SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - Katie Turnbell vividly recalls the sharp smell of fresh lemons and biting into ripe mangoes as a youngster living in North Rhodesia.

To fundraise for her upcoming trip to Zambia to volunteer with Habitat for Humanity, Katie Turnbell is auctioning a painting created by her sister Peggy Bell, pictured here at Taiga Yoga. - Elizabeth McMillan/NNSL photo

Turnbell, 52, was born in Chingola, a small city in the country that became Zambia in 1964. At the time, her father worked in the country's mining industry. Six of her siblings were also born in the sub-Saharan country.

But the family returned to Canada in the mid-1960s during the period of political instability following Zambia's transition to independence.

"We kind of had to leave, and now (Zambia) has a level of sentimentality attached to it," says Turnbell. "I've always wanted to go back as an adult, and with my (few) memories, I wonder if I'd feel anything."

For the first time since childhood, Turnbell is planning a trip to Africa, along with her sisters, Louisa Comber and Peggy Bell, who live in Calgary.

Comber, the eldest, was the one sibling born in Canada and was 16 when the family returned to Canada. Turnbell says she has the most vivid memory of their time there.

"She's got all the good stories, I just sit there fascinated when they tell me about them," says Turnbell.

The three sisters are embarking on a trip to Zambia this summer. Between Aug. 20 and Sept. 1 they will work in a rural village, Katete, close to the region where they used to live. Volunteering with Habitat for Humanity, the three sisters will be building a 34-square metre house made of brick with a team of 20 volunteers.

"I don't know if we'll actually get a whole house built, but they're putting us to work," she explains.

Staying in a Habitat house, they'll be immersed in local culture and participate in community activities.

"They have no electricity, no plumbing. That's another part of the adventure as we're as girly girls as they go," says Turnbell, who is a yoga instructor and a property manager with the federal government. "It's a way to get to see the real world, not just the tourist world."

Turnbell hopes to make her own contribution to the project by teaching yoga to the locals and volunteers, which she hopes will be a bonding experience.

The sisters are covering the cost of travel to Zambia but the volunteer project costs $1,750. They're soliciting donations and organizing fundraisers in Yellowknife and Alberta.

They're charting their efforts online (the Sisterhood of the Travelling Hammers dot.com) and plan to blog about their experiences when they arrive.

Turnbell is currently selling raffle tickets for one of Bell's paintings, which is on display at Taiga Yoga.

She hopes this trip is the beginning of other volunteer-based adventures.

"Once you get a taste of the outside world, you want to do more," she said.