The Lion Whisperers

I knew the Zambian trip would soon turn into an adventure from the moment I woke up that morning. Deja and I ran after our bus at 5:30am as it began to trudge down the road. Our bags slapping the sides of our bodies hoping to make it in time. Once we got there the Manzini bus rank was as welcoming as ever. Fellow passengers swearing at us and bus conductors trying to cheat us out of money. :) We finally arrived in the city of Jo’burg and where hospitality is still a work in progress. As we walked all over the surrounding streets of the bus rank to purchase bus tickets for Zambia the next morning, we met all kinds of characters. Whether it was taxi drivers charging us 70 rhand to go 4-5 blocks or community police wanting a soda for showing us where the buses were, the jo‘burg hospitality was undeniable. haha We arrived at the Zambia bus station only to find our luck had changed. The Zambians were a breath of fresh air. They helped us with our tickets, drove us back to the place to meet the driver from the hostile for free, and gave us contact information for their friends in Zambia who would show us around when we got there.

We sat on a two decker bus on the top level front row surrounded by windows to see the landscape the whole way there. It was awesome. We made friends with the Zambians behind us who told us about Zimbabwe and the problems they are facing. The South Africa/Zimbabwe border post was sad for me. We saw people taking in food and products from South Africa because Zimbabwe really has nothing to offer right now. Families crammed in the back of pickups with supplies piled high waiting to get through customs. Unfortuantly we passed through at night so there was little to see, but I had a heavy heart as we drove through that whole night thinking of the problems they are facing right now.

24 hours later we were there! Complete with sleep in an erect position and junk food cousine. That long of a bus ride may not seem fun to some, but there are perks to bus travel that you would not get on a plane. You really get to know the people. It’s an international bonding moment. I’ve never been on a plane that would pull over in the middle of the night to pop a squat on the Zimbawean pavement as the crescent moon sparkles above. Imagine the comradity of Zambian, South African, and American women together urinated behind the trailer brake lights at 2 am. Those are special moments. Those moments, my friend, are what Hallmark cards are made out of. We reached the Zambia/Zimbabwe border post the next morning! An elephant greeted us at the front gate and monkey (big ones with the gross butts) were everywhere. We knew we were in tourist land as we spotted shorts, white thighs, and fanny packs. We had to walk from Zimbabwe to the other side of the river. When you walk over the bridge to reach Zambia, you see Victoria Falls. It was the best wake up call ever. The sun was rising and the mist from the falls was spraying our faces. It was carzy cool.

We arrived at Jollyboys which was the best hostile ever. It had a pool (clean and had fountains), a huge sitting area full of people, a TV that repeatedly showed a video of Elijah Wood and Jack Osbourne doing all the activities Livestone area had to offer. They have a sweet relationship. Although the video was on silent, I would mouth the exact words they said. For example, Elijah when he saw Victoria Falls, “Wow. That’s amazing.” Brittany developed a celebrity crush on Mr. Wood and we wasted many minutes debating if Jack Osbourne should have a fan base. I think, yes.

We arrived early enough Thursday morning to have the whole day ahead of us. We grabbed a shuttle to the falls and ran through the bridge in our assorted colored ponchos. It was wonderful. Drenched head to toe, I haven’t felt that clean since the old days when I would shower once a day.

The next day we had the Lion Encounter. Basically you get a crash course on what NOT to do to a lion; like sneak up in front of it or make cat mating noises. But you aren’t taught the anatomy of a lion to determine if it’s a boy or girl…in my defense. Some may say the large size and long furry mane might give it away, but I’ve seen plenty of large women with facial hair. Looks can be deceiving, so when I asked the the guy holding the tranqulizer gun if the huge lion with a thick mane that I’m stroking is a girl or boy, I don’t think it’s a bad question. To some, not naming anyone specifically (Melissa, Deja, and Brittany), that would seem like a an bad question. When it comes to gender, I don’t assume. Just because a Swazi child has no hair and is wearing a blue G.I Joe shirt with pants, do we assume it is a boy? If I’ve learned anything here, the answer is no. So this rule is carried over to every species for me. We were initially introduced to our first batch of lions while they fought over a piece of meat. A guy with a stick grabbed one by the tail and pulled it away from the other. Then they said,”Alright, let’s go.” And forced the lions out of the feeding cage to walk with us. We each had a walking stick which was supposed to comfort us perhaps knowing we had a thin branch to keep us from being attacked. To me it looked like the toothpick the lions would use after devouring one of my appendages.

