The Best Day - 1-07-14

Three different factions went off today to investigate different schools provisioned by NPAC. David S, Hilary, Dad and I went to the game scout training centre and Malanga school and Dad got to drive the jeep. This made him a very happy man. The rest of us were in the back and honestly didn't spend too much time airborne. On the way we picked up our guide for the day, Geoffrey. He pronounced his name as it's spelt and rode in the back with me. I tell you it's very difficult to get used to an AK47 in the back of a jumpy jeep.

We headed to the game scout training centre and it was in pretty good shape. They had computers provided by ReBoot, Hilary's company, and solar panels to power them. The students there eat well and learn vital skills which earns them jobs at hunting lodges all over the area. The only requirement of joining the school is that you are a young man or woman with good boots and your own gun. They are encountering problems with their water supply, since it is contaminated by the surrounding rock and comes up salty, but that is a relatively easy fix with a solar distiller.

A basic solar still. 

Image source: jouneytoforever.org

Malanga school was a little worrying. NPAC have sent them aid in the past but when we asked to see it all the books were piled in a side room and covered in dust. The teachers were young and well dressed, fresh from Lusaka, but not happy at being posted to somewhere so out of the way. They had not taken care of the equipment we sent and that is one of the conditions for continued aid. If the stuff we send is not looked after there's no point sending more, so David S gave them an ultimatum. Either bookshelves were built or NPAC would remove their support for the school. This sounds harsh, but there's no point sending aid after useless aid. People cannot rely on the kindness of strangers because they get complacent and nothing really improves. The teachers at Malanga complained that there was no way to get bookshelves, so could we send them some. David S refused. There are plentiful talented carpenters in Zambia, so why shouldn't they be given the trade? The teachers (ready with plenty of reasons not to try) told us there were no good carpenters in the village. Within five minutes we had met Menno Witteveen and he pointed us towards the carpenters currently hanging the doors on the church they built. Menno is of the same mindset as David S, in that if the community builds the church themselves it is their church, and something to take pride in rather than a gift and something to be taken for granted.

While we were negotiating the manufacture of bookshelves Dad took the opportunity to give the children of the school a lecture in dental hygiene. While this sounds less than thrilling to most, the kids were delighted with the toothbrushes we gave them and Dad enjoyed their enthusiasm.

Most of the people in Zambia speak English well, but for the intricacies of oral hygiene Dad enlisted the help of a translator.

On the way back to Tundwe I got chatting with Geoffrey. He asked why we were there in Zambia, and I explained about Dad being born there, and now that he's a successful dentist he wants to give something back to the land he loves. Geoffrey got very excited at the news that Dad's a dentist and revealed that he'd been off work for a week with terrible toothache. Dad agreed to take a look, so Geoffrey came back to camp with us. Sadly, before Dad could take a look at his teeth, we had to wait for our tusked visitor to vacate again.

Dad ended up taking two of Geoffrey's molars out and he was utterly delighted. The pain was gone and he was the only person he knew to have been treated by a dentist.

In the evening we had some more dancing, except this time we dragged some of the camp workers in on it too. It was highly entertaining, since they had no idea what they were doing, but they were laughing just as hard as we were!