Zimbabwe Has My Heart
May 31, 2018
Good morning! It's 2am and I am wide awake..again. I cried when my 16 hour flight, (32 hour total travel time), came to an end and landed in San Francisco CA, I was back home and left a place where I fell in love.
For many years I had been searching for the volunteer program that would be right for me. I knew I wanted to be with animals and in particular endangered animals, I knew I wanted local cultural experience and I wanted to learn...a lot. I found Imire- Rhino & Wildlife Conservation and little did I know we would be perfect for each other. Did you know every 8 hours a Rhino is killed? Taking the lives of these innocent animals and dramatically decreasing their numbers in the wild, poachers are a real threat! After growing and improving their Anti Poaching team, Imire hasn't had a poaching incident since 2007. I felt at home and in my element thousands and thousands of miles away from everything I knew. I found a place where many people are living a life full of purpose and using their love and passion to protect these amazing animals that otherwise do not have a voice. Imire is not only a Wildlife Conservation, it is a place for hope, a place full of people doing the right thing, and a place I will be going back to.
As a Volunteer at Imire, my day started about 5am, when I would enjoy morning coffee and write in my journal. We headed out to our first morning adventure at 6:15am and each day was different than the day before. If we were not working with the animals or the local kids, we were doing needed work within the property. We used a hoe to weed certain areas to reduce the fire danger, filled in holes within the fence line that were made by the Warthogs, painted the newly built playground etc. Even though these jobs were hard work, I never once wished I wasn't there. Working hard is in my blood, however I felt more of a drive from wanting to be as helpful as possible and do my part as a volunteer.
On the days we worked with the elephants, we started first thing in the morning with stimulation exercises to keep these huge intelligent animals interested, challenged and occupied. They're incredibly smart and eager to learn- being a part of this morning routine was amazing, I felt like I was bonding and building trust with these massive animals. I was able to be a part of a first ever exercise with Toto. We introduced ourselves so that Toto knew who we were then a random jacket, that did not belong to any of us, was placed my Toto's foot. Toto was told, "Give the jacket to Cyndi", he would then pick it up with his trunk and then swing it over in front of me so that I could grab it. So amazing! Outside of these exercises we also observed the elephants out in the bush while they browsed and enjoyed their days in the sunshine. Along with the Rhino's, the Elephants are under 24/7 watch.
On other mornings we would work with and observe the Rhinos as well. Imire has 5 Black Rhinos and 3 Southern White Rhinos. We learned how to track them by foot prints, and other marks they would leave as they walk through the bush. Did you know there is no difference in color between the White and Black Rhinos? They are both the same grey color. One major difference between them is their lip shape, the White rhino has more of a square shape where the Black rhino has a pointed lip. It was unreal to watch and learn about these animals. When they would turn and stare at me out in the open, I would say to myself, "you are amazing", and be thinking, I am here... here to learn about you and promise to use my voice for you.
Spending time with the local Shona community and learning about their culture filled my heart. The genuine love and happiness I could feel, the smiles that I saw and the eagerness to learn within the community was humbling. I felt an overwhelming feeling of this is where I am supposed to be. One of my peer volunteers asked me, "has it hit you yet, you are in Africa!" I let him know that it hadn't really sunk in yet, I got on a plane and here I am... Until this afternoon we went back to the local school and helped them in their garden. I spent time pulling weeds with two young girls, about 15 years old and they had so many questions for me; where I am from, my favorite food and of course about boys. They asked if I like to sing and asked me to sing them a song, I was on the spot! So I started singing "My Girl", my favorite song, they were snapping and moving to a beat. All of a sudden they got up and moved into a group with their peers and started singing and dancing. One person led the singing and others followed, everyone was dancing, clapping and singing along! After a few songs the teacher was telling them it was time for us to go and for everyone to move along. This group of smiling young teenagers begged to keep singing instead of leaving school. As the teacher could not say no to their happiness they continued. I was clapping and dancing along taking in all of their smiles and sweet dance moves, I couldn't help but start to cry. It hit me- I am here, in Zimbabwe.
As I have shared this travel experience with friends and family, their first question is, "are you going to go back?", my response, "yes! Counting down the days to next years trip."
I am happy to share more if you are interested in my experience before you book your own trip! If you do book use this code- PETTIBONEcyndi1985
