Schools and falls

Again, the number of stories I need to tell is steadily increasing. But first off, it’s my birthday in Cape Town time! I am now 17 years old, at least according to my skewed sense of time.

Now that that’s over, to keep this chronologically intact, let’s turn back time to over a week ago to after we left Lusaka for Livingstone. We traveled via small bus first to St. Vincent De Paul Community School in the town of Monze. We only planned to drop of the insecticide treated bednets and maybe tour the school, since we informed them so last minute, but we were in for a surprise.

We met in a room with all the teachers. They were delighted to hear that we were partnering with the Malaria Foundation to supply the entire school with the bednets. Then they led us into their assembly hall where the entire school was waiting. Then we were treated to a song from the entire school that filled the entire room and completely impressed us. The chorus alone sang us another song about HIV/AIDS, malaria, and child trafficking, then a drama group did a small piece, and finally a culture group performed a dance for us. Not only were awestruck at the skill, they had put it together at a moment’s notice.

After presenting ourselves and the bednets, we traveled to a dwelling of a student (one of the drama students) to se the bednet hung. We played with the children there. Even though they were young enough to be in a U.S. preschool or even kindergarten, they seemed to be at home on a school day. I think they may have been there because there wasn’t a comprehensive preschool system in most of Zambia and there is also an older age for starting school. We also met the student’s grandmother. The parents had died, and the grandmother was raising the six children on her own. She couldn’t walk and could barely stand. When we met her, she was sitting under a tarp cooking a mix of chicken and fish in a pot.

The home itself was a small building made from mud (to the best of my knowledge), and a thatched roof. Unfortunately, we couldn’t see the mosquito net put up, probably because the room was too messy. After that, we thanked them and departed with a mass of young children as an entourage flanking the sides of our bus.

After yet another seven hour drive and after a ridiculously potholed road requiring creative driving, we arrived at the Natural Mystic Lodge. We dropped off our packs then sped over to Victoria Falls before it closed. Victoria Falls was as indescribable as any of the other Seven Wonders of the World. We got there right as the sun was dropping over the horizon. And, as is fitting of any incomprehensibly powerful and majestic phenomenon, here’s a poem, courtesy of yours truly.

Sunset over Victoria Falls

Waterfall under sunfall,
Two titans colliding with
Raw elegance
A last farewell to the simplicity of day,
A prelude to the romance of night
Ruby wings shrouded in diamond sprays of mist
Heat and cool caress
Spouting breaths of
Eternal glory

After being completely soaked by the spray of Victoria Falls, we went to a private outdoor barbecue at one of the hotels nearby, where we dried and relaxed over a fire.