As usual Cal was up early, but Rachel slept in. The Green Tree Lodge did have WIFI this
morning, at least most of the time there was a strong signal. Last night too many people were on the
internet so the signal was very week.
Cal posted the blog and began posting photo. We also SKYPED our daughter and heard via her
that our son and daughter-in-law are doing well in Paris. It was good to touch base with family
again.
By noon we were ready to attend the R C of Livingston which
meets at 1:00 for dinner and a business meeting. After the Rotary meeting our ride was there
to take us to the village of Mwandi. We
transferred luggage and were on our way out of Livingston. 5 years ago we were in a Land Cruiser with no
A/C. Today we were in a much newer
vehicle that had A/C – what a blessing in this hot weather. The road out of town was great for the first
hour, but the second hour of travel was on a much poorer maintained road (all a
continuous highway). We remembered many
of the sights along the way, and we saw changes.
We arrived in Mwandi after a 2-hour drive straight west of
Livingston. This road goes from Livingston, Zambia to the country of Namibia.
We first went to a grocery stop where we bought 2 cases of
bottled water for us to drink before arriving at the “Homes for Orphans” (H for
O) ministry site. Wow have they made
changes! They have built 2 chalets which are en-suite (shower and toilet inside). Wow are they nice! One chalet sleeps 4 and
the other sleeps 10. Our home for the
week is the chalet with four beds. AND there is an electric fan – which is
great if the electricity is on. They
also have nice toilet blocks and a nice shower block. They are in the process of building a
concrete block wall around the perimeter of the property/camp, instead of a
boundary of medium sized twigs stuck vertically in the ground about 2 inch
apart. The wall is more secure against
stray dogs, snakes, kids throwing stones at their dogs, etc. The dining/kitchen area is the same, the
tents where we stayed the last time are still intact, but have been
repositioned for the chalets. They now
have running water all over the facility, in the chalets, kitchen, shower blocks,
etc., electricity from the grid rather than from their own generator, and flush
toilets in the chalets and toilet blocks rather than “long drops”. All is a very big improvement.
Paula and Dan began this mission, to build homes for
grandmothers raising their orphan grandchildren, (due to AIDs) in 2007. When we were here in 2010 they just had the
basics. While we were here there was a Rotary dedication of the new
well/pump/storage tank on the property.
They have connected with organizations where (usually) kids
and young adults sign-up to do a short term volunteer project somewhere in the
world. Through this, they now have
school groups who come to have an African experience. As H for O have hosted more groups and people,
they use a certain portion of the fees to improve the property. They are in the process of developing a
camping site for campers who may be coming this way – there are no campgrounds
for a 300-mile stretch of highway and they feel this could be a great service
for self-catering campers.
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| Home for Orphans Camp - Our Home for a couple days |
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| Kitchen Dining Area |
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| Dining Area |
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| The same Tent we used in 2010 |
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| Water Heater/Barrel with Fire and Outdoor Shower Facility |
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| Our Chalet for 2015 |
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| Water Heater |
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| Some more Tents |
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| Paula's House |
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| The Small /Chalet Rachel Painted in 2010 |
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| Paula's Old House now a Fire Ring |
A few minutes before we arrived a school group, from the UK,
of 6 girls (15 years old) and 3 adults arrived.
They are with the group called “True Adventure”. They set up tents and cooked their own
supper, while we put our stuff in the chalet and the cooks, Berry & Mary,
prepared supper for us. It was so hot last evening!! There is no place to go to
get cool unless it is a shower. I have
been using a damp microfiber towel around my neck which definitely helps.
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