Welcome to Zambia

Greetings from Lusaka Zambia! We arrived yesterday after about 23 hours of flight time and 8 hours of layovers. You just can’t get here from there quickly! Good thing it was an uneventful journey.

The first thing you notice is how friendly people are. They are helpful at customs (can you believe it!). When you leave the airport, you do not have to fight the mob of taxi drivers trying to “help” you with your suitcase. If you’ve ever been somewhere where that happens, you know how unhelpful that actually is! The driver’s generally follow the rules of the road. Red means stop, green means go, and people are able to drive without constantly sounding the horn. The area is also very clean. You don’t see trash on the side of the roadways. Everything is orderly. It’s the only place I’ve been on my work trips where you just immediately feel at home, even though everything is so much different than what we’re used to!

We had a bit of time yesterday to rest and try to get over jet-lag. Our hotel is in a nice area with a small shopping mall next door. We were able to walk around for a bit and try to get over jet-lag.

Today was a day of meetings at the main office. We did have a chance to visit and have dinner at a friend’s home this evening. I originally met her in Ghana, then ran into her during my first trip to Zambia, and then ended up working with her during the Haiti trip. Isn’t it interesting how you can just “run into” people in so many different locations! We were able to meet her two wonderful daughters and spend a nice evening with her.

Now I am watching the BBC news coverage of the earthquake in Haiti. Some of the pictures are of places we drove by during our visit in September. One of them is of the hotel that my friend stayed in (I was in a different one). The hotel is partially collapsed. We also spent time today thinking and praying about the family that hosted us during that visit. The host was at the office, and was able to reach his son quickly. He was unable to find his wife and two daughters until nearly 24 hours later. All were fine, but I can’t imagine how scary that must have been for all of them.

More tomorrow!