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The Road to Western Province

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Dedicated to one of my lovely patients RIP Firstly, Happy New Year! I’ve just returned from two weeks travelling around the west of Zambia during the Christmas break.   I didn’t know really what to expect as I hadn’t seen much of the country before now.   I had a great time full of adventure and met some interesting characters along the way. After a lovely and relaxing five-night stay in Livingstone, the tourist capital of Zambia due to the magnificent Victoria Falls (Mosi-oa-Tunya), I decided to travel to Western Province as it seemed like a good idea at the time!  More on Livingstone in my next blog! I left at 5 am on 27 th December to travel by bus from Livingstone to Mongu, the capital of Western Province.   This was a 10-hour journey covering 315 miles.   Part of the road was incredibly bumpy – let’s just say, I’m glad I’ve got my own teeth!   On the tightly packed mini-bus, I was befriended by an elderly Zambian gentleman on the bus who was returning to his home
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Talking Birds

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Schalow's Turaco The avifauna (birds of a particular region – it was a new word for me!) of Zambia is extensive. According to Wikipaedia, there are 779 varieties of bird species in Zambia! I joined Bird Watch Zambia after a tip off by a fellow Scot who said she’d gone on a really interesting bird walk one Sunday.  I thought this sounded like a great idea as I’m always keen to spend time out of the city, so signed up for my first official bird walk in Zambia.  What an amazing experience it turned out to be! I turned up at the Bird Watch office a few minutes before the designated time of 7 am.   I thought I’d have to wait for a while as this seemed very early and generally people arrive late to things in Zambia!   However, my guide, Les, turned up at 06.59 and immediately said ‘Let’s Go!’   For the first time in Zambia, being early paid off as there was no way Les was going to wait for any stragglers! It turned out that Les is a professional bird watcher and runs
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Hugs, Smiles and Trampolining

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Hugs, Smiles and Trampolining I’ve now been living in Lusaka for 2 months and am beginning to settle down into a routine.   My work is really interesting and the client group very diverse.   Every day though there are challenges just as every job has.   I work in a small team and support children with a range of communication difficulties.   I love the children because, despite their difficulties, they always arrive at the Centre with a big smile on their faces! There is a technique for working with children with autism or ‘hard to reach’ children, called Intensive Interaction © .   I have been implementing it with one boy for the last two weeks almost every day.   It is amazing to see how effective it is.   (I’ve obscured his photo for privacy). Initially the boy showed little interest in people, preferring to wander around the room looking at the walls and ceiling.   He is generally non-verbal and was initially very detached from people.   Through Intensive Interac
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The Vulture has Landed!

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Monday 11th September 2018 I am feeling rather disgruntled with technology as had almost completed my blog yesterday, didn't save it, then we had a power cut!! Needless to say, I'm having to start again.... lots of patience required! Anyway, I am now comfortably ensconced in our new flat which is slightly larger than the previous one.  We moved only one building down to a more modern three bedroom flat.  It's rather swish only the same problem ensues..no water!  This time, not just no water in the evenings but none at all!  I'm reassured this is just a teething problem and the mains will be switched on again but it's now been nine days so not sure what's going on!  It's quite frustrating but I'm trying to remain chilled out about it as it certainly helps to be laid back here! It's amazing how you can get by with buckets of cold water (taken from work) and a working cooker and I now know exactly how many litres of water I need to have a 
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59,000 Feet Above Sudan

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Dedicated to my brother, Alan. RIP My journey to Zambia started at noon from Heathrow Airport on 8 th August 2018.   I was slightly apprehensive about the trip as I was flying with Ethiopian Airlines, whom I know very little about and was due to change planes in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, at 9 pm or so at night with only a 30 mins turn around which sounded next to impossible!   However, the seven-hour journey to Ethiopia was smooth, comfortable and very relaxing.    Most people appeared to be either from North Africa or Zambia/Zimbabwe and very quickly after taking off we all settled down to watch one of the many films on offer on a small screen in front of us. I watched three films, although it did feel slightly surreal watching ‘The Man from UNCLE’ whilst 59,000 feet above Sudan! Sadly, I hardly saw anything of Africa as I arrived late at night.   Changing planes in Addis Ababa proved extremely easy as there
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Leeds to London

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Hello from Leeds, England! Leeds City Market 3 pm Tuesday 7 th August 2018 Hello there and thank you for following me!  I’m Jenny, the Speech and Language Therapist (SLT) writing this blog. Well, I’ve finally started on my epic journey to Lusaka, Zambia from Leeds.    Life is always unpredictable, is it not?   For the first leg of the journey from Leeds to London by good old British Rail  (oops) trains [the easy bit!], my train was cancelled.   I’m now writing this first entry of my blog on a crowded train to York – I will get to London!! The planning for this trip has taken a while indeed.   I’ve felt a bit like a project manager at times and will not bore you with the details!   Suffice to say that moving house, leaving two jobs, going to a wedding in Scotland and preparing for the trip of a lifetime has kept me busy for a few months.   Now I am finally on my way, I can stop and reflect.   Saying goodbye to many, many friends, family and acquaintances
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