Saturday came fast and so did my anxiety. Melissa, our fearless skydriver, wanted to do some extreme thing while we were there. We all wanted to raft, but high water levels prevented us from doing so. Her next idea was falling off of something…a cliff, bridge, gorge, whatever would give a rush. She is crazy, but I somehow I ended up agreeing to go double on a Gorge Swing. What is the Gorge Swing? If you follow the gorge from the Victoria Falls down passed the 6th rapid or so, you will look up to find high above a wire from one side of the cliff to the next. In the middle of this long wire, center gorge, you will find another rope dangling down giving an appearance of a T shape. At the bottom of the T the end of the rope is then attached to a human being standing on the edge of the cliff. Last Saturday, that human being was me. Attached to my dear friend, Melissa. As they tied us to the rope and hog-tied our feet together, scenes from my childhood and future flashed through my mind. Is this the end for me? Is this how it happens? I back shuffled to the edge of the cliff with my comrade beside me. Shaking we both flipped backwards off the edge down into the gorge unsure if we just made a bad choice. After free falling down towards the trees and dried up river belong, our rope pulled and we began Tarzan-ing our behinds over the tree tops towards the other side of the gorge. It was amazing! If we could do it again, I might even open my eyes. And bring a clean pair of shorts.

Next in line was a trip to Zimbabwe. Melissa, Brittany, and I traveled across the border again to sneak a peak at the other side of the falls. This side was just as cool. No bridge, but you basically stand on the other side of the gorge facing the huge waterfall. The water falls so hard that once it hit’s the river below, it bounces back up to the edge of the cliff we were standing on. You also walk through rainbow after rainbow. It was beautiful and the water was warm. Later that night we left for the Zambian side of the falls. A lunar rainbow could be seen because it was a full moon. The moon gave enough light to reflect rainbows in the dark. Melissa and I ran through a bridge which was scarey and exhilarating all at the same time! Then we ran across the bridge again. The current changed the water so it was out of control and splashing over the bridge. A rainbow curved right over the bridge so we slid under it and used the moonlight to see where we were going. It was crazy!

Sunday morning Brittany and I woke up to go to Botswana. Brit and I spent the morning on land seeing all kinds of animals and had breakfast. Then in the afternoon the four of us from the hostile boarded a pontoon boat and went down the Thebe river bordering Namibia and Botswana. We saw alligators, Rhinos, Elephants, and more and just relaxed. We had lunch on the boat and sat chairs basking in the sun. It was a great way to end the trip.

We boarded the bus that night. Brit and I were separated. Before we got on I said, “Watch, I’ll probably sit next to a very large woman who breaths heavy and takes up my seat while sleeping on me…” Well, the stars aligned that night because her name was Lindy from Pretoria and her description matched my nightmare. I sat for 20 hours on the corner of my seat because Lindy slept on my half as well. She was sweet though and shared her snacks.

The trip overall was a success. We saw everything. The only thing is apparently gold gladiator sandles aren’t considered a hiking shoe. I wish someone would have told me that.

Zambian Elephant Mask

Hey Guys! I'm in Zambia! Its been great. We went to Victoria Falls on Wednesday and we walked with lion yesterday morning. Its been amazing. We are going to Zimbabwe today ag ain to hang out and Botswana Sunday. The culture and poltical issues are so different in each place so it really has bee an amazing trip. I'm going to jump the gorge at Victoria Falls today. I'm so scared , but they tie you up and you drop about 55 meters.

