Life at Meheba!

So the Bookbus has started in Meheba!! After some missed flights, lost bags and multiple trips to the airport we got on the road to the North Western Province! After an overnight stop in Chingola and a last shopping stop at the colourful and exciting markets of Solwezi, we arrived at the gates of Meheba. The guard seemed quite confused, saying “but this is a refugee camp, why would you want to enter here?” We assured him that we did and continued on our way down a wide, potholed dirt track for 30 minutes until we reached block C where we were to set up camp.

(Full story and images after the jump)

First job was to locate the ‘long drop’ facilities and the water pump and then we set to work putting up our tents, watched with much amusement by a large audience of locals, within an hour of our arrival we were already attracting attention with our strange ‘western’ ways! The welcome we received from everybody has been fantastic and very genuine!

Life at camp has taken a bit of getting used to. We have built a wash block out of bamboo matting, string and sticks, but before you can have a wash you have to pump your own water, and going to the toilet in the night is an epic adventure! The most difficult thing to adjust to is the fact that it is dark by 18.30 and there is nowhere to go so we have to make our own entertainment! So far we have had the Bookbus quiz, played copious rounds of taboo and tried our hands at scattergories, but by 21.00 everyone is in bed!

We have visited 3 schools so far and the reaction has been amazing. The camp is divided into Blocks and each block has a basic school and then there are the community schools. Each block is dominated by a different nationality and some of the stories we hear from the pupils and the teachers are heart wrenching. Many of the teachers are refugees themselves and have been here over 30 years, others were born on the way but most of the pupils have been born in camp. They don’t even know the countries they are nationals of. In the first 3 days we have done sessions with over 800 kids. Whether they are 7 or 17 they love spending time with our volunteers and the teachers are so interested in our materials and teaching methods. It has been an absolutely fantastic and eye opening experience during our first few days.

Saturday we took a trip to Solwezi and stayed in a guest house, which is why I am able to post this blog….no internet in Meheba!! Now it’s time to go back to our tents and the interesting life in Meheba!

Kelly Geoghegan, Book Bus Leader