Fy nhaith i Zambia ar Daith Cyfnewid Addysgiadol

Wedi treulio naw awr ar awyren yn hel meddyliau am beth oedd o’m blaen am y tri mis nesaf, aeth y nerfusrwydd yn fwy o banig wedi imi lanio yn Lusaka wrth ddarganfod nad oedd neb yno i gwrdd â fi! ‘Taxi Madame?” gofynnodd un, “Where are you going Madame?” meddai un arall, ac i fod yn hollol onest, doeddwn i ddim yn siw^r! Ond, deuddeg awr yn ddiweddarach, wedi treulio pedair awr ar gefn bukkie (pick up), dyma fi’n cyrraedd ysgol Nansai a Fferm teulu’r Bruce-Millers.

Doeddwn i ddim yn disgwyl cael diod alcoholig yn fy aros pan gyrhaeddes i, ond mae’n rhaid cyfaddef, oedd i angen e arnai wedi’r siwrnai! Y ffermwr Ian yn cynnig gwydraid o frandi a chusan mawr imi wrth imi gerdded mewn i’r ty! Roedd y matron, Dee yno hefyd, y ddau gogydd, Patrick a Bornwell, a’r troops – un ar ddeg o gwn! Yn olaf nes i gwrdd â’r bobl bwysicaf, y plant, pedwar ar ddeg o fechgyn a merched ardal Choma i gyd yn eu pyjamas yn barod am eu gwely!

They put me to sleep in an extension, which had a lovely bed, but I wasn’t to be alone for too long! I think there was more wildlife in my little room than out in the 10,000 acres belonging to the farm! My first visitor was a lizard, who ended up with the nickname Gerkie. Gerkie was a Geko, a tiny lizard, who ate the mosquitoes, and slept in my bed. Accidentally one day I mentioned that I had a gherkin in my bed instead of a geko, and then it was decided, quite fittingly, to call him Gerkie!

My second visitor caused much more destruction! A tiny little mouse, chewing on my Cadbury’s Dairy Milk, and eating two pairs of shorts! I thought that I’d frightened it away with my screaming! So I moved out, into the next room, and it followed me in there too! This time I found it eating my chewing gum from the bottom of my travel bag! Although the kids tried their best to catch it with traps, it didn’t work, and recent letters from them inform me that it’s still there!

My first morning. Out of bed at 6.15am, kids up at 6.30am, and then outside for morning exercise! Now, it is winter in Africa between May and August, and it was cold at 6.30, so a good 400m run seemed a good idea! This is when I found out how fit the children really were, and how unfit I was! After three months I did get a little better!

7.00am, into the house for a mug of hot chocolate, and boy did we need it, while we waited for the teacher to arrive. Into School, and if it was cold outside, it was freezing in the classroom – 2oC! We’d all be sitting in our two pairs of socks, long trousers, three t-shirts, a jumper and a fleece, and hearing that home was having scorching weather didn’t make me feel any better! I couldn’t possibly go home after three months in Africa paler than what I was going out there! After breakfast at 8am, it was lessons and brakes until 3.30pm. A very long day, not only for the kids, but for the adults too!

Bu sawl digwyddiad gyda’r ysgol tra fy mod yno, a’r cyntaf oedd ‘Winter Camp’. Tri diwrnod yn gwersylla ger yr afon Namokooni, sydd ar y fferm, gyda phob math o fywyd gwyllt yn cerdded o gwmpas! Bu’n llawer o hwyl, gyda’r plant yn nofio, coginio ‘Welsh Cakes’, gwneud cwrs rhwystr y ‘Young Farmers Revenge’, lle bu’n rhaid i mi wneud e hefyd, ac mi oedd yn ‘revenge’! Roedden i gyd yn fwd o’n pennau i’n traed, wedi cymysgu a dail sych a dw^r o’r afon! O ie, a dim cawodydd, felly mi roedd pawb yn gwyntio’n ofnadwy erbyn y prynhawn olaf!

Nesaf daeth traws gwlad. Cwrs 1.2km yn cael ei redeg yn droed noeth! Roedd y plant fel mellt yn ei redeg, gydag un merch yn maeddu amser ei thad, a doedd e ddim yn hapus, gan iddo fod yn ymarfer yn galed! Na, wnes i ddim hyd yn oed meddwl am redeg hwn!

Bu’r plant, y fi, ag Ailsa’r athrawes yn ymarfer yn galed ar gyfer y noson rhieni. Mae ychydig yn wahanol i’r hyn sy’n digwydd yma. Ydy, mae’r rhieni’n cwrdd â’r athrawes, ond yn sesiwn y nos! Roedd y plant yn gorfod dawnsio, ac yna rhoddi cyfle i’r rhieni ymuno mewn, ac mi roedd yn eithaf doniol wrth ystyried fod y rhan fwyaf ohonynt wedi cael gormod o ‘mulled wine’!

Sports day next, and I’m pleased to announce that I won the ladies 100m staff race! A good day was had by everyone, with the children competing in sack races, relays, sprints and assorted team games. Again the parents got involved, and a few got wet trying to be the dumb waiter!

As part of the children’s extra curricular activities, Ian the farmer would take them on game drives, fishing, hunting, fire fighting, you name it, whatever happened on the farm, the kids were there. I was fortunate to go hunting twice, once for Guinea Fowl and the second time for Wildebeest. I must explain, that I had never held a gun before then, and this was going to be a completely new experience for me. Hence the Guinea Fowl I hit the first time flew away after I fired the second shot! I wasn’t amused when a seven year old girl then takes the gun and shoots one dead!

We had to go and shoot a Wilderbeest because the school had run out of meat, and being situated on a game farm, there wasn’t a shortage of it! Ian decided that I should do the honours as he put it! Off we set in a bukkie, Ian and I in the front, fourteen children in the back. I don’t want to admit it, but I missed the first and the second , and Ian couldn’t understand why! I was closing my eyes as I pressed the trigger, so we had some target practice, and Ian stuck his fingers in my ears as I shot, and I hit first time! So, off we set to find the Wildebeest herd again. I spot a victim, he’s staring at me, I shoot, it runs away, I’m totally gutted, and then it drops, dead! I was ecstatic! So were the kids, they’d have food the following day!

At the weekends I had free time, and much of it was spent in Livingstone, where I visited the breathtaking Victoria Falls, they were amazing. I also went to Lake Kariba, the largest man made lake in the world where I attempted to fish. Out of four of us, I had the only catch of the day, and that was a piece of weed! I got to see thousands of crocodiles being bred for the meat in their tails and their skin to be exported to Italy.

Gwnaeth fy amser yn Zambia hedfan heibio. Ni fyddai’r profiad yma wedi bod yn bosib heb y cymorth a gefais oddi wrth fy nheulu a’r nawdd oddi wrth Castell Howell, Ark Vets, Carmarthen & Pumsaint Farmers, BOCM Pauls, Cyngor Cymuned Llanddarog, S&E Construction, J H Morse, Bob Jones Prytherch a Llangyndeyrn Community Council. Wnâi byth anghofio’r profiad a gobeithio rhyw ddydd fyddai’n mynd nôl i ymweld â phawb.

Caryl Davies
Llanddarog