Zambian Explorations: August Family Adventures!!!

My chalkboard countdown started... mmm... probably 70 days out - slightly premature but heck excitement does that to a person. So finally the countdown dropped to the single digits and it was time to leave the village for solwezi, and then on down to Lusaka to pick up the parentals!!!

I made friends with a taxi driver, Wilfred, and so we arrive at the airport an hour early.. turns out to be WAY early - more like 3 hrs when you add in customs and baggage claim. Not an efficient process here in Zambia. Acquired my parents and then took them on an adventure right off the bat! Another volunteer had recommended Pioneer Lodge as a great place to stay... which it was; but a fair bit off the beaten track as well. So Wilfred in his two wheel drive vehicle takes us down this dirt track that just looks shady as all heck at midnight... and just when I was beginning to wonder if I was just leading them down a bad two way track leading to pure wilderness when we arrived.

We spent the next day in Lusaka visiting the Sunday Market for souvenirs, enjoying a lovely lunch, and stocking up on groceries before heading to the village. Monday we drove village side with our great driver Choonya. It was also my birthday so we enjoyed some brunch on the road and when we got to solwezi introduced my mom to Indian food (which she was trying for the first time - crazy).

This first bit of the blog is picture-less because we recorded life on my mom's camera....

Highlights of the village
* Dad had great fun with the children. He was quite excited when he asked the kids if they knew four square and they responded yes. Little did he know, but quickly did he find out, that none of his question was understood because the little ones have very limited english.
* Girls Club: Mom brought a sewing box arts and craft project using mint boxes, fun foam flowers, magnets, and sewing supplies. The girls loved it. Reminded me of my girl scout days when my mom led our troop.
* Teacher Dinner: That evening we attended a traditional zambian dinner at the school. They hooked up the classroom with a couple light bulbs and sound system using a borrowed generator. Mom and Dad tasted nshima for the first time, enjoyed some fried chicken, and vegetables. At the end of the evening we were gifted a whole deep fried chicken and a nice chitenge (colorful fabric) for my parents to make their own Zambia outfits when they return to America.
* Village Party: The girls pretty much made the Zambian meal after I was deemed incompetent at mostly every task, even my cabbage cutting was critiqued. So thank you girls! We had nshima, chicken, beans, cabbage, and rape (green vegetable). The whole family came over from the compound I live on so we had at least 40 people. Following dinner I introduced the kids to s'mores and got them all on sugar highs followed by some zam-dancing. I even got my host grandmother to dance as well as my mom and dad. A definite yet exhausting success of a village party.
* We visited Mwinilunga, about 2 1/2 hrs from my village to the west. We stayed at a nice lodge right on the Lunga River. Dad made friends with some crocs at night with their noises and in the early morning hours when he attempted to become crocodile breakfast. On that trip we also visited some falls along the way, the Nyambwezu Falls by the proposed site for a hydroelectric dam. Although bit of a hitch that you have to walk over this village made bridge of small logs. Needless to say mom was not a fan and opted out after the bumpy ride of about an hour to get them. The rest of us carried on and enjoyed a picnic lunch by the falls. In Mwinilunga also brought the parents to the market. The market in a main town is full of different vegetables, fish, chitenge, clothes from the congo, maize, etc...

Post village James met up with us and we headed back to Solwezi for the evening before heading off early the next morning for Lusaka and REUNITED WITH THE SISTERS AND MATTHEW!! And then the whole family was back together. A bit tired but all in the same place. Heck who would have ever thought the whole Moehle family would be together in Africa? Not I said the fly.

Victoria Falls.
The next day we headed off early for Victoria Falls. James became our driver so we could all cram into a 7 person vehicle. It was tight but we had plenty of left over pizza, a stop at a tire store following a blown tire in the first couple of hours.