Quality Father/Daughter Time

So as you’ve already seen, my father came to Zambia on Saturday May 12th. He was my first visitor from the states and I was so excited to see him. I was a bit nervous because I didn’t know what to expect, and I’ve never spent that much time with my father before.

He arrived at the airport in good shape. We hugged while tears filled both of our eyes. It’s a strange thing really…seeing someone you love for the first time in almost a year. It was a good feeling. I was a bit upset that his bags didn’t arrive, but its Africa and hey, what are you going to do? Dad was a great sport though, considering he only packed one set of clothes in his carry-on. We finally got the bags five days later, luckily the only thing missing was a soccer ball.

The first night we spent in Lusaka. Our accommodations were less than ideal. No running water, 50,000 kwacha deposit on towels we couldn’t use and dad got a bad case of the bed bugs…literally. Luckily they never itched. I decided to get dad’s feet wet the first day by going to the downtown market. Boy was that a treat. I was a bit scared as we were being brought into the back areas of the market. The only reason we were there was to buy jersey’s for the girl’s netball team in my village. My grandma, Marietta was kind enough to sponsor these girls, so we needed to pick them up. I think that was a bit of an eye opener for my dad. We had a nice dinner later with Christi and Matt at La Gondola.

The next morning we headed to Livingstone on a six hour bus ride that went quite smoothly. We stayed at the Zambezi Waterfront in the “adventure village.” Meaning that we spent two nights in a permanent walk-in tent. It was not bad. It got really cold the first night, but it was nice (in my standards at least). We headed for the booze cruise right away and spent a nice evening floating on the beautiful Zambezi gazing at elephants and giraffes on the side banks. The Jack and cokes were free flowing and we enjoyed great conversations with some PC volunteers from Namibia. The sunset was breath-taking. The intenseness of the colors always blow me away. The next day we decided to get up early and have breakfast on the waterfront while monkeys were swinging from the nearby trees. After some deliberation we decided that we would go on a 15min. helicopter ride above the falls. One of the better decisions that we made, in my opinion. It was amazing. What a way to view the falls. We literally saw the falls from every angle. In the air, from afar, right up next to them (getting drenched) and on top of them. It was great. Many great laughs since we were beyond soaked. The only hiccup here was all the haggling we received from the vendors trying to sell us souvenirs.

Then it was back to Lusaka for a day visiting Peace Corps headquarters where dad got to meet my boss and other people that I work with. I was dreading the 8 hr bus ride to Chipata because with dad being 6ft. 5inches he didn’t fit very well into the small seats on the bus. However, Jimmy Jack, a driver with PC told me he was bringing someone up to Chipata and that we could catch a ride. That was so wonderful. For the first 3 hrs we rode in a nice SUV and then was picked up by the PC landcruiser at the Luangwa bridge on the border of Zambia and Mozambique. It was a long trip and I think dad was ready to get out of the cramped cruiser, so around 19:30 we arrived at the PC house in Chipata. After getting dad a room at a local guest house I started going through all the luggage to see what everyone had sent. It was like Christmas. My mom and sister sent me a ton of things and people also donated things for my village and area schools. I loved it.

The next morning we headed to Kapatamoyo (my old village). Dad really wanted to see where I started my service and meet the people I still work with there. We were greeted with open arms. I do miss some of those people, but I’m happy I made the decision that I did. My family there is great and we ate lunch with them. I was really proud of my dad, eating nshima right away. He describes it as hard mashed potatoes, but I’d disagree. He seemed to like it very much and I know my family appreciated him for trying the local food. We met several of my friends and farmers. We even visited one of my fish ponds that’s in the process of being dug. I’m really excited. It’s the first fish pond in Eastern province to be dug with a PC volunteer. Hopefully it will be done in the next couple of weeks. Its really hard work, but I have faith in my farmers. It was a whirlwind day and probably a bit overwhelming for dad.

Friday morning dad met me at the PC house in Chipata where our Bi-annual Provincial meeting was taking place. Luckily he got to meet all the volunteers in Eastern province….there’s about 30 of us. Everyone was so nice to him and talking with him…made me feel really great. Dad was cracking his usual jokes and everyone loved him. It made me feel great that all my friends here were so nice and welcoming. The meeting lasted 4hrs but I think he enjoyed every minute. I was elected onto the GADZ committee. GADZ stands for “Gender and Development in Zambia.” It’s a committee I’ve wanted to be on for a long time because I feel very strongly about the gender issues people face here. Being on this committee means that I’ll be responsible for reporting all the GADZ activities volunteers do here and I’ll be responsible for holding a “Youth Career Week” and a boys/girls empowerment weekend workshop, along with having meetings in Lusaka. I’m extremely excited about this new opportunity. So in the afternoon we met up with my sister and mother from my current village and went shopping for food and our party over the weekend. It was a bit overwhelming with all our stuff. However, once we arrived in Fisheni, everyone was so excited to meet my dad. I think he was a bit surprised by how nice and warm they were towards us.

We woke up early on Saturday morning because I had arranged for the Ngoma dancers to come and perform for us at 10am. The Ngoma dancers are the Ngoni warrior dancers (my tribe). Since we operate on Zam time here, it started three and a half hours late. Typical. I wasn’t very happy though. In the end, the dancing and singing were great and we enjoyed every minute of it. We presented the girls net ball team with their new ball and jerseys….they were ecstatic, screaming, singing and jumping around. It was a huge deal for them and I’m truly thankful that my grandmother donated these. It meant a lot to me. I love these girls and they deserved it. I told them they could have them on one condition, that I get to play on the team ;) The whole day was captured on video tape and dad even tried some of the dances. That was quite a site. Good times!

