Arrival in Zambia

I have arrived, and it is a whole new world. Everyday I am introduced to things completely new to me and challenged to do things differently than I'm used to. Simply existing is still a challenge since everything is done differently, so I'm looking forward to the day that things become familiar and I can do something as easy as having a cup of tea without having to ask 20 questions.

The flight was quite long, 15 hours but it was beautiful. Green plains for miles and miles, so much undeveloped land. I had a changeover in Ethiopia and almost missed my connecting flight. I was sitting at the gate for over an hour but when they started boarding I realized I didn't have the color coded boarding stickers like everyone else. Turns out you have to check in at a desk somewhere but it wasn't labeled and was on the other side of security...interesting. So I had to run there but still managed to get on the plane. Once in Africa, Ethiopian Airlines runs more of a hop on hop off "bus" type service, they stop in several cities and people get off, others get on. I was still not used to the accent so I had a hard time hearing where we were, luckily there was a very nice man sitting next to me also headed to Lusaka so he let me know when to disembark. He wanted to chat the whole way (of course I just wanted to sleep) and he ended up giving me his card and encouraged me to give him a call once I get a phone. Very friendly people.

Once in Lusaka, I was greeted by the Archbishop himself, another priest, and the airport chaplain who had a great big hug and kiss ready for me. She marched me right up to the front of the VIP/Dignitaries line for immigration and I could see everyone in the other line grumbling as the person running their booth came over to check my passport. What service!

The drive from the airport to my first night's accommodation was the real eye opener. I had expected to see these things but the reality of it was humbling. Swarms of people walking along the roads to their destination. Women carrying huge bundles on their head while having a baby strapped to their back. People looking for rides and piling into the backs of trucks. All of the houses have 10 foot cement or brick walls with barbed wire or broken glass on the top. Every property has a gate with an attendant to let you in. At first I thought, holy shit, what did I get myself into. I've since become accustomed to this and have realized that the walls and gates are not there for personal safety but to just keep thieves out. Tons of petty theft, people just looking for their next meal.

My first night the Archbishop arranged a feast for me. Some lovely food and my first taste of Nshima! Quite bland on its own but not too bad with some type of a veggie or sauce. It will take some getting used to but it better happen fast because they eat it every day. The next day I received a tour of the Cathedral then was dropped off with Sister Priscilla and her driver for the journey up to Kitwe. Again, this was another eye opener. Even more people walking along a beaten path next to the highway, people carrying live goats strapped to the back of their bicycle, farmers selling their produce along the road in droves, mud huts everywhere, poverty. It was amazing. I wasn't very talkative on the drive because I was too busy looking around and trying to keep my jaw off the floor.

I'm currently staying with Ms. Chilando, the principal of the Mpelembe Secondary School and her family. They are wonderful. When I arrived there were 3 of her kids staying there but since then two of them have gone off to boarding school. The other is working locally at Deloitte (which is not a good company to work for here) and plans to go to South Africa to get a second degree in February (yes I'm going with her to explore!). The Chilandos are all so welcoming and open, I have been made to feel extremely at home since I arrived. We're becoming comfortable enough with each other at this point that they will tell me when I'm doing something "very un-African" or to make fun of the Muzungus (whites) while I'm around.

The town I'm in, Kitwe, has a population of over 300,000 but you wouldn't know it by wandering around. Town itself is quite small, feels more like a town with 50,000 than 300,000. There are no large buildings, the central shopping area is 5 or 6 blocks. It is more like a collection of villages than a city, its a sprawling maze of neighborhoods, shops, and markets. This is necessary because most people rely on their own two feet to get around so going to town to buy groceries is not an easy option. There is a bus system (if you call privately run taxi van service running on a fixed route to town a bus system) but it seems that most can't afford the bus fare every time they need something from the store. So they walk. Everywhere.

The first few days I was able to relax and get situated. Went on a few walks on the school grounds (the house is on school grounds inside the wall) and then explored outside of the school grounds which can be quite scary at times. It's not scary because I feel in danger, but more that I don't know what is going on and am always the center of attention. The people are extremely friendly with big smiles on their faces. Everyone stops to meet you and tell you that they "want very much to be your friend". I'm uncomfortable with this because I still don't know if they are indeed being friendly or if they just want something from me. Kids run up to stare at me, people hang out of bus windows to wave, then the bus will stop and back up towards you, its really quite intimidating. I now know what it feels like to truly be a minority.

Over the weekend I went with a couple of Ms. Chilando's girls to "the farm". This is where her sister lives and the girls' cousin. Even though the farm isn't too far out of town it was quite a different experience. We were lucky that night that there was electricity, apparently this is quite a luxury for the electricity to be working all night long. We stayed up and watched pirated movies and eating Nshima and rooster. In the morning everyone bathed, literally took bathes since there is not a shower (this is quite commong) which was strange since I haven't taken a bath for the sole purpose of cleaning myself since I was probably 5 years old. Then we went out to explore the bush. They have a huge river running through their back yard which apparently is quite a problem. The river triples in size during the rainy season (now) then goes down in the dry season so they use that land to farm. The problem is that they cannot protect that side of the farm. They need to put up an electric fence to keep thieves from stealing their crops but you can imagine how well electric fences and rising rivers coexist. So, the thieves just come up in a boat in the middle of the night and help themselves to the maize, apparently 25% of the crop goes missing every year.

I started work on Monday morning. Man is there a lot of work to be done. The network is a disaster, labs are a mess and swarming with viruses, internet is up and down depending on the weather. I had been concerned that there wouldn't be enough to keep me busy for the length of time I wanted to be here but I have since changed my mind. On top of all this they want me to teach monthly technical seminars for the teachers to show them how to use technology in the classroom, and teach two sections of computer appreciation class (4 classes per week). Whew! So far we have managed to get half of the computers in the labs cleaned up and with updated antivirus (try doing that with a <5 kbps download) and I think today we may have figured out one of the major problems with the network. So far so good.

Now I am off to take a swim. The pool has a nice coating of algae so I consider it more of a swim in the lake than the pool, but it feels so nice to cool down at the end of a long hot sweaty day!

More pictures to come soon...