Country: Zambia
City: Livingstone (Maramba district)
Language: There are tons of local languages and dialects spoken in Zambia (over 72, apparently), with most locals speaking several of them fluently. However, English and Nyanja are the primary languages spoken in our community.
Currency: Kwacha (conversion rate is roughly 10 kwacha to $1)
Time difference: 6 hours ahead of EST
Weather: It is winter here in Zambia, so the weather is actually perfect! The lows at night are around 50 and the highs roughly 80, though it can often feel much warmer than that with the intense sun here.
Local meal eaten recently: We are cooking for ourselves this month, so it is back to simple westernized meals on our team budget. As such, I’ll have to go back to the last week of Zimbabwe for my most recent local meal…
The father of our host family last month took us out to his parent’s farm, in the middle of nowhere. They put on a big braai, what they call a BBQ, for us. So, they killed one of their goats (technically, my teammate Zach did the actual killing of the goat by slitting it’s throat), hung it from a tree and proceeded to skin and dismember it.
Zack petting the poor goat before killing it
Zack with blood on his hands, from his poor victim in the background
Anna looking super creepy as she helps skin our dinner
They keep and cook literally every part of the goat, from the head (which they would later use for a soup) to the intestines, which is a delicacy for them. I not only watched them clean out the intestines, which made even myself a bit queasy, but I later tried a bite of them so as not to offend our hosts. They were simply cleaned out and then boiled, and it was hands down the worst food I have ever tried. It tasted like literal crap, likely due to poor cleaning. As for the goat meat, they simply cut it up, cleaned it and immediately threw the meat onto their makeshift grill. That is as close to farm-to-table as you can get. Ha! The meat was very flavorful, but also very tough.
The goat braai
Regardless of the taste, that dinner was one of the most special of my Race. It is hard to explain, but sitting there and eating and laughing with all of them outside by a fire pit, I could just feel the sense of family and tradition that they had invited us into. We later found out that they only kill and cook a goat like this once a year or so, typically around Christmas. So, this was a huge act of generosity on their part, which made me feel honored.
Living conditions: We are staying at a compound of sorts, outside of town, with lots of space and small buildings. We are in a very rural area and walk to all of our ministry locations, which are nearby. You have to take a taxi into town, which is a fairly short 10 minute ride or so. It is funny the difference in living conditions in such a short distance. Us 3 girls are in one room and the boys are in the room next door. Each room has its own bathroom with toilet and shower, which is a rare treat.
Our room
We’ve got shelves this month! You would not believe the difference it makes.
We also have some undesired roommates this month…large African spiders (don’t know the type)! I absolutely hate spiders and it has been challenging to keep finding them in our room and bathroom, one just inches away from my bed! Aahhh! Praise God for the guys on my team that don’t mind killing them for me 🙂
We have access to a kitchen (in a separate building from where we sleep) with stove and freezer this month, but no refrigerator. So, we have gotten creative with some of our meals and simply buy produce in small batches every few days. We have to go into town to get water jugs as there is not clean drinking water available on site, but this is quickly consuming up a good bit of time and money, as well as being burdensome to carry. So, we have started boiling the tap water and then cooling it and pouring into water jugs ourselves.
My team ministries: We are working with Auldridge Chibbwalu, who heads up New Hope Waves, a non-profit organization which focuses on kids and youth in the community here in Maramba. Our mornings consist of teaching and playing with the kids at this local daycare/school. I have a class of 3-4 year olds and it can often be chaos! I feel more like a glorified babysitter than teacher, but the kids love having us, and it is nice to be with the same group of children every day for a change. This way, we can learn their names and personalities and build better connections. We do teach different subjects, but it can be quite difficult with their attention spans and level of understanding. So, we often have them trace their name, the date and a different word of the day, among other things. Then, we have a long play time outside where they all latch onto us and beg to be lifted and spun.
This is the school/daycare we work with Monday-Friday
This is my classroom, though half of the kids are elsewhere in this shot
This is their outdoor play area
This is Samuel, who is admittedly my favorite student
In the afternoons, we have soccer ministry with a large group of local girls and boys. The goal of this group is to provide a safe place where kids can come and enjoy themselves. It provides them with something to pour into and look forward to versus other less healthy interests. So, we all get in there and play soccer for a while and after the game, we take turns sharing something with the kids, from a short Bible study to a part of our testimony. Sundays are spent at a local church which is supposedly 6 hours long!! That should be interesting. After church, there is a youth program we are to help lead each week. So, Saturday is our only off day and as such, that will likely be the only time I go into town for wifi, groceries, etc.
Interesting fact: The city Livingstone is named after David Livingstone, who was a missionary and is thought to be the first European to set eyes on the Victoria Falls.
What surprised me: Honestly, nothing really surprises me much anymore on the Race. So, I’ll just mention something that struck me as unique and funny. At the school we go to in the mornings, they do not really have a restroom, so to speak. The kids simply pee in buckets that are outside in the small play area. This is more common in rural areas, but I guess I was expecting more at an official school site, especially for the teachers there. As such, I just drink very little water in the morning and then try to catch up as soon as I leave school.
Off day opportunities: One of the very first things we did upon arriving in Zambia was visit Victoria Falls! Though it is not the widest or tallest, it is the world’s largest waterfall and it was one of my favorite adventure days on the Race. It is hard to describe just how stunning it was in person! I just kept staring at the huge row of waterfalls and the mist being sprayed up, which typically rises to a height of over 1200 feet!!! We got drenched by this mist walking beside the falls. It was like a downpour at times.
A beautiful shot taken by my squadmate, Kelly Thompson
We were sliding all over this bridge as the constant spray from the falls makes it super wet and slick.
This is a shot of the border bridge across the way. Several of my friends bungee jumped off that bridge.
Looking down from the border bridge….this is where my friends bungee jumped!
