One of the 7 Natural Wonders of the World

Victoria Falls has been on our want to see list since arriving in Zambia.  The opportunity to go there presented itself  when our friends, Mike and Nancy Fisk from Malawi, completed their mission and needed a ride to Livingstone where they were to meet friends from the states.  "Victoria Falls is locally known as Mosi-oa-Tunya which literally means the Smoke that Thunders.  David Livinstone, The Scottish missionary and explorer, is believed to have been the first European to view the falls in 1855....He gave the falls the name 'Victoria Falls' in honour of his queen."

 

Nearing the Falls it is easily understood why the local people call it "The Smoke that Thunders."  You could see the mist and hear the thunder.

 

 

The river at the falls is 5,604 feet wide and 360 feet tall so it is impossible to see it all at once.  Maximum flow is 3,000 cubic meters/second. 

 

 

This is just a small portion of the falls.  It was amazing to realize there was this much water flowing over it for a much longer distance than we could see.

 

 

There is a constant mist rising from the water as it drops the 360 feet into the narrow gorge below.  A view on Google Earth will give you an idea of the width of the gorge.

 

 

There is a bridge called "Knife Edge" that we crossed over to what is called an Island, but is more like a peninsula.  We wore ponchos, but still managed to get plenty wet.  It was like a heavy rain that ran in streams on the trail in some places. (If you get your feet wet you will be miserable the rest of the day.)

 

 

When you get to the end of the Knife Edge trail you get a view of Zimbabwe.  The falls are all in Zambia but to see the rest of the falls you need to go to Zim.

 

 

This is the bridge some people bungee jump from and is also the way to Zimbabwe. 

 

 

This is the mostly dry part of us after our walk on the misty trail.

 

 

This little guy took one look at me as if to say, "Grandma!"and came running straight towards me.

 

 

Later in the day Papa was found relaxing with his friends the guinea hens.

 

 

 





In Search of Mulenje Community

Yesterday we set off from Lusaka to layout the perimeter of the Mulenje Community in the Chongwe District of the Lusaka Province, Zambia.  A few weeks ago we went to follow up on a lead that the Mulenje Community School was in need of a water source.  The school has 60 K-2 students that come from around 150 households.  A lot of the households do not have access to clean water either so we wanted to find  the location of these households.  The community is not centralized but is scattered over about 28 square kilometers of African bush.  When we visited the school we took GPS coordinates so we could look at the area on Google Earth.  But doing that still did not give us a clear picture of who belonged to the community.  So off we went to see if we could find the limit of the community by taking more GPS coordinates of the area.  We were not sure if we could drive to the limits of the area.  We took with us Mbewe Banda, our friend who is the Water Officer for the Chongwe District, and headed off to the Community School to start our search.  Mbewe had contacted a young man who works for Community Development and lives in the area so we met him at the school. 

Mulenje School Classroom

 

We picked up Gracious at the school and headed down this road to what we thought was going to be the Southeast corner of the community.

 

 

As we traveled we passed some local points of interest.  Here are a couple of the local stores.  This is the local Grocery/Barber shop.

 

   And then there is the local Hardware store. When you read the writing on the door it tells you that and also gives a phone number to call in case you want something.

 

 

The local sitting room had a couple of these easy chairs. They say that they are quite comfortable.

 

  We headed on down the road.  Past the tall grass and fields of dried maize.

 



 

Past the local net ball court.

 

 

And the local football field (soccer for you in America).

 

 

The local Seventh Day Adventist Church where they were holding their worship because it was Saturday.  They wanted us to join them but we needed to keep moving so we could finish our task.

 

 

 

Continuing down the road through dry creek beds.

 

 

And some wet also. 

 

 

Instead of arriving at the southeast corner we ended up at the Assistant Headman's home and picked him up to help us find our points.  Then we backtracted some and headed for the southeast corner on a road that in some places was not more than a trail.

 

 

Along the way we stopped to check the direction we needed to follow.  This is Mbewe, Steven Manyoma, the Assistant Headman, and Gracious.  They are looking at a Google Earth snapshot we had made of the area.

 

 

 We took the road less traveled and ended up in a field of maize.  We actually drove on a little farther than where this picture was taken from our "dash cam".

 

 

 And then it was a walking trail.  We were headed to the southeast corner of the community, the confluence of the Nyangwena Creek and the Chongwe river.

 

 

By the fuzzy bean.  We were told not to touch it or let it touch you because it would sting.  We didn't try it much to the dismay of "GBo".  When Papa Howie was young "GBo" had his scouts rub some stinging nettle on their wrists so they would know how it felt and would learn to avoid it.

 

 

Under the brush.

 

 

Down a steep hill to the end of land at the conflunce.  We took our data, 15 degrees 20 minutes 40.32 seconds South and 28 degrees 47 minutes 53.64 seconds East.

