School Update

Over the last few days, more brick laying has being done by the group remaining back at the School, the whole school is now up to roof level which is great. We also have a number of the roof truss finished.

The main work from now is starting the roof of the school, we intend to work on the smaller of the classrooms first, this is being started by the group which have just returned to camp tomorrow morning.

Dave

Returning from Safari

We have returned from Buffalo Camp, wow what an experience we have seen some amazing animals; elephants, lions, honey badger, "crocadillia", wild dogs, hippos and many many more. The weather was fantastic and we all had a fab time. Back to work for us now on the school. The other group have managed to get the brick work up to roof, now we have to make the roof trellis and paint them with termite solution which isn't fun if it gets on your skin!!

Today entailed a rather fun ride on 4x4 cars and safari trucks with a trailer attached. After saying farewell to groups 2 a very squashed wagon ride for another 2 hours before back to camp. The evening meal had a Zambian "themed" meal involving sausages, mash and custard :-p

After involved a long session in the hot springs before a trip to the lodge this blog can be written and a drink to help us recover from the day.

Love Barbie and Helen xxx

Enjoy the safari

Hope everyone really enjoys the safari and makes the most of the well earned break. Alex hope you have a fantastic 16th birthday on Saturday we will all be thinking of you. We are going to have a party in your honour so make a wish when we blow the candles out.

Lots of love mum dad aidan adam & abigail x x x x x

The Start of Our Adventure

Our journey started at 8am

It wouldn’t end til God knows when

We packed the bus but left some space

For those waiting at the Cinema Showcase

We had two stops along the way

We all want wee’s, the girls’ did say

The second stop did cause us worry

The bus wouldn’t start in a hurry

The girls and boys they had to push

An get us back on in a rush

No more stops you should all know

Until we depart at Heathrow

We arrived on time and loaded trolleys

The check in clerks were really jolly

Leona, Katie and Jonny were real bad

Too much luggage they did have

How lucky they were not to pay

We’re a travelling group we did say

We left on time, the flight was great

But at Nairobi we had to wait

Doreen and Dave they beat us there

Of the paparazzi they did take care

By Scouts and Girls’ Brigade we were met

We don’t even know their names yet

They surprised us all and they weren’t glum

They entertained us with their drums

A couple of hours before we rest

Fingella Lodge, it was the best

At 6am we left the site

We had to arrive before the night

Three stops we made for the loo

You had to watch and mss your shoe

The hole in the ground you had to hit

So you didn’t step into it

45 minutes down a rugged lane

It’s a good job the driver is sane

Upon a narrow bridge we came across

Would it hold all of us?

The men got off to check how wide

And across it the bus they did guide

Our advance party they were there

Mark and Mel for us will care

They told us of rules not to break

And our time here will be great

Our tents were set up in time for tea

Lots of anticipation of what we will see

An early night was had by all

In preparation for all our toil

After breakfast we all got dressed

In green polos to look our best

Off to the school we were taken

In the back of a truck rocking and shaking

All the school children we did meet

The little ones were really sweet

An opening ceremony we did attend

Their thanks to us they did extend

The first brick was laid and photo taken

Lots of hand they were shaken

Piles of bricks were moved around

By lines of people hand to hand

Now there ready for the work to start

And we’ll do it with all our heart

An afternoon of fun and things

Was taken by all, in the hot springs

A luxury in which we all partake

Til the next time we can’t wait

The waiting is over it’s time to start

In the building we’ll all take part

One team’sup early to feed us all

Bacon sarnies went down a ball

In working clothes we’re all clad

A mile to walk that’s not bad

On site the brickies they were waiting

Until we were at our workstation

Trowels in hand and cement all mixed

Lay the bricks quick, that’s the trick

Five rows we laid on our first day

A good day’s work Doug did say

Keep it up and it’ll be a success

About the roof we can only guess

First day over, it’s time for food

Hope the cooks have been in the mood

They served it up and fed us well

Meat and veg did go down well

After showers or springs our time was our own

Each found their relaxing zone

Around the campfire singing songs

Or in the Lodge we did throng

Lights out on site at 10o’clock

Son into tents we did flock

Now we’re all in the swing

Work became the normal thing

Moving bricks in a human chain

How many bricks have we lain?

