Stories from Zambia

  We started our trip with Grande and Jjajja at a camp called Bilimongwe in south Luangwa national park in northern Zambia. After a short flight we got to the town of Mfue were we took a van to the national park. Once in the park we switched to a safari vehicle and had a crazy three hour ride over bumpy roads in the pitch black dodging wildlife left and right. Jja jja was not quite so successful because she got hit head first with a large bird. Thankfully we made it safely and were greeted with delicious food, but just as we were about to sit down we were told that there was a leopard in the camp. So we all got back in to the safari vehicle and were were able to track down the leopard not ten minutes after arriving. What a start to the trip. This is a Bilimongwe elephants missing one of its tusks It turns out that Bilimongwe had some of the best food out there and for sure the nicest staff. Every night we were taken to a different place where dinner was put out for us. One afternoo...

  We got to share Christmas Day with 110 kids from the Home of Hope – and although we were far from home, it is hard to remember a more joyful, “right”-feeling Christmas.  Home of Hope provides loving care, food, clothing, safety, and schooling to neglected, traumatized, abused children pulled off the streets of Lusaka. They are at the forefront of care for abused and neglected children in Zambia. Last month the Zambian Parliament tapped them to make recommendations for how the entire system of orphanages and children's homes should work across the country. They are helping to shift the field towards safely reunifying families, and trauma-informed care, and their love for and knowledge of each child in their care is extraordinary. Turn-over at Home of Hope is high by design. Staff find the children's families and build relationships with them. Over time, with enough meetings and discussion, most boys can be safely reintegrated into their families, or extended familie...

If you know me you know that I love to fish. So while we were In the lower Zambezi me and my dad went out and caught some giant tigerfish. They are known for their orange tails and ridiculously large teeth. We tried for three days to catch one and only on the third day was the water clear enough to catch fish.