Happy times

Before I’ll tell you about the fantastic week I just spent with my mum, I want to start with telling you about the club competition we had last Friday. You might remember that the attendance of the teams has been an issue throughout the year. However, this club competition turned out to be completely different, in a positive way though :) 

Believe it or not, but when I arrived at 15 hours (exact on time. In the beginning I used to arrive 10 minutes before time, like I do at home. However, I quickly figured out that I just have to wait even longer, when I do that :D Hence, I’ve changed my habits, so I’m now on time :)), ALL the teams had already arrived! Wow, I was sooo impressed and happy :) In that moment I really felt that I’m actually having an impact :) It was our best club competition and everybody enjoyed it a LOT, especially me :)

Here are some pictures

Girls playing netball

Boys playing football

Just a cute little girl

The boys love the camera

Well, the girls do it as well :)

Girls in action

Happy spectators :)

Saturday it was time for me to go to the airport to pick up my mum :) juhhuuu!!!! I was so excited to seeing her again! We had such an amazing time :) Besides a little bit of work, which I had to do, we just enjoyed life! I think I’ll just let the pictures tell:

Thanks mum! I think, now I can survive the last month :D

And even a bigger thanks!!! I really miss rye bread

So what did we do?

Sunset drinks at the Royal Livingstone Hotel

Watching the zebras grassing at the Royal Livingstone Hotel

Visiting the Victoria Falls :) 

Walking down to the boiling pot

At the boiling pot

Nice blue sky

The bridge between Zimbabwe and Zambia

Nice view

Amazing falls

Lunch at the Zambezi Sun Hotel

We spent two nights on a little island called Bovu Island
(http://www.junglejunction.info)

Sitting in the back of a truck on the way to the island

the back of the truck

our view the whole way

The bar at the lodge

Our canoes

The bar and relaxing area

Sunset canoe tour

Lovely sunset

The showers

The nice and very hot shower

We visited a local village close to the island. It was really nice to see everything and get a traditional lunch :) Especially for my mum, since she hasn't seen any village before, not eaten the traditional food and not tried to eat with the fingers :D (I get the traditional food every day and eat with the fingers all the time at home :D)

The storage room

the chicken house

a family and their house

a church

That's how they cut vegetables (they don't use cutting boards :D)

A child keeping us company

My mum trying to cook nsima :D

It ALWAYS cooks over :D

(it's nsima - the traditional stable food in Zambia)

My mum enjoying eating with the fingers :D

Saturday it was time for the first fun day this year :) I was quite excited about it and really looking forward to it, with some mixed feelings though :D The reason for my mixed feelings was the fact that we had had the planning meeting for this fun day 1 ½ weeks ago. My experiences throughout this year have shown me that it’s best to have the planning meetings 1-3 three days before the event. However, due to some organisational things at Kwenuha, we had to do it in this way. In addition to that, I was quite excited about that my mum got the chance to experience a bit of the fun day :)

We arrived at 9 hours (when the fun day was supposed to start) but yeah, my mum obviously had to experience the African time :D At 10:15 hours still not all teams had arrived but we started anyway. And we had an AMAZING day!!! The sports captains did a very good job and everybody enjoyed the fun games and the foot- and netball matches :)

Here are some pictures

Boys doing the relay

Wheelbarrow relay

Traditiona game

"catching the bird" game

piggyback relay

Tuck the rope

The winners

Boys having fun

The sports captains skipping

Boy dancing

Girls playing

The food and drinks for the 240 children

Football team 1

Football team 2

Football team 3

Stella with her child

Muzala and  me enjoying the day

Children watching their mum playing netball

Doreen and Prisca in action playing netball

Trying to distribute the food

The rest of the weekend has been quite nice as well :) Saturday evening it was time for another sunset cruise and yesterday evening we had a braai at rapid no. 7 :) 

The plan for this week is still not 100% set. Either this or next week, I’m going to do a workshop in Kicking Aids Out for the sports captains. I’m really excited about facilitating a workshop on my own and I’m really looking forward to it :) In addition to that I’m going to do field visits in the different sport clubs and writing reports about the fun day, club competition and the trainings in the clubs. Besides this, I really have to get started with my exam paper…the deadline is the 2^nd of June and yeah, I’m not that far yet…:D T.I.A :) On Thursday night I'm going to Lusaka for celebrating the Norwegian Constitution Day at the Norwegian embassy in Lusaka :) I'm REALLY excited and looking forward to seeing my fellow volunteers again!!! yeah :)

Right, and do you know what? In 26 days I’m already home!!! It’s crazy how time is flying!! Both in a good and bad way…it’s just now, where I have started seeing and feeling that I’m actually having an impact and influence on people. It’s a really nice feeling but it also makes it more difficult to leave…I like it a lot and I’ve had an amazing time :) On the other hand, I’m looking forward to seeing and being a bit closer to family and friends again :) 

To say it in short, this has been both the best and most challenging year in my life so far :) in a good way though…If you ever get the chance to work in Africa for a year, then do it!!! It’s definitely all the challenges worth it :)