Don’t stop believing!

When I Thursday morning started writing this update, I didn’t know that the day would turn out to become a special one. Yes you are right, the elections were hold on that day and the ruling party even won (so people were celebrating happily) but what I didn’t know and didn’t expect to happen was that my host dad was released from prison!!! Yep, you read correctly. He is free :) He wasn’t even supposed to appear in court on Thursday! But somehow, they must have thought that keeping him in prison for 6 months without having proper evidence, is enough :)

I was so happy, when I came home to the compound, after a good yoga workout and having had a nice dinner at the Golden Leaf with Iris, Marco and Brigitte :) Now my host mum just have to come home (she has been in South Africa since the 7th of March) and then we are going to celebrate the family reunion! I’m really looking forward to that day :)

Celebrations in town

Happy people in the compound :)

(from the left: Patrick, me, my host dad, Iris, Brigitte and Marco)

Iris and me in my garden

You maybe wonder, why I have chosen this headline. Well, it’s not that I want to give you a lecture on faith or on how you have to think or behave. No! I just want to point out for you, how impressed I am of my host family and their way of thinking during the last 6 months! They never stopped believing in that everything is going to be fine again. Together we were strong and made the best out of the situation :)

Now, let me go back to where I stopped last time.

My last update was right before the International Women’s Day and when I still had the hope of participating in the walk through town. Well, since lack of money I’ve the whole time been told that Kwenuha Women’s Association is not going to participate. I thought it would be a shame, if we don't participate and I couldn't understand, what we need the money for...yes I know, we kind of need an uniform and a banner but why can’t we just wear the same colour of skirts and t-shirts and take the regular banner, which doesn’t have a date on it? We can and Thursday at the meeting that was our final decision. Nevertheless, the majority in the last minute decided not to participate…the reason? No money, no food, no energy…

You can’t imagine how frustrated I was…I think it’s a pity that a Women’s Organisation (which by the way deals a lot with HIV/Aids) isn’t capable of participating in the Women’s Day (and also not in the World Aids Day).

Whatever, as mentioned in the last post, Friday the 8^th and the 12^th of March were holidays and since I took the 11^th off, I had 5 days in a row off. Nice :)

So what were my plans? Honestly, I didn’t really have a plan. Since I hadn’t been further up in Zambia than Lusaka, I had an idea of travelling to northern Zambia. However, it turned out to be a bit difficult to plan a trip up north. It was impossible to get information about the bus timetables etc. on the Internet and to figure out how to reach different places, when you don’t have your own car. But yeah, I really wanted to see and experience something new :)

Hence, I was Friday morning on my way to Lusaka, still with no plan though :D

I kind of had the idea that I wanted to travel to a place called Shiwa Ng’andu. Well, while sitting in the 7 hours bus to Lusaka, I started realising that it wasn’t realistic to reach the place and to be back in Livingstone by Tuesday night. In addition to that, it would have cost too much money…Damn, I had to make a new plan or rather get a new idea :D

I opened my Lonely Planet and had a look at what else is an attraction in the northern part of Zambia and which is not too far up north. Hmmm…somehow I ended with Mutinondo Wilderness.

“This is perhaps, the most stunning place in northern Zambia: a beautiful 10,000-hectare wilderness littered with whaleback hills or inselsbergs – huge, sweeping hulks of stone in varying shades of black, purple, green and brown. The landscape here feels unspoilt and somehow ancient."

Didn’t sound too bad and was only another 7 hours bus away from Lusaka :) Right, next questions: How do I get there? Where do I stay? I called the owner of the lodge and what I later found out was that I had been very lucky to actually get hold of him (the reception is REALLY bad) and that there even was a free bed for me :)

After a nice dinner with Johanne and some deliberations about, if I should go on this trip on my own or not (yep, I went on my own – my friends either had to work, were not feeling well or wanted to stay in Livingstone), I bought my bus ticket for the 6 a.m. bus to Mpicka next day. Still a bit doubtful on what I was doing, I tried to get some sleep Friday night. However, at 4:30 a.m. I already had to get up again, to go to the bus station. A bit delayed, the bus left Lusaka and this was the beginning of my adventures :)

5 a.m. = Vivi ready for her trip

Bus journeys in Zambia are always exciting both in a good and negative way :D Besides enjoying the nature and all the funny and weird things you see happening next to the road, while listening to the loud gospel music in the bus, you never know if the bus will be on time, how the person next to you will be like, if the bus is going to break down in the middle of nowhere or when the next toilet break will be (they don’t have toilets in the bus) :D Lucky me, I managed to sleep a bit and after 7 hours the bus even dropped me, where I asked him to drop me. Well, I have to say, that place was in the middle of nowhere :D Just have a look

Kalonje Railway Station

Luckily, the next transport (from the road to the lodge) was already waiting for me. I have to admit that I was a bit impressed and positively surprised of that everything worked out as it was supposed to do :)

What did I do in Mutinondo Wilderness?

