Our Time as Tourists

Monday was definitely a bittersweet morning half and half. Sweet because we are one step closer to being home and everyone is pretty ready to be home, but so bitter because we have to leave the Benas and the kids. We had our regular morning time to go and see the specific kiddos that had stolen our hearts while being there and to say any and all final goodbyes. Then we went to the mission to eat one last lunch, pack up, and left for Livingstone.

Oscar and Owen, cutest little twins!

Owee

Mai

My main squeeze Suz

Fresha, Drew, Chacha

Drew boo boo

The whole group and a whole lotta babies

Tuesday we had a lazy day and then high tea at the Royal Livingstone which is exactly what it sounds like: a shwanky hotel. It was beautiful. We had high tea and hors d'oeuvres and sat and chatted with each other like we were elegant women from anywhere but the south. We also bumped into a lady, Randi, that is an OT in New Jersey that a few of the girls had met earlier that day elephant riding. She told us some people and therapies we should research that she thinks would be super helpful. She also gave us her email and told us to get in touch with her if we ever want to come to New York to work because she has a ton of connections and a best friend that has a private practice that loves to take students…uh what? Can you say spring placement or CFY? I can hahaha One of the Hardings, Jeannie, and I were talking about the possibility of being there for our CFs together in a year or so…who knows, we’ll see. Such a cool opportunity and so crazy that we are making these connections for America while in another country! Sweet action and so cool.

After filling up on yummy food, delicious tea, and the feeling of elegant-ness, we explored for a little bit, and then ended up at a veranda on the water and chatted about life and had deep talks. It was beautiful. We watched the sunset over the Falls that were well within sight. You could see the mist and the rapids easily from the veranda. The sun setting over the water and seeing hippos in the water while listening to Taylor tell her story was so fantastic. We also naturally took five zillion group photos, it was awesome. Then we headed home to Protea sweet Protea and called it a night.

Wednesday morning at approximately 7:50am, the adventure began. Kara, Rebecca, Jeannie, Kelly, Anne Regan, Ashton, Maddie, and I went white water rafting in the Zambezi river. This was my first time to ever raft and we were doing so in 3 – 5+ waters. The water level was at medium so not too low to worry about rocks, but not too high to worry about water level being super dangerous. Our drive out to where we were going to start rafting was quiet as all of us realized as we drove past the Falls on our right what a possibly very dangerous decision we had made, but also excited to do something new, exciting, and dangerous. We arrived at the Gorge...

 Which looks like this from above: It is a ways down from the Falls.
We started at rapids 14 because 1-13 were about all 5’s and way too dangerous to do.

...got some instruction from our guide, Potato (“potato potato, tomato tomato”), on how to not drown, how to fend off crocodiles if those were seen, what to do WHEN we capsized, how to row, and to sign our consent forms. After that bit of business and our group getting suited up, we hiked down the steep Gorge which took about twenty minutes with our oars and our helmets in hand. Upon reaching the bottom (finally; a few of us had some tender bums [Asht] from slipping a few times, but we all made in one piece) we split up into two rafting groups, four and four. My crew was with Potato and consisted of Maddie, Ashton, and Anne Reagan. The other crew was with Stan the Man and consisted of Kara, Jeanie, Kelly, and Rebecca. 

Everyone looking a little less than thrilled...

Team Stan the Man

Team Potato

The rapids looked so cool. In the Gorge, the Zambezi river divides Zambia and Zimbabwe, with Zimbabwe being on the right and Zambia on the left (going away from the Falls). After some practice rowing and learning/following Potato and Stan the Man’s yelling instructions, each crew was semi-ready to begin. To be honest, we were all freaking out, some a bit more than others, but we ventured out raft by raft into and across the current. Our first order of business was to jump in and get used to the water, then on to the Zimbabwe side to do a little cliff jumping before tackling the rapids. One of our crew went first on the highest (for the record, Jeanie and I were right behind her) point, but jumped a little off and landed a little on her back and hurt herself. It smarted a lot, but I also think scared her more than anything, but even so, Jeanie and I went down to the next highest point and jumped from there. So fun! Also biggest wedgie ever.

