久しぶりに南アフリカで働いている妹からメールが来ましたので、紹介します。
先月彼女は Bela Bela という地域にある Mabalingwe キャンプ場に行きました。
そこで出くわしたのは親子の像でした。近づこうと車を寄せるといきなりお父さん像が車に向かって突進してきました。車内はパニック状態だったにもかかわらず、写真を撮った妹の図太さにはあきれます。
また、先週マラウィに出張で行った際にDomwe 島に寄り、写真を撮ってきました。
現在彼女は地域で支えあう孤児院のプラグラムに力を注いでいます。
私の翻訳は大雑把ですので、詳しく読みたい方は原文をお読みください。
先月彼女は Bela Bela という地域にある Mabalingwe キャンプ場に行きました。
そこで出くわしたのは親子の像でした。近づこうと車を寄せるといきなりお父さん像が車に向かって突進してきました。車内はパニック状態だったにもかかわらず、写真を撮った妹の図太さにはあきれます。
また、先週マラウィに出張で行った際にDomwe 島に寄り、写真を撮ってきました。
現在彼女は地域で支えあう孤児院のプラグラムに力を注いでいます。
私の翻訳は大雑把ですので、詳しく読みたい方は原文をお読みください。
At the beginning of this month, I went camping at Mabalingwe (http://www.mabalingwe.co.za/) located in Bela Bela, the northern region of South Africa. One of the guys I went with works for a security company where he conducts training with paintball guns and also does other work such as installment of pepper spray on the garage door (your house can be really protected in Johannesburg). On this trip, we loaded a full boot (aka trunk) of the car with about 8 paintballs guns and 4,000 paintballs. "Everyone face the river! Unlock security. Start!!!" As the battle began, paintballs were coming from all directions and I hid behind tires and barrels for safety. As we started the third round, I suddenly thumped to the ground. I could not exactly see my steps with the huge protective mask on my face and just felt the blood starting to soak into my pants. What had happen was that I had tripped over a big log and slit my knee deep enough to be rushed to a clinic (about 30 minutes from the camp site). I now have a battle scar with seven stitches on my left knee.
Oh… the excitement was not over then. Well, that same day, we went for a game drive that just ended up to being an hour "drive" seeing only impalas. The next morning, we tried again, but we were disappointed to only see impalas. When we were about to give up, a man driving by pointed at a direction and told us that he had seen elephants. We rushed over there and from a far distance, we saw a baby elephant and the mother crossing the street. As we decided to move the car just a bit (less than 10 meters) forward to get a closer view, the father elephant started charging at our car from the right hand side. We were all screaming and yelling at our friend to reverse the car as fast as he could. We were literally face to face with this gigantic elephant storming right at us!!! My heart was racing!!! The moral of the story… don't mess with elephants!
The month of November came to a close with a week spent in Malawi, the warmth of Africa, for both pleasure and work. I flew into Blantyre on the weekend to travel with friends to Cape Maclear located in the southern part of Lake Malawi. As we drove up north from the airport, we stopped by a town called Mangochi where I my heart felt right at home where the woman stood by their stands in the local market selling fruits and vegetables and other shop keepers selling used shoes and household parts. As I walked down this busy street to stretch my legs, I spotted boiled maize… one of my favourite foods to eat when I was in Uganda. That evening after reaching to our destination, we laid on the beach to gaze up at the millions of stars in the sky with few shooting starts. What a magnificent sight!!!
The following morning, we went kayaking for one hour to spend the next day on a private island called Domwe Island. The area was full of colourful trees: red, yellow, orange and green with birds calling each other from every direction. I went snorkelling in the deep clear water where tiny fishes all around. At night, fishermen would light up the lake with their lanterns as they cast their nets to fish for carpenta fish, which makes a great mealJ. At night, we made a fire on the beach to braii and by our kitchen, we saw sieved cats and hoax come by for a visit.
Unfortunately, the weekend getaway came to a close as we rode back to Blantyre in a public taxi filled with three bags of smelling fish for three hours. I smelled like fish for several days after this experience!!! During the week, I conducted similar training that I held in Mozambique last month for the Community Orphan Trust Program. From the lessons learned in Zambia (where the program has been running since 2004), I am introducing new changes which I hope will be successful in the field for better development and sustainability. I am very excited to be working with my enthusiastic team here in Malawi.
Oh… the excitement was not over then. Well, that same day, we went for a game drive that just ended up to being an hour "drive" seeing only impalas. The next morning, we tried again, but we were disappointed to only see impalas. When we were about to give up, a man driving by pointed at a direction and told us that he had seen elephants. We rushed over there and from a far distance, we saw a baby elephant and the mother crossing the street. As we decided to move the car just a bit (less than 10 meters) forward to get a closer view, the father elephant started charging at our car from the right hand side. We were all screaming and yelling at our friend to reverse the car as fast as he could. We were literally face to face with this gigantic elephant storming right at us!!! My heart was racing!!! The moral of the story… don't mess with elephants!
The month of November came to a close with a week spent in Malawi, the warmth of Africa, for both pleasure and work. I flew into Blantyre on the weekend to travel with friends to Cape Maclear located in the southern part of Lake Malawi. As we drove up north from the airport, we stopped by a town called Mangochi where I my heart felt right at home where the woman stood by their stands in the local market selling fruits and vegetables and other shop keepers selling used shoes and household parts. As I walked down this busy street to stretch my legs, I spotted boiled maize… one of my favourite foods to eat when I was in Uganda. That evening after reaching to our destination, we laid on the beach to gaze up at the millions of stars in the sky with few shooting starts. What a magnificent sight!!!
The following morning, we went kayaking for one hour to spend the next day on a private island called Domwe Island. The area was full of colourful trees: red, yellow, orange and green with birds calling each other from every direction. I went snorkelling in the deep clear water where tiny fishes all around. At night, fishermen would light up the lake with their lanterns as they cast their nets to fish for carpenta fish, which makes a great mealJ. At night, we made a fire on the beach to braii and by our kitchen, we saw sieved cats and hoax come by for a visit.
Unfortunately, the weekend getaway came to a close as we rode back to Blantyre in a public taxi filled with three bags of smelling fish for three hours. I smelled like fish for several days after this experience!!! During the week, I conducted similar training that I held in Mozambique last month for the Community Orphan Trust Program. From the lessons learned in Zambia (where the program has been running since 2004), I am introducing new changes which I hope will be successful in the field for better development and sustainability. I am very excited to be working with my enthusiastic team here in Malawi.
