This post strays a bit from News at Kinda Camp but lies close to my heart. In the chiBemba language Amaka Sana means “very strong”. My mother is Amaka Sana. She is the strongest woman I know. Today she finished her third of four rounds of chemotherapy to fight and kill her breast cancer. Through this entire ordeal each of us has broken down several times. My mother, Mary Jane, means the world to our family and she is the glue that binds us. Although we are scared and worried and she is scared too she has stayed strong. In fact she is often the one whispering words of comfort. She has the most amazing spirit and joy of life and it is infectious. It is hard to be in Zambia with my mother so far away but she continues to fight and stay strong. Our weekly phone conversations let me know she is as alive as ever. Thank you Mom for being so very very strong.
Saturday, March 12, 2011
March 9, 2011 – Sarah Hogle Scholarship Fund
Since my original post about creating a girls scholarship fund in honor of my beautiful friend Sarah Hogle we have received $400 in donation!!! Thank you. That is already enough to send one girl to school for an entire year including housing, food, uniforms and school supplies. It is easy to donate through our website www.kasankababoonproject.com We have a paypal button and I am covering the percentage that paypal takes for the service ensuring that 100% of your donation goes towards the fund.
March 9, 2011 – Nowhere for the elephants to go
After the elephants visited us they visited Chalilo village. There were reports that they were destroying crops and attacking farmers. The ZAWA warden and the scout manager sent a group of scouts to the village to chase them away. I do agree that as the wildlife officers in the area ZAWA and the park should help the farmers. If not than the people take the problem into their own hands and elephants may end up being killed. It is a tough situation however in that with the increasing negative interactions the elephants have with humans the more likely they are to become wary and fearful whenever they encounter them. Be it in the park or in the village.
March 8, 2011 – What does a leopard sound like?
Apparently I don’t know. The other night I was sitting in my main Nsaka writing up my notes for the day and finishing dinner when I heard loud, big crashes just outside. Hmmm….my scout must have heard that I thought. Surely he is on his way. Between the crashes I heard this noise. It is hard to explain in words but something between a loud purring and a rumble. For about 3 minutes I thought it was a leopard. A leopard who had just taken down my resident sitatunga. In some ways a much safer scenario.
It has been so many months since the elephants have been in camp that I forgot what they sound like. When you are close you can hear this whirring vibration that they make. That is what I as hearing. Once I realized this then what to do next. Go for the tent or wait it out. Luckily they didn’t stick around too long and I slept fine.
March 7, 2011 – Cosgriff Money Used to Purchase Basic School Supplies
I traveled to Lusaka this past week to purchase school supplies for Kafinda and Challo schools that was raised by Cosgriff Catholic School. We were able to buy so much that we filled two cars with supplies including exercise books, pens, pencils, chalk, crayon, and water colors. Thousands of some things. It is amazing how far $2000 can go and how many students will benefit from this generous group of teachers, students, and parents. I feel lucky that I get to be the one to present these items to both schools. Stay tuned for video of the events….
March 6, 2011 – Manimal!!
I have a somewhat serious allergy to bees. I never really know exactly how I will react so I have an epi-pen at site just in case. Monday morning, while out with the baboons, I was swatting away the regular pesky tsetse flies and was stung by a bee. On the forehead. I went for my Benadryl in my bag and then we stayed out with the baboons for another hour. I obviously wasn’t having a lethal reaction. It did hurt and it did start to swell. Not until early the next morning was the full swelling apparent. I woke to find my face swollen beyond recognition and my eyes small slits. I had become a manimal.
I learned days later from the park manager that I should not have let my scout pull out the sting because as he did it he likely pushed more venom into my forehead. He advised that next time I should scrape it off with my knife. Lesson learned
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