Thursday, July 24
En Route
I got to the
Cincinnati airport at 7:30 yesterday morning, and won't arrive in Lusaka till
somewhere around 11 tonight (local time).
My flights so far have taken me from Cincinnati to Detroit, where I met
up with Courtney, to Amsterdam, where I am currently. We have a 4 hour layover
here, and with the bright morning sunshine outside I don't even feel like it's
2 AM back home! I got a Dutch postcard and a Dutch banana (yep, no different
from American bananas… probably because we both get bananas from Costa Rica…),
and we took pictures with giant teacups. I'm really hoping to be able to leave
the airport and see a little bit of the city on our way back home (when we have
a 6 hour layover).
Next, it's off to
Harare, Zimbabwe, and finally Lusaka, Zambia, where we will be picked up from
the airport by the Bandas. I can't wait to meet them! Oh, and did I mention
that Delta international flights are still awesome? I had wine, water, orange
juice, and tea, and those were just the drinks. Didn't sleep at all, though.
Might have to try and remedy that with a good nap on the next flight!
Yes, that is the man next to me's glasses in the corner of the picture. :)
4,880 miles from
Detroit to Lusaka. What a journey!
Side note, the woman
sitting next to me was en route to Norway to kayak and backpack around the
fjords for 10 days. That is getting added to the bucket list for sure.
Friday, July 25
The Preparation Day
The drive from the
airport was the quickest part of the trip. It only took 20 or so minutes to get
from the airport to the Bandas home. Most of the roads were well paved, and the
only dirt part was the very last turn we made. They said, "now you know
what it is like to be an African!" and were surprised when I said we had
driven on dirt roads in the US. We got here at midnight last night, and slept
till almost 9 this morning. We slept in one of their guest cottages, in a
beautiful little room with 2 twin beds. She gave us fried eggs, rooibos tea,
toast, oatmeal, yoghurt, pineapple juice, and baked beans for breakfast--such a
spread that I didn't even get to try several of the options.
We met a young man
who is living with them, Daniel, and also met one of their sons Rangana, who is
14. We also met a young woman who I assumed was their daughter, and I was very
confused why she was not introduced to us by name. Later, I discovered that she
was the Bandas maid, who has been helping the family for about a year. Rangana helped us this afternoon with sorting
out some of our teaching supplies so that we will have everything we need for
the classes. He also told us a bit about Zambian culture and asked us some
questions about why American culture is the way it is. (How do you answer those
sorts of questions?)
A minister and his
assistant from Malawi also arrived today. It took them 2 days to get here by
bus from Malawi, the same amount of time as it took us to get here from the
United States. That is commitment! They are very friendly and talkative. They
really enjoyed making fun of my t-shirt as well. I'm wearing a shirt I got in
college with the name of a student group I'm involved in, the Student Dietetic
Association. Those words are small though, and the big letters SDA are written
across the top. Courtney was wearing a CYC shirt. They laughed and said,
"so Courtney, you are in Cogwa, and Erica, you are a Seventh-Day
Adventist!" I'm glad I got this shirt worn today instead of a teaching
day! Apparently the Seventh Day Adventist church is very big here, so that
could have been quite confusing for people who didn't read English well enough
to read the words below the letters!
After sorting out
our teaching supplies, we had a delicious lunch of cooked spinach, cooked kale,
Zambian brown rice, curried meat, and nshima, which is one of their staple
foods here. It is made from maize meal cooked into a porridge, and then
thickened by adding even more meal and cooking it down until patties can be
formed from it. In their kitchen, they have a large bin (that I thought was a
trash can and almost threw onion skins into) of maize meal, and Mrs. Banda told
me that Zambians who can afford to have 2 or 3 meals a day generally have
nshima for 2 of the meals. Those that can only afford to have one meal, dinner,
will eat nshima for dinner. They serve it many different ways--with gravies
(which are really more of what we would call sauces), meat, vegetables, or
really anything at all. It has a plain flavor that can go well with anything,
and is very filling. I gather rice is also quite a staple here. The boys would
completely cover their plates with it and put much of the other stuff right on
top.
