Filming, birthday, tears and goodbyes

What a trip! Finally after several days of hard work the filming has been completed. Hundreds of shots, sound proofs, forgotten lines, retakes and loads of sweat...and it´s done. Everything that we wanted on film has been recorded.

Dzikwa choir, marimba players, drummers, dancers and actors performed a wonderful show at the stage of Harare International School. All were doing their best though it was a long day. Small dancer girls continued hour after hour with a smile on their face, actors performed their plays and read poems by heart, the choir sang on Shona language the rhythms of Zimbabwe. The Dzikwa students are truly talented.

We also visited Imire Game Ranch with some orphaned children accompanying us and got to film the wildlife of Africa. Rare species like lions, hyenas, giraffes, elephants, black and white rhinos, several types of antelopes, crocodiles, zebras, gnus, buffalos, impalas and many others. Everything filmed and we even managed to record the rhinos discussing with their tiny squeaks!

Our last day in Harare was full packed with filming. We visited the forestry project and several schools. We filmed children in their class rooms, singing to welcome us or eating their daily meal. We took sound tracks of Seppo explaining about the operations at the Dzikwa Trust Activity Center and visited homes of some orphan children.

At the end we have about 600 minutes of video clips. What we still need is EDITING. Linnea will spend her free time cutting and editing the material into a 30 minutes story. Some work to do for the dark and cold autumn nights in Finland :0).

Our trip continued to Victoria Falls and we left Harare early Friday morning. On our last Harare day we also celebrated Luukas’  14^th birthday with some pancake breakfast and a nice meal at Miller’s café with singing waiters! But we had to say goodbye to our sponsored children too. A sad moment. Many tears were shed and hugs given at the time of farewell. It is so difficult to leave all the children, so much work remains undone. But we may return as we know that Zimbabwe has so much kindness and love to offer to its friends. Until then we continue our efforts to support the children from Finland.

Annika

Imire safari

Wednesday I went to Imire with Oili, Ngaa (our movie star), Parkkonen family and their “child” Chipo. Imire is an hour and a half drive from our place, Ngaa, Linnea and I sat on the trunk (bouncy and uncomfortable). Before the tour with a car we had refreshments like Mazoe (local orange juice). Imire is a safari and our guide was driving and when we saw an animal he would stop and tell something about it and let us take pictures and video. We saw a solitary black rhino which was accompanied with a guy with a gun. Every rhino has a guard because pouching (killing without permission) is common because some Chinese people are willing to pay great deal of money for rhino horns. They think it will increase their sexuality or something. We also saw elephants and we got to come down from our vehicle and feed them with pellets and this one elephant took a hat off my head, put it in his mouth and then gave it back if asked and afterwards rewarded. Other kids and I did it, but the adults didn’t.  After being in the elephants mouth couple of times the hat was more brown, than the original colour, white. We saw a crocodile, zebras, warthogs (like Pumba on Lion king), buffalos, giraffes, monkeys and gnus (the type of antelope which killed Mufasa on Lion king). One elephant is moving with the buffalos thinking that she is a buffalo herself. She is the biggest so the leader and she has killed 14 male buffalos that have tried to challenge her. Elephants are matriarchal and buffalos patriarchal so that is why the lady elephant thinks she is the leader and that is also why the male buffalos are trying to be in control because it is their nature. It was funny to see how the elephant was pushing buffalos farther from the food with her legs. Rhinos are also funnier creatures than I thought, for such big animals they make a ridiculously small noise; it is quiet and high pitched. We also saw two lions but they were boring and the male walked away. We saw a pig, it was not food for the lions, but a pet at a office, it slept under a desk with a puppy.

Thursday the Finnish boy Luukas turned 14 years old. We made pancakes in the morning and I gave him very-cool-green-shoelaces and a chocolate bar. (I know I’m generous).In the evening we went to a restaurant and the waiters sang Happy Birthday to him, Parkkonen family also took their other “child” with them this time it was; Nomore. The food was good and company even better.

Today I had an English lesson and Nyasha took pictures to send to Kinder Musik. I am going to send the pictures and I also have to remind some sponsors about their payments. Tomorrow morning our bus will leave at 8 am and be at Vic Falls around 8 pm, I have 4 books, MP3 player and the gift of sleeping.

Now I have to stop because I still need to shower and pack and it’s already 10.20 pm.

Love,

 -Laura

Finnish sponsors visiting

Family Parkkonen arrived last Wednesday. Annika, Peter, Luukas and Linnea are going to make a DVD of Dzikwa programm for PR purposes. They are really nice and I am going to Vic falls with them this coming Friday. On Thursday we went to see the Hairspray musical with three kids: Cynthia, Evidence and Letwin. I paid for Letwin as I promised and the musical was super good. Sometimes the sound system didn’t quite work but the actors were talented and young. Also the children enjoyed it. Parkkonen family has been sponsoring some children over 10 years and now they finally got to meet their “kids” Chipo and Nomore. Tears were shed and gifts were given. (Oh how  poetic).

