Some thoughts on our first days in Zambia - a kind of diary
It was a long flight - 10 hours - and we didn't get much sleep on it even though
it was overnight. We arrived 1½ hours late and had only 20 minutes to catch the
connecting flight to Mfuwe. But the Safari Association had organised someone to
meet us and we got through incredibly efficiently this time - partly of course
because we knew the routine. They did have to hold up the Mfuwe flight a bit
for us, but there were only a few people on the flight - and everyone works on
African time anyway - so we got to Mfuwe Airport almost on schedule. And we
were met there in royal style!! Lots of familiar faces and greetings all round.
On the day we arrived it
got up to 32 degrees (90 degrees Fahrenheit) so we've had to acclimatise fast!
The countryside looks totally different this time. When we arrived last
year it was still very much the end of the dry season. Everything was
parched and dry and brown. But the rains have started already this year so
everything is beautiful and green. The crops are fantastic this time and I
think its going to be a bumper year. This really is the best time of year here
and we are so lucky to be here just now. The birds and frogs make the most
amazing chorus each evening and each morning. It's wonderful! If you go out in
the evening just after it becomes dark (being careful not to tread on a hippo of
course!) the sound of frogs is everywhere. And I do mean everywhere.
It takes a little while to come to terms with the fact that there are frogs
croaking high ABOVE you in the trees - the famous African tree frogs.
There has been the usual complement of monkeys and baboons around the camp - monkey business really is the right word. They are incredibly cheeky and mischievous. As I write this there is a troupe of baboons out on the Tree House just 100 yards from our cottage making a fantastic ruckus.
One
day at lunch time Gilbert the Elephant - who we got to know well last year -
walked right past our cottage and on past the chalets and restaurant. In the
evening we could here loud munching sounds outside the cottage and when we
looked out an enormous hippo poked her (according to Johnny all hippos are
female!) head out of the bushes and charged past 15 feet from the cottage. It's
a good idea to keep up your guard all the time out here.
We've taken the vehicle
out on one game drive so far. Thousands of impalas and lots of kudu. Zebras,
giraffe, wart hogs, lots of birds, especially glossy starlings, baboons, bush
buck, water buck, etc. It's wonderful to have all this accessible any time we
want.
We stopped in to the Clinic on Saturday (Dec 16) to find a few pleasant changes
- and a roof that is now leaking worse than ever because of a mini tornado that
happened a few weeks before we arrived. I'm hoping to get started on the roof
project soon - I've been down with a bad cold and cough though for a few days,
so not really able to get out to make a floor plan drawing nor to meet up with
the contractor. I'd like to get things moving before Christmas if I can.
Johnny has only just got his license (bureaucratic inefficiency) so was able to
start only on the afternoon of the 18th, 4 days after we arrived.
Johnny's first impressions -
From my point of view it is the change in me and my attitude that is so nice to behold - I felt besieged last year when arriving at the clinic but now I don't. When I arrive at the clinic I can jump up onto the platform there and greet people. There aren't the patient numbers that there were when we left last year - presumably because the fields have to be worked when the rains are fresh and the crops small and because the mosquitoes haven't started there dreadful work with malaria. The atmosphere at the clinic is good (it often wasn't) and it is possible to feel that we can achieve something. Zambian bureaucracy is terrible but there seem to be donor problems too - we were usually given a box of medications monthly - it was well thought through and if it all came it was adequate for the common and important illnesses - there is a rumour that there will be no further supplies for three months - by which time there will be no point in coming to see us! But we have not been told this for certain and no advice nor direction has been given about hoarding supplies or not giving out medicine now to those that come and can afford it in the hope of having that medicine when we need it in the months to come. It could be dreadful.
The young man whom I sponsored last year at school came yesterday to see me - he's grown over the year (of course) and he looks really well. We had a lovely meeting and he told me of his successes last year at school (I will see the reports tomorrow), the fun he had and what he needs for the next year (apart from the obvious need of a longer pair of trousers!). His mother died and Jess, the cleaner/dispenser took him on and bottle fed him - she is desperately proud of herself and him - and I am not surprised - he's lovely. I hope he will be a part of Zambia's future and will grow to help the world as has his aunt has done - she's one of those unsung heroines who just gets on with life and uses her brains to their best. There is a chance that Jess will be moving to the nearby outreach clinic and will be in charge of the treatment of simple illnesses and malaria and antenatal care - she's an obvious candidate for such a post and will do well. But I will miss her a lot and so will all the forthcoming doctors - as with lots of other places she's the human side to the medical care, like the ward cleaner often is in Britain. I will take the camera in one day and get a photograph of Jess (who's put on weight) and Mason, her nephew who is the one I've sponsored last year.
We'll miss out on Christmas cards again this year. So have a very Happy Christmas and a wonderful New Year! And think of us suffering in the tropical heat out here!
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