Throughout the week we’ve seen great sights

The children watching all us whites

Mother’s queuing at the baby clinic

To see the doctor for a minute

Our nurse has been very busy too

Sometimes even has a queue

More work than she thought there’d be

Lots of paracetamol and many a cut knee

We’re glad she’s here we all see

To soothe us at the end of a long day

Sunday’s here we decide to rest

So we can all go on and give it our best

Off to Church half of us go

The Zambians put on a real good show

Lot’s of singing and some translation

As we listen to the words of this Nation

Jean

For Jane (:

i am was on catering today
and accidently fell asleep for 2 hours.
but not as good as my lie in yesterday
I LOVE THE DAY OF REST
plus rafting was mental (:

haha
we made pasta bolonase
(Lotti says bolognase)
haha (:
were all good
and a little homesick
i cant wait to be home
i miss you mummy

its hard doing cooking
but i have mastered the cleaning my clothes

i need to go
but we go on safari tomorrow
(:
talk 4 days!
love Laura xxxxxx

Add on

Lauren I know you are not shy, so go on send a photo and a message.

Sharon
xx

Zambiaix09

Hi everyone, especially to those whose parents havn't quite managed to send a message on this site yet. This is my first attempt at using this technology so here goes.

Iv'e read your all your info and looked at all the pictures, everyone looked very happy, no homesick faces. Its an amazing way to keep in touch and see the project grow. looking forward to the next instalments.

Lauren I'm glad to know that your legs are in one piece this time, although you still have two more weeks for those little monsters to attack. Michael said keep on having fun see yu soon.

Sharon Greenwood (Laurens Mum)
xx

Today we worked in the school we are building at, teaching all the children about healthy living - washing hands, cleaning teeth and healthy eating. They are all so enthusiastic to learn, you can see from the photos that the facilities they have are a lot different from ours. The young people enjoyed working with the children and did some very good games sessions. Each child was given a pack containing the toothpaste, toothbrush and soap to take home to their families they also got a selection of stationary. A lot of children use a stick to clean their teeth and this stuff we have given them for some is the first they have ever used.

Liz

The first half of the group are going to Buffalo camp tomorrow for a 4 day safari, Buffalo has no internet access as its 100km into the bush, therefore I will not be able to upload any photos until I return. The blog will still be up dated from Hot Springs by members who are still in camp.

Dave

Rest Day

Today we had a rest day, well if that what you call it. It has also being very cold today, all most no sun, with most of us having to put coats on, it was 23 degrees, it just felt cold. Some of the group went to Church this morning, Church in Zambia starts at about 10.00am and finish about 3.00pm, our members only attend for about 2hrs today to enable them to do some of the other things going on.

After lunch, 12 young people went rafting on the river, we only let them do the short run today which lasted about 1.5hrs, all returned wet having had a good time. We are having a quiz night for even one at present. The Hot Springs has also being well used today

Its back to work tomorrow, more bricks to move and brick laying to do, we are hoping the wood for the roof truss's will arrive so we can start putting them together.

Dave

25th July - whats new

Today we seem to have reached as far as possible for now and yet finished quite early. Three of the walls are up to the top of the window frames -(damn metal bits that stick out from the frames, forcing you to cut the bricks to fit!) - and the other wall is up to the bottom of the windows. Most of the bricks have come up from the kiln across to the school- but again we didn't have the tractor this afternoon so we could only sort them into piles. there can only be one more trailer load to go. :p
We had a weird kind of dinner tonight.. a bit of everything was on the menu. the main item being fish, with the head, tails and fins still attached. Barney served it asking, "heads or tails??"
After I got over the look of it, it was actually very nice. Anyway everyone seemed to eat it - everyone is hungry and tired now at this point in the week.
Most people who have been ill are getting better now, so that's good news, yet everyday someone has some reason to go visit Doreen. She will probably be the most appreciated member of the team by the end of the trip.
Tomorrow we are splitting into two groups- one to go to the Church for the Sunday service and one to go rafting. Looking forward to all that could bring.
All in all, everyone is fine and really enjoying their time (not too homesick)
Over and out... Rosie

