Zambia in October is HOT, y’all! In fact, it’s normally their hottest month. The electricity is turned off for 12-15 hours a day, which in turn means the water is unable to run as well. That means we cook all of our meals on one gas burner on a propane tank, and we all take bucket showers.
We can’t have our windows open at night due to the mosquitos, so we all lay in pools of sweat until we fall asleep. My fingers and feet are swollen from the heat, and I’ve already almost given up on showering all together. The other night I was up for several hours sweating until I decided to move to the floor, where the tiles were a bit cooler.
While mosquitoes are still a problem, fortunately malaria doesn’t exist in Livingstone. A year or so ago members of the United Nations came here for a meeting; in order to assure they wouldn’t become ill, however, they sprayed a chemical throughout Livingstone. So this area is malaria free, but the rest of Zambia still has to deal with it.
While it’s sad to me that the government only cared enough to take care of this one area, one of my teammates is pretty lucky that they sprayed. EJ slept outside in her hammock to beat the heat, and she woke up with 209 bug bites. Yes, you read that right. 209. The bit through her bug net and hammock to get to her. Two. Hundred. Nine. Yikes!
The reason I’m telling you this isn’t to complain, but to spread awareness. These are things I never knew about; I didn’t know you could have a nation-wide shortage of electricity. I didn’t know there was a type of spray the government has access to to eradicate malaria. I didn’t know that many countries in Africa could be rich, thriving places without the government stepping in and putting a stop to the growth.
There’s so much unfairness and corruption, and it’s so sad to me. Please keep Africa in general in your prayers, and take an extra minute to pray for Zimbabwe and Zambia. While the presence of God is here and the love of Jesus is known, it’s still a dark place at times. Idol worship is alive and active, and people will put jewelry on their children that are meant to protect them from witchcraft. Often times, however, those artifacts are “prayed over” by witch doctors and other people who don’t believe in Jesus.