Sunday morning my Ambuya made us porridge and we went and saw Chief Madzimawe. I hadn’t met him before and it was quite an honor for my dad to get to meet him. Outsiders are usually never invited to meet a Chief at his home. We had some transport issues but it all worked out. Then we headed back to Fisheni and I decided to show him around the rest of the village. We got back to my house later in the day and my sister had gotten a bag of charcoal for me while we were out. Usually she just puts it in my house, but she left it outside for some reason. Good thing. I happened to turn around looking towards my house as flames were shooting out of the bag. I ran over there and dumped the charcoal on the ground. The flames were within 6 inches of my grass roof. My whole house was within seconds of going up in flames. Wow, I was lucky. Only my plant was burned. So that was interesting. I was almost on a flight home with my dad. Then later in the afternoon, my family started cooking our big dinner. As celebration for my dad being here and appreciation for my family being so great, I decided to invite everyone over to my house for a huge dinner. There was 18 adults and about 12 children. We had a great time, eating all the traditional Zambian food. I had a porch made on my house and it fit all of us perfectly. I’d have to say it was one of my happier moments in Zambia, watching my father interact with my family here. It was a touching evening. I almost broke down thanking everyone for being here, including my father and how thankful I am for everyone and everything that they do for me. I was really proud of my father for adapting so well to the village and never complaining once. He even drew water from my bore hole by himself and helped sweep my mud porch, all while my Ambuya kept yelling, “Gender, gender.” Men don’t do the sweeping here.

Monday morning we made a quick stop at Madzimoyo High school to drop off some notepads, pencils, and erasers that were donated from the states. The Headmaster, Mr. Jere showed us around. Madzimoyo is a boarding school, and some of the dorms are so awful. Its hard to describe, but no one should be living under those conditions. I’m going to get more information and see if I can find funding to help build new dorm rooms for the boys and girls. After that we headed back to town to repack and head to Mfuwe to South Luangwa National Park. Its only 80km from Chipata but the ride is on some of the worst roads in the world…and I’m not joking. We decided to hire a cab because of the horror stories I heard with people taking minibuses. It was one long, bumpy, three hour ride.

Upon arriving at Flatdogs Camp in South Luangwa we were once again back in luxury. Flatdogs is a beautiful place. We had an entire Chalet to ourselves. The camp is right on the river where there are hundreds of hippos just hanging out. We were lucky enough to watch a “parade” of elephants cross the river to head for the villages at 16 to feed. It was quite peaceful. However I’ve never stayed at a place where you need an escort to go from the main restaurant/bar to your room at night. Its because the animals roam free and they don’t want anyone to get eaten….no joke. When we were there, a lion, some leopards and many hippos were roaming the grounds of our camp. It was great. We ended up going on a morning drive, a night drive and a walking safari. Each activity was four hours long. We saw everything. Each drive had its unique qualities, but we saw the most animals on our morning drive at 6am. We were parked about 8 ft from two male lions just hanging out and staring at us. It was incredible. Our walking safari which was so unique because you are walking amongst the animals included our scout, Jackson and our guide, River, with a 457 caliber rifle (I think I have that right). Apparently it’s the highest caliber of rifle. Each bullet was about 4inches long. I’d never seen bullets like that before. Unfortunately Jackson said he’s had to kill many animals over the years for coming after the group. Luckily he didn’t need to use it on our walk. It was so crazy though because around every turn you really needed to keep your eyes peeled, especially for buffalo, as they are the most dangerous and aggressive towards people walking in the bush. We had a fabulous time going on the game drives, drinking cocktails in the afternoon and watching the sun set over the Luangwa river each night. Many good conversations and bonding time. However, dad’s nickname is now batman, because each night a bat was in our room and he ended up killing 3 of them. We never did figure out how they were getting in.

So after three fun-filled days in South Luangwa we took the grueling cab ride back to Chipata where we packed everything up and attempted to hitch to Christi’s village in Chiwoko (about 60km from Chipata). The spot where we hitch is close to a taxi station, so instead of the taxi’s staying up on the hill, they all came down to us. Apparently they saw dollar signs with dad standing by my side. Its always an interesting conversation. We had so many cabbies try to take us even though their vehicles where filled to capacity. It was quite funny. Finally we ended up taking a shared ride. Christi met us at her turn-off and we began walking the 4km to her house. Luckily we got a lift half way to her place by the Zambian military in the back of their huge truck. Unlucky for us they were hauling fish. Fish guts were spilling all over the place. Needless to say we didn’t smell to good. Then as we continued the rest of the hike another cantor came and picked us up. We hopped in the back and got a lift right to her house. I have to say, considering the rides, my dad was a great sport. I think he really like it. But hey, that’s how we travel in Peace Corps. We spent the night at Christi’s house with her two friends from the states. Luckily my dad and her friends, Ruth and Beth were leaving Lusaka on the same day. So the next morning we put them on a bus to Lusaka and said some quick good-byes.

It was a whirlwind two weeks. I think my dad got a taste of everything, from the luxury of Livingstone and South Luangwa to the hardships of village life. I think the highlight for him was meeting all the people I live with and seeing what I do here. I think he’s confident that I’m really happy and safe here. Besides this cough I’ve had for six weeks, I’m doing great. I had a really great time with my dad and something I’ll always cherish. I’m glad he came to see what PC is all about and to have a better understanding of why I want to be here and what I’m doing. I think this trip has allowed my father to understand me better and to see who I really am.

So dad, I want to thank you for coming here to visit me and spending a lot of time, effort and money to make this trip happen. I truly appreciate everything you brought me, spent on me and gave to me on this trip. Thank you and everyone else for bringing things for my villagers. It means a great deal to me. I hope you had a great time…I sure did. I love you dad.