After lunch we went
to a local shopping center, which they called a mall. There were quite a few
shops, a few restaurants (one of which served ice cream cones, another pizza,
and another Mexican food), a Shop n Save? grocery store (which Rangana told me was
probably one of the only grocery stores in the country whose shelves were fully
stocked), and a money exchange center where we got a few Kwachas. The exchange
rate is 6.03, so the bottle of wine Courtney and I bought for the Bandas was 52
Kwacha. Rangana told us that the word Kwacha actually means "new day" (or
something like that)--a very optimistic thing to call your local currency.
Courtney and Mrs.
Banda then went to pick up the Horchaks from the airport, and dropped Rangana
and I off near the dirt road to walk the rest of the way home with the
groceries. After he showed me around their beautiful garden, where they grow
lovely flowers as well as papayas, white onions, and guavas. I asked him if he
would show me around the rest of their neighborhood down the street, and he
seemed a bit uncomfortable and said that maybe we could wait until tomorrow
when Courtney could come with us. He explained that in Zambia, when people see
a woman and a man walking together, they assume something must be "going
on", and if it is a white woman and a black man walking together, they
assume he must have gotten her there by trickery. He had had a conversation in
Nyanja with a woman selling tomatoes on the side of the road when we were
walking back from the store, explaining to her that we were not dating.
Apparently if a man is walking with 2 women, people will assume that something
is going on with at least one of them, but at least it is slightly less awkward
for him.
I asked if the women
and men sit together at church here, and he said yes. Many places in Africa,
and perhaps still in rural Zambia (which he said is at least 50% of the
country), women are still considered inferior, and they must sometimes sit on
the floor while the men sit in chairs, etc. Women in much of Africa, though not
so much in Lusaka, where I saw most women wearing jeans, must wear long skirts.
Mrs. Banda wore one over her jeans in the presence of the Malawian men, saying
that it would be offensive for them if she did not. (Of course, I picked today
to wear my bermuda shorts! But she assured me that it wouldn't offend them for
me to wear them. I suppose I hope that's true!)
Then Mr. Horchak
went with Mrs. Banda to pick up Mr. Banda from one of the properties they own,
where I guess one of the tenants called about some trouble with the fence.
(Everything is fenced here!) While they were gone, we had tea with Mrs.
Horchak. What a fun lady!
For dinner, we had
brown rice, a wonderfully seasoned prepared chicken, a prepared cut of beef,
steamed vegetables (cauliflower, carrots, green beans, and small squashes),
cooked pumpkin cubes, a cabbage and red pepper salad, cabernet, and a tomato
sauce that I made. Mrs. Banda told me it was made just like in the States, but
I don't know if I've ever made a tomato sauce without canned tomato sauce or
paste, so I just made a kind of chunky curry in the frying pan with the olive
oil, diced tomatoes, garlic, onions, salt, curry powder, and cayenne pepper
that she gave me. She looked at it and kind of took a minute, laughed, and told
me to add some water and crush the tomatoes so that it would actually be a
sauce.
We had lovely
conversation with the Bandas and the Horchaks at dinner, and then retired for
the night. Courtney and I are both keeping detailed journals, trying not to
forget anything that happens while we are here! Did I mention that she is
awesome and adventurous, and we are going to bungee jump together over Victoria
Falls??
Saturday, July 26
The Sabbath in Verino
I didn't sleep too
well last night, waking up at what would have been 6:30 back home (12:30 here)
and staying awake for 5 or 6 hours until I finally got back to sleep for
another hour or two. I was starving for some reason, and dogs were fighting
outside and a rooster (or at least I think it was a rooster?) was crowing
pitifully all night. But once we got up and got the day started, I felt awake
and wonderful and didn't get sleepy until halfway through Mr. Horchak's sermon.
(;
We had Mrs. Banda's delicious oatmeal
(which I discovered she just makes by cooking milk, water, salt, and oats on
the stove for 15-20 minutes), toast, rooibos tea, and yoghurt for breakfast
after getting ready for church, then left around 11 to get to the campground
for noon services. We met lots of people before and after church, and saw lots
of adorable kids!
