Insects and trees in September

As the summer approaches more insects wake up from their winter hibernation, although there are always some insects around.



The difference now is their size...



The edge of the door frame below the spider, gives a good idea of its size:




The wasp is on a floor tile, about 30cm square:




Burrowing bees, buzz very loudly as they dig into any unprotected wood. I took this photo just as it flew off the guttering:


September is also the month when the jacaranda trees are in full bloom:



Their vivid lilac blossoms create a shock of colour against the brown earth. There are many of these trees on the farm site, and also in town. When the blossom falls the ground it looks like confetti scattered along the paths:

CVC in Zambia

After six weeks in the UK, I am now back in Zambia.

Monica, a friend from Cape Town, came to Lusaka recently to visit her family, so we showed them round the new CVC studios in town.

In the background, under the car port is some of the old studio equipment, which had been brought from the farm site, and set up in one of the studios, to help the presenters with the transition between the new automated playout system, which is all computerised, and their old system of inserting CD's and tapes.

The day I visited with Monica this old, but still useful equipment was being donated to another Christian ministry in Lusaka, as all the CVC presenters have been trained and are now becoming more familiar with their new studios.

Also under the car port is a waterfeature. The water runs from the top of the ball, into the bowls and is pumped back to the top again. The sound and movement of the running water is a refreshing backdrop to the busy, dusty main road in the heart of Lusaka:

Here are a few photos and a brief summary from the day of the launch - Thursday 17th July 2008...

A large marquee was erected on the carpark, for all the invited guests:

The programme included a choir from the Copperbelt, and several others musical items:

Bob Edmiston (Chairman of Christian Vision) was among the speakers:

The building was offically opened by the Honorable Mike Mulongoti, Minister of Information and Broadcasting:

Green and white balloons were released into the sky, by the staff:

Afterwards a buffet lunch was held outside, but I don't think the grasshopper was supposed to be on the menu:

There was a cake reading "Congratulations RCV" (RCV stands for Radio Christian Voice, the name of the station):

The students from Grace Academy, Solihull, were also present at the launch. Here they all are with Bob and Tracie Edmiston:

The Grace Academy students took part in a live radio programme with presenter Jimmy. This is Jimmy with Beccy and Mark, part of the staff who accompanied the students:

Behind the reception is a curved wall with a mural of one of CVC's illustrations representing the "Touch a Billion" arm of Christian Vision:

The caption reads " Radio Christian Voice, Touching lives one by one."

Outside again, CV had to pay for the relocation of a new bus stop, as the previous one had to be demolished to make way for the entrance to the site. Only in Zambia will you see a bus stop like this one...

... Since I took this photo, the white seat backs have been painted with a large green CVC - there's nothing like a bit of (free?) advertising!

Grace Academy involvement with Zambian Schools

During their trip to Zambia, Grace Academy spent several days with two Zambian schools.

Prior to the trip eight Grade 10 students from Christian Vision Academy had been asked to take part in paired activities. These involved face to face discussions where each student asked and answered questions about their life, interests and ambitions, using the opportunity to find out about life in a different culture.

For this activity they used the Bible College Chapel, which also serves as a school hall for assemblies:

While this was taking place, Sarah and Katie, the two English teachers accompanying the group took the remaining Grade 10 Class for a poetry lesson:

If you look closely at the table behind Sarah, you may notice that it is in fact a billiard table! Grade 10 have their lessons in the Bible College recreation room.

Katie and Sarah then took some other lessons in Grades 8 and 9, while the Grace students visited the homes of their Zambian paired student. Many of them live in simple African homes, sharing their bed with several siblings and having very few luxuries. This was an eye opener for the Grace students who realized that even the most humble of English dwellings are quite palace-like by comparison.

After lunch there was a cultural concert, with lots of Zambian and English singing and dancing:

The day spent with King's School in the nearby village of Mukobela was very different. The village has no mains water or electricity, so the students had another cultural experience - pumping water from the village well...

...and carrying it back to school:

We took a couple of assemblies at the school, and the teachers took some lessons:

But the main purpose of the visit to King's was to help paint their newly built secondary building.

Sue, the School Principal, and I had purchased the paint and rollers before Grace arrived in Zambia, so everyone soon got very busy:

Two coats to this main hallway were completed, plus painting a few greenboards (previously, blackboards).

The group photo at the end has some odd light splodges on it, which I think rather complement the many paint splodges on our clothes!

Sue is on the far left of this picture.

