Special Guest Correspondent - Dave Sawatsky

Dave getting in touch with his inner African

John and Charlene, our gracious hosts, have invited me to post a “guest blog” entry, and so what follows is a somewhat random set of impressions of our very short time in Africa:

Food: Although we have had much food that is familiar, we can now boast that we have eaten octopus, flying ants (inswa), and impala, as well as several varieties of fish that I’ve already forgotten. J&C are threatening, uh, offering to fry up some caterpillars as well, and we will probably have nshima (corn based staple) before we leave.

Yes, this is a fried ant. Yum Yum.

Commerce: While there are stores & shops that look and feel very western, we have been struck by the number of informal micro-businesses that line the roadways – both inside and outside of the city – selling everything from fruit & vegetables to lawn mowing services, tire repair (“tyre mending”), plumbing, gravel, fish, etc etc using not much more than a makeshift booth or a sign on a tree. Hawkers also stand at many of the busy intersections (the ones with traffic lights) to sell fireworks, hats, DVD’s, and puppies – yes, puppies. And no discussion of commerce would be complete without mentioning the ubiquitous CelTel (cell phone company) booths which are housed in everything from tiny roadway shacks to shipping containers and are virtually everywhere, including the compounds. All in all, there is no shortage of industry.

Streets - the roads less graveled: Easily the worst roads I have ever traveled, many of the secondary streets in Lusaka are barely passable, filled with massive potholes (on streets once asphalted) and ruts carved from draining rainwater. Even the main road to Livingstone has a 60km stretch that takes 1.5 hours to drive because of the poor condition of the road. The roads in the compounds are even worse. There are also no streetlights or sidewalks, unfortunate because many more people walk than drive. In any case, I will never again complain about potholes in Winnipeg…

A casual stroll

Fauna: Our safari day in Chobe park in Botswana probably deserves an entry of its own, but the highlights included elephants and hippos and seeing a pack of wild dogs devouring an impala (even the tour guide took pictures!). On the other end of the scale, there are many interesting & unusual spiders, snails, centipedes, beetles, etc – many of which are co-habitating with us at the MCC guest house. And for all of our preparations to prevent malaria, we have seen very few mosquitoes!

People: We have found people to be very friendly and welcoming to us, whether we are walking down the street or meeting people at the organizations MCC is supporting. The kids said they felt like rock stars when we toured the compound, as kids repeatedly surrounded us, eager to shake our hands and say “How are YOU?”. Finally, it is hard not to notice the slower pace that people take, so much so that seeing someone running (or even walking briskly) is the exception.

Jordan teaches Zambian kids to dance (?!?)

I should stop for now, and leave other stories for friends and family when we return. We are so grateful to have such good friends here who are masters of hospitality and who know their way around Lusaka/Livingstone. Thanks, John and Charlene.

Dave