Last week we had a day with no guests in camp and we thought what a wonderful opportunity to invite some children from our local village, Matambwe.
We called the headmaster and he chose the top 10 kids who were excelling in their class along with 3 teachers. Our two safari guides, Ernest and Edward left at 6.00 am and drove two hours to the village to collect them. On the way back to camp they saw wild dogs, elephant and lion which they were very happy to see as most of these kids live on the reserve's doorstep and have never had the opportunity to see any game. They arrived, stripped off and jumped right into the pool, sinking to the bottom, thinking they would float. Some of them had never seen a swimming pool before. Sarah and I all jumped in with our clothes on to help them up. Luckily it was all in the shallow end and done with lots of laughter. The kids then had a delicious lunch with chicken chapatis (wraps) with chips and a soda, followed by fruit salad. A staff member from each department came to give a small talk on their role in camp. Here, Sarah our masseuse, demonstrates her shoulder massage on the teacher, which the kids all thought was hilarious that guests actually pay money to have someone rub their shoulders, let alone their whole body. I showed them a guest room and they were amazed to hear that hot water comes out the tap as well as cold. Most of these kids have never had a hot shower. A monkey came in whilst we were doing our room tour, looking at himself in the mirror, which put the kids into fits of giggles. When it was time to leave, we took them on a back of house tour and also donated 16 boxes of school supplies. Most of which we receive from our very generous guests and the headmaster and teachers were thrilled, and super appreciative feeling like Christmas had come early! Next month I'm going to visit the village and teach them how to make elephant dung paper! Watch this space…
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