On Saturday 26th July, after Grace Academy had returned to England, the secondary building was officially opened, by a friend of Sue's from South Africa:

The guests were then invited to view the newly painted building:

Sue has involved her students and staff in every aspect of this project. They even made the college style chairs:

Of course, most of celebrations took place outside, with the students and their parents:

Grade 12 students wear suits and always look very smart despite the dusty conditions and limited laundry facilities:

I have enormous admiration for the work Sue is doing in Zambia. She has not only built two schools and three churches, she has ten Zambian children living in her home:

Her 87 year old mum was also visiting her - another amazing woman!

On top of the world!

One of the activities in the Grace Academy programme was a bush walk, which included climbing a local outcrop of iron ore, called Sanjay Hill:

It is a substantial pimple on the fairly flat landscape, but nevertheless, gives wonderful views in all directions.

The steep climb took a path covered with loose stones, but we all managed by holding onto overhanging branches for support and accompanied by several local kids from the farm site:

The top is made up of huge slabs of rock, which made a great place to sit, rest and take in the views:

On the hillside there are several interesting features.

A man who lives on the hillside, makes charcoal to sell locally:

However our guide, one of the Christian Vision guards, commented that this practise is gradually de-nuding the hill and making the paths unstable.

The hill's 'resident' sleeps in a natural cave, which provides some shelter from the cold winter nights at this time of year. Penny bravey posed at the entrance to the cave:

Another hole in the hill, is a mine shaft from some old workings. This time our guide refused to go into the entrance, warning us not to go in, as people have entered and not come back out!

We heard recently that Sanjay Hill may soon disappear from the landscape, as its heavy iron pyrite will soon be mined again. A steel works' is currently being built on the River Kafue. When it is complete the iron pyrite at Sanjay Hill will be 'harvested'. This project will have an enormous environmental and social impact on the area.

At present the route to Sanjay Hill is surrounded by small villages with traditional homes...

...and women carrying babies on their backs, gather sticks for burning on small fires:

I feel rather sad that this quiet way of life may go forever, to be replaced by heavy trucks thundering down the road which curently runs through the Christian Vision site.

As we were walking back a friend from a nearby village offered some of the kids a lift to the crossroads, on the back of her truck - it was another highlight and definitely not covered in the risk assessment!

Grace's Game Viewing Opportunities

During their 12 days in Zambia, the party from Grace Academy had several opportunities to view African game.

The first, which was not strictly 'Game Viewing' was at Kalimba Reptile Park. Besides lots of snakes, there are enormous breeding crocodiles:

On this trip we took the children who live in the houses near to where the students stayed - a housing area on the site called Delta, so they are known as the 'Delta kids' and they really enjoyed having new neighbours. In the build up to Grace's arrival they helped make their beds and afterwards, helped to clean the houses and move furniture. Here are two of them near to a big female crocodile:

The reptile park is also a fish farm, so quite a few of them fished with African rods:

We caught five bream, which were cooked alongside sausages, which we had brought with us:

'Hedge' found a crocodile tail...

...others swam in the pool...

...but all had a great time!

An unexpected game viewing opportunity, happened when we visited the Zambian Parliament. Within the grounds are a herd of impala and we saw them leaping and running through the manicured gardens...

...before we went into the chamber, where the game was of the stuffed variety!

This is the closest I'll ever get to a leopard:

The hour journey into Lusaka passes close to a small game park called Parays. We had a school trip with Grade 10 class and saw Buffalo...

...zebra...

...and several kinds of antelope, like impala and bushbuck.

Another unexpected and rather unwelcome game encounter happened on the day we travelled to a village called Mukobela. During the football game, a boy brought a snake he had just caught - it was still alive, but stunned:

The final opportunity for game viewing happened in Livingstone, right at the end of the trip. It was a very cold morning, so Sarah and Katie, teachers at Grace Academy were trying to keep warm:

Here we saw warthog...

... and lots of giraffe...

...including some baby giraffe...

The national park at Victoria Falls only has one rhino, which is guarded all the time:

The only elephant we saw was drinking beside the Zambezi River...

...but while we were watching him, he decided to move onto the road we were on. We travelled behind him and then he suddenly turned and started to come towards us, trumpetting, with ears flared:

This photo shows how close he was, but doesn't convey the speed of the elephant, the truck reversing, the fear of everyone on board, or the screams!

It was a scary moment, which everyone enjoyed - after the elephant had moved on, of course!