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.

Tuesday 30.04.2013

"Often during the holidays you can get as few as 50 or so kids on the first day" says Kelly our team leader. "Then as word spreads that can quadruple or more by the end of the week".

So we`re going to have our work cut out because this morning we were met by a crowd of upwards of 120 children, waving wildly at the bus as it drove by and then pursuing it with delighted cries of "Book-busee!" and "Kelly!"

We were at Zweilopili Community School, at Morelight in the Dambwa Compound of Livingstone, only twenty minutes or so from the centre of Livingstone but it might as well have been on a different planet.
After a greeting from the head we started straight in with the books and activities we had planned in the comparative serenity of the Bookbus the day before



but soon realised what Kelly had meant by the need for flexibility as,after a reading of Rumble in the Jungle, we were swept up in a tsunami of eagerness and energy, cries of "teacher! teacher" as hands reached for paper, crayons,scissors and glue to make their elephant headbands and exotic looking birds, older children ensuring that younger siblings were not left out.


The noise was deafening, the pace relentless, the fun enormous, the children`s enjoyment seeming out of all proportion to the simplicity of the activities.

In any event, by the time the bus left in a cloud of dust and a chorus of goodbyes and see-you-tomorrows it felt like we`d probably learnt at least as much as they had and earned our lunch into the bargain.

The first part of the afternoon was variously spent eating, sleeping, discussing the morning`s events and exploring the town a little more (including that coffee at Wonderbake) but then it was back to the drawing board to prepare for tomorrow - books? activities? games? songs? Whatever we arrive with it`s guaranteed the kids will respond with massive enthusiasm and big smiles.*

*We`ll try and take pics as and when we can of the actual sessions but these things need to be done with tact, respect and permission and probably not on the first day.

Sunday 28.04.2013

This acclimatising business is such hard work.....

breakfast by the pool and then a short drive to Mosi o Tunya, (the Smoke that Thunders in Lozi,) otherwise known as Victoria Falls and if anything lives up to its own publicity this does.



Awesome doesn`t begin to cover it. In any event most of the time we were rendered speechless by the roar and the fact that we got drenched in the spray.

Couldn`t quite understand why anyone felt it necessary to chuck themselves off the bridge over the gorge



even if they were attached to elastics.

It felt like enough of an adventure to negotiate the footbridge that was running in water whilst simultaneously getting hit by a horizontal deluge


but hey-ho, each to his own. Sartorially challenged maybe but very happy



we returned to town and after a late lunch...by the pool....


we strolled into town and found ice cream and, of course, good coffee!!

So that`s it folks - fully acclimatised: tomorrow we start work. Honest!!

Saturday 27.04.2013

Left home in a hailstorm and arrived in Livingstone about 28 hours later to temperatures of around 27 degrees.....bit of an adjustment but a very welcome one.

Met by team leader Kelly as well as the other two volunteers who`ll be with us this week - Lena from Germany and an American lady - Tena.

Installed into tents,stroll down Livingstone`s main drag, supper cooked for us (it being our first night) - in short - a gentle introduction....and guess what? It`s the school holidays!
However in some ways that could make it even more interesting and possibly give us a bit more scope and time to develop ideas and activities as it`ll be `holiday clubs`.

So tomorrow looks like it`ll be more adjustment time - it`s a tough life -



before getting down to the nitty-gritty on Monday.

Wednesday 17.04.2013

So suddenly, for the first of the Aberdeenshire contingent, there`s only just over a week to go.
How did that happen?

Last jabs for me this morning and thankfully no side effects: the others are all pin cushioned up and we are now asking each other things like "How much money are you taking? and "Have you got your mosquito net yet?"

The Readathon took place on a frankly cold and inhospitable day of which we`ve had quite a few this winter but nevertheless was pronounced a success - spreading the word about our own Mobile Libraries as well as the work of the BookBus to various locations in the shire



(that`s Aberdeenshire btw - not Hobbit land, although sometimes you wonder.....)and in the wake of which people are still sidling up and quietly producing cheques towards the project.

And our last fund-raising event was nothing short of a triumph - a packed hall for a quiz night that went on far longer than any of us anticipated and for which huge thanks is due to the organisers and the people who came out (on another freezing night!) and contributed so generously.

And, hard though it is to believe, it was the first time the five of us had actually been together since the idea was first mooted last year, so here we are in all our glory:



and two of us even remembered our Book Bus t-shirts!

So not quite sure what else there is to say at this stage. Feel strangely calm which might be a sign that something`s been forgotten.

As I write it is cold, it is wet, it is grey: in Zambia it is 28 degrees Farenheit with 0 percent chance of precipitation. That`ll do......not sure where the next post will be from but bring it on!

Wednesday 01.03.2013

Recently I`ve been wondering what the collective noun for Susans is.

A Susurration: "to make a soft rustling sound; whisper; murmur". Hmm. Perhaps not.

A Scrum? When someone shouts "Chocolate" maybe.

Perhaps, for the BookBus, it should be a Saturation. Three Susans in fact plus one Fiona and a Marcia and we have been doing our best to confuse the poor BookBus office because though we have been fundraising together we are going in two separate groups.

Emails have been flying hither and thither but it seems to have sorted itself out now and suddenly it`s March, flights are booked and jabs (ouch) are being organised.

But to back pedal for a minute. the last post promised more details.

So, "we" are all ladies, more or less, four of us work in and around the Aberdeenshire Library Service and the fifth works in a Care Home.

I`m one of the Susans, though I`m actually a Sue,and as well as Aberdeenshire Libraries I put in a bit of time at the fabulous new Aberdeen University Library so I`m able to plunder both places for resources and ideas.
I read, enjoy films and (often quite loud)music, write a bit, walk a lot, and drink strong black coffee though not necessarily in that order. In another life I was a teacher and became fascinated by the process of language acquisition in general and reading in particular and can bore anyone within hearing distance on the subject for hours.... and hours.... and hours.........

As for the other ladies - well they should speak for themselves and I`m sure they will.....biogs to follow. Suffice to say they`re a bunch of very talented people, storytellers, arts and crafts,and perhaps most importantly book-lovers all.


And where are we going? Zambia, which we realised quite quickly we knew very little about. Bald statistics, researched by Fiona, tell us that:
• Four out of five people live on less than $1 a day
• 130,000 children under 14 are infected with HIV
• One in six adults live with HIV/AIDS
• Life expectancy is just 40 years
• Zambia has a very young population – nearly half are under 14
• At least one in seven children, have lost one or both parents and many spend the day collecting water, tending fields or even running the family home.

It is also of course a stunningly beautiful place, boasting the wild Zambezi River, the Victoria Falls and abundant bird and wildlife some of which we`re hoping to see while we`re there.

The fund-raising meanwhile has been ongoing and we have discovered skills we never knew we had: public speaking; demon bartering at car boot sales


(two of the Susans on a beautiful freezing cold day last year)


extracting raffle prizes; sponsored “power-dressing” and secret auctions.

We`ve been overwhelmed by the generosity of colleagues, friends, families and total strangers, a generosity we fully intend to exploit again with one more event at the end of the month.

Meanwhile one of the Susans has organised a "Readathon" next week to raise awareness of the BookBus by the simple expedient of hi-jacking one of Aberdeenshire`s Mobile Library Vans and taking it to various venues in the Shire. Pics to follow hopefully.

And now things are moving on apace: BookBus are putting us in touch with other folk who`ll be on the bus with us, sending us their distinctive yellow t-shirts and the 2013 Field Guide full of advice and tips and things-to-remember.

Definitely time to turn our thoughts to what we`ll be doing when we get there. Preparation is all!