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Elephantastic


Today was our day of rest and relaxation but don't let that fool you - it was filled with action!


We had a well welcomed lie in this morning till 8:30am this morning followed by our usual breakfast antics! The nosebleed saga continues with another victim known as Archie falling to the clutches of a nosebleed right before he chowed down on his Malerone and Nutella toast. Once the crisis was averted we headed off on our adventure to the elephant orphanage whilst passing some Zambian landmarks on the way past such as the Zambian Supreme Court. 


We arrived at the orphanage and got to see the elephants feed, drinking 2 litres of milk in under 10 seconds! Almost as fast as the team finishing their amazing 5 star dinner (see more later)!


The park ranger spent some time telling the stories of how each of the 4 baby elephants arrived at the orphanage; everybody enjoyed learning about the elephants and how vital they are to not just the local ecosystem but to the world through their ability of planting trees through their diet. It really hit home to a lot of people how devastating poaching has an affect on this area of Africa, with an elephant lost nearly every 15 minutes. However, the volunteers and orphanage have a high success rate of rescuing, rehabilitating and releasing orphaned elephants back into the wild. Through observing the feeding And hearing the stories of these elephants and how much they give back to the ecosystem it really revealed to the team just how beautiful and intricate God's creation is. 


After having a little bit of lunch at the orphanage and the Archie buying an elephant we hit the road once again and went to another market from which even more souvenirs were bought including some local drums and rattles (aren't you parents lucky...) some people were in full swing of the haggling trade with underdogs such a Rachel giving even the most veteran hagglers a run for their money. 


Afterwards we then went to the mall from which the girls bought ingredients to prepare and cook a stir fry; seeing as Mark, Ashley and Lyndsey (and others) have been blessing us with their culinary skills for the past week! The girls with some guidance from head chef Rachel a stir fry was made that would even make Gordon Ramsey go; "Hmmm, not bad..." By far our tastebuds were blessed and our stomachs were filled, from which shortly after Christine then filled us spiritually with the word of God and 1 Corinthians chapter 12, reminding us about how as a team we are many parts, but we all make up the one body of Christ... And then we all proceeded to collapse in a heap during a game of twister. 


Here's to tomorrow! Please pray that the Nosebleeds will subside and for the people who we come into contact tomorrow as we begin the second leg of our journey!! Thank you for your support and prayers thus far!


God Bless. 


(Phil)
















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