I was absolutely
amazed by the children we saw. They were so well behaved during church, and so
quiet and self-sufficient after church. The older ones took care if the younger
ones, and they amused themselves and each other in a way that American children
don’t seem capable of! We even saw a 5 year old boy carrying his baby sister on
his back in the sling, which is just a long, wide scarf tied tightly around the
baby's behind, over one shoulder an under other of the carrier, and knotted in
front. One mother we met showed us how to do it and told us that it is very
soothing to the baby to be on the back, not to mention freeing up the mother's
hands to do whatever she needs to do and making walking places much easier. It
comforts them when they are crying so much so that she said getting them used
to not being on the back is similar to another weaning from breastfeeding!
After services and
some fellowship, we had a nice late lunch together. I've noticed that the
people here are so much more thankful for their food than we are in the States.
In every prayer that I've heard an African give over a meal so far, they always
thank God for the food in comparison to how little so many have, and they ask
God to give food to those in need. Mr. Chirwa was telling us during the meal,
as we were eating our nshima, chicken, cabbage salad, and boiled potatoes, that
in much of Africa, if there is not enough maize, then it is considered a
famine, because that is such a staple that almost nothing is considered a meal
without it. (By the way, I ate with my hands, like Tine showed me. Many of them
will take bigger handfuls, mash it up together in their fists, and then eat it,
but I just used my fingers the way she did. I suppose she is mire Americanized
after living there for several years, but when I did things the way she did, I
felt like I was at least getting closer to doing the African way.
We headed home at
close to 5, and relaxed until sunset, doing a bit of discussion on how the
classes would go. Then, Mr. Horchak and Mr. Banda took Courtney and I to
another mall to change a bit more money, shop a bit more, and get the
ingredients to make a few small pizzas for a late dinner. We ate slices of
pizza with red wine in the kitchen, as Mrs. Banda was in her room resting. Then
we watched a bit of BBC news with Mr. Banda and Mr. Horchak and headed to bed.
I'm pretty nervous
about the classes this week, to be honest! I know people expect a lot, and I
just don't have any experience with teaching adults or with teaching English,
let alone to people who don't already speak it. I am excited, of course! Just
really nervous, too. We head to the campground tomorrow morning, and we'll
start with the mixer games after lunch (most likely).
Sunday, July 27
The First Day of Teaching
Sermonette: Mr. Horchak
Ephesians 5:1-2
Today was our
first day of classes. We got ready and packed up in the morning, then waited
for several hours for the Bandas and the truck that was carrying all our
supplies to be ready. After a breakfast of oatmeal and toast and fruit, we
finally set out. We got everything set up at the campground and finally started teaching around 11 with mixer games and easy sentence stem introductions. After lunch, we taught the vocab from the first hymn with some games afterwards to review the words.
Monday, July 28
Class Day 2
Sermonette: Mr. Salawila
Jeremiah 17:9
Tuesday, July 29
Class Day 3
Special music. Mr.
Salawila and Mr. Chirwa ("Do the Work")
Sermonette: Mr.
Banda
Why do we have
English classes?
Matthew 24:4, 11
"Many" means lots of people--even in the Church! If you don't
understand the English language, how will you know if there is a doctrinal
change? How will you know if you are being misled? If you depend on one
minister (Mr. Banda), it would be very easy for you to be deceived! Take the
opportunity to learn for yourself.
Made the oatmeal
porridge this morning! Also dropped half a pan of rolls into the dust. What a
sad start to the day! I felt terrible. They cut off the tops of the some and
the bottoms of others and gave them to the kids.
Speaking of which, I
have fallen in love with the kids. I spent last night and tonight between class
and dinner just playing with them… football, ring around the rosy, spinning,
tickling… who needs language in common when you're kids and you're adorable?
Most nights we have
watched movies; the Life series and others have been much enjoyed. Our
projector stopped working halfway through our morning class today, though, so
we had to skip the movie tonight. Instead, we talked around the fire, and they
asked us lots of questions about America, especially about houses and flats,
farming in America, families in America, and hair. It was a great conversation!
We talked about how common polygamy is in Zambia, and that most people outside
the church get married by 14 or 16 because that is the age when they finish
school and cannot work on their parents' farms any longer. Then all that they
can do is get married and have children to help them work on their own farm.
Most people have more than 5 children for that reason. Some women will have 15
children! Others will marry lots of wives to have more children. But they said
the divorce rate here is still quite high. Most people are farmers, and the
most common crops are maize and cotton.
