Auntie Lynn's Farm

Kabwe (where my Mum and her sisters grew up and home to my Grandpa's garage, Baines Motors)

(Baines Motors) (Doubt, Pearl, Bailey, Thiende and me)

After 16 years, I finally reunited with my cousin Pearl. The following day, my cousins Diane and Pearl, their kids, my Granny and I headed to my Auntie Lynn’s farm in Kabwe. Along the roadside women and children sell mangoes, tomatoes and mushrooms (some the size of Frisbees!). I wish I liked mushrooms!
(very large mushroom)
We made a necessary mango-stop in Chisamba, where we purchased 5 basins of mangoes for 25,000 kwacha (that’s about 75 mangoes for $5 CAD!!!)…I’m in heaven. All these mangoes were required for a mango-eating competition my cousin Pearl had challenged me to…who could eat the most mangoes in one sitting. I’m disappointed to say that I lost. Never thought I’d lose at an eating competition, but I had to call it quits at mango number 13. Pearl managed to eat 15, I think. We both live by the philosophy that it’s not worth eating only one mango at a sitting. You’ve got to make the strings in the teeth, mango stains (I swear almost everything I own has a mango stain) and sticky hands and forearms worthwhile. I did, however, pay for my gluttony …system shutdown :) It was all worth it. Mango season doesn’t last forever. So many mangoes here go to waste because there's such an influx, but then the season ends and there's nothing. This would make me sad, but I guess that's why everyone loves mangoes so much...it's like summer in Canada. I don't think we'd appreciate it as much if we didn't have the winter.
(the dam)
Auntie Lynn is starting up a new farm deep in the Kabwe bush. What it lacks in terms of running water and electricity, it more than makes up for in character and charm. It was so nice to escape from the city and spend a week surrounded by nothing but trees; serenaded by the songs of the animals of the bush. We went on numerous walks through the fields of maize, peanuts and paprika as well as fishing at the dam…we even hiked through thick forest in search of mushrooms. I only spotted one since I had my eyes on the lookout for snakes most of the time. The black mamba is one of the deadliest snakes in the world. Apparently, when startled a black mamba stands to face its adversary (often standing as tall as a human). My Aunt warned us that if we spotted one, we should stand very still and wait for the mamba to back down and slither away…hells no! I was sure I couldn’t do that, so I was determined to avoid any such confrontation in the first place. Tip-toeing, I kept my eyes on the ground…suddenly I realized that it was just as likely for snakes to be lurking in the trees above. When I looked up, I saw that I was about a foot away from a spider’s web that was close to a meter tall and wide….shudder. What I hate most in the world (in line with irrational fears, of course) is walking through spiders’ webs, not knowing if the little bugger (teehee) is now crawling on me. My anti-spidey sense was working, thank God.

The farm’s a place that captures the imagination, that rejuvenates, that inspires. It’s so self-sustaining. A few nights, everything we ate for supper we had picked earlier that day from the bush and/or the fields. I also met an 11-year old boy named Doubt who has just the most amazing spirit (he actually looks about 7 because of being mal-nurished as a baby). He was born squint-eyed and because of his condition was abandoned by his father, who believed he was witched. He now lives with his grandmother on my aunt’s farm. He’s such a gentle soul. He plays so well with the other children, always shares the little he has and wears a big smile on his face at all times. He’s stolen all of our hearts and has even become my aunt’s very eager little helper. The farm has a lot more stories, but I’ll spare you all the details for now.

Images of the Farm:

(Paula and Doubt) (worker pulling cow)


(cow pulling trailer made out of the back of a truck)

(mushrooms) (Sokos the dog in the field)

(Granny Baines in her Paradise)

Both Home and Away for the Holidays

Ok, I realize I'm posting twice in one day, but I don't know when I'll be able to access internet again...there’s so much to say, and I’m so curious as to how you all are. I hope everyone had amazing holidays and wishing you all the best for the new year. It was so wonderful to reunite with my family after such a long time (almost 5 years). Some are taller, some have a few more wrinkles, others have deeper voices and some look like they haven’t aged a day.

