Blogs from Lusaka, Zambia, Africa - page 9

In the last 24 hours we have been scrambling to get all the cure kits, books, shoes, and clothes in our groups vehicles to bring on the plane tomorrow (June 15, 09). Also, our group got a blessing from our church today, and we are so grateful to have such a supportive church and community. Our whole group is so excited... and a little nervous for our trip tomorrow, but we are confident to get through customs and to help the Zambians as much as we can. Goodbye until later, we will keep you posted. -Evan One of the biggest last minute challenges we encountered was figuring out a way to get all 38 boxes/bags of medical supplies, books, school supplies, shoes, and other supplies on the plane. We are each packing our personal items in ... read more

Here's the first entry of my time here. I got to Lusaka at about 830 and didn't make it out of the airport until about 10. I had two of my three bags and had to wait to get through the line of the lost luggage only to find that it was in another room, in like a giant crate-thing. But then from there, I was good. I'm staying now at St. Bonaventure College, which seems incredibly nice, I haven't had a real chance to look around. Last night, after arriving I met Sandy's nephew, Donnie, who's visiting and his friend Trevor who has been living in South Africa for the past couple of months. I actually went with both of them and Br. Donald to mass at Regina Pacis (sp?), I really can't remember the ... read more

Geo: -15.3982, 28.2937 Reluctant to leave once again we set off on the next part of our journey after three days at Kasane. After a short drive we were at the river crossing ready to board a small boat to the opposite side which was Zambia. On the other side of the fence was Zimbabwe and just across the river further downsteam was Namibia. This was the main freight route north through Zambia and onward up to the Congo. There were trucks queued for miles down the road waiting to board the ferry, corssing the river one at a time. Just inside the Zambian border was a chaotic mix of truck drivers, tourists, tour buses and hundreds of locals trying to sell wooden and beaded souvenirs from Zimbabwe as well as now disused and useless trillion ... read more

In general, the most eventful part of any given day will be the bus ride. Buses here operate on a very different standard of efficiency than what is found in the US. By American standards a bus route is inefficient if it is not on time. Therefore we have carefully written timetables telling us exactly when a bus will be where and how long it will take to get somewhere else. In Zambia it is the exact opposite. As I’ve mentioned before, time does not hold the same weight here as it does in the states. Times, in general, are meaningless, as things will simply happen when they do. There is no hurry to get anything done or to get anywhere. Here, the buses are privately run, the money the driver makes is dependent on how ... read more

Lunch break from the clinic right now, using free internet at one of the fancy hotels in town. They simply give us the code, assuming we're guests because we're white, ridiculous. I'm mainly just writing this in hopes I can get some pics up from Livingstone. I tried for HOURS yesterday and nothing got uploaded. So...day two...internet fun. Nothing new or interesting to say at the moment, I went to dinner at the house of a BBC reporter last night which was kind of cool. You meet some of the most interesting people here. Today I'm wearing a dress from one of the second hand markets in town, fun to get super cheap new clothes (imported direct from England). Off to try uploading pics. Cross your fingers...you'll know if it works because you'll see pictures! Andrea ... read more