Week 8- Personal

Heading across the river to Bovu

In order to reward ourselves after our six weeks of teaching practice, we decided to take a trip to Bovu Island and relax there for the weekend. It was a rather exciting experience sitting in the back of a pick-up truck as we drove for about an hour to our destination, avoiding trees and branches along the way through the bush. We then climbed aboard dug-out canoes which took us over to the remote island in the middle of the Zambezi river. When we arrived I was completely blown away…it was like paradise. White sand, hammocks and amazing views of the Zambezi- what more could we ask for?! This was the perfect way to end our teaching practice. What was even better was that we were the only people there (minus the workers) so we could really make ourselves at home and were able to freely explore the island.

 

Fishermen huts

Just as we had been getting used to our straw huts back at Jollyboys, the accommodation on the island was really something else. We had two fishermen huts which were about three metres away from the Zambezi river and were completely open with no doors. After checking the bed for any form of insect, I tucked my mosquito net around me and just hoped that I wouldn’t waken up with a crocodile staring at me with its jaws open!

Books in the primary school

The next morning we had the chance to yet again board the dug-out canoes to take us to one of the local villages. We had a guided tour and even got to see the primary school which has been recently built and has an incredible amount of books for the pupils to read…something which was not seen of back in our primary school in Livingstone. We then had the opportunity of cooking some traditional lunch with one of the local women consisting of nshima with some vegetables. It was rather tasty (even if we did manage to burn one of the dishes slightly) and allowed us to experience even more of the Zambian cuisine.

Cooking some local food...

...and eating it!

On Sunday morning we headed back over to the village to attend the church which took the form of a mud hut. We were slightly late at arriving and the church was completely packed out so we had a very tight squeeze. We heard some lovely singing from the choir and the service was translated into English but it was so hot inside that we ended up leaving early.

We had such a relaxing and stress-free time on the island and it was nice to have a break from the hustle and bustle of the town…especially since there was no electricity and we had to find our way around at night with candles. However, the fun and relaxation ends here since this week sees the beginning of our report writing based on our experience in school. I have a feeling it’s going to be rather difficult to write given the fact that we have no books, the internet is very temperamental and the weather is so good! Hopefully though I’ll be able to work hard and get a lot of it done so that I can really make the most of our last few weeks in Zambia.