African music so loud you can’t think, a lady screaming on her phone, and such tight seats my knees are in the back of the seat in front of me. This is public transportation in Zambia. I’m attempting to write about my time in Zambia to pass the time and to keep my mind off the fact its so loud I could scream.
After 30 something hours (I quit counting at 24) on a bus we finally arrive in Zambia from South Africa. We got off the bus and immediately hit cultural shock. Trying to get off the bus you are bombarded by taxi drivers (no personal space here at all). Then you have to fight the crowd to get to the trailer to get your bags because if you don’t someone will grab it for you and charge you a “service fee”. Oh and on top of all this there are people trying to stand in the middle of the crowd of white people to get a picture because they don’t see white people often.
Finally we arrive at our host’s home, we quickly realize our 2 rooms is actually the kids rooms. They moved the kids to the living room and the dining room so we could sleep on beds. We find out our home has no running water and electricity only for the last half of the day. We have to sleep under a mosquito net and live among the giant spiders and various other creatures. We also have been awaken several times by what we hope is a stampede of huge rats in the ceiling. My name is also changed to Mary because apparently the double L’s in Mallory is too complicated.
The church we partnered with (Great in Christ Church) was doing 21 days of Daniel fasting and prayer. This meant they met everyday for hours to pray on specific things. There is apparently no such thing as praying to yourself in an African church. Everyone prays at one time loudly while pacing and often times clapping.
We also did outreach in the local health clinics with the church. We went in and cleaned (washed walls and swept) and then gave an encouraging word to crowds of people and prayed over people if they wanted us to. This is were we all got to step out of our comfort zones. A church member would grab one of us and place us in a crowd of people and tell us to start. Not going to lie this terrified me. There is no time to put a speech together you just have to open your bible to your favorite passages and start talking.
Zambia has taught me to be bolder. It has taught me I need to memorize scripture so I can recite them to crowds of people without fumbling through my bible. I have witnessed some evil spiritual darkness and some amazing deliverances. I have found the hospitality here is simply amazing. People will dust a place off for you to sit down or just give you their seat. The kids follow us around like an entourage and just want to touch us. I have met some of the sweetest people here. I will miss this part of Zambia but I’m ok with leaving the giant spiders and mosquitos behind.