Another Great Day

Most of the window frames have being fitted today, we are hoping to start building the roof trusses tomorrow as the locals have started to cut the trees that are needed for this part of the project , we are also hoping getting the walls at one end of the building up to roof level by the end of work. After a big effort by ever one most of the bricks have being moved onto site as well today.

The African heat returned this week, most of the group are having to take more rest time mid day as its was over 30 degrees this afternoon, lots of the spare time the young people have, is being spend in the Hot Springs

Thursday 23rd July

After another day of hard toil under heavy heat, the building is beginning to take shape. The walls are now up to window level, making things a little more tricky for the smaller team members. The rather interesting scaffolding structures should help tomorrow.

Sam Mackenzie's blunt take on this Africa thing..

What happens when you put a group of scouts and girl's brigade in the middle of Zambia? The best answer? Don't ask!! From sweat to springs and tears to tuna I can tell you now were only one week in and it's getting interesting!!

My first thing... Embracing natural Beauty...

Now when I say natural beauty I mean no nice pleasures (except the springs and bar etc!!) but seriously I don't think anyone cares any more!! My armpits now resemble small gerbils (don't worry Andy I'll shave them before i come home!) but that's nothing! Considering Selby is a guy everything he lifts his arm I swear it growls!! All the girls are now sporting mini plaits like the ones people make you have when your 11 on holiday in spain and you sit there for about 3 hours while your mum says 'You look lovely' thats until 3 weeks later when she can't get them out and they've morphed into some dreadlocks which don't look so lovely! I can tell you now getting your feet trapped in wet rocks does nothing for you except alot of pain and a hobble that challeneges an old woman on a zimmer frame... As for tanning... that is one thing that gets the big thumbs up!! I'm that naturally pale you turn the light of in a room of people and someone shouts 'jeeze casper the friendly ghost does exist!!' but believe it or not i am tanning!! and its not freckles!!!! And the bricklaying is great for the arm muscles that is except when Leona decides Daddy Dave's head would look better with a brick imprint in it.. that was a few days ago and the ugliness hasn't gone down!! Oh if he reads that... anyway thats enough on beauty wait until i treat you too my blunt expression of the food!! Ciao x

Ps. Mum... Your nick name is MAMMY mac not MUMMY mac! but it made me crease so 10/10 you wonderful relation of mine :D

Lotti and Laura - day three on the site!

Laura gets to go first! :D
mum and dad, please comment again.
REEEEEEET
first day of hard work. which started off pretty sweet (:
it was more fun than domestics, but by lunch time it was tiring.
we got 5 layers done and after only a third of the group worked there hardest it was really difficult.
plus we cant go on the internet because i went on yesterday.
:/
mum, text jenny to say email me :P
for lunch we had African stable food called n'shima (pronounced sheemer) like boiled flour stuff. tasty. although tea was awesome, thanks Sam
omggg i washed clothes too (karens infact) [another thing to add to Lauras's growing list of career choices]

First of all... what is 'REEEEEEET'?? I'm sure that's not in my Oxford dictionary.. :S

The catering team today was Green lead by Sam Cree... wow what good cooks they are ... not only did we get perfect bacon for breakfast, we also got SPAG BOL for tea! :D Then we had to walk to site ... however a few lucky few people got a lift with Dave! Top man!

There were three new teams on site today so we had to start from scratch (sorry Fred the was not a single 'flush upper and lower arrice or frog in sight!) One unlucky team had to cart the bricks from the kiln but we got to continue with bricklaying.

All the walls are looking good now we have 10 layers on each wall, and all three doors in place. Even the outside of the walls are looking good...with some excellent pointing..no sorry doug, 'filling in the gaps'.