In regards to the discussion on hair, I
thought it was interesting that they said weaves were so popular here in
Zambia. It seems like most people are not rich, and they don't wear makeup or
bathe often or have very many nice clothes, so I was surprised they would
really care so much about hair. There are no mirrors in the bath houses at
camp, and I have no idea what I've been walking around looking like (which is
kinda nice), but I guess I thought that meant that the women wouldn't
care about their appearances. But I suppose that's kind of a universal thing
after all.
Wednesday, July 30
Class Day 4
Special music: The
group from Nalubanda
Sermonette: Mr.
Chirwa
Jesus told Peter to
feed His sheep, the church. But He didn't say what kind of food to feed them
with.
We are being fed in
order to stay the course of righteousness.
Our hearts are
deceitful. In order for us to get away from our deceitful hearts and stay the
course of righteousness, we must be a sponge learning God's word! Let us drink in as much as the
Church, our mother, feeds us, because it is fed to us by inspiration of God.
1 Thessalonians 5:10
1 John 1:9
The food has been so abundant here, it is like a thanksgiving feast every meal!
Thursday, July 31
Last Day of Classes
Sermonette: Mr. Momba
2 Timothy 1:6He didn't give us a spirit of fear, but a spirit of courage.
We can only learn and surge ahead if we first of all drive away shyness and fear. Fear is coupled with the way you think and feel. If you are afraid, you feel timid and unable to do something, but with that kind of feeling and thinking, we stop trying! Self-confidence is the key. It is the spirit that God gave to us.
Early this morning,
Brenda came to my tent to wake me up so we could go for a jog as the sun rose.
We went up the dirt path toward the road, passing charred fields caked in mist
(which I learned is done here to promote new green grass growth for the cattle).
She said she likes to jog often, but I noticed as we went along that she still
wore her same flip flop sandals! I asked her what size she wore, and she said
6, but when she put her foot up to mine it looked like the same size as mine or
bigger (I wear 8.5). Maybe she meant that was what size sandals she has and she
doesn’t realize how poorly they fit? But I told her I would leave my tennis
shoes with Mrs. Banda to bring her next Sabbath after we've gone. Her husband
has been unemployed for 2 years, and they get a small assistance from the
government--very small--and some help from the Bandas with money. It's very very
tight, since they have 5 children to feed and no income to do it with. Shoes
are a completely unnecessary luxury compared to food.
In class today, we reviewed everything we had learned and went over questions about any other words from the hymns we covered. We ended with speeches where they each wrote either on their own or with the help of sentence stems a story about themselves--how they had come into the church, their life story, or just a short description of themselves. After they gave their speech, we let them pick a book from the suitcase to take home for themselves and their family. Here are just a few of the speeches:
We gave the kids books today after the adults had taken what they wanted. They were so excited! It was such a special thing to see. :)
Friday, August 1
Back to Lusaka
We got up and packed
our things, had a quick breakfast, and got ready to leave the campground. The
goodbyes were so sad to say! I helped Brenda write a letter to Charlene and
Jennifer, and then the bus came for the Mapoko members (the Nalubanda members left
last night.) Karen gave us a big, beautiful pumpkin from her garden, and we
gave her all the leftover food for her family (since Karen and Conard's and
Darius and Rachel's families live in the house on the church property).
When we got home, we
asked the maid to do some laundry and then went to the mall with Rangana and
Silvestor (from Verino who already knows English--not the same Silvestor from
the English classes). We spent awhile at the very American-seeming mall, containing
a FoodCo (Walmart's African branch) and several American chain stores and
restaurants alongside African and Zambian ones. I got a zebra patterned salt
and pepper shaker set (though, here, it would just be salt and salt, I've
noticed!) and a set of giraffe salad tongs at an African-made store, but we
were quickly bored--it was too much like a mall back home. So, we walked to
another mall where Silvestor thought a market would be going on outside. The
market just happens on Saturdays and Sundays, though, so we went instead to
look at a health food store that I was interested in, and then to buy groceries
for Friday night dinner. I wish we could have gone to the Agricultural Show
instead--I am told it is an annual thing and just about everyone from Lusaka
goes. It is opened every year by the president of Zambia--this is the 88th year
and the first year ever for that tradition to be broken, since the president is
sick (or vacationing, or busy, as his media claims). Anyway, sad to miss the
show, but I guess the guys weren't interested in going.
