Victoria Falls

After our trip to Village of Hope, our next stop was Victoria Falls. The falls are near the point where Zimbabwe, Zambia, and Botswana come together along the Zambezi river. Livingstone, the touristy town you stay at to go to the falls is about 7 hours south of Lusaka and to get their we took a bus. The ride trip was ok, though the suspension (or lack thereof) made it more comparable to a boat ride. We had expected food on the bus which also did not appear, but we appreciated the A/C.

Once in Linvingstone we met a friend from UD, Jen. Jen works with local clinics that do a lot of HIV/AIDS testing as part of a Public Health Masters from Boston U. She acted as our tour guide and was a great help in showing us around, introducing us to Zambian food (not very different from Kenyan food) and translating good prices (4307 Zambian Kwacha to the Dollar?).

After an evening at our hostel, we spent wednesday at the falls. Whoa. Since it had rained earlier in the week, the falls were starting to fill up, sending out a massive spray into the air. The forest around the river/falls receives rain practically 24/7, so it is very lush. After first taking a trail to see the “wide view” of the area, we hiked right past the falls. It was like walking through a monsoon. It was nearly impossible to see because it “rained” so hard your eyes barely stayed open. However, the falls were gorgeous, massive, just great to watch (if you can enjoy being wet).

Later we took a third trail to the “boiling pot” where the water swirls soon after descending the falls. We sat on the rocks and enjoyed watching bungee-jumpers jump off the bridge to Zimbabwe. All this time it was overcast which made the pictures a little less awe-inspiring, but was a great blessing since we didn't get sunburn.

After an evening eating pizza at a restaurant run by an Italian NGO and shopping at the local market, we hung out at our hostel, played ping-pong and watched the Arsenal/Porto football match. The following morning we took another bus to Lusaka which had a much better suspension. Overall, our trip to the falls was amazing, something we'll surely remember for years and maybe come back to do again.

Village of Hope

One of the major motivations behind visiting Zambia was to see old Kistler family friends, the Schwartzes. Kathleen and Benedict run an orphanage just north of Lusaka called, “Village of Hope” which is aiming at developing a sustainable model of orphan care.

As of now, there are 42 children at VoH, all referred by the local social services branch. The children range from 5-12 years old and are grouped into houses. Each house has about 8 children and a mother who lives with the kids. VoH runs a farm to feed the children, a restaurant and market to sell excess produce, beautiful school, and is starting chicken production. It was a wonderful time, marked with frequent power outages and lots of great food.

One favorite memory from VoH was playing a version of dodgeball with the children. One team all stands between two representatives of the other team who throw the ball back and forth. They try to hit the people in the middle like dodgeball. However, games were won by scoring 100 points between people getting out. Additional points were awarded if a person in the middle caught the ball, with more points received if more of your teammates are still “in.” I have to say I dominated, which was a lot of fun.
Most importantly for me, I was blessed to see that the children were all joyful. They sung and played and danced and smiled constantly. I (Matt) preached a sermon on the wise and foolish builder parable and they all seemed to appreciate the message. They also challenged me to a foot-race which was considerable fun (and an ego-boost for a moderately slow person). The entire time and place had a sense of hope which gave its name true meaning.