Anne Reagan

Jeanie - personal fav photo

Yours truly

After splitting back into our respective rafting teams, we were going down the rapids. We started at rapid 14 and would go through until 25. It was so much fun. Many of them were level 3s, but of the 4s and 5+s we had, I was legitimately afraid I was going to drown. On the first 5+ we came to, Potato, our guide, told us we were approaching the Washing Machine, which was three rapids right after each other and there was a 99% chance we were going to capsize. Joy. To. The. World. Please picture everyone’s face full of fear, apprehension, a little bit of excitement, but mostly fear, and immediate regret for going on this outing. With helmets clicked and hands grasping our paddles entirely too tight, we rowed into the first rapid. And like clock-work, we capsized despite our expedited five-minute-expert-paddler/survival training.

Here's a quick play by play:

Team Potato

Team Stan the Man

Team Potato capsizing in a few photos:

I should get points for how long I held on to the boat and managed to hold onto my paddle. 
But then I was a goner.

Oop, and she's gone. Along with everyone else.

Annnnnnd we down.

The moment I let of of the boat, I was swept up in the rapids. I didn’t know where Up was. Or Down. Or Left or Right. And in that moment, those were definitely places I wanted to be. I tried to come up for air, but was greeted by a whole lot of water. As soon as I started freaking out about not finding the Up and drinking water and accepting my immanent death, I found the Up, took a big gulp of air, but then watched another wave come up and over me just like in the Perfect Storm and was plummeted back to the Down as another wave hit me. After that wave I popped back up pretty quickly sputtering and wheezing for air. I’m pretty sure I drank half the Zambezi. Potato and Earnest (safety helper) got all of us up on top of the upside raft, did a head count, and celebrated our first survival of our first rapids. Most of the celebration consisted of nervous maniacal laughter and incredulous statements of, “We’re alive. Are we alive? Holy crap, we almost died…” followed by more nervous maniacal laughter. In short, it was exhilarating. 

Then they made us hop off and help flip the raft right side up as they pulled from the other side and we all piled in again, posted up, paddles at the ready, heads turned towards the next rapid. The next rapid we came to we capsized again, but this one was much more fun and much less scary than the last one. When the rapid hit and we began to capsize, I think I just let go because when I popped up I found my self a good ten feet from the raft, holding onto my life jacket like I was taught just afloating down the Zambezi. I made my way back and we flipped the raft back over again and piled back in, again. The next few rapids were just level 3’s, kiddie ride rapids in comparison, but still super super fun. At one point, Potato asked if we wanted to get out and swim a particularly slow rapid. So, Maddie, Asht, Anne Reagan, and I all jumped in and got caught up by the gentle current. At one point Maddie and I were swimming next to each other and got caught up by a gentle whirlpool that made us begin circling each other dance-like while still making our way down the river. So funny. At the end of that rapid, we jumped back in the raft, and made our way down to the last few rapids, first stopping at a little sandbar for a rest and some water before tackling the last five rapids.

