Safari and last week of camp!

26 January 2010
After the long, dusty drive from Zambia, we arrived back to the World Camp House from an amazing safari weekend. It’s so great how this house is really beginning to feel like home.

Safari was awesome! (This coming from a girl who hates animals) We saw lots of elephants, giraffes, antelope, zebra, hippos, warthogs, and even lions! The highlight of the weekend was following a pride of 17 lions on the hunt for food. Although we missed the kill, being so close to the lions definitely was a major adrenaline rush. Wild Life Camp, where we stayed in chalets for the weekend, is in the heart of the Zambian bush. The first day we were there we saw elephants cross right in front of the dining room and had to shoo away monkeys and baboons from eating our food. Quite the experience…



Camp started on a Tuesday this week because we didn’t get home from safari until yetserday. The morning went smoothly. We start the first day of every camp by administering a questionnaire about HIV and deforestation in Malawi. We give the same quiz at the end of the week to gauge how effective our curriculum is. I like day one and day two of camp, even though they are longer days, because we do lots of 15-20 minute activities, which I think really helps the kids focus. Sometimes the kids get antsy if we focus on one activity for too long.

This afternoon, the empowerment session with the girls was great! I hardly used my curriculum at all because the girls were so comfortable asking questions. Usually for empowerment I have a script that I run through and answer any questions they have at the end. Today, the girls were asking questions as we went along which made for a great, interactive discussion.

After empowerment we usually do an hour of activities about the environment. However, today the rain started coming down harder, and earlier than usual, so we ended early. Many of the kids have a long walk to and from school. We wanted to make sure they were able to make it home before the storm became really heavy. I can’t believe it’s the last week of camp already. It feels like time is faster in Malawi than it is in the states! I’m not ready to go home yet...

Written by: Lizzie Faust, Volunteer