Going home

We are sitting in the airport in Gaborone and these are some of the Expeditioner's thoughts and feelings:

I am feeling proud of everyone because of what we have all achieved - Rheannon

I am quite excited about going home to see everyone, but disapointed that I have to leave - Mark V

Sad to be leaving new friends - Nigel

Knackered - Mike

No more flies! - Scott

I had an incredible time - Smiley

Finished

Everything is moving at a great speed now as were hurtled towards the end of our adventure.  Having got the roof on the building and the hole dug for the septic tank the final jobs were smaller but no less essential and everyone took to their particular job with great enthusiasm.  Door were put on the cubicles, the plumbing was started, some locals were engaged to plaster the outside, the floors were screeded,  the Botswanan Scouts undertook to build the septic tank and now the outside has been painted, we still have some snagging to do to sort the plumbing – BUT basically the alution block is finished.  It is a great achievement, with great cooperation from the UK and Botswanan youth that have worked tirelessly through out the 2 months the project has run for.  A big congratulations to you all.

 

Matsalo ame mo Botswana (Birthday in Botswana)

As much as I’m looking forward to celebrating my 18^th back home with friends and family, I had an amazing birthday in Africa.

My day started crawling out of bed and being greeted with happy birthdays from everyone.  At flag break everyone sang Happy Birthday to me and I was showered with birthday cards.

 

Then it was back to work as usual.  Sarah and I spent the morning drilling holes through the 6” building blocks and then chiselling a hole big enough for the toilet waste pipes.  We then had to saw a piece of wood …… I was struggling so threw a paddy which led to scratching my leg with a saw, so I now have a set of 16 stripes on my leg, shame it wasn’t 18!

At lunch time I came back to site to find it decorated with birthday banners>  Again Happy Birthday was sung to me as my big birthday cake was presented.

 

Later on in the evening I was led to a surprise campfire which I had the pleasure of lighting.  Chris started off the campfire and we all enjoyed an evening full of singing and dancing.

 Fran

The next step .....

This whole expedition has been amazing and the project is going really well, we are now getting to the little jobs such as building a step which I took on with a small team.  When we finished the step I was so impressed with it I took great pride in it. 

 

Mark V

Digging the Hole

3 days after R & R and my team are back on project.  Our goal: reaching the 3 metre depth for the septic tank.  After a valiant effort by Charlie’s Angels we arrive to find 4 small holes dug and a large tree stump already removed.  With a promise of having the rest of the day off if we finish, we start fast but quickly tire from having to smash through roots.  Day 1 over and we almost reach 1 metre.

Day 2 and we start slower but by mid-morning are exhausted, day 2 over and we had reached 2 metres. 

Day 3 our last effort to finish before Charlie’s Angels get back from R & R, we decide to have an early start – breakfast at 6.30……  We work until it gets hot at mid-morning and are close, half a metre to go, lunch time ….we’re done!!!

 

Mike

Photos

Smiley's Squad - Bushin' it

After weeks of working on site with Chris breathing heavily down our backs, making sure nothing went a slip, it was time for our R&R. On the day of departure, with seconds to spare, Anne finished her packing for the 3 day trip, and then we were off!

We arrived on camp after the freezing cold and very bumpy journey; we were welcomed by the safari team. After a spot of lunch we set off on our first game drive where we saw loads of elephants and leopard before watching the sunset over the bush. We then enjoyed a good night’s sleep on proper beds.

In the morning we were greeted by a bowl of warm water to wash in outside our tents, before setting off on our days drive. Whilst we were out on the drive we saw a lot of wildlife including 2 African wild dogs. We then spent the evening driving around the bush at what felt like 100mph to see 9 lions enjoying their dinner.

As we were packing up to leave we were made aware of a lions watching our camp, as you can see from the picture it was very big and very scary.

So now we are all relaxed and ready to go back to work with Chris on the site.

Tom, Mark H and Sarah

NB: A Thutchwa-ific Time!

This is just a little addition – mainly for the benefit of Group A – to share with them some good news. Finally on my fourth expedition to Africa, I have seen Giraffes!

 

On my second R&R (!) I was fortunate enough to see 27 of them either graciously meandering about the Khwai reserve or graciously drinking at the river. It has certainly been worth the wait to see such beautiful animals in their natural habitat.

 I know you’ll all be thrilled at this news – especially team Thutchwa for whom it is their name sake! J

 Missing you all!

Chris

Let's Raise the Roof

With the foundations for the main hall nearly done on 8^th August we began to prepare the timber for the roof of the ablution block.  Firstly we added metal straps between the windows and the roof to hold the roof down.  On 9th August we began the wooden framework and attached a few sheets of corrugated iron roofing.

