Getting To Know Lusaka...

We arrived back to Lusaka after the best 6 days in Livingstone….I didn’t want to leave! For the last couple days we have been hanging out in Lusaka at the University Teaching Hospital. The plan is to head up to Mongu (the town where we will actually be teaching) in the next few days. The plan was to leave on Saturday, but now here we are..and it is Sunday..and we are still in Lusaka. But no worries…This Is Africa right?? The beauty of this continent is that once you step foot on it…a thing called ‘rubber time’ begins. So we will get there when we get there! For now we have been using our time in Lusaka wisely….making all the important connections that need to be made.

Gene Krupa (one of the facilitators of the Zambia Health Initiative) came a few days ago to strengthen our relations in Zambia. It was good to see another Canadian face. He is also staying with us in the nursing residences. The residences have become quite the busy place these days; we also have medical students from Slovenia and Holland staying in the residences. The University Teaching Hospital seems to have lots of medical students from all over the world..I think it is time we bring students from UBCO. Why don’t we start with the nursing students??? We’ll come back and be an instructor…no problem.

The first connection we made was with an NGO (Non-Governmental Organization) called Women For Change. They are a great organization working to advocate for rural and remote people, using a grass-roots approach. The leader of this team is Emily Sikazwe, she is quite an amazing woman…and now one of my new heroes (I have met a few new heroes over the past couple days) She has been fighting for the marginalized people of Zambia for over 15 years. Unfortunately this had created many enemies for her within the Zambian government, because she sure doesn’t hold back in speaking her mind. In fact she was supposed to visit Canada a few months ago, but the government took away her passport so that she wouldn’t be able to travel. (Yes here is a moment to be thankful that all of us in Canada are easily able to travel all around the world without approval from our own government first) The reason she made it to my hero list is because even with all these forces working against her, she continues (without fail!) to advocate for marginalized people.

Women For Change

The next person who we connected with was the ‘Professor’. His real name is actually Chifumbe Chintu, he is a Zambian doctor working at UTH in paediatrics and haematology. I was very excited to meet him, as we’ve heard many tales of ‘The Professor’ from Bill. Chifumbe came to Canada to complete his medical training. He was a classmate of Bill’s at the University of Toronto when they were medical students. We were invited over to dinner to Prof Chintu’s beautiful home…located on 35 sprawling acres..where he grows all sorts of fruit and vegetables..and even raises pigs. This is on top of working 24/7 at the hospital, sitting on various medical and research boards, and being a dedicated father and grandfather. So now Chifumbe has also has made my list of heros. Dinner at Chifumbe’s meant that we were able to try local Zambian dishes. Not as spicy as West African cuisine, so I do like it much better. Chifumbe had also invited over a few of his local friends, the Chief Justice for Zambia even showed up!! The Mosi and Castle beer were flowing..as were the conversations. It was yet another great night.

Last night we met with Vic Neufeld, he is a member of the Canadian Coalition for Global Health Research. This organization is aiming to increase Zambian medical research, and then in turn apply the knowledge to future health practices. He was a great person to connect with. Since our organization (Zambian Health Initiative) and theirs are following many of the same principles…we all want to develop the capacity of the Zambian people.

So the next stop for us is Mongu! Every time we mention to people that we are heading up to nurse in the western province they keep warning us ‘to be ready’…. Now what does that mean??? Sounds like we need to prep for more poverty, which will in turn mean increased illness. They also said to be ready to deliver many babies..I’m not ready for that! The interesting thing is that we are actually only supposed to be teaching nursing, but once everyone knows that there are nurses in town..they may just be showing up at our doorsteps with various ailments. So I guess it is time to be prepared for anything!

Jessica

PS For all those reading my last blog in West Africa this you may remember how all the Africans called me Jessssseeeeeeeeka. Well it is happening again. For some reason they just love my name here, and just like saying it over and over..Jesssssssssseeeeeeeeka, Jessseeeeeeeka!

Sunset Cruise

Vic Falls

Here is the bridge where we bungeed from....can you spot the bungee jumper in this photo?

Life changing..

Oh so wet..just soaked

It was coming from EVERY angle..please note that Vic falls is right behind us

Nervous stretch

Pictures of the Trilogy.....

Gorge Swing

The First Jump

Pics!

Here we are at a local drinking hole in Lusaka- The Brown Frog

See Dad we did register at the Canadian High Commission! The best part about it was taking pics with the guards..except they weren't really allowed to..so we had to walk one foot from the gate to get this pic

Yes Bill, we did meet your brother! This is us 'networking' at the University Teaching Hopsital, meeting with Chifumbe Chintu

More networking again..us with Donald Kalolo with his wife Mousa...at Adventure Land!

The most amazing Cancer Center

The Jamaican Grass! (Lianne loves it)

The Trilogy of Terror

In the last post we talked about Zimbabwe....and I have to admit, Jess and I did go to Zimbabwe....Don’t worry mom, we only stepped foot on the other side after our Zip Trek, we didn’t actually go into the country, but I am still going to count it! So, the three of us embarked on the trilogy of terror... bungee, gorge swing, and zip trekking. I had been almost dreading it as I have bungee jumped before and I get nightmares thinking about it sometimes. Tensions were high on the walk to the jumping area. Cam and Jess shut down and said nothing the whole walk. I on the other hand seized the moment and nervously talked the WHOLE time, about nothing in particular, just nervous chatting......So scared.