On the way home, we
dropped off Silvestor (he lives in a "flat" right behind the first
mall we went to--got a nice place in a nice location, I understand, while he
had a job working IT for the government, but now that he is out of a job it's
becoming very difficult to pay the rent). We then stopped at a produce stand on
the side of the road to get a paw-paw (papaya) and some roasted maize on the
cob as a snack. When we got home, our clothes were on the line and the maid had
left for the day. We started making dinner of chips (French fries--did I
mention that they fry literally everything here?), braii steak and chicken
(barbecued), cabbage salad, boiled pumpkin, broccoli, cauliflower, and
beetroot, rice, tomato gravy (sauce), and nshima, (which no one had room to
eat). We congratulated Daniel on having passed his exams (he just received the
scores this week) and did the dishes for Mrs. Banda and were in bed by 8.
Saturday, August 2
Sabbath in Nalubanda
We're on our way to
the church in Nalubanda. We left at 7:15 and it's now 11:00, but we've only
gotten about an hour closer to our destination. First, we took a side trip to
the Bandas' farm to get something fixed in the car. The fuel was leaking, so
one if their employees there fixed that and sent us on our way. We drove a
little further (through downtown Lusaka, past the city markets, past the homes
of the president and vice president, and then past the embassies) and the car's
brakes were sounding bad, so we stopped at a little garage on the side of the
road, beside a Hallal restaurant and a store, and Mr. Banda had the car worked
on again there while Courtney, Mrs. Banda, and I stood/sat/got whistled and
honked at by bus drivers on the side of the very dusty road. Then we drove a
bit further and stopped at a filling station. We were supposed to meet Mr.
Momba in Mumbwe at 9:30 and be at church by 11 for services at noon… but, as
Mr. Banda says, "This is Africa."
After finally
meeting Mr. Momba with his bus (van) driver in the town of Mumbwe, we parked
the car (after some time--restroom stops, apple-getting, washing, and eating,
and trying to find one another) and piled into the "bus." A few turns
later, we hit the dusty dirt road, and even with the broken rear window
completely duct taped over and all the windows closed, we were still coughing
because of the dust. Courtney and I used the scarves Mrs. Banda lent us to
cover our noses and mouths as well as our hair to keep it clean, and we trucked
out the 35 or so kilometers on the dirt road to the village, arriving at about
2:15 (or 14:15 as they say here) in the village.
The landscape of
Africa is like the dry grasslands of the states. Some different trees, but same
idea. I've seen several baobabs and lots of palm trees along with the deciduous
and a few of those Lion King trees that I always associated with Africa before
coming here. (I still haven't figured out what they are called!) the buildings
are all brick and/or mud or some kind of thick plaster-like material that I
have yet to figure out. The roofs are made of thatch, a thick, long grassy
plant that they place atop a wooden frame on the mud village houses, or tin
(bigger buildings or ones in the city), which apparently makes for a deafening
noise in the rainy season. In the village of Nalubanda, and along the sides of
the roads along the way, we saw many of the traditional circular mud hut
(bricks caked with mud outside and inside) with thatched roofs. These houses
take 2-3 months to build, and most families have several small ones for various
family members and/or various tasks.
It seems Zambia's technology, especially
in the rural areas, has advanced very differently than the developed world.
They mostly skipped the whole home phone phase, jumping right into smartphones.
The village doesn't have power lines directed to it, but instead people run
TVs, radios, boom boxes, cell phone chargers, and other things off of solar
power. What an odd life it seems to me as an American: cooking nshima on coals
while watching the BBC. (Just to clarify, normally, the kitchen is a separate,
open-air mud hut building, and I didn't actually see anyone who had a TV in
their kitchen. It's just the idea of the possibility.)
Washing clothes in a bucket while talking on a cell phone. Riding a motorbike
to get more thatch for the roof of your house.
In the town of
Nalubanda, we learned that there are only 62 adults. How many people total? I
wanted to know. I had to check Mr. Mooya's answer with Mrs. Momba to make sure
he had understood my question correctly. He had. Including babies and children?