The African food we had at lunch was certainly an acquired taste but Laura sorting that out by stealing the salt shaker ... but still didn't eat it all! (what a waste :P)

Still loving the hot springs though .. and the lodge is fantastic.

Love to all (from laura)

xx
p.s MUM HAVE YOU GOT MY BEDROOM AND JACK WILLS BED SPREAD??

pps mummy puryer please learn how to use the blog, i am feeling unloved

Wednesday 22/07/09

We made great progress today, 10 rows of bricks which brings us up to window level, once we get the windows in there is far less brickwork required so we should progress quickly.

It is still red hot and a few of us are suffering from sunburn but the hot springs is a great relief after a hard day's work.

The school children are really interested in what we are doing and hang around watching us whenever the Headmistress is not around.

We are all eating well but we need to so we can cope with the manual work.

Jean

Only 30,000 bricks to move

We have managed to move about 10,000 bricks today, this involves loading them onto a trailer move them about 1 km to the site and then unloading them so the Teams that are working on the School can them use them on the walls.

The teams that have being brick laying today have also done well,we have managed 5 of the 27 layers today, if we can keep this up we should be at roof level in about 6/7 days which will be great.

I have managed to uploaded a few photo's to night to the photo host, link is on this page. the uploading speed is very slow so am not able to put many onto the site as yet.

Keep the messages coming.

Dave

Second day on camp! :)

Well...today was the blue (cougars) team's domestic day, so it started at 0545 bright and early (well not so bright, colder and quite dark) However we thoroughly enjoyed making scrambled egg and bacon, with one or two minor problems (such as nearly setting our trousers on fire...oops!) <-- that was Lotti

now its Lauras account,
it was cold and chilly when we woke up, i miss special k bliss as bran flakes doesnt hit the spot.
we made sandwiches for lunch and chicken stew for tea. i fitted in a hot sping break and a tan during the time and actually got a little brown. MUM AND DAD PLEASE LEAVE COMMENTS or i assume your on holiday... without me. i can now wash up. :/

However while Laura was cooking and tanning and hot spring-ing I was shopping :( not my favourite past time but hey ho ... we had to drive for TWO AND HALF HOURS just to get there!!! :O Jeez how I miss Tesco express! :( I didn't realise it was so hard to buy food for 45 people but I did find some really nice cake which we bought everyone for dessert! Except Laura... because she doesn’t like cake ... strange child! :S All of the shop owners thought Christmas had come early when we started to ask for 10kg of three different meats and 75kg of flour...180 eggs...ten bags of carrots (which are strangely shaped) but having loaded the entire jeep full of food we had to try and manoeuvre the jeep back along the bump roads and at the end of that we only broke one egg.

Our team leader was a god send though today (well so I am told I spent the whole 9 hours waiting for food!)

Laura and Lotti xxx

First day on site

We have had our first day at the project today, met all the community and had a very good welcome from everyone. Had a relaxing afternoon enjoying the hot springs. Hard work starts tomorrow will 7 hours of brick laying

Barbara

Party arrived at the Hot Springs

The Party arrived at the campsite at 1600hr, after a 10hr bus trip from the over night stopover. All the tents are now up, and we have just finished the evening meal. We have just found out that from tomorrow, we should have internet access as the lodge is putting in a number of computer's that we are able to use.

We will are have a meeting with the local community, and will be starting work on the school after that.

The blog will be getting update most days, so check back and see what we are up to.

Dave

The Group have arrived in Zambia today

Hi all

I have just spoken to Barbara, there arrived at Lusaka airport at
about 1330 today. having had a few hours delay in Nairobi, but apart from
that it was a good trip. I understand all the baggage made it as well,
which is a plus as we are 1000km from the airport.

The Group were
meet by the Zambian Scouts and Girls Brigade, who will be staying with us
for the next 3 weeks, as well as the press. The group are now at the
Fingilla, the overnight stop, and will be travelling North at 06.00
tomorrow, hopefully arriving on-site late afternoon.