Oh Lianne and her nervous chatter! I am surprised she wasn’t doing her other nervous habit..stretching. So we had originally decided that Cam would jump first since he is deathly afraid of heights. But then all of a sudden I was strapped up and before I knew it they were walking me to the edge..then someone started counting five, four, three, two, one...jump!! And I flew myself off a 110 meter high bridge, into a massive gorge containing the churning Zambezi river. Pretty crazy stuff, I know.

Jess had great form too...I did the gorge swing first. I’m not going to lie, I actually had no clue what this was. So I got strapped into a harness (like a big diaper almost) and was told to run and jump off the bridge. That was it, just run and jump, easy right? I was playing it cool at this point, but after the jump I think I had a mini anxiety attack know that I had to jump again, head first this time with the bungee which was a lot more nerve racking for me!

Ok for me this whole gorge swing was actually even more scary for me. I think because you literally run and then jump off the bridge, then you are pretty much free falling for 11 seconds before the ropes finally kick in. They keep you suspended in the gorge for quite a long time (again with that churning Zambezi beneath you), I think at this point I may have even had a chat with God..that is how beautiful the scenery is. You also have quite the spectacular view of Vic Falls at this point too!

And lastly, we spent a glorious evening on a sunset boat cruise on the Zambezi river (ok, the boat was more like floating pontoons). There was a BBQ and a few drinks, along with sightings of hippos, crocs, and elephants. For the record, these eagle eyes were the first to spot the animals. I made an embarrassing announcement about the animals because I was so excited..."Everybody, look, Hippos!!!!" We spent the rest of the evening with some of our new found friends from Ireland and Britain. This has been a great trip so far with copious amounts of networking and friendship building. There is one little downfall so far...those darn red itchy spots are back...I hope it’s not bedbugs again!!!! I will keep you posted.

Yes the sunset boat cruise was amazing..why?? because the sunset was soooooooooo beautiful. There is something about these African sunsets. I have never seen so many colours in one sunset before, breathtaking. I can’t wait to put up those pics to show you guys. Now on that note we only have a couple days left in Livingstone. I am having so much fun that I don’t want to leave!! But we do need to get back to Lusaka and do some work. But I already can’t wait to come back to Livingstone...

Victoria Falls

First things first..we have been trying very very hard to upload our pictures, but due to slow internet connections we have been unsuccessful. We will keep trying though....
After our few days in Lusaka we decided to head off for a little adventure to Livingstone. The first shocking thing was how the bus for Livinsgstone actually left ON TIME..and there were no chickens or masses of people in the aisles. The best part about the whole bus ride was a free Fanta and vanilla wafer cookies. It was a glorious way to begin..We arrived in Livingstone and checked into the greatest hostel called Jolly Boys. Thank-you Joseph Landry for telling us to stay here..it is awesome.

Stop hogging the computer Jessica...Yes, it is an amazing hostel with a pool and lawn chairs, great food, and a bar. Everything you need , this place has it. Livingstone is a touristy town with lots of activities for adrenaline junkies and for those wanting to relax as well. It is located 12 minutes from Victoria Falls and borders with Zimbabwe. Let me tell you about the experiences so far: I have never in my lifetime seen something so majestical as Victoria Falls. It is one of the 7 natural wonders of the world and I agree, it is a wonder. The three of us walked around the entire park and were completely drenched from the spray coming off the falls. Water was coming at you from every direction. As we were walking around we went upstream to dry off. There was a group of school children washing their face in the water. Jessica and I were noticing how there was no rails or fences that blocked people from getting close to the water...In fact, people could swim in the water, just feet from the edge of the falls. Safety is a different concern here!! We also got to experience a once a month phenomenon...a lunar rainbow. Who even knew these existed. The full moon was shining so bright that the mist from the falls created an amazing rainbow...at night! What an experience.

I agree with Lianne, Victoria Falls was one of the most beautiful things I have seen. It doesn’t even compare to Niagara Falls! It was neat to be able to walk all round the park, we got soooo close to the falls. We also walked downstream to the Zambezi river, this is where they run rafting trips from..note: Jessica and Lianne will be back in about 3 months time to raft this river...it looks intense! Speaking of intense things....right at this point we were also looking at the huge bridge connecting Zambia and Zimbabwe. This bridge also contains the Bungee jump. Which we just so happened to be planning to do the very next day.

Bungee jumping is pretty scary, so I think we should change the subject JB. While we were drying off by the river, I decided to take a little wander. I came across the water intake for the hydroelectric dam and found a group of locals sitting nearby...so I decided to pick their brains. They told me that the dam supplied almost all the energy for all of Zambia right up to the Copper Belt region. This is the reason why there have been no power outages so far...Zambia has a great source for power. I asked why the Zimbabwe side didn’t use the falls as a source of power and the response was, "I do not know." I was told that there is a dam further down the Zambezi on lake Kariba, but the energy is not as sufficient as the Zambian power supply. The potential for power from the falls is there, but with the corruption in Zimbabwe, natural resources are not used to their potential.

On that note, I have more troubling news about Zimbabwe.. Since we are so close to the Zimbabwe border we noticed at the border crossing there are SO many Zimbabwe people fleeing their country into Zambia. The border crossing has huge line ups, we heard that 600 people cross into Zambia each day right now. This is due to huge political tensions that are occurring in their country, due to a certain dictator called Robert Mugabe. The next elections are supposed to be running on June 27th.Good thing we will be outta here by then, you can just feel it even in Livingstone that something bad is about to go down. We have UN Peacekeepers staying at our hostel from the Democratic Republic of Congo. We did hear rumours that the UN has their people stationed around here in time for the elections..just in case.