Greatness Indeed.

Before rafting the Great Zambezi it crossed my mind that I could very well die. But after doing a quick mental Pros and Cons list, I decided that if I did die, than this would be the way to go. Plus I had already booked and paid for the trip the night before during a state of dehydrated delirium after the 17 hr bus ride... took the liberty of booking Amber's too while she was in the shower!
The day started at 7am. I met my fellow rafters at the top of Victoria Falls, where I proceeded to do a standard sizing up of the group- before going into any questionable situation, I like to make sure that I am not the weakest link. The crew: our guide- didn't catch his name, guessing he didn't catch mine either bc he called me "US girl" the entire day. Let's just call him Hitler. His apprentice- Prince. A 56 yr old man- looked strong. Two twenty something girls from Sweden- healthy, very fair skinned, not much in the bicep department. And two thirty yr old guys- very athletic, but they were French and were wearing flip flops, enough said. I got this!
The descent into the gorge is 350 ft, straight down. Imagine climbing down the face of half dome, twice, on a 100 yr old ladder. Once in the water we had a 3 min paddle tutorial at the bottom of Victoria Falls, then began the 21 rapid rodeo.
The first 4 rapids were class 3 and 4, warm ups. Lost a few crew members to random tidal waves. Then came #5, oh #5. Still feeling that bugger. Coming up on 5 was not at all nerve racking. The drop off is so steep and so sudden, you don't even have the chance to be scared. I've white water rafted before, and again I did the crew size-up, so I felt pretty confident, but still said a prayer that went something like "God please don't let us die, and please don't let Amber lose her contacts". Not sure what happened next. No clue which way I was turned. Upside down? Underwater? Under the raft? My priorities list looked something like this- breath, find paddle (no way I was paying $10 for a lost paddle), and take picture while being pummeled by the rapids (thanks Aveline for the underwater camera). I eventually did all of the above, then grabbed on to Claude's jacket and floated the rest of the rapid out with him. Everyone got back into the boat very shaken. I think Amber cursed at Hitler and then looked at me and said "this isn't fun". She was also sporting a new black eye.
Rapid 8 was another flip. Definitely came up under the raft this time, not good for a claustrophobic. Made it out, just in time for Hitler to flip the raft right side up.... on to my head. Really? How about flip it to the left side where no one is floating and not concuss me?!?
On we went. The float down the Zambezi is beautiful. You are in a giant gorge the entire time- picture The Grand Canyon with elephants- Zimbabwe on one side, Zambia on the other. Halfway through we dropped the crew off, and Amber and I continued on with a raft full of guides. Which made it much easier for me to slack off on paddling, bc I no longer had to compensate for Pierre and Claude's subpar performance.
We had another flip at 18, and it was awesome. I didn't hit anything or anyone. It was more like a catapult. I was launched 30 ft from the raft! By the time I got situated, I was a good 200 ft behind everyone, and somehow collected 3 paddles!
The trip ended with a hike out of the gorge. So imagine that same 350 ft ladder again, this time going up. With rafting gear. At one point I offered Amber's hand in marriage to one of the guides in exchange for a piggyback ride. We made it to the top where we were promised refreshments. I opened the cooler to find Fanta and beer... 7 hours in the African heat, 1 bottle of water for the entire rafting trip, 45 minute hike.... water would have been a nice option. I guess they figured we drank so much of the Zambezi while eating ish on the rapids that we'd be fine....
In conclusion, the Great Zambezi is true to it's name. It was the greatest day ever. My body is telling a slightly different story; bruises and scrapes galore. It looks like Jackie Chan nunchucked my legs from top to bottom, then Zorro tapped in and sliced me up.

Free Fall.

Friday morning- 6:30 am- Drinking coffee- Reading- Getting ready for another day at the hospital.  Amber walks into the hut, abruptly takes a seat in front of me, stares for a bit, and says "we need to talk". This was the "we need to talk" that is usually followed by "I'm mad at you for throwing a mango at me" or "I don't like it when you flick geckos on me". Seeing as it wasn't even 7am yet, I was almost certain I had done none of those things. So I let her talk. She informed me that there was a hospital truck leaving for Harare in 30 minutes. What this meant for us is that we could attempt to fulfill our dream of visiting Victoria Falls (one of the 7 natural wonders of the world, which is a mere 17 hour drive from our hospital), before Amber departed in 4 days. It also meant that we needed to pack our bags in 10 minutes, take a 4 hour car ride to Harare, find a bus from Harare to Vic Falls, get to Vic Falls, then find lodging. The stars aligned. We made it to Harare, got the last two seats on the only bus going to Victoria Falls, survived the 13 hours bus ride, and found a hostel within 7 minutes of being in Vic Falls. I don't know how we did it, but I truly believe that Amber and I pulling this one off is a close contender for the 8th wonder. Just saying.

