EHS Zambia and Zimbabwe 2026

 Today we had an early breakfast, I had porridge, in preparation for the Safari.  We got picked up in minibuses and drove to Mosi O Tunya National Park.  We got to ride in the open Safari cars, we saw so many animals! We'd stop and our driver would give us information and let us take photos.  We saw elephants, rhinos, hippos and more.  At one point we got out and got close to some rhinos but we had to back up as they began approaching.  Then we stopped for a picnic and had muffins and a cold drink.   After, we drove back to the hotel and took a trip to the Shoprite to get snacks.  We came back and found out the tournament was cancelled (Teachers Note: The Local young leaders ran this) .  I was quite relieved because I needed time to pack and get ready for dinner.  We then headed out for dinner at a pretty restaurant called Leo's.  I had a delicious  mocktail - cherry daiquiri.  Once we returned, we did awards and all ...

 This morning we all woke up at 6:30 to the sound of church bells, I loved it but Minnie not so much. Mornings are definitely not her thing, especially after 3 weeks of my singing to the sunrise. We all had breakfast, any leftovers were gladly taken in by Tim and Stan. Both of whom have been in a constant state of hunger the ENTIRE trip. We had a chilled morning with everyone playing extremely competitive hard games, chess, or listening to music. It has been so nice seeing everyone away from the constant distractions of phones, I think I have laughed more these past 3 weeks than I ever have.  The group who won the tournament then got to go out for ice cream, which sounded really delicious. We all then squished into taxis and sped off to Coach Henry's in the rural Mukuni Village. There we met his wife Tracy and very cute baby Heaven. He introduced to the traditional Zambian food they had prepared. There was okra, barbeque chicken and fish in a lovely tomato sauce. We also had t...

  Friday 24th July My day started at 6:50am. I woke up and checked the mouse traps before I took a quick 10 minute shower. We had eggs on toast for breakfast at 8am and got ready to go to the tournament. When we arrived at the tournament ground we played games and sang with the children until we got started. I reffed the 1st and 5th game, then it was time for the semi-finals. My team won, and one of the children scored the winning try. At 2:30 the tournament ended and my team ended up coming third. Then we went back to camp and had a chill afternoon. Written by Calin. Saturday 25th July We woke up at 7:30 for breakfast, I had baked beans on toast at Sizinda. We then travelled into Victoria Falls and crossed the border back in Zambia, where we saw one of the seven wonders of the world. We then drove to Fawlty Towers in Livingstone. That afternoon we went on a river cruise on the Zambezi where we cruised for 2 hours where we saw hippos and crocodiles swimming in the river and sitting...

 

  Tuesday 21 st Today I woke up at 6:30 and we had another rad breakfast which was toast and avocado. We then went to the local old peoples home to do our second day of community projects. I was doing plastering and it was really interesting and I think our group did well. We then drove back to the camp for pasta for lunch. We then went to training for the second day at the same school. It was hard work to get them to understand the rules properly but interested to get to know them. We were kindly gifted a drum from my groups school and travelled all the way back with it. When we arrived back home we were sitting on the benches and we suddenly saw a swarm of 1000 or more bees buzzing towards us! Everyone ran away as they swarmed towards the drum and went instead. We have no idea why that happened but we think there must have been some magical curse on the drum. However Brian and Mpala came and wrapped it in plastic and took it away. In the evening we played a game that was like M...

  First day in Zimbabwe! Today we woke up later than we have been at it was amazing! I woke up at 6:20 so that I could get in the showers before everyone else, but it was much better than the usual 5:30 breakfast. I then got ready for breakfast with the girls in my room, Layla, Kitty, Holly and Millie. Then we got called down for breakfast which was toast, scrambled egg, fruit and porridge. A nice change from cereal. I got porridge and flooded it with treacle syrup, it tasted amazing but still didn’t have enough sugar. After that we headed out for our day. We were going to the old peoples home for our community projects and schools for coaching. On the way to the old peoples home Millie and I were doing Layla and Holly’s hair whilst singing songs on the bus. Once everyone arrived we got put into our new groups. My new group has Freya, Alice, Dylan, Kitty, Layla, Olivia and Ilana in it and our first duty was painting! We got very messy but it was so much fun. After we have finis...

Saturday Our last day in Zambia today before we move onto Zimbabwe. We had our second tournament in Zambia at Sosco, which went really well. So far I've been having a really great time it has been such a cool experience seeing the schools and meeting so many nice people. I'm missing you all so much and cannot wait to tell you all about my trip when I'm home, love you Mum, Dad and Teddy. Written by Kitty.  We started the day an hour later than planned as Dylan accidentally set the alarm for 5:30 instead of 4:30! Breakfast was at 5:30 and we had planned to shower before hand but we had to rush around to get ready instead. I enjoyed a warm hot chocolate and bowl of cornflakes, a great way to start the day. We left at 7:00 and drove with our kit to the tournament at Sosco school for the community clubs from the local area. We set up the pitches and created all the teams that had travelled in from 15 different clubs. We marked their hands with tipex so we could know their teams....

 

 On the road to Livingstone for four hours, all good and viewing rural Zambia. Photos as promised Chris

  Thursday Coaching Sessions  The day started with breakfast at 7:30 with some yummy cereal and juice. We then headed off for our first coaching session of the day at 8:30. We played games with the children such as fishy fishy (bulldog), in and out and all the children had fun! Everyone is so polite and competitive which made the experience so much more fun. We waved our goodbyes and headed back to camp to eat lunch which included a delicious cheese sandwich, some crisps and some fruit. We then left to go to our second coaching session which was extremely enjoyable as all the children were engaged and motivated. I even joined in for the game, and some of the children were much better than me! We went back to camp and Mr Horrod told us we were going to visit one of the young leaders, called Jordan, home that he shares with his mum and grandmother. He lives near the grounds of Sosco school, which was one of my favourites to coach at. It was an emotional and eye opening experienc...

Today we did some more coaching and visited different schools. We coached one school in the morning which had lots of kids of different ages, which was quite difficult as we only had a small playing space. At the end of the training session we played a game with the younger children where we taught them some English by dancing in a circle. After coaching we drove home and sorted out the kit donations to give to the different schools. We ate lunch and then everyone split into three groups and went to some more schools to coach, meanwhile Freya and I went into Lusaka with Chris and James Mumba to do an interview with Crown News for live TV. We got asked about our experience in Zambia so far and questions about the upcoming tournaments. We then headed back to Eureka and caught up with the others about their coaching. They said it went well and the students were very enthusiastic.  P.S. Happy Birthday to Ash Morris!  Written by Izzy M. 

Today we visited the wildlife sanctuary, we learnt about poachers, the dangers of snares and saw how long giraffe bones were. We moved around little huts with beautiful art and went into great depth on the human and elephant conflict. We also learnt about the bird protection programmes that the park has. We learnt that elephants don't like chilli, so the communities with farms near elephant habitats are encouraged to plant chilli plants around their crops to prevent the elephants from eating them, and stop humans killing them instead. One of the rangers took us on a nature walk, where we learnt about trees, animal footprints and what different groups of animals are called. For example, a group of guinea fowl are called a confusion and a group of zebras is called a dazzle!  Next, we walked over to the viewing platform to see the baby elephants feeding time. Their names were Nanzhilla, which means naughty, and Kasungu. Both elephants had been rescued when they were only a few months ...