About 200.
Our members who live
in this little town include the Mooyas and the Mombas. Mr. and Mrs. Mooya grow
cotton and keep chickens and goats. They had about 20 big bags of cotton next
to the house to be sold. They don't keep any of the cotton for themselves, but
sell all of it in town for about 300 kwacha per bag (about $50). Mr. and Mrs.
Apron Momba grow some maize and have cattle and chickens. Their son (Venus) and
daughter in law also grow maize and keep cattle and chickens. Altogether, the
family has some 59 cattle, a few cows for milking and most for slaughter. They
keep the cattle on their property during the rainy season when the grass here
is good, but during the hot and cold dry seasons (April-October I believe),
they herd them down along the roadside some 15 kilometers to the Kifue River
for better feeding.
After a wonderful
sermon by Mr. Jerry Shachonga, Venus took us for a tour of the village
(including his home, his parents' home, the Mooyas' home, and the village head
man's house. and we ate a delicious late lunch provided by Mrs. Grace Momba of
lechwe (a type of antelope), rice, potatoes, pumpkin, cabbage salad, and
nshima.
The drive home in
the dark was much less eventful, and we arrived back at the Bandas' home around
9:30 pm with Austin Momba, who goes to college in Lusaka, in tow. A long but
wonderful day!
Sunday, August 3
Victoria Falls
A 1 hour flight to
the beautiful (and tiny) Livingstone airport was followed by a 40 minute wait
for Bervin and Zere Momba to pick us up. They drove us to our guest house,
which hadn't been cleaned yet from the previous visitor, and then to their
home. They live in a very nice Western-style duplex with a big kitchen. There
are no other Church members for them to meet with in Livingstone--the closest
churches are each 5 hours' drive away (or 7 or 8 hours bus ride)--so they hold
services every Sabbath in their living room using CDs of sermons that Mr. Banda
sends them. I was supposed to bring 2 CDs from him to them on this trip, but
completely forgot and left them back in Lusaka! Funny thing is, their next-door
neighbor is a Pentacostal pastor, and hold church services for hours every
Sunday and Thursday night in his home. We had the opportunity to hear them for
a few hours yelling in "tongues", screaming repeatedly at the Devil,
etc. it was quite terrifying to say the least. Thankfully during that time we
also had a really cute new baby to distract us. Zere just had a beautiful baby
girl 3 weeks ago, and her mother is staying with her for the time being to help
out.
We waited for a
while to have "second breakfast" of corn flakes, fried eggs, beans,
turkey sausage, and toast with them around noon, and then Bervin took us out.
He showed us around 2 beautiful hotels with gorgeous views of the river, and
then took us to the falls, where we excitedly began our hike. We made sure to
cover every square inch of the trail around the falls, taking in every gorgeous
view (and getting very, very wet!). I think I was expecting something
reminiscent of Niagra Falls, which I think is an incredible sight. But this was
like nothing I ever imagined! It was huge, and incredibly powerful, and did I
mention huge?
After hiking all
around the falls, we hiked down a trail called the "Boiling Pot" to
see this nifty little doo-hickey. We watched someone bungee jump off the bridge and looked at each other with wide eyes. I was suddenly glad that Mr. Horchak had forbidden the bungee, especially when we met a man who said he helped run it and was trying to get us to come with him and do it... this guy was definitely either a bit cuckoo or had had too much to drink.
Finally, we went
across the bridge over the Zambezi that connects Zambia and Zimbabwe. The
bridge itself is "no-man's land" because neither country owns it, so
we had to get cleared to leave Zambia at one border crossing, then head off
across the bridge and continue a ways before we crossed into Zimbabwe. We were
expecting Bervin to come pick us up soon (it was just about 18 hours, when the
park was closing), so we didn't get our passports stamped in Zimbabwe, but felt
content with having crossed past the "Welcome to Zimbabwe" sign!
Bervin picked us up
when we got back to the park entrance. On the way home, we stopped by the side
of the road, where 3 elephants were peacefully grazing! We then went back with
him to have a delicious dinner with the family. Courtney wasn't feeling well (I
was kicking myself for not making us get raincoats), so we left early to get to
our guest house for a good night's sleep.