More updates
tomorrow after the Group arrive.

Dave

Thusdays update

Hi

We have being sorting out the food supply's today, looks like we will be able to feed you now. Feed a group of 50 is starting to be a little more of a problem than we thought. Beef is ordered, vegetables ordered, 200kgs of Potatoes will be coming up north with the Bus. We are hopeful the rest can be found. We are planing to start putting up the camp tomorrow with the tents and kit we have with us.

Have just being told the 16 lions were in Buffalo Camp today, hopefully there will stay around the area until we arrive for our stay.

Hot Springs

Hear we are at Hot Springs, the camp site that we will be camping at.
We arrived at 18 00 after a nine hour car journey which was quite interesting. Today we went with Mark who is the owner of the camp site to see our site. It is a bit dusty but has plenty of shaded.
After lunch we then visited the school and talked to the deputy head master who is very excited about our visit and told us that most of the equipment that we needed is on site and waiting for you to start work. We also saw the bricks that we will be using. There are more than 40,000 for you to lay in order to complete the school. Tomorrow we are going shopping to the local town see if we can find food for you. I dont think there is a MacDonalds around here.

Doug

First Post From Zambia

Hello from Zambia.
This is the first time we have been able to get a connection so we will try and bring you all up to date.
We were met at the airport by the Zambian Scouts and taken to there HQ where we agree an confirmed all our arrangements for your visit. They are all very excited to meet you and there are 13 Zambian Scouts and Girls Brigade joining us and they will be meeting you at the airport.
You will have had a e-mail from Barbara about bringing some warm clothes for the night time but also please remember your sun cream as today it was over 30deg.

We will keep in touch so watch this space.

Susan

Just a little poem about our journey so far.

January 08 we had the first meeting

The organisers to us all they were speaking

Explaining the project and what we would do

Is the trip really for you?

Time soon passed and we made our decision

To build the classrooms was our vision

Our first team gathering was at Fulwell

To see if we could all get along swell

We worked on communication and team skills

The final presentations were quite brill

Deposits were paid and a commitment signed

The cost of the trip always on our mind

Fundraising was going to be no mean feat

We had a target we had to meet

Our first outdoor camp was at Raven Gill

We carried lots of gear up the big hill

We mixed cement which was a pain

Made far worse by the pouring rain

We made wooden frames to fill with cement

On which the building would be leant

It was a success and we all agreed

At the main project we would succeed

By this time we had chosen our sign

The Zambian flag showing IX09

We had our name and were raring to go

The results of our labour we hope to show

More training weekends they were to come

They all turned out to be such fun

We all worked hard and learnt new skills

Cooking on fires gave us a thrill

The indoor weekend at West Hall

Turned out to be the greatest fun of all

A Christmas lunch with all the trimmings

Followed by a murder mystery killing

The young leaders they acted out a tale

The killer to find you all did fail

The recession it did come as a shock

The cost of our flights did run amok

The fundraising efforts we had to increase

The price of our outgoings we had to meet

Paul suggested that we sell some bricks

So we printed some off and sold them quick

Recycling was the passion of our Sam Cree

So we recycled ink cartridges all for free

Bags pack we did thanks to M & S

How much to make we never could guess

Standing with buckets at sporting events

Increased our profits by thousand of pence

Fulwell hosted many coffee mornings

Baking cakes from the day’s dawning

A disco was held by 1^st Wallsend

On the sale of glowsticks we did depend

We all pooled our efforts and the money we made

To support us all on our crusade

Now the planning is over and the time is near

To sort and pack all our gear

The last meeting was held on the fifth of July

For information from Doug we did rely

Last minute checks they were all made

Now we only hope we’ve all made the grade

Our tents are packed and we have our buddies

Each one of us will wear an IX09 hoody

We depart on the 17^th from the North East

To be guaranteed some heat at the very least

The success of the mission is down to each one of us

Goodbye for now, I’ll see you on the bus.

Jean Trewick