Yesterday marked three weeks until I leave Zambia. And in one week I will be leaving Riverside for Livingston. It amazes me to think my time here is nearly over. Sometimes I stop and think about my whole situation. I think to myself: “Hmm. I’m in Zambia, and I’m doing okay. I’m not dying of homesickness, and I get along well with the locals. I never thought I would be here a couple of years ago. I guess this has been a good year!” It still doesn’t seem real, even after seven months!
So what have I been up to lately? A lot. On Wednesday, March 24, we left Riverside for Kibidula Farm Institute in Tanzania. It took two days to arrive, and immediately I noticed many differences. For instance, people have more money. The majority have iron sheets on there houses, whereas most Zambians have thatched roofs. Also there was the language barrier. I had to take a crash course in Swahili. It kind of made me wish I had tried to learn Tonga, the local Zambian language. It was really nice to get a break and experience another country.
After leaving Kibidula on March 29, we headed for Lake Malawi. We first stopped on the Tanzanian side at a place called Muteme Beach (or something like that). We enjoyed a day of snorkeling, swimming, canoeing, and wind surfing. They have about five species of tropical looking fish. The water is about as clear as the ocean, so snorkeling was nice.
Next we headed for Malawi. We stayed at Nkhata Bay. The lodge we stayed at had rooms right on the water (the front porch was a dock) for about $10 a night. The snorkeling was great just ten yards from my bed! Overall the trip was great.
Another interesting experience I had occurred two this last Sunday night. I was in Lusaka on the way back from building One-day churches with Wiemar Academy at Itezhi Tezhi and was in a shopping center parking lot. As I often do when I’m bored in a parking lot, I struck up a very confusing and entertaining conversation with a drunk guy. I was somewhere in between trying to make him believe we were in Zimbabwe and getting him to find a wife for me when Alan said a burly looking South African guy wanted to give me something. He long hair and was driving a new Toyota Hilux. I was quite nervous as I went over to the side of his truck. He placed some wadded up pieces of paper into my hand and said, “Here you go man, enjoy.”
At first I was like: “This guys trying to be funny and giving me a handful of trash.” I said okay and walked away. A further inspection and a sniff from biggie confirmed the guy had just given me a handful of Marijuana.
Having heard that there is a prison sentence for possession, I immediately threw it to the ground and started rubbing it in the dirt. Before I could get it destroyed though, the drunk guy yelled in protest and started picking it off the ground. Then he ran off. It was a nerve wrecking experience. Looking back on it I should have just asked the guy what it was before I took it. He was just being nice, and I could have turned him down right away, and the drunk guy wouldn’t have been able to get it. At least it got rid of the drunk guy!
