Colleen Brink Wildlife school at the Wildlife Camp in Zambia (1)
» Eind November 2007 krijgt Ineke het idee om een pakket met schoolspulletjes naar Colleen Brink in Zambia te sturen. We waren destijds allebei enorm gecharmeerd van haar inzet op het park, en hadden al diverse keren met genoegen teruggedacht aan ons verblijf en het bezoekje aan haar schooltje.
Met een lijstje in de hand zijn we door de stad gegaan, op zoek naar dingen die men waarschijnlijk goed kan gebruiken. En laat dat soort dingetjes maar aan Ineke over...
TNT Post geeft ons de nodige informatie met betrekking tot het versturen van pakketten, en al snel weten we dat er heel wat verzend-kosten gereserveerd moeten worden. Ook de douane eist een gedetailleerd overzicht met betrekking tot de inhoud, dus in Excel een hele tabel ingevoerd.
Een hele Zondag zijn we bezig geweest om van alle gekochte spullen de verpakking te verwijderen, in een poging zo weinig mogelijk overtollig gewicht te hebben. Met een brieven-weger wordt elk artikel nauwkeurig gewogen, en wordt het gewicht genoteerd in de douane-tabel.
Ineke heeft er zichtbaar plezier in!!!
We zitten al snel aan het maximum gewicht, een overschreiding zal weer eens twintig Euro extra verzendkosten met zich meebrengen. Toch maar besloten dit te doen... Zeven December gaat het pakket weg, omwikkeld met tape voor extra stevigheid en begeleid door een briefje. Met wat geluk moet het er tegen de Kerstdagen arriveren...
En dan begint het hele lange wachten. In Januari wordt het ons teveel, en sturen we het eerste mailtje richting Zambia:
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Sent: 01 January, 2008 16:07
Subject: Did you receive the package for Colleen already?
Hello Herman and Patsy,
First of all, the best of our wishes to you people, we still get a warm feeling when thinking back on our stay this summer... Wish we could have stayed a little longer.
I read on your website that Colleen is back to New Zealand, but will return at the end of this month. We have sent her a package from the Netherlands, and like to know whether you received it already?
Don't tell her, it's a secret, and she doesn't know from our plan, but you can make our day by telling us the package has been arrived 'safe and sound'.
Hope to hear from you soon,
Frank and Ineke.
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Al snel krijgen we een mailtje terug, van eigenaresse Patsy:
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Sent: 02 January, 2008 6:29
Subject: RE: Did you receive the package for Colleen already?
Dear Frank and Ineke
Thank you for the email and it has been very interesting to see your website – I will show it to Colleen when she gets back to camp. We have not received any parcel for her yet but I will look out for this and let you know when it arrives – our post is very slow here! I will then keep it for her and give it to her when she gets back her in the beginning of February.
May 2008 be a good year for you and we hope to see you back in our camp one day.
Kind regards,
Patsy
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We zullen dus toch nog een tijdje geduld
moeten hebben. Maar als Februari aanbreekt, hebben zowel Ineke als ik niet erg veel vertrouwen meer in de Zambiaanse post. Het tracking-systeem van TNT werkt niet in Zambia, en dus hebben we geen flauw idee waar ons pakket uithangt... Een mailtje naar Patsy geeft ons weer hoop!!!
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Sent: 01 February, 2008 10:53
Subject: Re: Did you receive the package for Colleen already?
Hello Patsy and Herman,
We hope to be wrong, but as we haven't received any good news from you so far, we think the parcel has been "lost in space". The postage tracking service does not work in Zambia, so we haven't got a clue were it is at this moment.
We'll keep our fingers crossed for a few weeks and hope for the best.
Greetings from Holland to all of you,
Regards,
Frank and Ineke.
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Sent: 01 February, 2008 14:50
Subject: Re: Did you receive the package for Colleen already?
Hi
We have just got notification of the parcel but are waiting for it to be cleared by customs! This process may take a
while as every time we have tired to get hold of the customs man he has travelled to Chipata!
