Our First Road Trip Adventure

Well, we can check road trip with baby off the list of firsts for our family. Isaac, my mom, and I braved the open road and headed off to Ndola, 320 km north of Lusaka. After many slow moving trucks, several police check points, numerous “abnormal loads” (see picture below), and three detours down a dirt roads with dust flying, we made it hot, sweaty, and dusty to Ndola. The drive was both beautiful and monotonous. This is definitely big sky country with mostly flat land and gentle rolling hills. Along the way, we saw scattered villages – mostly small brick buildings or round houses made of mud bricks with thatched roofs. There were also markets along the way selling vegetables and large numbers of watermelons which seemed an odd choice for a road side stand. Isaac was an absolute superstar during the drive. He only had a couple of meltdowns which were best solved with either taking him out of his car seat or feeding him. I’m continually amazed by him. He seems to be able to take everything in stride, even a 6 hour drive which was supposed to be 4.5 hours. By the end of it, we were all road weary, but feeling proud of ourselves for taking on this adventure. The purpose of our trip to Ndola was to visit with Njavwa, one of our Canadian friends who was born in Zambia, and to visit Mercy Touch, the orphanage and mission her family runs.

  The second day in Ndola we were taken to the orphanage. I was surprised that it seemed to be in the middle of nowhere – down a dirt road and in the middle of fields and forest. They own a large area of land which they have started farming to become more self sufficient. We had a tour of the farm which includes a banana plantation, ground nuts, vegetable plots, fish ponds, chickens, pigs, goats, and a bull. There are two very nice houses, one for girls and one for boys. The children were very interested to see us and all wanted to have their picture taken. Friday is the day the mission runs their feeding program. Local women in the community bring their children and receive a meal. Many are identified through the local clinic for the feeding program. Local volunteers keep track of the children’s weights and make sure they are growing properly. They also provide them with a soy supplement to add to their meals for the week. They certainly provide them each with a large meal which to our eyes looked like much more than a child could possibly consume in one meal, but as Njavwa explained, for many of these children, the meal they receive on Fridays will be the only sufficient meal they eat the whole week. The experience made me feel saddened, hopeful, and thankful. I was saddened by the lengths these women have to go to ensure their children receive a good meal, many walking some distance to attend the feeding program, and by the effects poverty has on their lives. I felt hopeful for the children who were in the orphanage. They appeared happy and well cared for. Each child attends a private school and has individualized plans for getting them into university or jobs once they are old enough as well as help finding accommodation. Mercy Touch really does provide excellent support to these children. I was so incredibly impressed with the work that Njavwa was doing. As a volunteer director of the organization, she has what appears to be an overwhelming task in keeping everything moving forward. It’s certainly not something that I think I would have been able to take on in my early twenties or now for that matter. Her goals are admirable: to start a preschool on site for the children in the orphanage who are now home schooled and for other children in the local community and to build a playground for the children. I was struck by the thought that these children would likely have such a small world without Mercy Touch. They appeared to be literally isolated from the outside world by having that long drive down a dirt road to reach the highway and then a much longer drive to reach the city of Ndola. But with the help of this NGO, their horizons have expanded to include school and seeing more than just the small village where they live. I also felt incredibly thankful for all that we have back home.

 

My mom and Njavwa with the local children.

Singing songs. They didn't understand the English songs, but silly actions made everyone laugh.

The local volunteers recording the children's weights.

Four boys from the orphanage playing checkers on a handmade board. The pieces are bottle caps.

Such a little sweetheart. Njavwa said that this little girl usually follows 

her around anytime she's at the orphanage.

  The next day, Njavwa, Isaac, and I went to Kitwe a town about 45 minutes away from Ndola. There’s a craft market there that we were interested in going to. Njavwa had arranged for a driver for the day and although, he had assured her that he knew where the market was, it became apparent that he actually had no clue where he was going. It’s been interesting to see the cultural differences between Zambians and Canadians, but that day I was able to observe the apparently universal trait of all men in their reluctance to ask for directions. We finally insisted that he pull over in a gas station and ask for directions. Once we reached the market, we realized that finding the craft section would be difficult. Thankfully, one of Njavwa’s many aunties came and rescued us and took us to the right location. It was fun bargaining, especially with someone like Njavwa, who definitely drives a hard bargain. I learned a few techniques and will definitely try to use these in the future.

  That night back at the hotel, we had a rude awakening at about 10pm. Yes, I realize this is kind of early, but we had all been asleep by 8pm after our exhausting day. The hotel reception was calling to let me know that I should move my car into the gated area of the hotel for security reasons. I questioned the woman as to why this would be necessary on our last night when we had already stayed there for two nights. She let me talk with the security guard who again reiterated that they were concerned for the security of my car which had been parked outside for two nights already. Realizing that it would be quicker to just go move the car than debate the safety of where it was parked, I went and met with the security guard, thanking him for his concern. After getting over my frustration, mostly at having Isaac woken up by the phone call, I realized that this might have been a case of the security guard’s concern for my car working on “African time”; two days late, but I guess, better than never.

  Our time in Ndola was interesting, but difficult. Isaac was off his nap schedule and we had long, restless nights. We have the location of our house in Lusaka programmed as “home” in our GPS. As I set the GPS to home for our return trip, I felt a longing that home actually meant Vancouver. To our little house on 2^nd Avenue with Markus and Gibson. To coffees on the Drive and walks to Trout Lake. To family dinners in North Van and visits with friends. Absence makes the heart grow fonder and in this case, that is certainly true.