Zambia Day 9: The Tooth Monster, Snares and Elephants

We were asked to take some time this morning to prepare a lesson plan in order to teach a group of about 20 young children the importance of brushing their teeth.  On Saturday we will provide our lesson to the children when we meet them.

Bob came up with a great lesson plan that revolved around the Tooth Monster, which lives under children's beds, comes out at night and pulls teeth out of the heads of children who don't brush their teeth.

Julia on the other hand concocted a ridiculous story about one needing to brush their teeth in order to prevent "tooth decay".

In the end, in order to preserve peace within our marriage, we went with Julia's "tooth decay" story.  Bob was enlisted to draw posters to support her crazy story.

We also spent 2 hours this morning conducting a "snare sweep".  Julia and Bob plus 10 others systematically walked through a large section of a nearby game reserve looking for snares set by poachers. 

An ecstatic Bob found the first of 7 snares found by the group.  The group was accompanied by an armed scout carrying an AK-47 rifle.  He took it as his personal mission to keep Julia safe.  While the other 3 volunteers were free to strike their own path, Julia was constantly reined in by the scout who gently called out, "With me, Madam," or "Behind me, Madam."

In the afternoon we opted to take a ride on the backs of elephants.  This was very exciting, especially when the elephants entered the Zambezi river.  The smaller elephants had to swim through the river using their trunks as snorkels.





Brush your teeth to prevent "tooth decay"!




This little boy didn't brush his teeth!

Julia the Tooth Fairy and scout during snare sweep



Julia and Bob enter the Zambezi River






Julia giving a treat to one of the smaller elephants

 

Julia rewards her mount with a snack after our ride