GSJ// Zambia - One for the history books

Final Reflections - Zambia

Official grade posted to the registrar's office, the course is complete. I will have memories to last a lifetime. This will now be my last post on my January 2013 trip to a new continent, and country that I now hold a special place for in my heart. My hope that this is just one of many trips that I have to places far and wide. This trip provided an opportunity to grow personally and have a deeper and fuller understanding of the world and the people in it.

 

During my first week in Lusaka, I had the opportunity to volunteer and spend time at the Maluba House where I met some very strong women, and a strong girl fighting for her life. They recently lost funding for the adult wing of the hospice and only had a clinic and hospice home for children up and running. Unfortunately while I was there only one child was using the hospice home, it was between busy times for some reason. I was touched by the hard work and resilience that the women had that were working to provide care in this facility and how much love they had for the people of Zambia, many whom have been struck with AIDS/ HIV. The most significant relationship I made was with Hari a volunteer medical administrator from India who committed to a 2-year contract to work as the primary medical administrator for this site. I hope we will be able to reconnect at some point again.

   

(Left: Hari & I; Right: one of the rooms at the Maluba House - girls wing)

 

Another touching experience we had was visiting the organization Chikumbuso visit their facebook page here, and their website here. 

 

 

  

For some reason blogger is not letting me upload a video which makes me really sad, because these women sung for us between a few of them telling their journey and story in relation to Chikumbuso. It was beautiful. The organization is beautiful, and I'm glad that these women have found hope in a future, community to depend on, and a place that is safe for the children to go to school and get one solid meal a day. I encourage you to visit their website and see more of what they are all about, and you can purchase their hand-crafted products state side or donate to their organization. 

There are many more stories to tell, and things I learned from this trip even now two months later that I can reflect on, but none that can be totally articulated through this blog. I am blessed and thankful for the opportunity to travel and spend time there, and next time I go abroad; I will be very happy it will not be for class!

Global Search for Justice// Botswana Safari

  

Chobe, Botswana

January 17th & 18th, 2013

This is my third post regarding my trip in January to the continent of Africa. You can read my previous two posts {one} & {two}, to understand why I went on this trip and the experiences that I have had; each post is going in chronological order.

After thoroughly enjoying the amenities of the Protea hotel in Livingstone and seeing one of the seven natural wonders of the world we were off! We drove in our bus to the border of Zambia to the Zambezi river that separates Botswana and Zambia. There we went through border patrol on the Zambian border followed by border patrol on Botswana's side. We took a small, what seemed to be a small fishing boat over the river, with no life jackets...but no worries we all made it safely across!

 

 

It did not take long to realize that during the safari portion of our trip we would be one with nature. Monkeys, mongoose, and hippos were everywhere. Our resort we stayed up was right on the shoreline of the Zambezi river and bordered the national reserve where we did our game ride early in the morning. 

 

 

   

 After getting acclimated for the remainder of the first day it was up early the next morning for our game ride, something I am so happy I had the opportunity to do, and it's a must for anyone visiting Africa no matter where in the continent.

If I ever go back to Africa, or anywhere for a prolonged period of traveling time, I will be purchasing a nice fancy camera. Until then these are what I took on my Nikon CoolPix S4200.

 

 

   

I posted photos earlier {here} from the safari of my favorites, so if you're so inclined, you can take a peak.

 

After all the time spent in the morning game ride and afternoon boat ride there was sufficient enough evidence that I was burnt....the fine print of side-effects associated with prophylactic malaria antibiotics were no joke; "sun-sensitivity"!
I didn't let it inhibit my time though! I enjoyed the "mini-vacation" during the time I was away. 

 

Global Search for Justice// Victoria Falls

Livingstone, Zambia

January 15th & 16th, 2013

This is the second post on my trip this past January, click {here} to read about my first impressions of Zambia as well as why I chose to travel there.

After being in the country for a little over a week it was time for our "tourist" portion of the trip. This was where we drove 7 hours in a bus from Lusaka to Livingstone. Livingstone is home of Victoria Falls which is labeled as one of the 7 natural wonders of the world.

