Time flies. Today was our last day mud hut building at the Home for AIDS Orphans in Zambia. We have Sunday here but “off” from building with a few final activities planned. On Monday we make a side trip to Botswana with the Brits on a 2 day safari. Then Adam arrives and we shift … Continue reading Just when you thought it could not get muddier
A few days ago, me and the girls were volunteering at the local preschool. I was doing an activity inside and Zara one outside, when she shrieked. I missed it, apparently a scary figure in a scary mask had just passed by. It was “The Culture Man,” the preschool teacher said. A man who does … Continue reading The Culture Man Cometh
Building A HomeBy Zara Ducker Today, instead of “mudding” the houses - the process we’ve been doing the past few days - we were building the structure of a new house that Home For AIDS Orphans is starting. It was a lot of work. We had to carry lots branches over then we have to … Continue reading Updates from Zara and Vivi, who may or may not have been bribed into blogging
Before any of my CrazyTraveler solo trips, I always download a bunch of TV shows and movies on my phone, assuming I’ll have lots of solo down time to watch them. But on my past few trips, I rarely did. I’d either find people at my hotels/hostels to hang out and have beers with, or … Continue reading I’m not proud of “Baywatching” in Zambia
We clearly made an impression with our home building skills on day 1 of volunteering. So much so that when it came to divvying up who would do what on day 2, it was decided that we would spend the day volunteering at a local preschool! I’d like to think this was less because of … Continue reading We so impressed with our building skills on the 1st day…that we were dropped at a preschool for our 2nd day
We were told that the United Church of Zambia was THE church to venture into on Sunday mornings, if we wanted to experience an African prayer service. Lots of singing. Mostly in English. Short. "Do NOT go to the Pentecostal church across the street," we were told. They speak in tongues, pull the devil out … Continue reading Zara’s (almost) Pentecostal Bat Mitzvah
Thanks to a combination of "smoothing" and "Saturday," we had an easy start to our volunteer work - which is primarily the manual labor of building homes, local style. While I think the official name of the org we are with here is “Home For AIDS Orphans” (like, an orphanage) really in practice it is … Continue reading Our “Easy Start” to Mud House Building
On our first full day in Zambia, we slept in blissfully late. We had spent Monday night on an overnight flight to London. Coach. We spent Tuesday night on an overnight flight to Johannesburg. Coach. Wednesday night we crawled into (bunk)bed at JollyBoys Backpackers and slept the sleep of the dead. Or of the jetlagged. … Continue reading Day 1: Getting Acclimated….and Elephant’d.
Reflections from Zara: Today, my first day in Zambia Africa made me realize how thankful I am, and I will tell you why. We went on a biking tour through the village which was very beautiful. In Zambia Africa it is rare that the children see white people in their village so when they saw … Continue reading The girl’s 1st day in Africa, in their own words
Airports don’t count towards CrazyTraveler countries. One has to leave the airport and see/do something for it to count as a visited country on our list. So when me the my girls had a 10 hour layover in London for our connecting flights to Africa, I seized the day to get my kids another country … Continue reading Layover in London, Ducker-style
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