The next few rapids were really fun, but easily manageable now that we were all basically pros. Until we got to the last rapids. Number 25. We approached it and from far away it looked harmless, we could see our cable car ride off to the side just beyond the rapids. Easy peasy. Potato told us, as we paddled up to it, that it was not good for swimming because there was a really bad whirlpool that would suck you down and keep you down for far too long, longer than any other rapids we had been through. Bottom line: Don’t fall out. We all nodded and began paddling in sync. We came up to the rapids and sure enough there was a giant whirlpool. We hit the rapids and the front right of the boat tipped and guess who fell in? Me. Yeah, me, it would happen to me. I held on to the safety line assuming the whole raft had flipped, but then I didn’t want to get sucked up under the boat so I let go. When I popped up, I was about three feet from the boat and Earnest moved so quickly I didn’t even see him move, shot his hand out to me as I reached for his, and pulled me up and in. We all paddled over to the sandbar to ride our cable car up and out of the Gorge and to get our complimentary lunch with the crew. That last rapid was not scary until afterwards at lunch when Anne Reagan was saying, “Yeah, you fell in and I thought, ‘Ok, this is it. Mallory is dead. Potato said don’t fall in and Mallory fell in, she’s gone.’” *cue nervous maniacal laughter* We all laughed that it would of course be me and thanked Earnest again for being so fast in grabbing me. As we rode our cable car up to the top of the Gorge, we considered our trip an awesome success. So much fun. Terrifying, but definitely worth it. The view of the Zambezi in between Zambia and Zimbabwe was on I’ve never seen before and was so odd and cool to think that I was basically in no man’s land while on the Zambezi. After getting to the trucks again, they took our crew back to Livingstone for lunch, and then back to the Protea. It was a great trip, but we were tuckered out afterwards so we showerd and napped till it was supper time.

Crushed it. Safely back at the Protea after some free lunch.

Then the squad and I had our last Protea supper together and then chilled in our room as we talked about our excursions and the disbelief that we were going home the next day. We were all excited to come home, but sad that we were going to be parting as well. Wild Misses +2 5ever.

There were so many good times on this trip, so many great things learned, and such an eye opening experience. Seeing how other people live and have such joy of what they have made me think of the rich man who could not fit through the eye of the needle. I thought that these people definitely could and I realized, which I hadn’t before, that I was the rich man in that parable. That was startling to me because I’d never considered myself to be wealthy by any means and definitely not that man in that parable. I’d always thought I could give up anything at the drop of a hat, and I think I could, but while in Africa, we talked a lot about food we couldn’t have or things that we missed, that wasn’t necessarily bad, but just jolted me awake as to how easy it is to become lulled by the luxuries that we have, enjoy, and become attached to if we are not careful. That’s why I think generosity is so important, to remember to share what you have, however much it is. It’s just cool when the Lord reteaches you a lesson you hadn’t even thought you’d forgotten or teaches it to you in a different perspective so you learn the same lesson, it just sits with you a little differently. I don't want to be the rich man in that parable. 

Mems and moments to remember:

Random:

• How brilliant the stars are every single night
• Being completely drenched, running across the Victoria Falls bridge hand in hand with Kelsey, not hearing anything except the thundering of the falls and not seeing anything but the mist and one step in front of us on the bridge
• The hype of waiting for the moon bow and talking to the squad about everything under moon (haha) and then being completely disappointed because Carl gave us all fake expectations hahahaha 
• That one time on Walk someone dared me to touch a cow's face and I did really fast and everyone screamed and we all ran away like children convinced the cow was chasing us
• All the talks and relationships I've made with all these girls, particularly the ones in the squad. I love each and every one of them so much.
• The sound of the early morning: the sound of the roosters welcoming the sun every morning at promptly 5:30am and the smell of cold crisp air
• Rejoicing of finally mastering the shower/bath situation
• How generous and loving an accepting these people are
• The NDE bus rides and Pitch Perfect-esque sing alongs
• The community, joy, love, and excitement at Jordan's Rock, everyone just happy to be together under the stars 
• Watching movies with the squad, everyone crying from laughter, but mostly at me for laughing so hard
• How easily a regular conversation with the squad could flow from silly to serious to deep to silly 
• Asht and her abbrevs 
• Squad walking across the soccer field, the ball came towards us, me kicking it back to them good, and all the boys saying, "Ookey!"
• Greeting everyone "Mabokaboti"
• Walking everywhere
• Playing contact constantly
• Comparing chaco tan lines
• Playing banana grams, nertz, the story game, and drinking way too much Swiss hot chocolate 
• Rus' story of being attacked and then captured by impala, then beings broken out of captivity by the same impala and riding an impala into the sunset and finally, Rus' face when we told him the secret to the game HAHAHA
• The dogs and chickens everywhere just walking around and giving names to all of them
• Feeling so encouraged after hearing Meagan tell her testimony of how the Lord led her to where she is now
• The impending doom of growing farmer's tans
• All kids waving at the bus so excitedly when seeing all of us
• Standing/dancing/singing "Hey ya!" with the kids at Sing
• Talking, listening, and asking questions of Meagan for 4 hours and getting locked out of our house because we all talked till 1AM
• Going to Kasibi and them welcoming us by sining outside as we drove up and walked inside
• Listening to the beautiful language of Tongan and not understanding a word
• "Classic."
• "We call it just some eggs..."
• The Wild Misses +2
• Signing up to be prayer warriors for Manu, Suzie, Lyu, and Fresha
• Triumph of magivering my seventh grade head lamp into a chest strap
• "Probably about 15 more minutes..."
• Playing gameboy games with Maddie
• The quietness of each morning, sunshine starting to stream, the wind dancing with the trees, each bird singing a different and beautiful song