 

         

 
When we arrived in Livingstone we knew it would be a total different experience than back in Lusaka, starting by our living arrangements. We stayed at the Protea hotel in Livingstone and it was everything you'd expect from back in the states.

   

That night we were left on our own for free time to get dinner and explore, I took full advantage of all that was offered at the hotel and got a good nights sleep before the main attraction early the next morning at Victoria Falls. 

 Victoria Falls

So when we first got to where you could see the falls all you could hear were massive amounts of water, this video of course does not do it justice!

 

 

 

 

 

After going around the falls, we went to the end to of the falls where there is a traffic bridge that crosses from the Zambia side to the Zimbabwe side. There we had the opportunity to zip-line across the bottom of the falls. Definitely one of the highlights of the trip!

 

 

 

 

Well that was enough of a break from my Monday check-list. Hope you enjoyed the photos!

Global Search for Justice// First Impressions

Zambia, Africa

Friday, January 4 - Friday, January 25, 2013// 3 weeks// 22 days

This past January I had an opportunity as mentioned previously {here} to travel to Africa for the first time. I did this through my university for a study-abroad J-term trip. This class gave me the chance to travel outside the United States, earn a necessary 4 credits to graduate, and be in warmer climates during winter. I had not heard or known very much about Zambia prior to choosing this course. The country is beautiful; particularly green & lush during the rainy season (October - March), the people are friendly, and the culture is something we all can appreciate and learn from. I know that there's only so much I can share in this context, but if there's one thing you can get from reading my excerpts is to travel often and for long enough periods to get to know the culture and people from there. You won't regret it, promise. This trip was worth far more than how much it cost, and I will never forget it!  

Course Description:

This course offers students the opportunity to explore an interdisciplinary and global understanding of justice issues, and to examine alternative approaches to actions/strategies designed to remedy injustice.  Through reading, discussion and reflection in the US and Zambia, and through interviews, field observations, shadowing, and service learning in Zambia, we will explore how worldview, ethical dilemmas and the forces of modernization interact to shape personal identity resulting in moral action on behalf of others. Our focus is on women, their daily lives, education, work and role in society.

Previous Travel Abroad Experience: 

2007: High School trip to Europe (France, Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg) {10 days}

2010: College Swimming training trip (San Jose, Costa Rica) {10 days}

2012: College Swimming training trip (Bahamas) {7 days}

The time zone in Zambia is 8 hours ahead of Central Time Zone, so on the trip over we lost time and it was essentially a 48-hour travel marathon to get to Zambia. Our flight flew (Delta) to Amsterdam then we transferred flights (KLM) that went to Lusaka. However, the flight pattern went so we left from Amsterdam in the morning for a 10 hour or so flight that stopped in Harare, Zimbabwe where we had to wait on the plane for 2 hours (seating complications), and then went to Lusaka. I can say that I love to go places, but the transportation from one place to another is just not my thing.  Below are some photos of the first impressions in Zambia, we stayed the first week in the capital city of Lusaka, Zambia. You can see other first impressions {here}.

 

 

  

  

Zebra Guest House: We arrived early Saturday night/ Sunday morning at about 2:30am Zambia time to a room where I would call home for the majority of my time away. I lived with one roommate Jacki (last photo is of Jacki & I in our room), who is also in the nursing program with me. Each room had two beds, a small refrigerator, television, and bathroom. We were really lucky our shower was hot and had a solid flow the entire time. There were mosquito nets provided, but I didn't see many bugs and chose not to use them. Actually I went the whole trip with only 2 mosquito bites, which I got during my time in Botswana. 

Bus: During our time in Lusaka, we had a bus driver (William) that drove us everywhere we needed to go during group activities. Otherwise we walked or took a taxi. He was very loyal to us and always got to places efficiently as possible.

Time: One thing we learned quite quickly during our time in Zambia, is that time is relative. On time and efficiency as something that was taken very lightly. This was definitely an adjustment in regards to meal time, I am used to eating fairly regularly something (even if it's a small snack) about every 3 hours, I learned quickly this was not going to happen during my time here. Since it was the rainy season, everything seemed to operate even slower due to "waiting out the rain". 

I am going to write a series of post regarding my trip in Africa, this is the first of the series.