We have been in Ndola less than 6 hours and already feel way behind in the blog. So much to tell!
As always our flight from Johannesburg to Ndola was populated mostly with businessmen coming to do copper mine related work. We began talking with two of them, waiting in line to board. Fascinating and horrifying. One of the men is an electrical engineer who travels nearly weekly to a mine about 2 hours from Ndola. He estimated that that mine alone is grossing over 3 billion U.S. dollars in revenue annually. He agreed completely when we commented that it seems almost none of that money lands in Zambia. In fact, he told us, quite the contrary. Just about everything is brought in from abroad, including labor. The mine he works with had just brought 250 workers from India, saying that it is too costly in time and money to train local labor. ALL of the mines are internationally owned. We've heard Zambians comment that Zambia is not poor, just the people are poor. There is a good deal of natural resource here. That does not translate to a thriving economy.
We were secretly happy when we arrived and our luggage did not--it meant a visit with our friend Peggy, the South African Airways manager at the Ndola airport. It seems to be a ritual now that we arrive one flight ahead of our bags. Peggy was on it as usual so we left the airport confident we would be back to get our bags off the later flight.
Peggy working to locate our luggage. She truly is one of our favorite people!
Theresa (coordinator of our projects in Zambia) and Veronica (Theresa's assistant) were waiting for us as we cleared customs. Big hugs and smiles! Sadly, our taxi-driver pal, Muyunda is among the missing. Theresa has not been able to get in touch with him, and other local drivers say they have not seen him in a while. We hope he is okay and perhaps has just moved. We are in the market for a new, reliable, charming taxi friend. Muyunda will be hard to replace.
As we went about town doing our get-settled errands (ATM, water, groceries, collecting the items Theresa holds for us between trips), we caught up a bit with Theresa and Veronica. It sounds like the projects in Kantolomba are going along great. When we asked about how the new building is looking, they refused to answer saying it must be a surprise when we go to see it tomorrow. Fair enough. Josephine, one of our key Living Compassion workers in Kantolomba, is due to deliver her baby any day now. Two other of the women--Beatrice and Georgina--are not far behind.
Evaristo, the local genius high school student in Kantolomba, has just returned from Lusaka where he was to meet with the Zambian representative to United World Colleges. This was something set in motion when Magnus, a United World Colleges graduate, was with us last summer. It would be an incredible, two-year post-high school, pre-college educational experience for Evaristo. We have our fingers crossed that the meeting went well.
Loading water into our taxi.
Arriving at Castle Lodge to drop our things was like coming home. Eunice, the manager of the lodge, welcomed us warmly. She joked about an email I had sent saying I hoped the rooms we usually use would be available. "Of course they are available. Those are YOUR rooms. If there is anyone in them I will tell them 'Go. Jen and Dave are coming.'" AND high-speed internet is still running like a charm. No excuse for not getting the blogs to you!
In the lobby at Castle Lodge. Left to right: Eunice, Veronica, Theresa.
Sure enough, 20 minutes after the later flight landed in Ndola, Peggy called to say she had all four of our bags. The woman is a saint. When we arrived to pick them up, she was very concerned about one of Dave's bags. She said it looked to her that it had been tampered with, and she wanted him to look through the contents carefully to be sure everything was there. Turned out what looked like tampering to her was just a very old hand-me-down suitcase with a frayed zipper. "Get a new suitcase," she joked, sighing with relief. "Truly," we told her, "we feel better cared for at this airport than any in the world."
We're back at the ranch now, unpacking, washing dishes, doing a little laundry, cooking dinner and feeling gratitude for being back in our Zambian home. Thanks for being here with us. We will do our very best to make bringing you along on the journey a priority (and to take more photos!).
Our 'kitchen' at the guesthouse.