I will talk to you guys soon again. One last embarrassing s to ry: I wen t to a tourist shop near my hostile with two other volunteers. I found t his elephant mask with a bunch of strings on it. I wore it around the store and would creep on my friends while they shopped. One said finally, "Why do you have a male thong on your face?" SAY WHAT??? Oops. I guess it wasn't a mask after all and explains a lot of the faces other customers were g i ving me as I walked around the store with my face hiding behind it. :) We'll talk soon. To be continued.

Lunch with Miss Swaziland

Hey everyone! I am in town so I thought I would blog for you quick! I didn't end up going to Zambia over Easter. Rooms were booked. Apparently its a good idea to reserve in advance over holiday weekends. :) Who would have thought? A lady was gone for the weekend who lives in town and works for a nongovernment agency, so she invited me and my friend Deja to take care of her dogs (and her television) this weekend. It was great and relaxing. All the volunteers in the country were gone pretty much to vacation spots around South Africa and I was watching Lady Gaga videos and eating grilled cheese. Life was good.

Its been a random week for me. They may not surprise any of you, but it was random even for me. A dog ate my phone and now looks really classy with duck tape covering its underbelly and bite marks all over the sides. I've had medical problems. Nothing serious. Concerning my bowels...and thats as much as you need to know. Peace Corps wanted to get blood tests and ultra sounds to see if I had an alien in my intestines or something (because thats what it felt like), but everything turned out groovy. Nothing a little fiber and prunes couldn't solve. The peace corps driver brought me to the clinic and waited in the car. I always play around with him. He's a 40 yr. Swazi man that smiles all the time. When I came to the car after my appointment I said, "Bongani, I've got some good news and I've got some bad news..." (My friend, Jantina, would always do this.) He looked concerned, so I continued, "Good news is...I'm going to make it. Doc said its just a little gas." He shook his head and stayed quiet anticipating the bad news. "Bad news is...I have...a tail." Bongani's eyes got so big. It was quiet for about 20 seconds. I couldn't hold it in. I busted a gut laughing at my own joke and then had to tell him I was kidding through the tears of laughter. He was so concerned and said, "Oh Jaclyn, I was scared." He's such a good man. haha Oh Bongani.

Anyways, we are getting ready for next weekend (25th). Our beauty pageant is coming. Alexis, the other volunteer helping, is working hard and in town doing publicity a lot. I'm on the phone talking to people who we are trying to confirm they will show up for the health fair to give free services for the community in the morning. I'm going to take pictures of the pageant, so everyone who donated dresses can see what dress was worn by the girls! So fun. We also confirmed both Mr. Swaziland AND Miss Swaziland (who just got back from Miss World pageant in J'burg, South Africa) are going to be judges! I went for lunch with Miss Swaziland Wednesday and it was so fun. We talked about business first and then I started asking about all the Miss World contestants. She was so honest with me and Alexis. We were asking if Russia was cold and if the French girls shaved their pits. It was so fun. We're running out of time and everything is getting crazy, so please keep us in your prayers. Who knows what's going to happen. I've never planned something in this type of capacity before, so while it is exciting...I'm still nervous. I hope the girls don't kill each other. Jaclyn will NOT be have any divas. I'm going to brind a tranqulizer gun to prove it. :) One cat fight and...BAM! Miss Sandleni Inkhundla is comotose for 4-5 hrs.

Miss you guys. Don't forget to write or call!

We are now hoping to join forces with World Vision in my area to do a HIV testing unit during the pageant, so I’ve been talking to my friend, Musa, who is in charge of the HIV awareness section of the organization. I’m working with another volunteer and it’s a lot of fun to collaborate our ideas. We are going to have a health fair at the same time as the pageant, so its just another way to affect as many people as possible. They will come to watch, but also get the opportunity to test and we’ll even have the mom’s selling their food and jewelry at the event. Now although it’s a well thought out idea on paper, there is A LOT of work to be done. I was just going to assist and help wherever needed, but I'm seeing the Youth Association in my area stuggling to the point that its 2 1/2 weeks away and they don't even have judges or money for prizes. It's been an adventure and now they've desperately asked for my help full on, so this steam boat's got a new engineer in town. I'm trying to teach them as I do things, so they can take notes and be able to do this more independently next year. As you might have guessed its taking 2x the amount of time. We have a fundraiser this weekend. In two weekends we are doing an HIV/AIDS workshop with all 14 girls and the following weekend is the pageant and World Vision health fair. Pray for a miracle. People think I can prefrom miracles simply because I'm American and white sadly. Little do they know I have no idea what I'm doing.

