Drew's African Odyssey - Mwange Refugee Camp, Zambia

A very relaxing few days in Kasama, though not without its problems. I stayed at the American Peace Corps house for the 5 nights and met some amazing people. There was a huge party on Sat. night with Peace Corps coming from all over Zambia to partake. Peace Corps is a really amazing organization, started by President JFK some 40 years ago and working in all but 6 developing countries all over the world (yes, those countries include Iran, North Korea, Libya and Iraq). One of the guys I got along with well, a guy from Ohio, lives in a small village at the Mporokoso turn off to Kasama and works at the primary school around the area, trying to improve their curriculum. All of them live in huts with no electricity, running water or phones… The funny thing about this guy is that he is the total opposite of his living situation. While at the Peace Corps house, he showed me a Britney Spears video in which he stars as a back-up dancer, and he’s constantly singing and dancing around the house. He has a degree in drama and hopes to be an actor one day… What the hell is he doing in Zambia???????

It was so great for me to be able to relate my experiences with Westerners and joke about the quirkiness of Zambia. I also had the chance to speak with my family and found out that Brian, Sasha and Abbie are definitely coming to visit me in Zambia and are booking their tickets this week. I’m SOOOOOOOO excited and I’ve already began planning for our trip…

I also had the chance to check my email for the first time in a couple months and was relieved to receive news from friends Rasmus, Paulo (who worked with me in Geneva and is now with Right to Play in Sierra Leone), Paige, Mom and Dad, Sasha, Colleen, Snouza, Cynthia, Abbie, Uncle Earl and others. Thank you all so much for your words and im trying to get back to you ASAP!! Can you all send me your addresses? Snail mail is much more practical for me…

A lot of my time in Kasama was spent doing little things that should only take a couple of minutes, but take hours or days in Zambia. My bank card and visa won’t work here, so I spent 3 days organizing for money to be sent from Western Union… Too bad the internet lines were down and W.U. couldn’t receive my information that day. Then the next day, little did I know that it was a holiday and everything was closed. Needless to say, my return to Mporokoso was delayed by two days, much to the chagrin of Sophie, who worried we had gotten in an accident. I spent a whole day trying to get a hold of her on the phone, but of course all the phone lines in Mporokoso were either busy or down. I eventually returned on the 26th May.

Posted by: Drew Gardiner / 8:53 AM