I've been in South Africa now for over 6 years and had the privilege of traveling to a number of Southern African countries. On this blog I would like to share my experiences, stories, funny happenings, pictures and some facts about the places I have visited.
In July I went on an outreach trip to Zambia, which was an awesome experience. A few months ago I got in touch with a local NGO called Adventures4Christ, and decided to team up with them, as well as a large group from the Dutch Reformed Church. I didn't realize what I got myself into, as we ended up being 28 people, 7 vehicles and 4 trailers. Quite a group to move around! Very different from the small team that I usually go with.
Starting off from Pretoria, South Africa, we traveled 4000 km altogether. We drove through Botswana and crossed the Zambezi on a small ferry to Zambia, which is an experience in itself. From there it was mainly driving on dirt roads and through the bush, on roads that are not even on maps.
The first stretch of 120 km from Livingstone to Ngweze took us 6 hours. We got to Ngweze in the dark (we had a late start due car troubles), and had to stop to ask the village headman for permission to pass through his land. Since we were on an outreach mission, we asked if we could show the Jesus film in the village square. It was a great opportunity as they had had some sort of elections that day, and a lot of people had come to this 'trading center' from surrounding villages. We went back the next day to meet some of the people from the village to pray for them.
After the showing of the film we still had 12 km to drive on rough roads and through a wide, dry river bed, the perfect place to get stuck in the sand. The one car that wasn't a 4x4 got stuck halfway through the river bed. We finally made it to the village where we were to camp for a couple of days at midnight! Unbeknownst to us the village children had been waiting for 4 hours for us so they could sing a couple of welcome songs. We felt so bad, because most of them were not dressed warm at all and it was a very cold night. The next day we gave them some clothes and toys we had brought with us.
Our toilet in the bush! The people from the village had made a long drop and a reed covered bathroom for us. It took them 3 days to make the long-drop, and we were only staying days. Talk about hospitality! I don't know if this village of 3 extended families has a name; we simply called it Tobias' village. Tobias is the village headman.
He is also a pastor. Thanks to Activated Ministries I was able to leave him with lots of Christian Bible study material as well as kids' educational book. He was so thankful for the books.
He is also a pastor. Thanks to Activated Ministries I was able to leave him with lots of Christian Bible study material as well as kids' educational book. He was so thankful for the books.Can you imagine, this place is 6 hours by car from the nearest town, Livingstone. And I am not even sure there is a bookstore in Livingstone. So having us bring him books into the middle of the bush was not exactly an ordinary thing to happen.
After 2 days in Tobias' village our next destination was a hunting lodge about 280 km away. But to get to it we had to travel on dirt roads all the way, and through the Kafue National Park. Sounds easy enough, doesn't it? That's what we thought. We left at 8 am, and the going was very, very slow! It took us 22 hours, which means that we had to drive the whole stretch through the national park in the dark. The road looked like it hadn't been used for a while,
After 2 days in Tobias' village our next destination was a hunting lodge about 280 km away. But to get to it we had to travel on dirt roads all the way, and through the Kafue National Park. Sounds easy enough, doesn't it? That's what we thought. We left at 8 am, and the going was very, very slow! It took us 22 hours, which means that we had to drive the whole stretch through the national park in the dark. The road looked like it hadn't been used for a while, and all the vehicles got scratched up pretty badly.
During our brief stops we all stayed very close to the cars as there were elephant and lion tracks everywhere.
Well, we made it to the hunting lodge, where we were supposed to spend the night, just in time to see a beautiful sunrise. After resting for a few hours we continued our journey around midday. The next destination was Mumbwa.
Well, we made it to the hunting lodge, where we were supposed to spend the night, just in time to see a beautiful sunrise. After resting for a few hours we continued our journey around midday. The next destination was Mumbwa.To be continued!
