|
| << PREVIOUS NEWSLETTER | NEXT NEWSLETTER >> |
| NEWSLETTER 25 - september 2015 | |
 |
|
|
Take part in the future of ZAP How?  The chronicle of the
Van Dedem family’s building expedition to Zambia WRITTEN BY: NICOLAS VAN DEDEM.
Zambia Allocation Project
Travel Journal Day 1 - 10th July 2015
Daan, Jeroen and I started out from Utrecht and took a train to Amsterdam Schiphol to meet Emilie, Marieke and Charlotte and fly to Nairobi, Kenya. After a mix up of my seat number and my guitar being checked-in after all and almost an hour of delay we finally took off! 7 hours and 45 minutes, 2 movies later we arrived at Nairobi and went to our Airport Hotel without our suitcases, as they were sent off to Lusaka already, so we were not able to wash off our travel stink. So far the journey started out comfortably despite the minor mishaps here and there.Day 2 - 11th July
Early in the morning, at 5:30 the drivers from the night before picked us up to bring us to the Airport. As the Airport had extreme security measures we had to be there 3 hours prior to our boarding time. I came from Amsterdam to Nairobi with my ticket on my phone so I wanted to print out my ticket, as I was not sure whether they had the scanners. At the check in desk I was informed that my guitar was not checked through to Lusaka so I had to go back to Arrivals and get my guitar. Jeroen kindly offered to accompany me and on our way there, Jeroen was hassled by some security police men as he was smoking in a public area. After some discussion Jeroen managed to pay the officers. I went through two security checks to reach the lost and found luggage department and swiftly received my guitar. And yet again I had to go through another two security checks before joining the rest of the group at our gate. We took off to fly to Harare Zimbabwe and stayed in the plane to continue to Lusaka Zambia afterwards. I slept through most of the journey. In Lusaka we had to wait in line for 40 minutes to receive a visa, because "strangely" everyone was cutting in line! We also meet Maurits, Annemiek, Floor and Bas at the Airport because their luggage was in our plane from Nairobi. Also Jan Willem arrived 15 minutes before us so now our group was complete and united to embark on our last part of our trip: the Busride! Ernest our Busdriver greeted us with cold drinks, sandwiches and nice music to accompany us on a 2 hours ride. However after driving for a few hours we reached a roundabout and Ernest was not sure if we were on the right track. So eventually we were driving through semi-paved sandy roads for another hour and I started to worry, as it was getting dark and Ernest still couldn’t tell whether we were going the right way, however was still driving and not stopping hopping that he was on the right path. We tried reaching Josien, while the bus was pacing through the dirt roads in the middle of the bush. After a while of driving Josien finally picked up her phone and told us she would meet us on the way. Another 20 minutes of driving and we spotted a white jeep in the distance. It was Josien and Adam and they showed us the way to Dry Island Farm, where we are going to stay for the rest of our time. Adam has set up an army tent for the boys: Daan, Jeroen, Bas and I, with mattresses, klamboes and a lovely welcome package. Thermos, anti-insect spray, and a sleep well anti mosquito spray. Also a late bbq dinner was prepared by George and Nanny the cooks. A campfire and some guitar music set the mood and the beers started to get empty we had very cozy and gezellig conversations next to the fire. I was tired and went to bed around midnight. Still warm from the day I dove in bed and just used a thin blanket only to realize how cold it gets around 3 o clock and got my sleeping bag out, however the cattle was keeping me up all night. 
Day 3 - 12th July
Today we were allowed to sleep in as it is Sunday and we are still quite tired from the journey. Again a beautiful breakfast was prepared with scrambled eggs, bacon, tomatoes, onions, and toast. After breakfast we went to the Nkulumazhiba Primary School to visit the construction site and see what Josien had already achieved. We were greeted by the Headmaster Mr. Biggi, the head of the construction Jericko and a representative of the chiefdom. After getting a grand tour and getting everything explained to us we had sandwiches at one of the water reservoirs where they set out thousands of fish to reproduce and returned back to the farm where we were greeted with freshly made popcorn.
Day 4 - 13th July 1st Construction Day
After a good night sleep we woke up at 7 in the morning, had a hearty sausage and egg breakfast and drove back to Nkulumazhiba to the secondary school building site. It was very cold in the morning, especially on the back of the pick-up truck. But soon it was sweat dripping hot, as we were eagerly hauling the stones and pouring cement to build the first walls. I was surprised how well trained the ZAP Workers are and how well the first two walls were swiftly built. With the expertise of Jericko and the hard work of our team we managed to build two of the four walls up to five levels in the first day. Now we all are sore and exhausted and can't wait for George's amazing cooking and meal he has prepared for us. What strikes me the most today is how patient all the ZAP workers explained everything like 10 times to us
amateur construction workers and how grateful and happy they were with our progress. I even overheard Jericko telling some of us to
consider a career change to construction working when we come back to the Netherlands.
