We have been in Livingstone for a week and have not yet visited the world famous Victoria Falls?! Instead we have been spending all day every day at the Maramba Old Peoples Home in Livingstone. We found an organization called Dream Livingstone through IVHQ, an international agency that sources volunteer projects all over the world. There are many projects in the area that you can choose to join. You can help with community construction projects, or help needy children at orphanages. In the end we chose to work at the old age home because it was simply the area they had the most need. (but WAAAAAY out of my comfort zone!)
We didn't really know what to expect ( a vague idea only) but let me tell you when we arrived to the "Home" I have to say we were both frankly shocked. Unfortunately the resources are very very thin and they really have to make due with what they have. The home is in a walled compound, and within the compound is a series of shacks and tiny single room quarters. Some of them are merely chambers or closets with no doors. We had a tour around our first day and met some of the "clients". It really breaks your heart.
We were staying at a guest house called Songbird Guest House which is slightly on the outskirts of Livingstone. We woke up early every morning and made the 4 km walk into Livingstone and to the Home. Since they don't get many volunteers at the old age home there is not really a set of duties for you to perform daily, so you really have to pick up and figure out what's needed. During our first day we really began to warm up to the rest of the staff. I somehow ended up in the kitchen at the beginning of most days to do the chopping. We spent quite a bit of time with the ladies that volunteered daily doing the cooking. They would prepare a very large pot of the Zambian staple food called nshima, which is a porridge like dish made mostly of maise (corn meal). The nshima would get so very thick and it was simply amazing to watch these ladies stir it effortlessly. We had a few goes at it, and we had a hard time which was simply entertainment for them.
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| Showing off what we're cooking in the kitchen. It's all cooked outside in huge pots on charcoal. They make amazing meals this way. |
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| Dy stirring up the nshima. |
Dy drew on a bit of experience from her days working at the hospital in Ottawa and on day 2 they used her to help bring one of the clients to the hospital. She sweet talked him with a few words in his language of Nyanja and the staff was happy that he went as they told us he was refusing to go before. (No one said anything about how well the cabbage had been chopped that day, though!!!)
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| Dy visiting with Sam, one of the many characters. |
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| Me and Clement chopping the cabbage. Clement works for Dream Livingstone. |
Besides the work and care, we enjoyed simply doing the rounds twice a day to just visit and joke around with everyone. I think the most heart warming part of it (and there are many) is when they would see you return day after day. We got more waves, more smiles and the greetings got louder and louder. We met so many characters and heard so many stories, some not even in a language we understood. Some spoke a little English, most in Nyanja, the local tribal language used in the Livingstone Area, while others in Losi or Tonga.
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| These guys take the shreds of nylon from old sacs and hand weave it into long ropes which they then sell to local fish mongers. The man on the right is completely blind. As you can see from his smile, he's a very happy person and a joy to be around. |
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| This is the small space she calls home |
We quickly fell into a bit of a routine... cleaning...chopping...mopping floors, laundry, chopping...joking with the staff, chopping more (the ladies jokingly called me chef by the end of the week). The staff would ring the dinner bell (a piece of heavy iron hanging from a tree that they would hit with another metal rod) and all of the able bodied folks would come to the common house and we'd serve them their food. Then we would bring the meals to the folks that couldn't walk very well or were bed ridden. All of the clients warmed up to Dy as she really practiced her Nyanja, which would bring hoots of laughter. Some would even dance a little with her.
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| Dy and Wilson. The man she took to the hospital |
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| One of the many lovely ladies. |
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| Serving some nshima |
On our last day we wanted to do something special for the old folks so we asked the staff what they like. We were told they really like chibuku, a traditional and locally brewed beer. There are 2 kinds - white and dark. So Jack, one of the staff, and I headed out to the market to get our selves 40 liters of beer. We brought the containers. After wandering the market for a bit, Jack spotted the seller at one of the local watering holes (as in bar, not an actual watering hole...we are in Africa after all). The seller is basically a flatbed truck that drives to the bars with 2 huge vats of beer on the back. Jack told the man how much we wanted. The seller then siphoned out the 2 types of beers with a garden hose into our 2 20 liter containers and we were on our way. Now that we had the beer Dy and I went to the grocery store and bought 4 Cakes and several bottles of juice for our celebration.
Here's a video of our friend Clement pouring the chibuku...
As the last day wore on and we cleaned up after the little party it was time for us to make our last round and say good bye. It was much more difficult than I had anticipated. I'd be lying if I said our eyes were remotely dry for this part. It was only a week, but I can truly say we will never forget this experience and all of the people. The clients and the VERY hardworking ladies. One of the more animated characters name was "Sweet Potato". That is literally his name in his native language. He was born in a sweet potato garden...anyway... As he was sitting there knowing we were getting ready to leave he said to us..."You can go for now...but please don't make it forever. I will count the days until you return..."
Here's a bit of Mr. Sweet Potato....
If you are interested in volunteering in Zambia and specifically Livingstone I highly recommend it! Please feel free to contact myself or Dy directly or through this blog and we can give you as much advice as we can. We do recommend Dream Livingstone as they have amazing support while you are here and are a registered non profit organisation.
http://www.dreamlivingstonezambia.com/