I went hiking, enjoyed the swims in the so-called “paradise pools”/in the river (most places in Zambia you are not allowed to do it because of crocodiles or hippos in the water, so I REALLY enjoyed that), relaxed with a good book and a drink, enjoyed a lot of good food, meeting new people, the campfires, playing cards and just enjoying life :)

Here are some pictures from my trip

Enjoying the amazing view of the landscape, while listening to the sounds from the animals

This was what I saw, when I woke up my first morning :D I didn't know that there were horses going round freely

The bathroom

The Myense hill 

(it's the highest one in Mutinondo Wilderness)

The dutch girls and me trying to figure out the way to the top of the Myense Hill

We made it!

Beautiful view

Picknick time :)

Of course I had to take a jump picture :D

This lovely butterfly somehow loved my arm

Nice waterfall

The afternoon hike to the paradise pools

Enjoying the swim in the paradise pools

Luckily, I didn't have to go through these spiderwebs 

Some impressions of the nature

My bed

My house

I’m really happy that I did this trip. I had an amazing time and enjoyed it a lot :)

Monday morning it was time for me to start to head back to Livingstone. I have to admit that I wasn’t too excited about the thought of the two 7 hours bus drives (Mutinondo Wilderness – Lusaka, Lusaka – Livingstone) and the fact that I had to trust the first bus to pick me up in the middle of nowhere. 
At 8 hours I was standing at the main road, waiting for the bus to pick me up (I had been told that the bus would pick my up in the time scheme 8-11). Well, after standing alone in the rain and in the middle of nowhere for an hour, the bus actually showed up! I have never been so happy to see a bus :D 

Yeah, the bus showed up :)

And from there on, my trip went very smoothly ;) I had three seats for myself, enjoyed reading my book and the music wasn’t even too loud :) Late afternoon I finally arrived in Lusaka, had a quick but nice dinner with Lina and I even managed to buy some of the nice things you can’t get in Livingstone, before I was sitting in the bus again. Unfortunately, this bus wasn’t one of the nice ones. The gospel music was way too loud, I was kind of glued to the window (luckily I didn’t had to sit in the middle :)), I couldn’t sleep and the bus was badly delayed. However, I arrived safely :)

Tuesday it was time for relaxing, doing household things at home, recovering and spending time with  friends and my host brothers :)

Jonathan and me making the pizza

Nice purchases in Lusaka :)

The last days have been very quiet. Due do the elections, I had the day off Thursday and otherwise I have just done preparations for the tournament we had on Saturday. This time we only wanted the women (not their children) to participate. I was quite excited about that, since the women are the main target group in Kwenuha but since one year, they have been struggling with participating in the trainings and tournaments. So I was pretty enthusiastic, when I was on my way to work Saturday morning :) We were able to do this tournament and get the women to show up, because the charity organisation "Happy Africa" had chosen Kwenuha to donate some jerseys and shorts to. Hence, we invited 44 women to take part in the football tournament, where each would receive a jersey or a pair of shorts at the end of the tournament. 
After spending the first two hours with sitting and waiting for the women to show up, we were able to form 6 teams and start the games. As soon as we started, the women were very motivated and into the games. I really enjoyed seeing the women having so much fun and lighten up. It's sad though that they are not participating more often and only, when they are getting something...and you should have seen both my sports captain and the women, when we distributed the clothes. One thing I really think is sad and a bit annoying is that they still complain even though they are getting things for free. It's crazy...But yeah, this might be a result of the whole development problematic...whatever, we had a really nice day with a lot of fun :)
Just have a look

Go Stella!

Mavis relaxing in the goal

Tusole vs. Nakatindi

Some of the sports captains, players and me

The sports captains trying to figure out how to distribute the clothes. At some point my patience needed a break, so I let them do it :D 

All the participants

The rest of my weekend I enjoyed with having a nice time with friends :)
What is going on this week?
Well, right now I just know that I have to write a report of the tournament we had, represent Kwenuha at the meeting with the Livingstone Sport and Development Network on Wednesday and that we are having a club competition on Friday. Doesn't sound too bad :) And on Friday Lina is coming to Livingstone with her family. I already look forward to seeing her again :)

Take care and have a lovely week!