I'm going to Victoria Falls on Monday. We are taking a bus from Jo'burg through Botswana and up to Zambia/Zimbabwe border. Its one of the 7 wonders of the world. I really don't know any of them except the pyramids. It takes about 1 1/2 days to drive there through the night. I've heard horror stories that they don't stop to go to the bathroom. I might put in a catheter before I go. :) Just kidding. Too expensive. Big kid diapers will be just fine. Apparently you can bungee jump off the bridge (the highest in the world)! Heck, It'll probably be best wearing diapers the whole trip the way it looks.

Finally, my aunt just had her baby. It was a boy. I've been holding him all the time and keep whispering my name to him so that his first word will be "Jaci". I can't wait. It keeps the time going by fast. April will be full of crowns, crying teenagers, babysitting the new baby, and Zambian adventures. May will come fast and that means so will my friend Emily who is visiting! I'm soooo excited. Love you guys. Stay well.

What's your favorite sausage?

My parents came this week with my sister, Angi, and my cousin, Janna. I met them at the airport. Little did I know, when I asked for 14 prom dresses for my youth pageant...I would get 50. I'm not complaining though. You can never have enough crushed velvet and puffy sleeves. haha Thanks to everyone who donated. I'll take pictures of the girls wearing them so you can see your dresses on them! Fun! They'll be so excited. So since there were so many dresses, we had to take a taxi just take the luggage all the way to the south part of the country. My sister had to drive the rent-a-car on the left side of the road. Although my buttcheeks were constantly being clenched tightly in fear of crashing and all of us stressing at each other everytime we bottomed out in potholes (or drove 4km with the red light on because we forgot to push down the emergency brake), nothing could ruin the trip. Not even the smell of the clutch burning out.

We went to see my family the first night, stayed at the animal park reserve the second, at last night enjoyed the comforts of a B&B. We drove all over Swaziland with the suitcases hog-tied to the trunk. I've never felt like such a hillbilly in all my life. I felt like all we needed was a few more loose teeth and a grandma in a rocking chair of the hood of are car to engage the perfect moment. Just picture taking speed bumps in a small European car packed full of tourists and luggage roped to the back of the car. :) Well if attention is what we wanted, we definately got it. So much for not looking like tourists. I guess its hard to hide when 3 out of the 4 people visiting me are wearing fanny packs. haha I wish I were kidding. I caught myself thinking, "Yes, this is really happening. A Hummer or truck would be appropriate through the bush, but my family is offroading in a small euro car with a maximum baggage capacity 3 suitcases." It was awesome.

I brought them to my clinic to meet people I work with. They went shopping in the markets. We ventured through the vast 10,000 acres of rhino poop. We're attacked by elephants from all angles of our jeep and played "chicken" with a giraffe who refused to share the road with us. It was fun. We ate mangoes, lamb, and ampala stew and watched half naked men do traditional dances while we tried to keep the monkeys from stealing our stuff.

