Voices sang out the welcoming words “Lufupa ne Wilderness” with drums beating in the background, as three Wilderness Safaris landcruisers drove into the reception area at Lufupa Tented Camp with 18 tired and dusty children. They dismounted hesitantly, rather bewildered by the group of adults singing and dancing around them, as they were welcomed to Wilderness Zambia’s first Children in the Wilderness Camp.
From the 2nd – 6th October 2007 Wilderness Safaris closed the doors of Lufupa Camp to guests, to host a group of 18 children from Jifumpa School. Jifumpa school is a primary education school located in the North Western Province, just outside the Kafue National Park. Many of our staff are from this area and due to the proximity of the community to Lunga River Lodge, we felt this was an important starting point for our first CITW Programme. The school has limited resources and currently have 368 students enrolled of varying ages between 6 and 12. Classes average 65 students with only 4 teachers employed to teach them all. Most children sit on the floor as there are not enough desks and chairs. Some of the priorities for the school include solar panels to give them much needed power and classroom equipment including furniture and teaching aids such as blackboards, boards and pencils.
Over the next four days our much anticipated programme unfolded and we saw an incredible transformation in each child – the smiles, laughter and enthusiasm grew day by day and hour by the hour. The children were divided into three groups – the Mammals, Birds and Reptiles. Within each group we had 3 girls and 3 boys who each got to chose their own group name – we ended up with Lions and Leopards, Doves and Fisheagles, Lizards and Crocodiles – colourful team banners were made and displayed throughout the programme.
Some highlights of the trip included the Movie night where we showed “the Lion King”. The giggles and exclamations of joy were all the feedback we needed! Later on in the programme the children all had the chance to make their own animal mask of their favorite animal from the film and during the theatre workshop they learnt sounds and movements made by the animals. Fishing was another big hit with the children – they each got to make their own fishing rod with Barry, Boyd and Robert. They then proceeded to meet Luca, The ZAWA (Zambia Wildlife Authority) scout to buy their fishing license and learn why it is important to have controlled fishing and why certain fish are protected. Many of the children caught fish and later on in the day they had the chance to learn how to prepare and cook the fish with Enos, Julius and Douglas – our chefs – and how to display their snacks on a platter and serve.
One fishing group carried out a rescue mission – a young Puku had fallen off the river banks into the water and was unable to climb back out onto the steep bank. He was hiding under some reeds with a large crocodile slowly making his way in that direction. With the assistance of Barry the Boat Driver, the puku was lifted into the boat and taken upriver to a Hippo path leading out of the water. The kids all happily waved good-bye to their new found friend as he ran off to join the rest of the herd.
The game drives were very interactive activities with the children partaking in a Scavenger hunt, collecting with their guide and tent leaders, a variety of different seeds, flowers and natural medicines. This was presented to the rest of the group after breakfast with explanations for everything they found. The children also got the chance to tell us what animal, bird or tree they would want to be and why. James told us that he had chosen to be a tree because trees give people oxygen and provide shade and firewood to cook Nshima. Ireddy chose a hippo because the hippo dung feeds the fish and people eat fish and get protein – so please don’t kill the hippo. On a morning game drive, the children were lucky enough to come across 2 very large male lions resting under some trees. This was a highlight for all, including the Headmaster as noone had seen a real lion before!
We held 3 workshops during the course of the week. The first workshop was held on our Kafue Day and was focused on respect and responsibility. We discussed the conservation of the Kafue National Park and how the 3 sectors – ZAWA, Private sector (i.e. Wilderness) and the Communities must all work together. This was illustrated as the 3 legs holding up the cooking pot. Without one of the legs the cooking pot will not stand. On our Tourism day, which was focused on friendship, the workshop discussed tourism in Zambia and the importance of tourists for us all. Our third workshop was about HIV/ AIDS and focused on love and caring. The children all showed a surprising amount of knowledge about HIV/ AIDS but due to their cultural upbringing were very hesitant to express opinions openly about this. The workshop helped open up the communication channels for both children and staff.
Each evening before showertime we had a “career guidance” session where the children broke into groups with one group cooking in the kitchen with Enos, Douglas and Julius and the other group doing an IT/ Communications session with Mwila Kapema – a volunteer who joined us for the week. Mwila is the MD and owner of an IT company in Lusaka and as a born and bred Zambian was a good example to the children of what you can become with education, hard work and sheer determination! The children also got to question our guides, Robert and Boyd and also the ZAWA scout, Luca, on career options. Through the questionnaires completed by the children prior to camp most children had indicated they wanted to become teachers or nurses when they left school. We had a number of children telling us that they now wanted to become Tour Guides, Drivers, camp managers and chefs!!
We had some comical moments at camps – one of the children called Mason told us that the best thing about camp was seeing a “Muzungu” (White person) for the first time!!! During our HIV/ AIDS workshop the children were asked where you find white blood cells and James told us in the Prison.
There were also some sad moments at camp – on the last night the children told us what had meant the most to them at Camp. For Constance, she had loved the food and having enough food to eat and not feeling hungry. For Ireddy she loved sleeping in her own bed and wished she could sleep like that at home instead of sleeping on the mat with all the other children. She loved playing outdoors and feeling free and wished her mum would let her play with friends like this at home. One little girl, Eniah, told us she didn’t want to go home and asked if she could stay at camp forever with her new friends.
There were so many positives – too many to mention all. Hope, who had the most beautiful singing voice and led a lot of the singing before meals, had wanted to become a nurse when she first arrived. On leaving she told us that one day she wanted to come back and be camp manager of Lufupa Camp. Benard told us that he loved the game drive vehicles and wanted to be a guide or driver. We saw friendships blossoming and guards dropping.
We finished up the programme with a slide show of the programme where the kids saw the story of the last 4 days unfold with their own transformations. I do believe that this programme not only benefited the 18 children, but also the teacher and headmaster and all the volunteers and staff involved in the programme. The programme was lifechanging and will remain in all our hearts forever. The teacher and headmaster pledged to take what they had learnt back to the school and to continue our good work with all their students. Mwila Kapema wrote to us after the programme with the following words – “Children in the Wilderness - an emotionally rewarding experience, like nothing else. It was a great honour to be part of such a wonderful team. I feel like we reached out and actually touched the hearts of these amazing children, as they did ours. It’s such a humbling feeling to see those little faces light up with so much cheer, and to know that you were a part that.”