June 27, 2015 – Today we made the trip to Greenpop’s Green Village to participate in the Trees for Zambia program. We had an eight hour drive to Livingston from Jul’s Guest House in Lusaka. On the road, we saw both the urban side of Lusaka and the barren countryside. Most people took this opportunity to sleep, take pictures or talk between themselves. We made several stops on our trip, one of which being a rest stop where we had to pay two Kwacha to enter the bathroom. When we finally arrived, we received a warm welcome from the Greenpop Team and the other participants. They also gave us a 4pm lunch of carrot noodle salad, potatoes and lentils and a a barley kale and tomato salad; a very earthy locally sourced meal, that didn’t please everyone. We got a tour of the lodge, including the outside showers, the dishwashing station and the tents. We then had some reflective group activities to meet some of the other high school groups from South Africa. The Greenpop Team introduced themselves and their mission here in Zambia, and we then had dinner composed of nchima, chickpeas stew and rice. Nchima is the national dish of Zambia, and all the ingredients are bought locally. We then were separated into smaller groups to really get to know some of the people there and their interests. The activities were more than just the “say your name and where you’re from” activities. In just 30 minutes we all knew new things about the people in our group. Finally we got back to our tents where we were all freezing. I had about three cups of tea that night to warm myself up. The first night of camping was rough, as expected. I woke up around 3am when the “temperature drop” happened. Although I had a sweatshirt, sweater and sweatpants on inside of my sleeping bag, I still felt cold and could not fully go back to sleep. A couple other people had the same problem. I woke up at 6am with Jaleel to watch the sun rise. Everyone on site is very nice and always smiling which makes the forty degree mornings a little easier.
Ryan Hunt, Lycee Rochambeau French International School