July 6, 2016 

Today, I realized how spoiled we are in our country…we were cleaning out some of the pens and the tools are so limited…one shovel.. one rake...one bucket….it makes me appreciate how easily we can run to the store and pick up a new muck fork or a new wheelbarrow, or oh well, the handle fell of this bucket, I’ll just throw it away and buy a new one.  And when you are not the ONLY person cleaning the same pen, you can see how this can cause a problem.  It makes me want to go home and go through the barn and collect all the tools that are “broken”- by our standards- and ship them over here.  But, unfortunately, it isn’t possible, you can’t ship anything over about 5 kilos…so a little over 10 pounds.  

I saw a zebra today!  I helped go out into the game preserve here to take some food out for those animals.  We didn’t get real close to her but she was standing a little bit away in the brush. 

I also helped rebuild lion pen fencing... I have a whole new appreciation for building horse fencing…it doesn’t involve over 10 foot poles that have to be cemented three feet into the ground!  Of course that also involved digging the old concrete out of the ground…by hand.  Certainly not a job I envied of the staff here!  All they had was a 4 pound hammer and a pick.  No cement mixers either.  

Surprisingly, one of the highlights (so far!) of being over here has been eating meat!!  They have no idea what commercial food production is and no one can afford to spend money on the hormones or antibiotics or any of the other crap that is in our food supply.   They actually give me some funny looks when I explain to them how meat is produced in the US.  Everything here is what we would call free range, grass finished, pick one!   

The nutrition of these animals is amazing.. well I think so!  There are no commercial diets!  Everything that animals are fed is leftovers!  They get the human left overs from dinner, there are places in town that give the orphanage any fruit and veggies that aren’t sold or are too bruised or damaged to sell and they are also fed left over chips.  But not our chips, they are all these bizarre flavored corn puffs, like chicken and beef.  Not really what I would choose as a snack.  So they look like cheese balls and Cheetos but in different colors and flavors!  The sheep diets are made up of trees in the area, seed pods, some fruits and veggies.  There is no sheep feed.  There is no hay.  And most of the little buggers are straight up fat!!!  

There is a civil war going on here.. but please don’t worry!!  It is not directed towards tourists, and that would actually be worse for people here because the tourists bring money into the area.  People can not get money out of banks, because there is none, and the government is trying to impose all these ridiculous things.  For example, say you want to buy a can of beans, well the government prices it at $1.50.  But then you can import it for $0.70.  Which would you buy?!!?  Obvious answer- so the government is saying fine- you can’t import anything then, and forcing people to pay the higher prices.  The protests are supposed to be quiet and peaceful.  Anytime anyone travels off of property, we go with one of the owners of the orphanage or one of the workers.  They always travel in 4x4 vehicles and are well versed in backroads and ways around roadblocks and things like that.  When we travel to Victoria Falls, the bus driver is in contact with the orphanage for the entire trip up and back.  We take so much for granted.  Even a trip to the store, at home you can decide what you want for dinner and run to the store or a restaurant and get anything you want.  Here it is a 45 minute drive into town, sometimes the stores are closed and you might be able to get anything.

The temperature is probably in the low 70’s…I wish our winters were like this!  It’s funny in the morning to hear people say how cold it is.  I told them they don’t know what cold is!!!