On the 10^th a few people headed to work early to work in the cool of the day, with the sheets still cool the roof was nearly finished by lunch time.  There were only a few finishing touches to do and then we could get to work on the interior.

Jonathan (Smiley) and Lewis

Photos

The team are all well and too busy to write blogs.  We have one group on R & R and the next group (including me) leave tomorrow - so no up dates for a few days.

The project is coming along well and we hope the first group enjoyed their safari and will write about it when they come back.

The container

After the departure of team A it started as normal, however after tenses (our elevenses), Jackie asked Mark and I if we could help Chris with the container! :D We obviously said yes and the adventure began with a journey in Plastic’s truck.  30 mins later we arrived at the holding place to find all the contents of the container lying beside it.  We then watch as they tried to lift the empty container with two fork lifts both on the same side!  It looked as if it was about to fall over! : (  After 20 mins they decided to put a fork lift at each side of the back of the container and a crane at the front to lift the container onto another lorry.  Afterwards the truck driver only let us refill half the container as it was supposedly too heavy so a van and two of our pickup trucks had to make two journeys to move the remaining equipment to site.  They left three Botswanans, Off-t, Moses and Jackson as well as Mark and me to watch the equipment left for the second run.  When we got back to site we only had time to refill the container before darkness.  This meant the next day was spent emptying and repacking the container again!!

Mark Vale and Dobbie

Team B -Bricking it

So we have been here just over 1 week, from the greeting we received from group A, all dressed in their onesies, we should have guessed what madness the next few weeks would entail.  We’re all finally starting to find our feet, although the massive difference in temperature between first thing in the morning and midday has been hard to acclimatise to.

Our standard of brick laying may have been questionable at the beginning of the week but each day we are getting better.  Our brick laying course at Maun Technical College was very helpful.  We made friends with one of the lecturers, whose name is Miracles, even came back to camp to help us with the foundations.

Sadly, we had to say goodbye to Group A this week.  After having spent the last few days learning the ropes and gaining skills from them, we would like to say a big thank you and we hope they’ve had a safe journey to the UK.

Fran and Sarah

Team A Leave

Team A left site on Thursday and stopped for the night about 3 hours from Gaborone.  It was difficult for them to leave not only their Botswanan friends but also their friends in team B.  Friday night was spent having a final group meal in Gaborone, they all ate well!  There was time for some last minute shopping on Saturday morning before leaving for the UK.  There was a slight problem with the transport which ended in a rushed journey to the airport, but finally with an emotional goodbye there were all safely through security and ready for the flight to Jo’burg.

Before this got posted we heard they were all safely back in the UK and in fact most of the group will be nearly home, if not already home – we miss you guys!

The last Supper

1^st of August 2012, around 6.00 pm, the panic began!  Fee along with a team of members from group A had been working hard all day to create an amazing last meal, the menu was as follows:

Starter - Homemade Mixed Breads; olive, garlic and onion and cheese and tomato

Made By: Polly, Tim, Joe R, Jack

Main Course- Haggis (thanks to the container arriving in Maun) with Mashed Potato

Made By: Charlotte, Mhairi, Andrew, Andy

Desert- Banoffee Mess (which was the nicest mess I have ever tasted!)

Made By: Beth, Cheyenne, Jamie

Cocktail: Mango Juice mixed with Sprite

So anyway everyone came back from work with gleaming smiles on their faces as they had hit the target of finishing the ablutions block up to roof level, well done to all Group A!  As we had guests coming they then rushed off for a group shower, that is until Fee shouted on certain members of the team to help start preparing dinner- she was a little panicked!  Dinner time arrived, our guests were Allison, our medevac coordinator, and a lecturer from the local technical college who have supported us throughout the build.  The team of group A who served and kept dinner going for the night consisted of: Tim (our MC), Charlotte, Cheyenne, Jessie, Sam, Joe R, Andy, Mhairi, Elliot and maybe more of us (Fee and I are struggling to remember!)

Anyway, at this point your probably wondering why I used “serving” as it doesn’t often happen at camps, however we did decide that tonight would be a night that the leaders could sit back and relax with our guests and enjoy what we had to offer.  Everyone really enjoyed their cocktail and first two courses and with that it was time for a small surprise!  As a group we had decided that all the leaders deserved an extra something, after all they have had to put up with us for 5 weeks, so Ben took over MC’ing and each leader was presented with their own individual gift from a certain team.  It was at this point that we swiftly moved onto dessert before either Martin or more likely Chris got up and made a speech.

Dessert went down a storm, thanks very much girls! It has to be the richest thing we’ve had in 5 weeks! However the speech wasn’t avoided but luckily it was Anne who had decided to make that speech just to thank us all for the meal, the hard work put into the project and the corporation between both leaders and scouts to make sure the our part of the expedition was a success.

