained about the buildings and way of life, introduced us to the headman and generously answered our questions.

There was the expected:
the local carrier


complete with parking attendant to ensure the animals don`t wander off,


a relatively recently installed well for water,



which then has to be carried home for the chores



and without wishing to fall into generalised cliché it was impossible not to note how elegantly poised these strong, hard-working women were.

But there was also the unexpected: the snooker table - albeit one with ripped baize - under cover in a communal building or the satellite dish on the roof.

Satellite dish? Where there`s no electricity? Lillian simply smiles and says when there`s football being televised they have a generator and everyone gathers round to watch the match...including some of the women..and yes they have a football pitch in the village (there was a game scheduled for the following day against Livingstone) - and yes, some of the girls did play football.

And there were other sights that gave pause for thought where we were working that week: the child and woman carrying a bucket of water they`d just pulled up from the well, the woman using a mobile phone with her spare hand.
Or the slightly larger but still traditionally built mud-building with two massive speakers attached to the exterior wall - the local bar.

Inevitably the last morning arrived. After a spirited rendition of Eric Carle`s From Head to Toe which involved a lot of stomping, bending and and back-arching,(my crocodile wiggling only surpassed by Lena`s monkey arm waving)



and the colouring and stapling and glueing of countless fish plus the ever popular (and thankfully quite simple) crowns,we were able to actually hand out some books for the children to take home.

No doubt word had spread for there seemed more children than ever but thanks to all the extra hands (Cathy, a volunteer arrived from the UK the previous Friday,Sarah, newly arrived and due to run another Bookbus project, local volunteer Evans, Lillian and trainee teacher Claudia) orderly queues formed and it was an amazing way to finish the week.


All that remained was the final (for some of us)group photo,


much waving and cries of goodbye as we left, weary, dusty but exhilarated and with some of the children hanging on, literally, to the last possible moment.......





And while we packed in as much as we could with the children that second week we were also aware of our time running out for exploration of Livingstone and our little bit of Africa.
There was a local meal of nshima ** to experience (excellent by the way, washed down with the local beer);



the museum to visit and the market to wander through again


not to mention more good coffee at W.B.,negotiating with the artists and craftsmen who sold us our souvenirs and simply strolling the streets of Livingstone.


Our penultimate afternoon and evening, once we`d scrubbed up a bit, was spent at the Royal Livingstone on the shores of the Zambezi within sight of the Smoke-That-Thunders,firstly to take High Tea, a strangely wonderful experience, especially if limitless quantities of cake is your thing


and then, as the sun began to sink below the yardarm to shimmy down to the sundecks and partake of what the hotel blurb tells us the "early settlers" called the "sundowner ritual",


serenaded somewhat bizarrely by a man perched on a fence behind us quietly playing old Beatles tunes on a flute while monkeys scampered about pinching as many of the snacks they could get away with.

Last but not least, Friday night was spent at Olga`s again, more amazing pizza, good company and plans already being hatched for more Bookbus adventures......did someone mention India? ;)

Which about wraps it up really. Huge credit to Kelly, who single-handedly but with a light touch, guided and informed us, laughed with us, shopped, cooked and cared for us and without whom the whole experience would have been much diminished. Saying goodbye was not easy:
to Grubby`s beautiful Grotto



to `Cuzzie` who mooched round companionably the whole fortnight keeping an eye on things


to the wonderful Wonder Bake coffee


to new friends


and of course, to the inestimable Kelly.


We`ll be back!

**http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nshima

Oh and there were chickens btw - but there were a lot more elephants.........

Keep up to date with the other Aberdeenshire contingent @
www.fionazambia.blogspot.com

and keep following the BookBus @
http://thebookbusuk.blogspot.co.uk/

Thursday 9.05.2013

The days are beginning to merge as we hurtle towards the end of the week.

Perhaps the first thing to note, especially for those following on,is that the mornings and evenings are getting distinctly chilly and the ride to school on the open bus in the mornings already requires a jacket, and possibly by next week a woolly hat!

A second week of holiday club but this week we`re at Sende, a village outside Livingstone where the school rejoices in the name of Twabuka, translated as `awake` or `morning` or `dawn`, a name full of optimism if ever there was.

The last few miles are along sandy, bumpy roads past "homesteads" of thatched huts and well-swept yards from where waving children call out the now familar mantra of "BookBus" and "Kelly".
Some of the children (and the occasional adult,teasing with a broad grin) are also calling out "one book! one book!", a reference to a project run by the BookBus last year to actually get a book in every hand.

We park by the pre-school building which is a little way from the village and has a handy shady tree nearby under which a group of children are already gathered. By the time the mats are out and we`ve launched into books and activities many more are arriving and yet again it`s time to improvise,extemporise and generally think on our feet to ensure all the children get something to take home with them.



It`s a delight to watch as the children wander back down the tracks at the end of a morning clutching - or wearing - the results of their labours. The lions were particularly impressive,



the big ones making sure the little ones don`t get left out,


then a helping hand to clear up


before heading home.