Monday, August 4
Victoria Falls Part 2
We started with a
breakfast of eggs and toast (and lots of tea, since we were both feeling under
the weather) from the guest house, then walked to the Livingstone museum (which
was a really neat place, but wasn't the "cultural center" where we thought
we were going). When we finished at the museum, we decided to catch a taxi and
get the driver to take us to wherever the "real" cultural center was,
that Mrs. Banda had been telling us we had to go to. He took us to a group of 3
large buildings, built to look like mud huts. Since no one else was in the
parking lot, we asked if it was open. We had heard this was a great place to
get souvenirs, so we asked the taxi driver to find out specifically if the
shopping was open. He got out of the car and came back quickly with a woman,
telling us that yes, they were open, and yes, we could get out. So, for some
reason, we decided to get out and pay him and let him leave. Then the lady took
us inside. The building was an empty stage surrounded by empty seats. "In
the afternoon, there will be traditional dancers here," she told us, and
explained that no one was here now but we should come back in the afternoon to
see the dancers. They also had a restaurant outside that would be open later
out by the outdoor stages. We looked at each other in consternation, and went
outside to find that the taxi was long gone. So, we called Bervin.
We really wanted to
go on a safari or some kind of animal tour before we had to leave at 17 hours,
but nothing was running at the right time for us to go. Finally, we ended up at
the helicopter place that Rangana and Mrs. Banda had told us about, and Courtney,
out of the goodness of her heart, paid for Bervin and I so that all 3 of us
could go on a half hour tour above and through the falls, and around the park
that surrounded it. It was an incredible flight! We not only flew through all
the chasms of the falls, sometimes practically skimming the water, but also saw
a crocodile, several hippos, a few giraffes, some zebras, a herd of buffalo, a
herd of elephants, and some impalas.
On the way back to
Bervin's home, we stopped by a market, so that Courtney and I could do the last
thing on our to-do list for Livingstone: get souvenirs. I bartered for a
painting, a pair of giraffe earrings, a copper bracelet, and a set of coasters.
Among Courtney's finds was a super awesome home-made radio!
When we got back to
Bervin's we had a late lunch and then headed off to the airport. Another sad
goodbye, and we were off back to Lusaka and to our "mama."
Tuesday, August 4
Out of Africa
Our last day! The
saddest part of it to me was when Rangana asked why we weren't excited to go
home. The Zambians all made it sound like it was such a sacrifice for us to be
there in Zambia, like we were really missing all the creature comforts of home.
I will say, I did miss brushing my teeth with tap water and not having to buy a
bottle every time I was thirsty. But honestly? Not being able to use the
internet or my cell phone was such an appreciated break to me. And I was
learning patience: things just take more time, and you have to be okay with
waiting. You appreciate things working so much more when they don't usually
work and so you don't expect them to. You can't expect car repairs to be quick
or queues to be short. You don't get upset when someone cuts you off in
traffic. You take the time to ask others how they are and really listen to the
answer. You always pray for those who are more in need than you are, especially
the hungry. You appreciate what you have, because so many people don't. You
want to improve your quality of life because you know it can be done, but you
are at peace exactly where you are.
We visited Mrs.
Banda's hospital in Lusaka, where I got contact information from the people in
charge of the HIV/AIDS department and the oncology department, where I could
volunteer in a couple of years. She then took us to a few markets and shops so
she could buy some cookies for Tine's book launching and we could buy her some
clothes and groceries with the kwacha we had left over. That evening, the power
went out, and Rangana, Daniel, Courtney, and I played a makeshift version or
cricket with a flashlight before dinner.
Our flight wasn't
until midnight, so we dallied for a few hours after dinner, then all 6 of us
piled into the Bandas car for the ride to the airport. The systems were down at
the airport, so we waited with our bags and passports for several hours while they
did everything manually. The flight was delayed about 2 hours, and we all felt
like cheering by the time we all were on the plane and the gate was closed. An
appropriate end to our stay in Zambia, perhaps? But I wouldn't have been upset
if they had said instead, "sorry, no flights are leaving here. Just go
ahead back home," and I'd have gone back to "my" bed at the
Bandas and gone right to sleep and woken up to oatmeal and rooibos tea and the
warmest, kindest people in the world.
