May 20, 2009
Downtown Lusaka
From the air, you could see that the city of Lusaka had a lot of farm fields and was very sprawling. I arrived at the Lusaka airport on Wednesday, May 20th in the early afternoon. After the plane landed, I began the process to obtain entrance to the country of Zambia. Upon entering the airport, I was greeted by Zambia’s who asked me about my planned visit to their country. They gave me a tourist visa, via a passport stamp, which cost $50. After this, I proceed to the next area which was the airport baggage claim. I waited for about ten minutes but then found my bag which was great; John didn’t expect this to happen. I then proceeded through customs with my bags. I had nothing to declare and the gentlemen let me on my way.
After going through customs, I immediately saw John and Ruth and their taxi driver. I was really excited to see them. They took my bags and led me outside the airport to our taxi. Our taxi drivers name was Deke; he was a local Zambian who was very nice. As we drove, I asked him questions about the scenery and about himself. Deke said he had a son, but his wife had died.
Me outside the bus station in Lusaka
In the taxi, we drove to a place where I could get food, a SIM card for my cell phone, and money ([[kwacha]]). We then went to the bus terminal to purchase our tickets for our ride to Chipata which would start tomorrow. Chipata is on the way to Mfuwe which is where our safari camp is located. We ate at a place called Curry in a Hurry — not bad.
John’s cell phone began to ring at some point and it was playing the Jordan Sparks song One Step at a Time. The beginning of this song would become very familiar during my stay in Zambia. Every time I hear the song back in the US, it takes me right back to Zambia.
John and Ruth met some American missionaries (the French’s) here a while back and we stayed at their Bible college for the night. The college is called Mapepe Bible College. We got settled there after completing our errands. After this, John and Ruth took me outside to show me around the place. We also played volleyball with the natives down the road. It was good time; they were very friendly and funny.
Volleyball with the natives
After volleyball, we came back and took showers and hung out. We then went to visit the missionaries John and Ruth knew.
Lusaka is a strange place for me. There are tall buildings, but most are run down. Everything seems run down here. The air smells of a mixture of car exhaust and burning trash. There is no pollution control and speed limits are rarely followed if they exist. Vehicles, not pedestrians as in the US, have the right-of-way. 1 in 6 have HIV.
Zambian currency, kwacha
Ninja rap at our place at Mapepe Bible College
Outside our place at Mapepe Bible College