The story of how I watched the sun rise over the Zambezi
river gorge.
Once again I want to welcome you to my blog, where I
hope to post stories every few weeks about my time in Mozambique and the surrounding
region, and beyond.
First of all, I want to thank you all for your prayers and
support as I finished pulling together everything I needed before leaving
Canada. I got my final immunization AND my motorcycle driver’s license just 24
hours before leaving the country. Talk about leaving things till the last
minute! But despite that extra stress in my last few days, everything has gone
smoothly.
I safely arrived in Livingstone, Zambia, after 43 hours of
traveling, which included two practically sleepless nights. I was very pleased,
not to mention surprised, that both my bags arrived in Livingstone the same time
I did! With the four flights it took to get me there, I didn’t have high hopes!
I’m afraid I was a bit out of it my first few days here, but feel much more
engaged and energized now. I’m in Zambia to attend a Farming God’s Way training,
which will hopefully provide me with some useful skills as I move into my
assignment in Mozambique. Farming God’s Way is a tool that incorporates
Biblical principles, management skills, and scientific understanding, helping
farmers to farm with dignity as stewards of God’s creation.
It has been a most instructive time for me, not only with
respect to the principles (which can be applied to any area of life, not just
farming), but also as a valuable introduction to living and working in this
region of Africa. The week long training session was an opportunity to equip
emerging trainers, and to do this we also went into three villages where local
people could come and receive training in Farming God’s Way. Since this was my
first experience with Farming God’s Way, I was mainly observing. Perhaps the
most valuable experience for me was having a chance to talk to some of the
local people who also came to learn about farming God’s Way and hear their
stories. It was inspiring to hear
about their hopes for the future, and how they believe Farming God’s Way has
the potential to change their knowledge, attitude, and actions, and lead to a
more abundant life in Christ. To
begin to develop a relationship with some of the people there, even in the few
short days we had, was a real privilege.
Myself and 30 or so other Farming God’s Way non-local trainees
are being hosted at Overland Missions Base an hour on dirt roads outside of
Livingstone. The missions base, overlooking the Zambezi river gorge, provides a
relaxing and inspiring environment to which we come back to every evening after
spending the day in the community, gardening in the hot, hot sun. Friday
afternoon we were all back early and decided to escape the heat by jumping in
the river for a swim. It took over half and hour to scramble down the loose
rocky walls of the gorge to reach the water, but it was well worth it. It was
gloriously refreshing to plunge into the river. We had a harder time convincing
some of our African friends to join us in the water. They were wary (and
probably rightly so) of crocodiles in the water. Crocs are quite common in some
parts of the Zambezi river, which flows over Victoria Falls not far from where
we are staying (by the way, I got to see the falls the day after arriving here.
They were beautiful, but the water was extremely low, especially on the Zambian
side of the falls). Back to the crocs…. Several people who live in South Africa
and have been here before pointed out that the steep walled gorge is hardly the
preferred location for crocs, so we’d be safe. After all, it’s not every day
you can say you swam in the Zambezi river!
For those of you wondering, despite the dryness of the
region, the birding is excellent, especially around sunrise. Just yesterday I
solved a mystery that had been bugging everyone- each morning there is a sound
that is EXACTLY the beeping sound of a truck or bulldozer backing up. Some
people thought there was construction going on a ways down river. But yesterday
I saw the little critter in action. A Grey-Headed Bushshrike calling from a
tree on the very edge of the gorge, his voice carrying effortlessly through the
still morning air.
I’m off on Sunday to go to Johannesburg for two days to
visit the Mennonite Central Committee Regional Representatives, after which I
will fly to Beira, Mozambique!
Yours truly
Rebecca
Rebecca
For those of you interested in learning more, check out http://www.farming-gods-way.org
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| Peering over the lip of Victoria falls on the Zambia side- the water was so low that we were able to walk out quite a ways where there is usually a sheet of water. |
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| Women from Livuyu community just outside of Livingstone preparing Teren ropes, used for measuring the optimal maize plant spacing. |
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| Bishop Michael leads the community in digging planting stations- instead of ploughing, individual stations are dug. Compost is added directly to the hole and everything is prepared for the seeds to be planted at the first rains. No-till agriculture helps conserve the soil structure, organic matter, organisms, and water retention. |
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| Sunrise over the Zambezi river gorge |
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| Rapid 14 on the Zambezi river. The wide section in the bottom left corner is where we went swimming. |