Walk About with Bena Franco

• Walking in the bush with Bena Franco and Bena Getu and talking and laughing about cliche women things
• The mixture of delight and terror on the faces of 25 kids waiting for us as we walked into the compound
• Feeling ready to explode from the amount of nshima and laughing with Kels, Chloe, and Jean as we stuffed even more food into our mouths as Bena Franco brought us cake
• Hearing Jeanie peeing in the pee bucket at 3:30AM and everyone responding "Yes hahah" in unison when she asked if anyone heard her 
• Shaking every single person's hand after church
• Bena Franco's women and marriage jokes (must be able to cut tomatoes in order to get married and you're a woman if you wear a chtangy, but a girl if you wear a skirt)
• Wearing a chtangy for the first time, Bena Franco tying it for me, and not being able to breathe
• Dancing with every kid and Lagel giving a young boy dancing next to me the thumbs up while grinning and glancing at me, dancing with Chloe, Bena Franco dancing and showing off her mataco mapati
• The look of surprise and panic on Chloe's face when Eunice grabbed her boob and when Eunice pulled her boob out HAHAHA
• The fear, anticipation, suspense, and silliness of the impending bath 

The Haven:

• Seeing the Haven for the first time and the amazed faces of the kids at this new group of makooah
• The soft, shy smile of Lyonando and his gentle spirit
• Nora's half laugh chuckle and dead pan laughing face
• Changing a napi for the first time
• Chloe stepping in Manu's diarrhea and hopping on one foot while holding a baby while crying/laughing/repeating "someone help me someone help me someone help me" 
• Susie's laugh and smile when my fingers walked up her leg and tickled her stomach
• Evie and Lammy running around naked at bath time screaming in delight as I chased them around
• Manu's man chuckle when throwing him in the air and his fantastic dancing skills
• Owen sitting with me in language group on the last day, talking more than he ever does, and repeating after me "Oh boy" as I stood and took him to nshima time, both laughing as he watched me speak
• Any of the kids coming up with arms stretched up saying "jata"
• Fresca's mischievous and shy grin and chuckle when playing catch and release with him as well as baby fetch HAHA
• Priscilla's gummy, tooth-less smile and face filled with delight when blowing raspberries in her neck and her turning the opposite direction so I would do it again to the other side
• The afternoon of endlessly repeated children's songs, but laughing at how much we all hated those songs by about the first week and how much we abhorred them by the end even though it was somehow even funnier by then
• Feeding and doing oral stim with Vernon for the first time and getting him to take his bottle after oral stim with my gloved pinky
• Giving cakes to each Bena's house and kids
• Singing to the Bena's We Love You With the Love of the Lord and Haven 1's Benas singing a song back to us in Tongan in thanks, absolutely beautiful, and everyone crying especially Mama Cecilia and Weave
• Jess and her dairy farm and coming up with a verse of Peel the Banana on the fly, but it being Pet the Cow, Milk the Cow, Tip the Cow HAHAHA 
• Singing "If all the raindrops were..." in the afternoon when playing with the babies, but subbing in all the food we were missing
• Lottie and playing "Balloon!"
• Lottie getting to go home, chatangized to his mom's back, and them waving goodbye from the down the road
• Language groups dancing, moving hips, and making a good fashion
• How much triumph we felt when the kids finally did not cry when going to language group without a Bean
• Lynando and Catchra's hugs, just wanting to be close; Nora's huge hugs, hoping she didn't break my neck
• Flavia's smile and goofy laugh in therapy 

