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Published: January 19th 2020
Gossner Mission in Lusaka
... where we stayed our first night in Zambia.In September 2018, Mizzi and I spent two and a half weeks in Zambia. Mizzi lives in Melbourne, Australia, so we were going to both fly in from our homes and meet there. I flew into Zambia’s capital Lusaka from Frankfurt via Addis Ababa. Once I had checked in my backpack in Frankfurt, I realised that my watch had stopped working. I would be “timeless” for the entire trip; this was going to be an interesting experience because I usually check the time quite a lot.
The layover in Addis was interesting. There seemed to be people from various countries, with all kinds of different dressing styles, much more colourful and diverse than I am used to. The airport seems way too small for the huge number of passengers, with only few sitting areas. Some of the toilets were blocked up, and I have to say I was glad once I was on the plane again. The service on the flight with Ethiopian was great, though. We had another stopover in Harare, Zimbabwe, but there we did not need to leave the plane. Finally, we landed in Lusaka, Zambia’s capital. When the plane stopped close to the terminal, I could
On the way from Lusaka to Choma
It is not laundry that they are drying there... see an Emirates aircraft through my window. This was most likely the flight that Mizzi had arrived on from Melbourne. I had to take a picture of it and send Mizzi a message saying, ‘I parked next to you’.
When I arrived in the terminal, I could almost immediately spot Mizzi in the immigration queue, and we were completely besides ourselves for joy. It was fantastic to be able to spend some time with her; we had not seen each other for over half a year. Once we had passed immigration, we were welcomed by Festus, a Zambian whom we had gotten in touch via an acquaintance of mine, Arnold. Arnold started the initiative
“Profession and Future in Zambia”, a non-for-profit organization dedicated to promoting education in Zambia. They support local schools with funding so that they can afford buildings, furniture, or other equipment like computers, and they also provide school or university scholarships to gifted students who otherwise would not be able to afford education. Festus had been one of the scholarship holders and now, besides his normal job, supports the initiative locally.
Festus took us to Gossner Mission, where we would spend our first night. The mission is in a
district of Lusaka where embassies and other institutions are. After checking in, we went for a short walk to a nearby restaurant to have dinner.
Early the next morning we caught a taxi to the central bus station in Lusaka in order to catch a bus to Choma. There we were going to meet with Daphious and spend a few days with him and his family in Macha, a town west of Choma. We had gotten in touch with Daphious through Arnold as well. Daphious is, like Festus, a former scholarship holder and now the local project leader for the school projects.
The bus we were on was modern, comfortable, and air conditioned. And we were even asked to fasten our seat belts. When we departed, a guy in a suit got up and started preaching. It was a long sermon that took surely almost an hour. The guy started becoming more and more emotional, his voice got louder and louder, he started sweating and spitting, and I have to say that he appeared like a real fanatic to me. He walked back and forth in the aisle between the seats, and Mizzi and I were very careful
Mapanza Primary School II
The stronghold for exams, newly built. not to make eye contact. He did go to other passengers, though, and spoke to them directly. In the end, we were glad once the bus stopped and the man alighted.
About halfway, there was a break in which we could go to the restrooms or get something to eat. There were a few stops on the way. At one stop, a woman who was on the bus with us had a pizza delivered to the bus stop and took it into the bus with her. But instead of eating it, she put it into the pocket in front of her seat and left it there (in vertical position – all the cheese must have ended up on one side of the pizza) until she alighted from the bus at the next stop. Another interesting observation was the woman with her child in front of us. The boy must have been four or five, and he was sitting next to the window without any toy or anything else to play with. But he did not cry, he did not complain, he just sat still and looked out of the window and seemed to be all content. He did not
Mapanza Primary School III
The pricipal and the teachers, Daphious (on the right), and his wife Victoria with baby Henning. even talk much. Mizzi said that probably the kids in our culture are so over-stimulated that it becomes impossible for them to simply sit still.
