Day 3

3rd Day

20 September 2008

Early start at 6 o'clock to drive from Lusaka to Kasama. Well, we went out of the gate by 6:10! Leaving Lusaka on the two lane Great Northern Road which goes all the way to Dar es-Salaam on the Indian Ocean. On through the Central Province. Miles and miles of flat rich agricultural land mixed with African bush as far as the eye can see - wheat, corn, vegetables. Then, as we get farther north, rolling hills with occasional great rocky up-thrusts for contrast and, increasingly, the dry African bush covering the terrain. Villages visible on either side of the road with their conical thatched roofs over small round buildings made largely of dried mud bricks. Hundreds of paths leading off the road on either side presumably toward other villages unseen.

The major mode of transportation in rural Africa uses leg power, mostly walking but also bicycles. People of all ages walking or riding along the side of the road, morning, noon and night. There are also some busses, lots of trucks, a few cars and, and an occasional ox cart but walking is the most noticeable. Driving along there are myriad produce stands. If you chance to stop at one the routine is always the same. Suddenly a half dozen vendors rush out to entice you with their product, all clamoring to be heard. We did this a few times and Baptista handled the melee quite well. We certainly wouldn't have known what to do, particularly being still unfamiliar with the currency, Kaoma, our excellent driver made all the required stops at Baptista's direction and kept us racing along between 120 and 140 KPH ((72 to 84 MPH as close as I can figure it), except when dodging trucks and potholes. It was promising to be quite a ride.

Our first stop was a very brief one in Kabwe where we made the final payment on the Land Cruiser to a long time friend of Baptista's who is a used car dealer The money we had brought from HFZ. So the car is free and clear!! Then on to the Mpima Seminary where there are four Sisters who help keep the place running and also introduce the seminarians to home care for the elderly and HIV/AIDS patients, a powerful pastoral training event. There are two hundred young men there for two years of philosophy and Scripture, most entering about the age of 20 after a year of spirituality training. The nuns fed us breakfast as seems to be the universal African custom. You must eat something.

Our next stop was at the Chilonga Hospital and School of Nursing and Midwifery. There are 12 Sisters there most of whom are on the hospital nursing staff. There are 80 students who come from all over the country to get the excellent training provided. We were given the full tour by Sister Rosaria and, of course, we were fed lunch. During the tour we witnessed a group of grade school children practicing their music with drums for mass the next day with the Dominican Sister who was their teacher. It was tempting to stick around much longer but travel intervened.

Our last stop before Kasama was to see the St. Therese School at Mpika, the site of the children's drama presentation some of us saw on DVD. Being a Saturday no students were there, but one of the lessons on the black board was a math exercise in handling Kwachas. We almost signed up for class!

As we neared Kasama, darkness fell and we began to see cooking fires in the invisible villages we passed. It was a little nerve racking to realize that foot and bicycle traffic didn't diminish just because of the lack of light. We saw only one bicycle with a light! Otherwise it was reduce your speed (down to 100 KPH, 60 MPH) and try not to hit anybody.

Finally we arrived at the Mother House of the Sisters of the Child Jesus about 7:30 and, you guessed it, we ate supper along with a half dozen Sisters who were there. Our visit has been highly anticipated but we told them we needed to learn from them how to be intelligent (a major undertaking for us) in funneling appropriate resources for their work. That will be the major focus of our stay here, along with establishing a relationship with the Kasama Rotary Club and making sure they accept their very crucial role in the well project for the Sisters' new property which will be used for services to HIV/AIDS orphans.

So to bed and the anticipation of another eventful day.

Bruce and Paula