I was sad when they had to leave, but I'm finding myself encouraged. It was a nice break and showing them what I'm doing and speaking SiSwati for them was a good confirmation that I have been working here in ways that I might not know. I stayed at a hostile friday and saturday to prepare myself to go back to my site. First night was with my friend, Lisa, but last night I had to go alone. God totally provided though because although my agenda was to cry the whole night since everyone was gone haha, I found another volunteer there that I didn't know very well and we had time to talk. He taught me a card game and we watched music videos. I then met some guys from Germany traveling with there one Swazi friend. They are students at a university in South Africa this semester and are traveling. One asked me to come with them to get some supper. Usually I would decline especially because I could picture uncomfortable silence and wanting to go home, but being stuck wherever they took me, BUT although I just got ready for bed and showered I felt like it could be fun. I decided to go. Alone. With five German guys my age and one Swazi girl I had just met. It ended up being really cool. We went to supper and all talked. I finally hung out with people that, for the most part, got my jokes. One "cricket" moment was when they were telling me who was sharing dorms at the university. I said, "Aww...that's cute. You guys can have pillow fights before bed and talk about girls before you go to sleep." They seemed really confused, so I changed the subject quickly. They did like my joke about wanting to fit in and that's why I ordered the same peach iced tea as everyone else. There was this one guy who kept asking me random questions. In the states we would call him a "nontraditional student". He's so nice and had lots of political questions. We were all asking questions about our favorite things. It was quiet at the table and he looked at me and asked, "What's your favorite type of sausage?" To a german, maybe not so random. To me...well. haha Everyone busted a gut and I just looked at him and said, "Sebastian, that's a personal question." We made jokes about it the rest of the night. It ended up being a fun night. We actually ran over a stop sign on accident, but they just laughed and continued so I didn't want to be the responsible one. Maybe we should have left a note? We went to a club dancing after and than a few of us stayed up until 5:30am talking about books, Americans, traveling, etc. It was cool. God is hilarious. Who would have thought I would ever be in a situation like that. Me, one Swazi girl, and five crazy German guys. I am a magnet for random things. And I don't hate it.

Labor Pains

This is my 9th month away from home! That's long enough to have a child! Its time to see someone from home that can remotivate me. :) I'm so excited because thankfully the Schaap family will be birthed tomorrow morning from the Matsapha Airport.

I've been preparing for my girl's empowerment pageant the past week! We are now hoping to join forces with World Vision in my area, so I’ve been talking to my friend, Musa, who is in charge of the HIV awareness section of the organization. They will come to watch the pageant, but also get the opportunity to test and we’ll even have the mom’s selling their food and jewelry at the event. We'll see how it goes. We keep getting road blocks, but no matter what, I’m glad we are doing it. If anything, we’ve been able to work with the Youth Association in my area and get them excited about something. I also feel like I am finally doing my job. haha

My aunt and I bandaged up my sisi’s son. His hands were terrible. She was boiling a shicken to remove the feathers and he fell into the pot. He’s only three years old. Guess when someone came to me for help?? 2-3 days after it happened...and what was that day? Friday. The clinic isn’t open again til Monday where we can get supplies. We used my stuff which I don’t mind using, but I only was given enough for one time use. The elastic band was too long so I cut it up like Mac Gyver and used what I had. I made a sling out of buttons and toothpicks and a resperator out of a water balloon. Just kidding, but he was bandaged up quite nicely. Poor little guy was running around with no use of his arms. Its kinda funny to watch him run around playing with the other kids because he looked like he tied two giant Q Tips to his arms. I question if the poor little guy has HIV. His immune system isn’t very good. He's always sick. This time green wax was coming from his ears. Now, I don't have my PhD, but I'm pretty sure...that’s not right. I gave him drops and washed out his ears. Now the "walking Q tip" was running around with the other kids with white balls hanging out of his ears too. Poor little guy! The other little kids would call him and he wouldn't know where to look because he couldn't hear through the cotton balls. haha Thobile loved using my medical supplies. She acted like she was about to go do an open heart surgery. I played along though and only interrupted when I thought someone's life was in danger...so only about 3 or 4 times. After Thobile was finished playing Doogie Howzer, we let the kid join the others. :) Later I found Ncamgile’s son playing like he didn’t even know he had no use of his hands. I was happy to see he wasn’t in a lot of pain. :)All in a day's work.

All I know is I CAN’T WAIT another second until my family comes. :) They complete me. So do my friends at home. I know I need to focus on the now, but my mind often wonders to the excitement of when I'll reunite with everyone. :) Miss you guys and love you more. Keep livin' the dream.