Workout buddies.

Took up jogging in Africa. At first the 115 degree heat was a major deterrent, but once I got used to blacking out gracefully (as not to scrape my arms or face), it is not so bad. Plus I use the hospital as an ending point, just in case….. I’ve also received some unexpected encouragement from the village kids. As I run, they come out of the woodworks and join me. Regardless of what they are doing (I don’t run during school hours, I can only imagine the chaos), and regardless of what they are wearing (barefoot, flip flops, dress pants… doesn’t matter). They jump in and run with me until I stop. I finished yesterday with 16 in tow. Pure entertainment from start to finish. So entertaining that I had to write a little jingle about it- sing to the tune of 12 Days of Christmas-

ON MY DAILY JOG THROUGH AFRICA THIS IS WHAT I SEE 

Twelve turkeys squabbling
Eleven rocks to trip on
Ten goats a chargin
Nine geckos staring
Eight degrees past boiling
Seven kids following
Six cat calls rendered
Five cows that I dodge
Four bikes that race me
Three bugs in my eye
Two donkeys mating
And an African sun setting in the background!

Roadtrip.

Chidamoyo Hospital to Harare is a 4 hour drive. An ordinary 4 hour drive is not ideal, but can have ideal moments. This one did not. 5 seats+8 people+5 suitcases+3 backpacks= my nightmare (or my future chiropractor's summer home). Liz and I were riding far back, no seat zone, with the luggage. I imagine the scene was similar to what twins look like in the womb, as the only comfortable/possible position was fetal. I was on my back with my knees pulled into my chest the entire ride. My spectrum of emotions ranged from excitement-> extreme claustrophobia-> sleep-> excitement-> numbness-> comfort (southern to be exact)-> and back to excitement as we neared our destination. Which was also our transfer point, where we lost 2 people and found a car with an extra seat! The next 5 hour drive was much better, minus the car accident. Yep, survived my first African car accident! It was everything I had imagined and more. Lady throws wheel barrel at car- car loses control and swerves off the road- down the embankment, through the ravine- and finally ends 1/4 mile off the road in the bush. By all accounts/physics/gravity we should have flipped, but God was watching over our car. He brought us to a nice peaceful stop! And after 2 hours of changing the tire by flashlight (no street lights in Africa, shocking I know) we were back on the road again, en route to the orphanage.
Right now I'm working at the Chiredzi Church of Christ Orphanage. They have 80 kids ranging in age from 3 to 18. I've spent the week helping with homework, cooking and doing chores with the kids, going to chapel and sometimes school with them, and of course, tons of playing. It's really weird to find so much joy in such a sad place. All of the orphans either have AIDS or lost their parents to AIDS, yet they are happy, they work hard in school, they are excited to learn anything and everything, and they beat me in every game ever. Except for the lily pad game, mostly because I'm the only one that knows the song, therefore I control when the frog "goes kerplop" and it is never on my hand.  Suckas. This week has been unbelievable- nearly impossible to say good-bye. Instead of doing that, you're all getting new kids for Christmas! Act surprised.

funeral= fun-for-all.

Funerals are typically a time of sadness. But in a country where 40% of the adult population suffers from AIDS, death is just another thing they factor into the day. It is so prevalent and funerals are so frequent, that they could not possibly spend all that time being sad, they would never stop mourning. Instead, Shonas have turned funerals into a time to celebrate. Like most deaths, there is first a time of mourning. Shona women are known as "professional mourners", they've got the tears and wailing down. They believe that death is a direct result of a being cursed or "witched" by someone (obviously not the AIDS epidemic), in order to prove innocence everyone needs to mourn. a lot. and very publicly. Troves of people make their way through the hospital screaming and crying. We had 4 deaths yesterday, which does not make for a smooth day of procedures. Once the show is over, so begins the party- two days of singing, dancing and eating. I attended the funeral on Monday because it was for an employee of Chidamoyo (and because they needed someone to prepare food for the guests... I guess I can add caterer to my ever expanding list of job titles here!?!). I went into it not knowing what to expect- after the mile walk to the village, I showed up to find 100 women singing and dancing in a circle- jackpot. It took me 3 minutes to make my way to the center, and so began the dance off! After hours of dancing in the extreme heat, I caved. FINAL SCORE- Shona women: 1. White women: 0.