Arrived at Mwandi

I hope this works! Internet is shocking (um, third world country may have something to do with it?!) so not sure I can post updates like hoped but let see anyway...

In less than a week this place has exceeded my expectations to the point I’m not even sure what I did expect anymore...

It was a long trip getting here; 2 days in Lusaka to get a phone, shopping and bus organised. Lusaka was an eye opener for sure and is a story within itself! Anyway, 9 hour bus ride to Mwandi finally got me here late Thursday afternoon – again, another adventure within itself!

On Friday a lovely local lady Gertrude gave me a tour of the village which was like no tour before – these people weren’t dressed up or playing pretend like my previous African experiences, this really is how these people live and they are the friendliest, proudest people I have ever met. In the afternoon I dropped in to the OVC (Orphans & Vulnerable Children’s Project) to meet the staff, and again, was so warmly welcomed. Already I am excited to be here and to be able to contribute to this great project.

I was given a full tour of the project by Fiona, the project coordinator/founder, on Saturday morning, and discussed how I can help. I’ve made a draft schedule for this week which will certainly keep me quite busy! I did meet the local police at their tree with Gertrude on the Friday so have made some plans with them but most of my time will be at the project with the counsellors and kids. I returned to OVC at lunch time to see the feeding program in action – the program that most of which are reading this contributed to. It was so great to see the kids enjoy their food and look well from the great care that this project and its local staff have been dedicated to provide. I used today as the first opportunity to take some photos and boy was that some excitement! Being the new white chick on the block I certainly got my attention and having their photo taken was a real big deal – I so hope these photos will upload but if not, I will as soon as I can. The kids are just adorable and who would have thought that their life was so tough when they are the happiest, friendliest kids you’ve ever seen?

Now I’ve done ward visits before but never quite like ward visits at the Mwandi Hospital – my white skin did scare a few kids who have never seen us kind before but the mothers were very happy to see us and the new-borns and kids were just adorable. It was such a sad environment yet again photos were encouraged by them and when I saw the laughter it would bring when they saw their own image, I understood why. The conditions are far from comfortable by our modern standards but the high degree of pride that these people have see’s that they make the most of what they have and that within itself, is quite overwhelming to see.

As mentioned the internet is incredibly difficult to access here – no facebook and emails take ½ hour to try and send. I will do my best to update this as often as I can and upload photos but if no luck will do as when in Livingstone... maybe, even Lusaka internet was terrible! At the very least I am thinking of all those that helped support this project as I look around and you would not be disappointed in the work that is being done here.

Regards,

Nicole