We had been told that the 300 km trip would take five hours. However, due to the bad roads in the country, average speed is around 50 km per hour, so it took us close to seven hours to get to Choma. We were glad when we finally arrived. There was a warm and friendly welcome by Daphious, who had brought a friend with his car. Daphious does not own a car, so he needed help to get us to Macha. We did a bit of shopping in a supermarket before heading for Macha, which is about 60 km from Choma, with no real public transport apart overcrowded from mini busses going there every now and then. The ride took us over an hour. For most of the distance, the road was paved and just fine, but then we turned onto a dirt road full of huge potholes, and it took us quite a bit of time to finally reach Daphious’ house.
The house is, compared to local standards, almost luxurious. Most houses
are simple brick buildings (if even), consisting of one single room, with no windows and no running water. Women usually cook outside over a fire. Daphious’ house, by contrast, has a kitchen, bathroom with running water, and four bedrooms. He lives there with his wife, Victoria, and his three sons Arnold, Philipp, and Henning, and his two daughters Doris and Vera. The children are all named after members of Arnold’s family, out of gratefulness because Arnold has been supporting Daphious and the family for many, many years. There was another warm welcome, not only by Victoria, but also by her sister who was currently staying with the family, and her daughter. This daughter, maybe three years old, was at first quite scared of Mizzi and me. We were assuming it was because she was still rather small and we were the first white people she ever got to see. Thus, it took her some time to get used to us, but then she was all happy to have us around.
The official language in Zambia is English, which made it rather easy for us to communicate with people. However, there are over 70 ethnic groups in the country, and
about as many different languages are spoken. Daphious is Tonga, like many people in the south of the country. Victoria is, as far as I recall, Kaonde, coming from the east of the country. They both speak the local languages, apart from English, of course.
We had a nice dinner and evening together. Mizzi with her blonde hair was the star of the evening for the kids, the girls wanted to touch it and braided it full of enthusiasm. Mizzi let it happen and said it reminded her of her growing up in Zimbabwe, where the other kids were just as keen on touching her hair. We went for an early night. I was a bit tense when I realised that there were no fly screens in front of the windows although Macha is a malaria area, but what can you do? We made sure to have the windows closed when the lights were on and to keep them closed until sometime after switching off the lights, and I used plenty of insect repellent before going to bed.
The next morning, we got up early to visit to Mapanza Primary School. The current project there is building a
St. Mark's Secondary School III
Little huts in which boarding school students sleep. PC pool for students. It’s up to the school to lay the foundation for the building, and once the building is ready, it will be equipped with computers donated by an initiative. When we arrived, we attended a meeting that Daphious had with the principal and teachers. They all briefly introduced themselves to us, and so did we. Then they gave a status report of where the project was at. Before being able to start with the building that was to host the PC pool, they had had to build a strongroom where the exams could be stored, and this had delayed the deadline for the PC pool project. However, the strongroom had been an order from Zambian government that they had needed to comply with. Thus, there was not much to see with respect to the PC pool building yet, except for the spot where it was to be erected. Anyway, we got a tour of the entire school. Some of the facilities used to belong to a mission and were donated to the school. Most buildings had only recently been refurbished and were in good condition, but there is also still a lot of work to do. Moreover,
Mabwe Atuba Secondary School I
The classroom buildings, one for each grade. I was feeling a bit hopeless because I was wondering how these kids were ever going to catch up. In the developed countries, kids grow up with smartphones and tablets. Here, students will have to share old computers between three or four of them for a couple of hours per week. But I admire the idealism and enthusiasm with which everybody in Arnold’s organization works for the projects there in Zambia.
After this visit, we went to St. Mark’s Secondary School, which is within walking distance from Mapanza Primary School. St. Mark’s is the school that Daphious attended, and it is a boarding school. He showed us the little brick buildings that students stay in. At the end of the visit, we were welcomed by the school’s principal and had a quick chat with her. She had been to Germany before because her school has a partnership with a school in Gelsenkirchen, Germany.
