a sting in this tale

In March 2007 we took a walk through a Zambian Village, despite my misgivings it was no touristy staged affair, no tribal dancing troops with feather dusters stuck in their caps. Here people were getting on with their lives, children gutting fish and ladies baking bread in ovens contrived from termite's mud and scavenged car parts, genuinely warm friendly people and children eager and laughing to see their photos on the camera's screen.

We walk around a village of huts made from the mud taken from termite mounds which thanks to an adhesive in the termite saliva sets like concrete, the roofs are thatched cones from the long grass surrounding the area, truly self build. There is no electricity (meat is hung to dry to preserve) but recently they have had a communal tap installed, which filters the Zambezi. I declined the offer of a drink.

Doctor our guide, so called because his father worked for a doctor introduces us to the chief and his wife, they are full of laughter asking about life in our village and dispensing his worldly wisdom (I doubt if he has ever been more than 20K from here!).






As we walk around, children follow excited to receive our cast off water bottles - a prize they refill from the communal tap and sell on at the local market.



Many lodges are built on tribal land bought or rented from the chief, where a symbiotic relationship develops between the villages and the lodges.

Siankaba Lodge has bought the land from the local headman and employs most of the men in the village, as well as supplying drinking water it part funds the local school, and many lodge visitors also make donations. In a country of 70% unemployment and $40 average monthly wage this is a win/win deal.



After a picnic we canoe (in a dug out Makorro) back to the lodge past families washing clothes and themselves in the river. Here, 4 weeks ago a young girl was mauled by a croc, saved only by the rest of the family winning the tug of war with the croc. The canoe feels very small and very unstable!

The Sting
For us an amazing humbling experience, they live a simple life but this is no easy life. The little girl mauled by the croc would have died if it were not for the lodge driving her to the nearest hospital 30km away in Livingston.

Look at the six children in these photos, they are innocent, happy, beautiful. One possibly two will die from AIDS, another from Malaria. Those that do grow up will live to the ripe old age of 39 !

• Medicine will help now, education will help for ever, support the village, it's clinic and school by taking a look at some of the charity work the U FOUNDATION are undertaking there.
• For more information about the school read the very moving newsletter or visit Siankaba's community projects site.
• Better still - GO THERE. It is not that difficult a destination and it is beautiful. With Victoria Falls, the variety of animals, the mighty Zambezi and the friendly people it is a destination to amaze, delight and humble -(my holiday photos).

• oh yes - that £20 note in your purse/wallet, that is a months wage for one of the 30% of men lucky enough to have a job. DONATE IT PLEASE!