It is hot in here so I wear tiny shorts, but I am the only one because these crazy Zimbabweans wear long trousers and even jackets. Well while walking in the city with Oili one combi (small local bus) driver wanted to marry me but Oili just yells: 100 cows, 100 cows. Because in here if you marry, the boy has to pay a price for the bride’s parents, but the maximum cow amount is actually 10 so I am a little over priced.

            A group of 21 Finnish people arrived on Saturday and today on Monday they are coming to Chisipite for a cocktail party. They are nice and most of them have a child whom they sponsor. They are going to Imire (safari)on Tuesday  and take their children with them and then Parkkoset and me are going on Wednesday.

Today is Tuesday and the party went well, all the Finnish people were happy and enjoying Zimbabwe very much. We ate samusos and meatballs and drumsticks (meaning chicken legs) and my favourite BANANA BREAD. I parked in front of the plate and stayed there, Linnea and Luukas wanted to do the same but they were to modest. Muahhahahaa more for me! (yes I know I’m gross).  The only annoying part for the Finns was that for the last three days it rained in the evening around 5 o’clock. Hopefully the Finnish group don’t get caught up in the rain today while in Imire.

            Annika Parkkonen the mother, booked our transportation and accommodation for Victoria Falls and the total for me was 168 euros, me like very much, because I was expecting much more so now I have more money for shopping. Linnea and Luukas and I have found a new way to spend our days at the Dzikwa Centre, eating Freezets. Freezets are frozen juice in a plastic bag and they are very cheap and our kitchen ladies sell them, 10 for a dollar so I can afford to give them to the kids and my friends. They are probably full of sugar and colouring chemicals but they are lovely when it’s so hot outside. So now when there are 7 of us 2 of us have to travel on the trunk of the car. It is hot, bouncy and not nice at all and of course as kids Luukas, Linnea and I have to travel there. When we stop it looks as if the car was still moving because when you look back all the time your eyes get used to things moving more far and far.

            Priscilla is a worker in Dzikwa. One day Oili found black shoes in our car and thought that they arrived with a Finnish family and were for the children. Well Oili and I looked at them and we decided that they look very Priscilla like so we said: Let’s give them to Priscilla, she never gets anything. Next day Priscilla was franticly asking if we have seen her good shoes, so unfortunately she didn’t get new shoes but she got her own shoes as a present for Oili and Laura; the well wishers.

            Today, Tuesday, before we went to the International school to record some DVD material we went to Avondale flee market. I bought 15 pairs of earrings (souvenirs), a wire basket with beaded lizards and some fridge magnets. Even though shopping is fun it is also tiresome because every salesman wants me to come to their stand, buy something and everybody tells the same things: Special price just for you, Come my friend I will show you something, My friend just buy something small….. Aaargh!!! They don’t realize that I already have my suitcase halfway full (maybe they think it is halfway empty). At the International school the culture group performed and Linnea took video of the performance and I tried to take pictures but it was too dark. Letwin was the lead singer at least in three songs and she is also a very good dancer. I took really nice pictures of her and some other girls like: Nomsa, Joyline, Lily, Kudzai, Kundai and many else. They are so cute in their culture group outfits although it seems like every time they perform somebody breaks a necklace.

            The woman who is going to do a story of me teaching the ABC English & Me – program in Africa contacted me and asked for photos so hopefully the kids show up this Thursday so we get good pictures. The kids are all cute so pictures of them are lovely.

I have started preparing a list of all the Christmas presents but mostly all of the presents will arrive at the container which is now going through all kinds of inspections and paperwork somewhere near here. I am also writing the letters that some kids want to send to their sponsors. But regrettably my paint-the-dura-wall-program hasn’t made any progress at all.

Here you have a Zimbabwean song:

Vasikana

 vasikana

Huyai tigare humambo hwekudenga

Huyai tigare! Kuti ga-ga gare humambo

Humambo hweiko humambo hwekudenga

Laura Ainamo

Family Parkkonen visiting Dziwarasekva after 10 years of sponsoring

Being on our first ever trip to Africa and Zimbabwe everything feels exciting. Colors, sounds, fragrances, people… the sentiment of Africa. No wonder people fall in love with this country and its wonderful climate.

 On the first day after arrival Seppo took us to Dzivarasekwa. We met the two children we had sponsored since their school start and whom we had been corresponding regularly during the years. The moment of meeting them was very emotional. There are no words to explain the feeling you have when you finally can hold them in your arms.

Now being able to see the poverty and endless needs of all the children makes one feel hopeless. But at the same time understanding what such a good and meaningful work Dzikwa Trust performs, gives you faith. You may contribute by giving a chance for better life even for one child. Enabling him/her to study and get a profession through which he/she can help building Zimbabwe’s way out of poverty.

One of our missions in our trip is to make Dzikwa Trust a presentation video. We have carried with us cameras, stands, microphones, wires, laptops with editing programs etc. Our daughter Linnea (17 yrs) has video editing as a hobby. She is now shooting a film based on a pre-made script approved by Seppo. Our son Luukas (14 yrs), who has theatre as a hobby, is playing one of the main roles in the film. The target is to collect material to make a 25 minute film to present the project at schools and partnering organizations. A short video clip will be available at the Zim-orphans web pages too.