Things I will not miss:

• Soapy carrots
• Bread and butter pickles
• Inhaling dust all the time, dodging cars and motorbikes on the road 
• Sad, sick dogs
• Working out in a tiny room
• Mosquito nets
• Carbs, carbs, carbs
• Children's songs
• Flies
• 3 hour long church services 
• Malaria pills
• Nshima and the havoc it wrecks  

The things I will miss are much longer than the things I won't miss. I would do this trip over again and again. I'm so thankful for all that I was able to see, to connect with what I have learned in class to real life, being refreshed and spurred on and encouraged by Meagan, and getting to love on and be loved by tiny humans and new big humans.

                                                                  *             *             *

Thursday we finally began our trek home. Total travel time was about 25ish hours including flight time and layovers. First flight out of Livingstone to Johannesburg was fine, Johannesburg to Atlanta was extremely long and wiped me out (16 hours, I watched 5 movies and slept for about two hours), and our final flight from Atlanta to Dallas was uneventful, but long because it was the last one. When we hit Atlanta, everyone’s first stop was of course Chic-fil-a breakfast. The squad all ate together one last time and said our final goodbyes about five times with a few tears and promises to keep the group message strong and to visit very soon. 



It’s so cool to have friends, close friends, that are in the same field as I am. My first friends that are also my professional colleagues. We even talked about attending ASHA (SLP convention) together. So grown up I can’t handle it. After our goodbyes, Mrs. Taylor, Chloe, Taylor, Rus, and I got on our last flight to Dallas. We said our goodbyes at baggage claim with promises to see each other very soon and definitely when school started.

I got my giant spider-webbed backpack....

....and waited for my mom. And waited. And waited. I texted Lacy, one of my best friends, again that I was bummed she couldn’t come to the airport with my mom to pick me up and she said yes, yes me too, but she’d see me that night at my welcome home supper party with the family. Finally, my mom pulled up with Phyllis and we all hugged and threw my bags in and started pulling out. Now, what you have to know about my mom is that she's sometimes a scary driver. Love her, but it's true. And also that she hates constructions because it is frustrating, especially in airport. So as we were about to pull out of the airport, construction was confusing and she accidently circled back around to the arrival gates. Phyllis, my mom, and I laughed and just kept chatting, I was telling them about a cute PeaceCorp boy we had met in the airport, and then suddenly we were stopped and my mom stared out the window. I was a little annoyed she wasn’t listening to my story anymore so I looked out the window as intently as she was and said, “What are you looking at?!” and there at E20, was Lacy with a freaking sign that said, “Welcome home, Mallory!” Little stinkers. It literally took me a full ten seconds of staring to comprehend that I was looking at Lacy holding a sign with my name on it and that she was there for me hahahaha Normally, I’m pretty perceptive to that stuff and I had even mentioned it to Lacy saying, “I feel like you don’t actually have to work tomorrow, you’re just saying that,” but she convinced me that she really did have to work and I believed her…whatever though because I love being surprised and love being loved by my friends and family. It was the perfect homecoming. After all the hugging and laughing and punching, we all went to lunch and did some shopping before finally heading home. 

I’m sure I’ll be going back at some point. I can’t seem to keep my feet on the ground in America for more than a year. But, for now, I am looking forward to having an actual summer with an actual summer job for the first time in six years. It was a great trip, but it is always good to come home.

Annnd that’s a rap. Africa out.

Mallory, or in Afrikkan, “Mallory”