To Zambia With Love

Dear Zambia,

  After leaving your country last Friday to continue our adoption journey to South Africa, I wanted to write to you thanking you for our stay. While there are some things, I was happy to say goodbye to, namely, the Zambian bureaucracy, there are many things that I came to appreciate about your country. I would like to thank you for them now.

Thank you for our new Zambian friends. To Chris, Catherine, and their girls who welcomed us into their home and church. A huge thank you to Chris, who found us a car and then arranged for his daughter to buy the same car when we left. Who was always available to help during minor crises – “Chris, what do I do, my car has just been hit in the Addis Ababa round-about?”,  “Chris, what do I do, I’ve just been pulled over by the police for not paying our road tax – what’s the road tax?” To my friend, Mwanida, who gave me a quick initiation into the Zambian wedding culture with an invite to a friend’s kitchen party and helped me with a phone call to a friend in the passport office.

Thank you for the kindness of strangers. To the many security guards who got to know us on our walks and would always have a happy smile for Isaac. To the woman who offered me a chair when I was crying on the side of the street after a frustrating visit to immigration. To the guys at the Mug and Bean who got to know Isaac’s name and welcomed us with a smile when we stopped in for a coffee. To Nora at the passport office who I had just met, but came through for me by producing Isaac’s passport at a rapid pace unheard of by Zambian standards.

Thank you for our neighbours at Sugarland. To Isabel, our French friend who could commiserate with us over the shared experience of being new in Zambia and getting used to the cultural differences. Who was always up for a chat over tea or dinner at our place and who always had the most amazing stories to tell about her life working for the French embassy. To our friends Pelay, Michelle, and their two boys, Alex and Lucas who often joined us in the pool and were always up for a good splash in the water. To Alex and Lucas who kept Isaac’s attention more than anything else and a special thank you to Lucas for sharing his many toy cars with Isaac.

Thank you for the wide open spaces outside of Lusaka which we got to experience on our road trips. Thank you for the big blue sky set against the beautiful green fields and trees dotted with small villages along the road. It was amazing to experience the natural beauty of Zambia whether it be on the road, from the safari jeep, or floating down the Zambezi.

Thank you for the big and wonderful wildlife we encountered on our safaris (and on the way to the safari). It was a lifelong dream fulfilled for me to see an elephant in the wild. Thank you to the many safari guides we had the pleasure to drive around with. They are a truly wealth of information and it was so interesting to learn from them.

Thank you for our housekeeper, Beatrice, who made life go by so much smoother and easier. She is a tiny lady with the biggest heart who clearly fell in love with Isaac over the few months we were together. It was hard to say good bye to such a lovely person.

Thank you for the Sugarland caretaker, Pelekelo, the security guards, Jackson, Joe-Sam, and Caifus, and the gardener, Justin, who always took the time to say a special hello to Isaac and who helped us so much during our stay. A special thanks to Justin who had the difficult task of cleaning up the ever falling guavas and avocados from the trees in our yard.

Thank you for Felix, our brave adoption consultant. Although we may have had our frustrations with each other during the process mainly from our cultural differences with regard to communication style and time, Felix definitely came through for us in the end and worked tirelessly to ensure that we left Zambia in a somewhat timely manner. Without Felix, I know that we would still be in Zambia dealing with the maddening Department of Social Welfare.

Thank you for the House of Moses and for the wonderful women who work there. I will be forever grateful to them for the role they played in raising Isaac until we were able to get to him. Thank you to the nurse, Lillian, who viewed each child as her grandchild and was clearly made to play the role of grandma and nurse to these babies and children. It was so special to visit the orphanage and to see the delight the workers had in seeing Isaac again.

Thank you for Isaac’s birth mother. I am eternally grateful to her for bringing Isaac into this world. Although this woman will be forever nameless to us, she will be forever in my heart. I wish I could thank her in person for the amazing gift she has given me and my family. Isaac completes me and without her, I would still have a whole in my heart waiting to be filled.

Finally, Zambia, I wish to thank you for Isaac, my beautiful boy. My son is the most amazing person I have ever met. He is a courageous, determined, resilient, happy, joyful little boy who goes through life with a smile on his face. It has been the most amazing experience to get to know him over the past four and a half months. I couldn’t be prouder to call him my son and feel so thankful that I get to be his mother.

For all this and more, I am thankful.

With love,

Erin