Dinner ended around 8:05pm and at this point we were expecting to be late for the campfire- however we are in Botswana!  The fire wasn’t quite ready and the Botswanans rushed off to prepare the final stage, The Nest.

Me, Elliot and Mark were opening, MC’ing and organising the campfire and had already put a running order together, the part we wanted to make special was the lighting of the fire- now usually this would be done by one person and with only three matches to strike, however we wanted to make it a bit more “UK linked” we decided to take two of our elders and let them carry a torch to light the fire together- these being Mr P Maleffy and Mrs A Masino.

As I said, we were running on Botswana time- the fire didn’t get going until after 9:00pm but as soon as it was lit, the entertainment was well underway. With plenty of sketches and songs from all different groups and people it was a great success and I hope I am right in saying everyone enjoyed themselves, however I don’t think anyone there will ever forget Tim and Chris singing Caledonia and what the atmosphere was like in those last few songs. I would say the campfire ended around 11:15pm and at this point there was a real sadness going around not just Contingent A but also Contingent B and the Botswanans that we had got to know and work with as friends.

Before going to bed there was a time of roughly half an hour where certain people, myself included,  just sat and watched the fire burn to embers, realising we were leaving the next morning was not something many of us wanted to think about, but as the Botswanan’s say “we meet to part and we part to meet”

Andy

Settling in

Sunday we had our Scout's Own as usual, but this time with 55 people.  This was followed by a photo shoot with the whole team in waist - up uniform, some of the uniforms looking a bit tired and grubby after 4 weeks in continual dusty conditions.  We have taken all team A uniforms to the laundry in town so it, hopefully, will not be too unpleasant for other passengers on the flights back to the UK!!!

Team B are settling in well and getting shown the the ropes by team A.  Our Botswanan team members prepared goat for Sunday evening meal, it was made the traditional way, Setswan, boiled with onion and then shredded  We were joined by 14 Maun Scouts bringing our total to about 70 - quite an achievement for the base camp team to cater for so many.  After being well fed we were treated to a Botswanan Bonfire to welcome the new team on site.  They invited Mark, from team A, to open it, a great honour and privilege.  A good night was had by all, although a late one – it was after 10 before everyone was in bed!!

Container up-date

As the container did not arrive before team B we hired tents for the team coming on site.  The said container is now delayed in Gaborone and the Botswana Scout Association decided to open it and send some of the contents by van.  I am delighted to report we now have 10 strip lights and a boxful of multi sockets on site – just exactly what we required!!!!

On a more serious note some of us have our chairs, the generator and the festoon lighting is now in place which makes clearing up after the evening meal easier.  We are still awaiting the promised container; the latest estimated arrival is Wednesday, just in time for the departure of team A from the site.

Whole team

The rest of our team arrived safely yesterday evening and were greeted by members of team A dressed in their onsies - just to prove that after 4 weeks in Africa you will be completely crazy!

Bad hair day!

I have elected myself to tell you all about the joyous few days the Dragons were on base camp and the veritable feast we fed the workers.

Before

First I would like to tell you I have finally had a haircut. 

During

Unfortunately I let everybody have a go with the scissors and Mark might have gone a little bit crazy. 

After

However Anne kindly tidied it up a bit and averted complete disaster, so although it is pretty short at least it is uniformly short and I just about remained in possession of both my ears.

Now

Now for the food!  On the night of 22^nd we decided to let everybody cook their own twists over the fire and dip them in as much jam as they wanted, so in the afternoon I made up some delicious dough.  When dinner, supplied by the fantastic Dragons and cake supplied by the fantastic Brian, was finished everybody got a dough  ball to wrap around a stick and cook until golden brown.  Everybody loved the communal cooking and it was widely agreed that it was one of the best pudding so far.

Next morning, I did some more baking in preparation for garlic bread for the evening meal.  Jamie has perfected the art of creating orange and lemon juice with the freshly picked fruit we were gifted.  Joe cut the lemons.

Tim

Pouring the foundations

We started early this morning ready for a hard day of work filling in the foundations of the hall.  Elliot and I decided today would be a good day to wear our matching turquoise vests.  What a sight! 

After an excellent warm up by Martin the work teams headed off to site.  The cement mixers were fired up and we began the filling.  Our “engines” (sticks strapped to the wheelbarrows) were prepped and morale was high so we soldiered on racing our way through the task.  With two committed and efficient teams a hard days work was finished in half a day. 

With an afternoon to recover we washed and one of the teams headed off to the craft stalls.  Soon enough we were all back at camp for Macaroni Bolonaise with homemade garlic bread!  Another challenging but rewarding day in Botswana

Ben