Africa CAS Trip

Our first key stop was in Harare, the capital, where our main focus was to visit the nearby Hatcliff community, one of the poorest places in Zimbabwe, and a small nursery there. The Vimbanashe nursery is run by a single woman, Norma, who though quite small of stature, is a force to be reckoned with. We were amazed at how she had developed the nursery herself from scratch – using half-built buildings, without proper roofs or protection from the elements – and often struggled to feed the twenty or so regular attenders. When we heard Norma’s story, we decided to direct a portion of our donations to helping her and her nursery. The photo below was taken in early July and shows the progress being made towards a brand new building that is being built as we speak.

Our next stop took us to Save (Sah-vey) where we camped for three nights. The students went to the local middle school as part of their service where they taught lessons and led games with the Save students, including a football match of about 50 students. The welcome dance and songs were heart-warming and the atmosphere of community and togetherness was felt throughout the visit. Our students responded with a fine rendition of the school anthem, occasionally hitting a correct note or two along the way. After presenting the Principal of the school with our many donations, we parted ways. We also took part in a number of safari drives and walks in Save, getting to know the land and its inhabitants in the process, as well as a nice swim in the river.

We headed to Antelope Park where we took part in elephant interactions, lion walks, lion feeds, horseback safari, snake interactions and sunset carriage safari rides. Needless to say, we took thousands of photos and videos and had a grand old time. The students even managed to forget their IB woes for a time and had a lightsabre battle with sticks. Why not?

Our main focus was Bunina High school which is a huge ongoing project for ACS (International). Being the main financial force behind the development of their facilities and equipment, we felt a strong connection to the students and staff here. Both our students and theirs joined together in a group effort to help with the construction of their new building – with a lot of brick carrying – and not one student complained about the heat, the dust or the strains of working in the dusty heat. More welcoming dances and songs later, we even got to see a number of our students attempt some of the local dance moves…to varying degrees of success, and much laughter from the local students. The donations were very well received and really made us appreciate just how lucky we are. With promises to return, we soon said our goodbyes.

There’s a lot more to say, but it would be a shame to steal too many amazing stories; whether it involves the scarily solid- looking rhinos, the near vertical walks to catch a sunset, the fighting monkeys, the elephant parents and their calf coming to get a drink 50 metres from our dinner table, the tree-house style lodges, the sunset cruises next to families of hippos, the stunning Victoria Falls, or the insane adrenaline activities that take your breath away. Go and ask someone who went on the trip, it’ll be worth it.