Hey everyone! What’s new? I haven’t been able to blog for some time! I’m excited to give you a little bit of a run down of what’s going on:

My mom, dad, sister (Angi), and cousin (Janna) are coming to see me in about 2 weeks! I can’t even begin to explain how happy I am. I’m hoping to show them the area I live in, sleep in my room the first night, go to a game park the second night to see the animals, and go into the capital the last night. They’ll get to pop a squat in my pit latrine, meet Loyd my lizard, and maybe fetch my water. :)

I’m busy with a youth empowerment competition that we‘re preparing for April. I’m helping my community do a girl empowerment pageant, but there’s a lot to be done. Thanks to people at home who donated dresses. That is so helpful and the girls will love it. World Vision is helping us and donating a tent. I’m still teaching on Saturdays life skills class to the youth in a church near me. I spent Valentine’s Day teaching them. Most people get roses and chocolates and I get questions from high school kids whether Tupac Shakur is still alive. I’m livin’ the dream. I’m trying to help my school get a library, so I’ve been having meetings with the school committee. It sounds like I’m busy, but don’t get ahead of yourself, my days are still full of countless hours staring at the wall, combining leftover ingredients together to see what it tastes like, and reading a May ‘08 People magazine. Does anyone want to know about the cast of Gossip Girl, including favorite food and corky habits? I, unfortunately, can tell you.

Bat attack #3 last night. I sleep in fear everyday. I had to knock on my bhuti’s window last night to help kill it. Bhuti (pronounced like booty) is SiSwati for brother. I know, so many jokes with that name. So of course I take advantage of that word as much as possible. Sometimes when my brother calls me I say to whoever I’m with, “I’m sorry. I have to take this. It’s a bhuti call.” Although half the time my audience doesn’t understand the joke, I still say it because it gives me some sort of personal satisfaction that it could be funny. Anyways, sometimes I sleep with a candle next to me to scare away any nocturnal creatures. Dangerous? Maybe, but my beauty sleep is more important. You can’t look this good without taking risks.

Finally, I met some missionaries from South Africa last week. They are from Capetown and live in a church about 1 hr walk from my bus station. They drove me back to my place after. They wanted to see where I lived, so I showed them my room. They were so impressed with my siSwati. It made me feel good because I think its terrible. After, they turned to me and asked, “Do you have plans today?” I told them nope. They said, “Can we take you to eNhlangano for lunch?” I was stunned. Even more stunned they were going to drive me to a town just for lunch! If volunteers go to town, we’re going because we need to survive! We stock up on food and supplies to take back like we’re packing to set out on the Oregon Trail. We jumped in their nice truck and they drove me all the way there. Normally by public transport it takes me 2 1/2hrs. This time it took us less than 1hr in their car! When we got there they said, “Tell me what you want. I‘m buying.” What?!? I was having so much luck! I tried to reason with them and decline the offer, but they insisted so they paid for my meal! YATZEE! I won the jackpot! The motherload! These missionaries were so kind! Soon I had KFC all over my face. I was eating it like someone was going to take it from me. I had to look up at them, take it easy for a bit so I didn’t look uncivilized or choke, and then I started chomping down again. I barely said a word until the last salty extremely unhealthy french fry was consumed. Just the site of the chicken sandwich could have made me cry and/or get emotional, but that wouldn’t put it in my stomach any faster, so I just skipped the tears and went at it. I think I bruised my teeth shoving it in. Today Santa Claus was in town and he seemingly brought a bag with my name on it, including a #11 chicken meal from KFC. After eating I was so full. They wanted to stop at the grocery store to get dessert for the rode. The older lady came to me with a bar of chocolate after we checked out. They bought me more stuff! I thanked them for everything. It was a great day. I was blessed with new friends. And well fed that day. Just ask my thighs.

I love getting your letters and packages. It keeps home closer and I can't thank you guys enough for everything. Take care of yourselves and let me know if there is anything you need in Africa. :)

“Use me God. Show me how to take who I am, who I want to be, and what I can do, and use it for a purpose greater than myself.” Martin Luther King Jr.