On the first couple days, we attended a meeting at the Umsubomvu Youth Fund Center. We were able to get a full overview of the entire organization and everything they do for young adults. After this, we visited someone who was a member of the UYFC and who received a loan to start a business. This was a young woman in her twenties who was starting up a spa, and she and her mom were so excited about starting up this business. This was interesting to see because it showed how successful Microfinance can be.
The next place we went was the Phinda Game Reserve for our safari. The drive from Jo’berg to the reserve was eight hours long and it took even longer because we got stuck behind a bus on the back roads at the end of the drive before we got to the reserve. The camp site we stayed at was amazing and the game drives we went on were incredible because we were able to get so close to the animals that we saw. After the first day I already wanted to be a ranger so I could do that every day and get paid doing it.
When we were at the game reserve we went to the nearby town to see the schools and the new institutions they installed for computer and health classes. Going to the school was a lot of fun because the kids loved seeing us and swarmed around us to get in a picture. After the safari trip we headed back to Jo’berg for a night before heading off to Zambia.
We stayed in Lusaka for the first couple days in Zambia. We did a lot in Lusaka and never even got a chance to relax during the day because of everyone we were meeting and everything we were going to. Everyone we met was part of some program helping with Microfinance, malaria prevention, or HIV/AIDs prevention. One of the places we went to was called grassroot soccer and it used soccer to educate people about HIV/AIDs. We were able to play a couple games that they use in the program that were fun and after that were even able to play a soccer match with a bunch of Zambians who were part of the program. This was incredible because it was a once in a lifetime experience.
After Lusaka we took a six hour drive to Livingstone. In Livingstone we went to visit a village, barder with villagers for different trinkets and able to see Victoria Falls. Victoria Falls was amazing and we got soaked because the falls spray up so much mist after hitting the bottom of the 120m long waterfall. The only part I was disappointed about was that I wasn’t able to go on the tallest bungee jump spot in the world, even though I don’t know if I would be able to do it once I was actually standing on the edge.