 

 

We did not see any wild creatures so we headed back to the truck for cheese and crackers, and apples.

 

 

So what do you do when your phone rings while out in the bush? Answer it.  Cell coverage is excellent is Africa and most everyone has one.

 

 

 Then off to talk to the owner of the field where we stopped.  They would like a borehole for clean water.

 

 

We passed fields where they were growing vegetables to be sold 50-60 kilometers away in Lusaka. 

 

 

A leafy product called rape in the forground and tomatoes behind growing up the poles.

 

 

 

When they are close to water some are fortunate to have a small pump so that they can irrigate and grow crops all year instead of waiting for the rain.  This pump was being repaired.

 

 

Others have other types of modern amenities like this grass roof with a solar panel.

 

 

We were now on our way to the northeast corner of the community.  We crossed the Nyangwena creek so we were in the neighboring community and came across a new handpump that was recently built.  It was very nice compared to most we have seen and well protected from cattle. 

 

 

We found the northeast corner where the Great East road crosses the Nyangwena and then the northwest corner which was about 3 kilometers to the west.  Then we were headed to the southwest corner cross country thru the bush. Because Mbewe is the Water Officer for the district she has had to study all applicable subjects to locating water sources.  As we drove she would point out geological formations and types that were good for available ground water.  She would also point our the different types of trees and vegetation that would suggest the presence of ground water.  This tree she called a cactus tree and they usually grow out of an ant mound and the ants know where to find water.

 

And then back down along the Chongwe river at the southwest corner where the yellow daisys were in bloom.

 



 

So now we will plot our points on Google Earth and then look around to see where the households are located and where we might be able to place a few boreholes to help their life be better.  We still will need South Africas approval to make this a reality. 

 



Malawi Flooding Part II- Chikwawa District

In our last post we recorded our trip into the flood area of Southern Malawi.  When we returned to Blantyre we started preparing to make the Church's emergency relief donation to that same area.  We saw that the flood victims needed food, blankets and cooking utensils so we went to work looking for vendors where we could purchase those items.  With the help of the Blantyre District President and a counselor from one of the Branch Presidencies we located several vendors and then selected those who could best help us with procuring the needed materials. We concentrated on blankets and basic food items that they could prepare easily.  The process of finding vendors, creating a budget, getting project approval, getting the vendors registered with the Church's financial system, ordering the materials and making arrangements for payment took the next 3 weeks.  In the mean time we were able to contact the Malawi Red Cross and get instruction from the Chikwawa District Council so that we could coordinate our donation with the local authorities.  We finished paying for our supplies and picked them up on February 25th with two 10 metric ton trucks.  Early the next morning we headed south from Blantyre to make our contribution in Chikwawa.  When we went down to the area the end of January this is what we saw from the hills above the flooded area.

One month later, as we descended the hill, this is what we saw.

It had rained hard all night and the area was again flooded.  We wondered if we would be able to get to the areas that needed relief supplies.  We arrived at the Chikwawa District offices and met our two trucks.  

Here are all but one of the volunteers that went to help us unload the trucks.  Elder Reynolds was taking the picture.

We met with the District officials, received our directions and split our group up into two groups so we could send each delivery truck in a different direction.  Each group had a someone from the district who would help with the organizing the distribution when we arrived at the camp. One truck went back a little to the north to find several small camps and a larger camp of 360 families in need.  The other truck headed south to a camp of where 435 families were to receive supplies.  We went south and this is what we found.

And then we got to Konzere and this group of women were anxious to see us.

Their only problem was they lived on the wrong side of the highway and were not those who had been displaced.  The camp that we were sent to help were living in a temporary camp on the other side of the road.  They had been registered by the District so they came and lined up to have their name called so they could receive our donation.  

Which they received as they walked around the truck.

When we finished our distribution at Konzere we started back north to meet our other truck at Nchola.  Close to there were two Tizora camps with 314 families needing donations.  We met the other group and proceeded through the sugar plantation to the villages where the group was staying.  This is what we found when we arrived.  

The district official was starting to get them organized so they could have their name called and receive their donation.

When we finished at this site we dropped off two small donations and headed for the district warehouse.  The other group had not been able to find one group of 350 families and the District was not prepared to have us place the 1250 blankets we had purchased so we had to leave them at their warehouse hoping we could come back in the next two days to make the final distributions.  That has yet to occur so we have left it in The Lord's hands.

Now for the other side of Relief.  Emotinal relief is always a good part of taking care of an emergency so while preparations are being made and distributions are being fulfilled there is need for dealing with children and supplying relief to their mothers.  So Grandma Cindy and Elder Reynolds filled in when they could.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Finally, Papa Howie got some face time with the kids.