Day 5 - 14th July
All night I was kept up by cows not mooing but screaming to find their lost calves. The sound was so piercing that I barely had slept.
Nonetheless we woke up early again and managed to build two walls up to level 9, and the other two walls up to level 5-6.
Also Bas, Daan, Jeroen and I had to make stones, which was very exhausting. We first had to shovel sand and clay, mix it with water
and cement, then pour this mixture into a press and transport the molded blocks to dry. Tonight we will eat lamb curry which I am very
excited about. My muscles ache so I’ll probably fall into bed around 9.Day 6 - 15th July
I slept very peacefully this time and was ready for an exciting safari day. We woke up around 7 again, had a nice breakfast with sausages
and toast and jumped on the back of Adam's truck. We were told to wear long sleeves and long pants against the Chechie flies which
bite you and can hurt a lot. We drove to the office first to get more petrol and continued on to another estate. As soon as we passed
the border, flies attacked us from all sides and especially Bas and Charlotte, who were sitting in front got bitten quite a few times,
whereas Emelie and I did not get bitten at all. In the beginning we saw a lot of puku and impala, also some waterbuck and warthogs.
As we continued on deeper into the bush we started seeing hartebeest, vultures, crocodiles and hippos. When we reached the river
some of us spotted something jumping into the water on the other side, which turned out to be a puku escaping from three lions who
were patiently waiting for it on the banks. The puku swam for his life and managed to reach our side of the river without drowning or
getting eaten by a crocodile which according to Adam rarely occurs. For our first stop we arrived at a beautiful riverside camp and
spotted two elephants from very far away and decided to follow their trail. It turned out to be close to Adam's and his father's newly
established bush camp, where most of our group also took a boat tour to see some more hippos and crocodiles. I decided to stay and
enjoy a few beers in the shade, also we had some very nice buffalo sausages from the bbq. As the sun was starting to set we ventured
on to see the very first ZAP project and were greeted by many people and saw a ready school for more than 900 children. In the dark
we drove home. After 3 hours in the car we finally arrived home and had steak and fries for dinner.
Day 7 - 16th July
Today is Charlottes Birthday and the cows have kept me up all night again. Drowsy and sleep deprived I almost had forgotten to
congratulate her! We arrived at the building site and expected the ZAP workers to have made some progress, but they only stacked
stones for us to build the rest of the walls. We finished all 5 walls within 30-40 minutes and had nothing to do anymore so we started
our sport program with the kids. We had jumping ropes, a volleyball and a football, so we split the groups and entertained the kids the
best we could. It was so much fun to play in the heat, but I was too tired so Charlotte spent most of the time inventing new games to
play. We left Nkulumazhiba a bit earlier as we were going to a special place for charlottes birthday to celebrate and enjoy a very
nice view.
Day 8 - 17th Handover Ceremony
We woke up around 10, which was essential to endure the next 4 hours of speeches and dancing. At Nkulumazhiba we sat as special
guests behind governmental officials, head of ZAP and a representative of his royal highness chief of Kaindu. While we watched and
understood almost anything I was looming bracelets and soon many joined out of sheer boredom. We saw performances of the Kaindu
Drama group, showing scenes of how Josien first arrived and how her endeavors to build a school was received by the people in the village.
It was very funny, but in Zambian language so yet again we couldn’t understand it. The ZAP workers who managed to complete their
education received tools, children were dancing, and some more speeches by Jerickoo, Josien and the head of the school Biggie. Also the
van Dedem Family as a whole was mentioned a few times and I felt very honored given the fact that we didn’t achieve nearly as much as
Josien has over the years. We had a quick lunch break and decided to return to the farm. On our way home, we heard screaming on the
road and a big cloud of dust in front of us. A few minutes later and a few metres further we saw what the ruckus was all about. A traktor with
people on the back of a loading space had crashed and had unloaded the people on the back whilst driving. Most of them were on the side
of the road laughing, however a few women still lay on the street wailing in pain. We stopped and saw that a few of them were severely
injured and we hauled them onto our truck only then Josien decided it would be better to put them onto adams truck. Later that afternoon
we found out that the injured women were fine besides some minor external wounds. We returned to the farm to pack our bags and relax
for our final evening of african bbq en beers by the fire. The dutch "pisscats" thanked all the staff, Josien and Adam for their marvelous
hospitality and the amazing week they had organized for us and went to bed.Day 9 - 18th
We said our goodbyes in the midday and Ernest picked us up with the Bush bus to take us back to Lusaka. Maurits and his family were dropped
off at the hotel as they were staying a week longer in Zambia and the rest flew back to Amsterdam via Nairobi. We arrived early around 6 in
the morning.
With best regards, ZAP (Zambia Allocation Program) Josien Dudok van Heel Watch all projects realised by ZAP >> | |
|
|