Africa has by far been the most exciting continent. There seriously never is a dull moment.
Day 1: we went to the mall to get internet and do some grocery shopping. To get to the mall we had to take local transportation. Our host told us to walk to the main road and get on the bus, tell them we want to go to “Manda Hill”. We walked to the main road and a mini bus drove up to us. Recognizing it as what we should be on, we hopped on. As we drove along the road, the mini bus stopped at random locations and picked up more people. Just when we thought the bus was full, they let on more people and we were packed in like sardines. I quickly realized what we were on was what we in NYC call a “dolla van”. A “dolla van” is a 15 passenger van that rides along main bus routes and picks up people for a cheaper fare than the bus. Apparently, this is a regular bus in Lusaka. There are no big city buses with designated stops. You just hop on wherever on the main road and get dropped off at a popular stop… Alright, that’s kool!
We saw the other teams at the mall. It is obvious everyone had the same plan and it looked like we were all cooking for ourselves while in Zambia. After the little C Squad reunion at the mall, my team hopped on our “dolla van” back to our compound. It had become nightfall at this point. It gets dark pretty early around these parts. By 6pm, it is pitch black outside. We sat for our 35 min ride back to the compound in our dolla van packed like sardines with the Zambians and we had bags upon bags of groceries. It was actually a pretty funny sight. We thought the dolla van would drop us off at our road. We were clearly mistaken.
We arrived to the last stop on our bus and there was still about a mile left before our road. So… we walked. Let me paint a picture for you. You have 4 white girls (one of which is a very tall ginger and another with pink highlights) and some dark skinned girl (clearly not Zambian) walking down this half lit road at night with bags upon bags of groceries. I had the pleasure of carrying a crate of 30 eggs on one hand and a 5 gallon jug of water on the other. A poor decision on my part, clearly next time I’ll make better life choices. LOL. Needless to say, we were quite the sight. We caught the attention of a vehicle driving by who pulled over and offered to give us a ride. *stranger danger*. We politely declined and continued walking. They were persistent and even cut us off to get our attention. It was obvious they did not have good intentions. We stood our ground and told them to keep driving. They eventually gave up and drove off.
After arriving home it was time to start cooking dinner. We have a small stove and a freezer in the room we share. I had the pleasure of discovering that our stove is quite electrifying. Once it is on, if you touch the plates, you get zapped. If you touch the pot, you get zapped. If you use any kind of metal utensil to cook, you get zapped. If you stick your finger in the water you are trying to boil, you get zapped (water conducts electricity). If you are holding green beans with metal tongs and are trying to put them in the boiling water, you get zapped… even if the tongs don’t touch the water… the green beans are touching the water which are held by the tongs which you are holding in your hands… therefore, you get zapped… I got it down to the science folks. Believe me, I have learned all of these from experience. There isn’t a meal that I have prepared for the team this week where the stove didn’t zap me. But, praise Jesus we have a stove. That is a HUGE blessing. Most of the other teams don’t have that luxury.
But… I LOVE ZAMBIA. I love being here. The people are so friendly and the children are so full of love. We are staying with a pastor and working with Eagle’s Nest International Ministries. Most of the month is about evangelism, going out into the communities and talking to people. Tell them about the goodness of Jesus and invite them to church but most importantly just love on them. We also, get to go to a local school and teach/play with the kids.
Stay tuned for the next episode of my adventures in Zambia… this was just day 1 folks
Fundraising Update: currently at $12,156. Still need to raise $4,097. MANY THANKS to everyone who has supported my race. Both financially and through prayer. Final deadline is July 1st. If you’d like to help keep me on the race and not get sent home, would you prayerfully consider supporting me? Thanks 🙂
Stay Blessed
Kim 🙂