Being a volunteer everybody can contribute according to their skills. We have been helping with project´s data processing as well as learning use of excel. We´ll do some training and assist with communication in the days to come. Even small things can help the project to proceed.

Whole family has been looking forward to this trip for years. We have been part of the volunteers in Finland since 2001 and now the dream comes true. Seeing Zimbabwe, getting to know our sponsored children, learning and participating to the Dzikwa Trust work stays in our heart.  I think, this will change our thinking for life. There is not an act too small that you can do for these children. Each step leads towards a better future!

Annika

"Feeding" the boarders

                Oili, Seppo, Engelbert and I went to Chipangali on Friday. First we went to see the trees Engelbert planted in Bulawayo. Oili made some great observations on how an orchard should be planted. And now we also know that Engelbert knows what he is doing and that is necessary, because he is a key person on our Forestry project.

                 Today on our way to home from Chipangali we visited Dewure and Gutu high schools. We distributed them extra food and toiletries that Priscilla had bought. Students were happy to receive those and we got many letters to sponsors from these young adults. At Dewure I had a little sex education for the girls because they don’t cover that in school at all. I talked about safe sex and diseases and pregnancy and hopefully made them realize that they have right to decide on their own body. Some of the students got letters from their sponsors and they liked them and the ones that didn’t were eyeing the gifts with wanting eyes. I took some names up so I can send them something when I am back in Finland. On the way back we got Vaidah joining us, because she has to see a dentist Monday morning.

All in all, the trip was very nice although our tire separated on the way to Bulawayo.

Laura

Chipangali/The Great Zimbabwe/Dewure

     Saturday morning my alarm clock woke me up 5.10 am. It’s time to go to Chipangali. It took 5 hours to go to Chipangali by car and Seppo drove and Yvonne, Talent and I mostly slept the whole time. Heh! In Zimbabwe police writes a lot of tickets and some even say they have a certain target of how much money they have to get per day. We run to one police that fined us $10 for driving too fast. We were in a hurry so Seppo said -can we go without the receipt- and the police said -yes, but then you have to pay me $50- so we waited for him to write the receipt obviously. Seppo likes classical music and I like it as well so we listened to Beethoven, Mozart, Sibelius and Webber. The reason we left so early was that Seppo had to be on time for Viv’s funeral (he is the founder of Chipangali). When we got there we all went to the funeral because we were instructed by the staff and we didn’t want to talk against because the service had already started. So funeral service for two hours, lucky us. It was touching and the stories that told about Viv were funny. In the end they played a song that Viv liked and said to the crowd to have fun, and I did, because the song was “In the jungle a lion sleeps tonight”. It left the funeral on a happy note which was the idea.

                Animals at Chipangali are rescued one way or another and if possible they are returned to the nature when they are ready. Coolest animals were of course the lions and leopards but also Jackie the jackal was cute because it could be petted by visitors. I also got to pet a wildcat named Prince, who unfortunately liked me so much that it marked me his own THREE TIMES, if you don’t know what I mean by marking, then too bad. After that I went to shower and then we ate with the family who runs Chipangali. I didn’t have time to pet lions because of the shortage in time but when we go back in three weeks they said I could pet lions then and maybe one of the leopards as well. I can’t wait!

                Sunday morning we left 7.30 am to visit the Great Zimbabwe which includes ruins and a museum. The ruins are up high and Seppo lead us with the pace of an army commander and at least I felt exhausted. When finally up we took some photos and Seppo told us about the place. When down we went to see the museum which had explained the time of the ruins and how it was made. There was also a vault which contained, I think, 9 statues of a bird (kalasääski) and one of them is portrayed in the Zimbabwe’s flag. Seppo told that some Zimbabweans consider that place as the most sacred place in Zim. One of the statues is still in Cape Town, but they are trying to get it at Great Zimbabwe as well as the others.

                After that we went to visit Dewure which is a boarding school that we have 33 students in. Talent and Yvonne might go there next year so that’s why they were with us. While Seppo had one on one conversations with the kids, I played with others. They were so nice and it’s sad that I won’t see them more than maybe once after this because they don’t have holidays until the 7^th of December. I think they liked games I knew, and I think I learned new games from them.  

I do not like computers because I find more and more problems of trying to start teaching ABC English & Me program. And I should be ready tomorrow, whhhaa, I am not ready, I don’t even have a puppet (which I am btw gonna call Maria)

 

Laura

Jätehuoltoa

Toimintakeskuksen jätehuoltoa laitetaan järjestykseen. Komposti on vihdoin valmiina ja roskatynnyreitä ollaan asennettu eri paikkoihin ympäri keskusta. Ensimmäisen päivän havaintojen perusteella lapset ovat ymmärtäneet roskatynnyreiden tarkoituksen hyvin ja roskat ovat löytäneet tiensä maasta roskiksiin.

Albert maalaa roskista ja lapsia kiinnostaa.

Solomon ja Albert maalaavat roskisten tukijalat termiittisuojalla.

Kun pihalla maalailtiin roskiksia, sisätiloissa oli käynnissä matematiikan tukiopetus.

-Virva