My Christmas in Lusaka was so beautiful. I spent the day with my beloved Granny, my cousin Beverly and her family. It was different being away from Mum and Ashlyn for the first time, but I still had such a great time. I did miss the snow, though…especially after hearing about how much Ottawa got this Christmas.

I spent my New Years in Livingstone, Zambia …home to the mighty Victoria Falls. Mosi-oa-tunya (the cloud that thunders) is what the locals call this 7th natural wonder of the world. It’s named this for the thundering cloud of mist that rises from the falls and can be seen for miles away. On New Years Eve my cousin Delese and I decided to take a walking safari tour to see the Victoria Falls from a completely different perspective…the edge (the side that thunders). With our guide Roland holding our hands tightly we crossed the mighty Zambezi; one slippery rock at a time and sometimes in waist-deep rushing water. The river can be so mesmerizing…there were more than a few instances where I almost fell over dizzy from watching it flow past my legs (I noticed Roland rarely looked down). My adrenaline was racing, knowing that one little slip could have meant being swept down the falls.

We waded through the river for about 1.5 hours until we finally reached "the swimming pool," a crater right at the edge of the falls. After carefully listening to Roland’s instructions as to where it was safe to swim and where to avoid, we eagerly dove in (I almost lost my bathing suit top…eek!). We swam around and waved to tourists on the other side (in Zambia to our left, and Zimbabwe to our right). After swimming and waving for 20 mins, we continued on to "the island (Tongabezi)," where we enjoyed a warm cup of tea (Mum, I wish you were there). Located on the island is a plaque that marks David Livingston’s expedition (the view from that location is the best I’ve ever seen of the falls). At that moment, I thought of my great-great grandfather, Thomas Baines, a painter who travelled with Livingstone. It was a full-circle kind of feeling, knowing that I was standing in the exact same spot that my ancestor had. The whole experience was exhilarating, challenging, and extremely nerve-wrecking at times, but it was a unique adventure that I’ll never forget.

We arrived back at the hotel just in time to clean up for the hotel’s new years’ dinner/dance. We (people of all different ages, shapes and sizes, from all around the world) danced it up into the wee hours of the morning. At around 5:30am I called it quits and limped off to bed, while the remaining young’ins decided to go for a morning dip in the hotel pool. We sure did pay for it the next morning when we had to check out by 10:30am…for a moment I regretted my last few glasses of champaign…just a moment, though. Heck, new years comes only once a year! Besides, I had a killer waffle at breakfast which made everything better…good food always does the trick.

Pics (top to bottom, left to right):

Shaq, Granny, Bri-anne, Beverly, Allan, Kaylee, me

Victoria Falls (our adventure took place on that side, not the side I took this pic)

Freda, Dad and me near Livingstone Statue

Vic Falls (from the Zambian side)

me and cousin Delese x 2

New Years crew - brother Zayne in the striped shirt

Life in Lusaka

Haha...this is the second time the power has gone off in Lusaka's largest shopping mall, Manda Hill..this is my third attempt at posting a blog. Argh! I'm revelling in, but still getting used to living life at a slower pace. I was just going to jump right into this blog thing by describing my trip and some of my adventures so far, but maybe I'll ease into it more slowly. Rather, I'd like to share something I wrote in my journal while driving through the city the other day...a glimpse of how Africa moves me...

January 14, 2008

I’ve been in Lusaka, Zambia for about a month now and I’m enjoying every moment. There’s this uniquely African characteristic that leaves me bewitched every time. It’s indescribable. It’s just something I feel. There’s this resilience and joyousness, despite disease and poverty; throughout hardships, drought and floods; beyond pain and suffering. There’s this hypnotizing energy that leaves me questioning; that leaves me wanting more…more songs, more laughter, more hard work, more sunshine, more rain, more love, more life, more living

.…a sense of fearlessness when there’s so much to fear (or rather, a sense that there's nothing to fear in the first place). The resolve to survive; it’s so strong here.

Images of Lusaka:

If you look carefully, the woman with the yellow basket is carrying mangoes...I'll tell you more about those later.