Will let you know soon and hopefully this will be on Monday as that is also when colleen comes back to camp
Have a good weekend
Patsy
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Ineke en ik springen allebei een gat in de lucht bij het lezen van dit bericht. Maar dan blijft het weer een hele tijd stil, en 3 Maart besluiten we om Colleen zelf te schrijven en te vertellen dat we een verrassing voor haar in petto hebben.
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Sent: 03 March, 2008 19:58
Subject: Parcel from Ineke and Frank...
Dear Colleen,
A long time ago we (Ineke and Frank) came up with the idea to send a parcel with all kind of school stuff, which you probably can use well.
We hoped you would receive it before Christmas time, but soon came to the conclusion that your postal services need some more time (haha) to deliver the post!!!
We hope you have received our parcel by now!!! The last time we had contact with the camp was at Feb 1st, with Patsy. At that time we heart that the box had been dropped at the customs, and was waiting for its final clearance.
We would like to know which things of our box you can use best, and if you have certain (small) things you still miss!!! Ineke likes to help you a little bit more, but she wants you to help her with the contents of this new parcel.
Because the postal service of Zambia is slow, we are also curious to know if there are other ways to sent you a new parcel. Please let us know if you have received anything, Ineke can be contacted directly via her E-mail address.
Regards and greetings,
Ineke and Frank.
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En dan eindelijk volgt het verlossende woord, van zowel Patsy als Colleen zelf!!! Gelukkig, we weten nu dat het echt ontvangen is en dat we het niet voor niets gedaan hebben, het was het maandenlang wachten meer dan waard... Pffff.
En Ineke, die speelt alweer met de gedachte van een nieuw pakket, gesponsord door de Kalender-opbrengst en misschien wat enthousiaste collega's...
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Sent: 04 March, 2008 7:13
Subject: Re: Parcel from Ineke and Frank...
Dear Ineke and Frank
I am pleased to say the parcel has arrived in camp – I finally got it cleared from customs last week! Colleen and the children have been very excited with all the contents and I know Colleen has got some photos and I am certain is ready to send these to you as well as a huge thank you!!
From my side I would also like to say a huge thank you and we all really appreciate this great box of teaching materials and this will go a long way in helping all our children. I speak for all the parents of the children at the school.
Kind regards from a warm and sunny Zambia
Patsy
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Sent: 04 March, 2008 18:17
Subject: Re: Parcel from Ineke and Frank...
Dear Frank and Ineke,
Thanks- you so much for the amazing parcel you sent the children and myself. I can not thank-you enough. We received it late last week. I cannot express the gratitude
The Children and I have already had several hours of fun with all the goodies, and look forward to many more hours of fun. It was a great surprise, it was better than Christmas for most of the children. I took a few pictures of the children when we opened the box.. I have attached them for you.
I also have kept a few of the goodies hidden to give to the children as prizes for good work, birthdays etc.. They are in for some great treats and surprises.
The children have also named the 2 puppets that were sent, these are a huge success in the class, Rags the parrot and Ellie the elephant. The puppets read the story every morning. They are also doing a fantastic job of turning the frowns upside down.
The school this year is running a bit different to last year, I was no longer able to sponsor it myself, and it is now being run by donations. We have 6 children this year, 2 boys and 4 girls. I have started a new curriculum with the children and they are doing brilliantly. Its lots of work for them and me but its paying off. I am also doing work with the children on the computer, which is a real challenge as a few of the children don’t even have electricity at home, never mind a computer. Your donations of crayons, glue, scissors, books, paper, toys, rubbers, sharpeners etc , have been a huge help to the school, leaving us with more money to spend on reading books and other supplies as well as helping other children outside our little school. Hopefully next year the school numbers can grow again..
I am writing letter regarding the children’s progress, stories and photos of the children and their work. If you would like I can send this on to you as well. I am hoping to do this monthly - but it may be every 2 months.
Thanks again from all of us at Wildlife school.
Colleen, Byron, Henry, Siyuha, Rabecca, Tara and Chichi.
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