Tuesday 7.05.2013

So,pub quiz question:
"which is the only place in the world where four national borders meet?"

As we started to cross the Zambezi from Zambia to Botswana on Saturday morning the ferryman pointed out that we could also see the shores of Zimbabwe and Namibia. As interesting as that was, the sensation of bouncing across the water at what seemed like great speed was taking all our concentration, not to mention eliciting undignified whoops of delight occasionally.

Then came the slightly more sober but very straightforward process of immigration into Botswana (including having to disinfect our boots to guard against transmitting foot and mouth - shades of Scotland there) and we were off on safari.

And here,words begin to fail. We`d booked a weekend in the Chobe National Park,* renowned for the wealth and diversity of its wild life.
First up a cruise out on the Chobe River


then, after lunch, an extended ride around the park, the whole thing enriched beyond measure by our friendly and very knowledgeable guides who went to great lengths to seek out the animals and birds we`d come to see and could answer any question we cared to throw at them.
Perhaps we`ve become blasé about images of wildlife so readily accessible on film but to get close-up and personal with the real thing is still breathtaking





At dusk, as we were heading towards our camp for the night,a lioness with two cubs emerged from the track. Watching them wander past reduced us all to an awed silence.
After a meal round the fire and reassuring Marcia that she would actually live long enough to make her 60th birthday the next day despite talk of nearby lions and rampaging buffalo, we were ushered to bed in the sturdy little tents provided and fell asleep to the sounds of the bush - and whispers of "Which is the loo tent again?"

Happily Marcia made it through the night, though one of the aforementioned buffalo, "the most dangerous animal in the park", was mooching about on the outskirts of the camp in the morning, steadfastly ignoring the guide`s attempts to shoo it away.

And then we were off again for the day, freezing as we drove round just after sunrise looking for "cats and dogs" (for which read lions, leopards and hyenas all of which we saw) but warming up later as,thanks to our guide, we successfully spotted what felt like every animal and bird species on the continent.
And by the time we finally returned, dusty and tired but exhilarated beyond measure we discovered the big birthday had not been forgotten back at base.




No time for the "Sunday Blues". We sang Happy Birthday and went to bed dreaming of elephants, ready for a new week and a new school.

N.B. no animals were hurt or money donated to BookBus spent in the making of this weekend, just in case anyone was wondering. ;)

*http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chobe_National_Park

Monday 05.05.2013

Breakfast with Buffalo. A fairly unusual way to spend your 60th birthday perhaps but for one of our party (Marcia) that`s exactly what she found herself doing on Sunday.

Kelly`s predictions about numbers increasing exponentially during the week proved correct: by our last morning we had the best part of 300 children arriving for their holiday club activities with the Bookbus.

With a bit of blue-sky thinking and some extra preparation on Thursday night, 180 bear paws were magically transformed into around 280 cat paws for using after a reading of Cats,Cats and More Cats.

The queues went round the block,



the demand for paws outstripped supply so more were hurriedly created,



carefully coloured in



and worn with pride.



Time for a break after all that hard work and it was somehow reassuring to see the boys pushing the roundabout too fast for some of the girls who screamed with a mixture of fear and delight and begged them to stop, which of course they didn`t. Some things really are the same the world over.



Meanwhile for the BookBus volunteers, sadly leaving Zweilopili School for the last time there was nevertheless a weekend off to look forward to, starting on Friday with a visit to Marimba market,





followed by a drink while watching the sunset over the Zambezi before a meal at Olga`s,where not only do the profits go toward supporting vulnerable youngsters in Livingstone but they also happen to make the best Pizza in town. (www.olgasproject.com)

The rest of the weekend was all about 60th birthdays, a night in the bush and an enormity of elephants. But that will have to wait for the next post.

Thursday 2.04.2013

If it`s Bears it must be Thursday. Yesterday it was Snakes and the day before the Elephants and Birds.

Definitely an animal theme to the week then and today`s books, the classic We`re Going On A Bear Hunt and Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? were big hits, especially the latter which allowed for a lot of repetition and chorusing of the words.

Naturally after that the only thing to do was make Bear headbands,all diligently prepared the night before



and worn at the appropriate jaunty angles the next day




And unless you`ve stood in the dust and the heat, stapling 120 bears` heads on to 120 headbands with only 2 staplers between you well - you haven`t lived.........

In between there was singing - old favourites they were clearly familiar with (If You`re Happy And You Know It) and new ones they picked up very quickly and continued to sing with much gusto as we prepared to pack up and leave...though obviously some of them already have pretty well established musical preferences



A bit of down time this afternoon, a dip in the pool, lunch, a stroll into town and more of that coffee and then it was back to work: books to pick,activities to plan - definitely not involving staples this time - and about a million pencils to sharpen.

Unbelievably it is a week tomorrow since we left for this adventure: it is going far far too quickly.