Lusaka: First Impressions

 Lusaka is a city of walls.

  Everywhere you look there are walls. Houses are walled in with walls and gates so tall you can’t see in. The beautiful flowering trees behind the walls give you a hint of the oasis that lies within. Before coming to Lusaka, we were told the neighbourhood we had chosen to live in was one of the nicer areas in the city. However, we’ve found it difficult to compare the different neighbourhoods as there’s not much to see with everything behind a wall. One thing we have noticed though is that the poorer areas don’t appear to have as many walls. Perhaps this is the way to compare different areas in Lusaka: the bigger the wall, the more to guard, the nicer the area.

A view of our street.

Lusaka is a city of familiar and foreign names.

  We’ve found the different street and neighbourhood names in Lusaka interesting. Some are foreign sounding and frankly fun to say, like Kalingalinga and Kabulonga. Others are very familiar – Los Angeles Boulevard and Kamloops Road.

Lusaka is a city of walkers.

  I’ve been impressed with the numbers of people you see walking along the streets. Men and woman in business attire, women carrying baskets or containers on their heads or babies on their backs wrapped up in colourful material, children in school uniforms. It has made for great people watching while driving to the orphanage. The streets are busy at all times of the day. It makes for a colourful and vibrant environment.

Lusaka is a city of street vendors.

  You can buy all numbers of items on the streets either in roadside stands or being sold by men walking along the lines of cars at stop lights. We’ve seen a variety of things being sold, some expected, some less so – fruits, vegetables, eggs, phone cards, water, lawnmowers, brooms, mops, plungers, shoes, clothes, and puppies.

Lusaka is a city of well-dressed people.

  The people of Lusaka like to look good. Collared shirts and slacks for men and dresses for women are the norm. Aside from standing out because of our skin colour, white people are noticeably more casual. Markus and I try our best to not look like slobs when we go out. Unfortunately, I left my heels at home – who knew I would need them in Zambia. J

Lusaka is a city of contrasts.

  I remember our second day in Lusaka. In the morning we had driven out to the orphanage through one of the poorer areas in the city. The side streets were dirt roads, the houses small brick structures. There was work going on right along side of the road – furniture making, metal work. There were small kiosks built into the sides of the walls surrounding the different residential areas. In the afternoon, we went to get more supplies for our house at a mall perhaps 10-15 minutes away. Walking into the mall, I was initially surprised at how big, modern, and Western it was. After our morning drive and time at the orphanage, I was struck by what a difference I was seeing a relatively short distance away. It was easy at first to attribute this observation to the reality of being in a third world country, but then I reminded myself of the downtown east side and the five minute drive to Yaletown.

Lusaka is a city of tomorrows.

  We are slowly and sometimes painfully getting used to “Africa time”. We were warned about this difference in culture before we left both by our Zambian friends and other friends and family who had spent time in Africa. We are getting used to hearing the statement, “it should happen tomorrow”. We’ve come to realize that “tomorrow” may mean tomorrow or more likely it means next week or longer.

Lusaka is hot!

   We are moving into the hottest month of the year in Zambia – October. The temperature hovers in the mid thirties during the day and “cools down” to the mid twenties at night. While I would prefer to walk around all day in a bathing suit, I don’t think this would go over well with the locals. I’ve been amazed to see men wearing collared shirts, sweaters, pants, and dress shoes out in this heat. It makes me feel like melting just looking at them.

Lusaka is a city of adorable babies.

  I think this picture says it better than words.   

Zambia by Numbers

# of cars purchased:  1

  We bought a used Toyoto Carina off a friend of a friend. It’s been nice to not have to rely on taxis to get us out to the orphanage. We’re looking forward to exploring the country with our new ride.

