finding happiness in zambia : camp tree

I got a WhatsApp the day before Camp TREE began, "Can you bring 3 more kids?" Challenge accepted. I already had 4 kids lined up to go, what more is 3? I did it. I got 3 more kids. In the morning I rounded up all my kids, met my counterpart at the road and we were off. It was flawless. We made it to Serenje in record timing with no problems at all.

We smashed all the communities in the back of a canter and travel 150 kilometers to Mutinondo. I can be the first to say that it was so uncomfortable. We got to the site and it was instantly totally worth it. Not much happened that first night. We gathered, looked at the scenery, ate food and went to bed.

The next day we wake up and it is so cold. There is major cloud coverage. We reschedule to do the hike in the afternoon because it includes a swim and play some games in the morning. On the hike I get to teach about the water cycle. Of course we did the water lessons near water and the kids got to swim when we were finished. Most of the kids and mentors didn't want to swim and so it turned into: Zambians watch the white people as they swim.

The next day we hike to Kite Rock. It was so easy going up. After all our lessons were finished and we looked at the hill we had to hike back down, we were all scared a little. It was a straight drop. How did we get up it? We all went panono-panono and made it. I have never looked straight down a mountain and then knew that is where I was going to make my descent. It was crazy. It was my first experience feeling like a true mountain goat. I also did it with bare feet instead of my Target sandals that I scaled the mountain with. Let me tell you, I will not need to use a pumice stone for the next year.

The next day was an even larger hill but the decline was so so much easier. We didn't have to pray all the way down. My Target sandals stayed on my feet. We went back to the site and played games. I have been named the game master of this province. We played hide and seek, sharks and minnows, bat and moth and so many more. It was so fun. The best was watching them play sharks and minnows. I guess Zambia has their own version called sheep and lions. Of course.

We were given time to meet with our counterparts and communities to plan out how we are going to implement what we have learned in our communities. Ba Donald and I make project plans. We are going to start with making a compost pile at the school. With the compost we are going to plant trees and make a garden at the school. The kids are stoked about it. I think it will be even easier for these projects to succeed in my village because of the amount of children I was allowed to bring. What a blessing.