After a quick lunch at Dapious’ house, we continued to Mabwe Atuba Secondary School. The buildings here have been refurbished recently as well. There was no furniture inside the classrooms because students were still on summer holidays. During these, we were told, the furniture is
Mabwe Atuba Secondary School II
The ground is prepared for the girls' dormitory to be built. removed and stored somewhere else because otherwise termites will eat up the wood. In this school, there is one building for each grade; thus, as students progress towards graduation, they also progress from one building to another. The current project here was to build dormitories for girls so that they can stay at the school instead of having to go home after class. The hope is that this will prevent them from getting pregnant before graduating. Consequently, there will be a woman around making sure they don’t sneak out and get pregnant anyway. Teachers usually live around the school anyway and usually housing is provided for them. Here, we could already see the ditches that had been dug for the foundations of the dormitory building.
On our way back to Daphious’ house, we stopped at Chief Macha’s premises. Chief Macha is the head of the town of Macha, he is in direct contact with the President, and he is addressed as ‘Your Royal Highness’. He welcomed us into his house, and we sat on couches in his reception room with him and got offered cold drinks. We had already been told that he was very progressive and open, and
Visiting Chief Macha
His Royal Highness Chief Macha, to the left. he was very interested in our impressions of the country and asked a lot of questions. It was a friendly encounter and I hope that all the initiatives that he promotes will help improve people’s situation in the region.
The next morning, we were invited to visit Macha Mission Hospital. While waiting for Daphious’ friend and the car to arrive, I played hop street with his daughter Vera. It works exactly the same way it does back home, and it was interesting to see that some games make their way around the globe – and it’s the simple ones that do so. The car then took us to the hospital. We learned that there is a malaria research centre there – the disease has a high prevalence in the region. We were told that one in ten persons gets it!
The hospital itself is very basic. The most modern technology they have an old x-ray machine, but for example no intensive care unit. One side of the main building is for men, one is for women. Patients lie in large dormitories, bed next to bed, with no curtains or anything between them. The hospital faces many challenges anyway:
Very often, there is not enough medication, and the hospital does not have enough doctors or nurses. Still, people in the region appreciate it being there: Women often walk long distances to give birth to their children. We also saw a badly malnourished child, very small and skinny, but with a huge belly. In the hospital, the little boy got help, which is good. When seeing all of this, it once more became apparent to me how luxurious our medical standards are in Germany. And still, people keep complaining. In fact, there is no reason to complain.
The afternoon, we spent cooking with Victoria. We cooked nshima, a kind of puree made of white maize. One adds water and boils it under constant stirring. And this is real physical work because the mix becomes rather firm. Along with it, we had various vegetables. People here don’t cook with a lot of spices and herbs. All they have is salt and oil, but in spite of this, the veggies were tasty. People here also often have meat with the nshima and vegetables. However, in a previous job, Daphious used to consult people on nutrition and is very knowledgeable with this
Cooking with Victoria
We made nshima, ingredients: white maize and water. The baby is on Victoria's back all the time. subject. Thus, there was dried shredded soy that only needs to be soaked in boiling water, and we had that with our nshima and veggies. We ate with our hands, which is not as easy as it may look. One rolls the food into a little ball, takes it between the fingers, and then pushes it into the mouth with the thumb. The challenge is not having your fingers full of little bits and pieces of food. But I think we did okay. After dinner, we had a little goodbye party with music and dancing, because the next day, Mizzi and I were going to leave for Livingstone and the Victoria Falls, but this will be the next story. For now, I would like to say thank you to Daphious and his family as well as all the teachers, staff in hospital, and everyone else who made us feel welcome and was happy to show us their world.
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D MJ Binkley
Dave and Merry Jo Binkley
Zambia
You are having a great experience.