# of new roommates: 1

  We have a roommate spider. He’s huge and lives behind a tile in our shower. He only comes out at night and doesn’t appear to move from the one spot. We’re not sure what he eats. Our friends assure us that he’s not poisonous. As we have very few bugs and mosquitoes in our house, we’ve decided to let him stay. We’ve named him Bruce after a very large, scary looking, but friendly dog that lives in our neighbourhood in Vancouver. We’re hoping our spider is friendly. 

# of Zambian beers consumed: 4

  Markus, being the beer connoisseur that he is, was excited to try the Zambian beer. We’ve sampled some the past couple of days. A perfect, light beer for a hot day. Seems to be a lot of hot days here. :)

# of court dates:  0

  Unfortunately, we don’t have a court date yet to become the foster parents of Isaac and begin our three month fostering period. Until we have our court date, we will continue to visit him at the orphanage.

# of power outages: 2

  Fortunately, there was only one when we were at home. It happened while we were cooking dinner but only lasted a few minutes.

# of pairs of underwear Markus ironed prior to coming to Zambia: 0

# of pairs of underwear Markus has ironed since arriving in Zambia: 12

  We were told that we should be ironing all our clothes after they’ve been hung outside to dry. The putzi fly apparently will lay eggs on wet clothes and the larvae will bury under your skin when you wear the clothes. Ironing will kill the larvae. We’re not sure how much of a risk this actually is in Zambia, however, we’re certainly not up for larvae under our skin especially in our nether regions.

# of friendly Zambian people we’ve met:  Lost count awhile ago.

  The people of Zambia are incredibly friendly and helpful. It’s been quite amazing to feel so embraced by strangers or relatively new friends. It’s made coming to a new country and setting up our home so much easier with the help we’ve received so far. Need a new car? We’ll find one for you. Need a taxi? I’ll run down the street and get one for you. We are so grateful to all the people who have helped us on our way.

# of visits with Isaac: 5

  We’ve been to visit Isaac five times now. Each time our love for him grows bigger. He’s an amazing little man with such wonderful smiles. We can’t get enough of his cuddles. He will fit in well with his snuggle addicted mother. Today we spent some time with Isaac outside in the yard of the House of Moses. We got these two photos of him. He appears to be teething and can’t get enough of his Sophie, the giraffe. You’ll notice the smiles on his parents’ faces – we can’t seem to do anything but smile when we’re around Isaac. 

 

Our first meeting

Today we had the most incredible experience of meeting Isaac for the first time. He's absolutely beautiful and has the best smile ever. He was incredibly happy throughout our whole visit. It was amazing to hold him in my arms, gaze into his beautiful brown eyes, and see his happy smile. His favorite toy today was Sophie the giraffe. He happily chewed on Sophie's head and legs almost the whole time we were there. We got to feed him a bottle today and had the joy of changing our first diaper. It's Markus' turn for this tomorrow. :) The workers at the orphanage were so friendly and made us feel very welcome. They do an amazing job at the House of Moses. In the end, we decided it was time to leave as Issac seemed to be having a hard time falling asleep. I like to think he was as excited as we were.
Unfortunately, they don't permit photos at the orphanage, but I got in a couple quick shots after begging one of the workers.

The Waiting Game

I'm happy to finally say that this waiting game is in the final period. We're in the home stretch and I can't wait to get on the plane for Zambia in three days! Bags are packed, plane tickets bought, accommodation arranged, immunizations done (ouch!), and our third criminal record check completed. Each task completed brings us one step closer to Isaac. I didn't think I could ever love a photo as much as I do when I look at Isaac's beautiful face. More times than I can count each day, I daydream about the moment when I'll finally be able to hold him in my arms, feel his baby soft skin, smell that amazing baby smell, kiss his kissable cheeks, and gaze into his beautiful brown eyes, and know that I'm in heaven. In that moment, I know I will forget about the endless paperwork, the mountain high pile of reading (most of which was frankly terrifying), the intrusive questions, and the never-ending waiting. At that moment, it will all be worth it. The waiting game will have finally ended and if I have anything to say, there will be no overtime!