Livingstone-Part One (Cliff the Cowboy & Pre-School)

Blog Post- Livingstone 1
">

I'm blogging about the first part of our day bike riding with Cliff the Cowboy in Livingstone Zambia. We'll be visiting Victoria Falls in the next few hours (Morgan's post to come shortly), but for now wanted to share some of the pictures from our morning bike ride through the 'nature' (aka sand) and then the township/small village where Cliff The Cowboy is from. 

Our group included Cliff, a nice honeymooning Dutch couple (Sven and Stephanie), three British girls (don't recall their names) who were here to volunteer, Cliff's nephew from the middle area of Zambia (didn't speak English) and Patrick (19 year old neighbor of Cliff's who has been living/working for Cliff since his father passed away) and then Morgan and me.

By far, the highlight of our morning was visiting the pre-school Cliff has been able to build and maintain with the money he's made from his tourist biking business since starting in 2001. As we rode through the township to get to the school, the children were shouting "Muzungu" (means white person) and ran up to our bikes and held their hands out for high-fives from us as we passed by. Cliff said the only "Muzungus" the people of this township often see is the folks he brings through on his bike tours and since tourist season is just starting, it's been a while since they've seen white people so they will want to shake our hands/high-five etc.

Cliff's pre-school is pretty amazing. It's the only school in the township (if that's even the right word) and is for children ages 3 - 7. The other schools are at least 8 km away and the schools for older children even further.  Cliff says the kids end up playing in the area even when school is closed and it's one of the only places in the town where they can feel free, as it is a safe and clean environment. There were a ton of young children in the pre-school yard when we got there and they all wanted us to take their pictures. Although I normally don't like being such a tourist and snapping shots of children in this sort of way, they were so excited by seeing their own image on the screen after the shot that I couldn't not. There are a couple photos I'll upload of some boys who wanted their own private photo shoots inside the classroom, it was actually really funny to watch their interactions with each other over who got the attention of getting featured more prominently in the shot (although I tried to emphasize organizing themselves in a way where everyone shared the spotlight)- very universal small child behavior in this way...the whole lesson of "sharing" remains something children worldwide need to learn. The fact that it was mainly boys who were interested/aggressively seeking camera time was interesting to me (think the affinity to seeing oneself in the camera screen after the shot must stem from the fact they rarely see reflections of themselves- didn't see any mirrors in the township). Furthermore, I noticed that it was only boys kicking around the soccer ball in the yard-- there were no girls playing soccer...most of them actually had their little siblings on their hips/backs. When I asked Cliff about this difference, he indicated it was because boys had the 'upper hand' in how they are raised so it makes girls much more shy.

The play area/yard in front of Cliff's pre-school offers the kids a clean, safe place to play and per Cliff it's the only area they feel completely free. As we rode our bikes through the town, the kids all followed us and wanted to play with us in the playground area. 

Cliff has also been successful in using his school to educate the parents and community. I've uploaded the below picture of the way he's constructed his pre-school (with Papyrus layer in between the room and the mud, which allows for a cooler room. He also has a sewing machine he's been using to teach them how to sew. Cliff's pre-school and his overall dedication to helping advance and enable his poor community to develop was extremely impressive and inspiring to observe. It's a wonderful example of how a small idea and simple business venture can end up transforming a community in a self-sufficient and sustainable manner.