SPECIAL DAYS:

Rose, the zone leader from Magramonde, took my out one day to visit her family and some of the clients. Rose lives with her daughters and grandchildren, one of whom is in a home for the Deaf and Dumb paid for by The Presentation Sisters. My day with her was one of my best. I walked with her all the way to her home, where some of the clients had gathered to see me. I was really chuffed. We sat around the fire and they each introduced themselves to me, Then, I told them a little about my life. The people are shamelessly direct, which I really liked but wasn’t used to. Irish people *never* say what they mean. They asked me to stay. I said I couldn’t. They asked me to come back. I said I’d try. They told me that all they needed was a small amount of start up resources and they’d be able to maintain self-sustaining business. I nodded like an idiot.

I was ‘introduced’ to the community during the three hour mass one Sunday, which was completely surreal. And there was an extra long mass celebration for Parish Day, with visitors from the outstations (which are like compounds, but farther away). Esther Pierre, sporting saviour of Zambia, and some sort of a boxing champion had a big fight on and we all cheered her on to victory.

Other nights were just plain surreal. The night we stayed up drinking Tia Maria, listening to Daniel O’Donnell and packing pills for the patients the next morning stands out in particular.

I was unemployed in Africa for a while too. The Boss went away for a conference and I was left to mind the house. I did a lot of computer lessons that week. Assembling the new computer and teaching some of the locals the basics. That opened my eyes, we really take technology for granted here.

THE ORPHANAGE

I visited the local orphanages too, to see the babies of clients who had died or were unable to care for them. The sheer scale of it was heart-breaking: so many babies, toddlers and young kids cared for by a big, dynamic Maeve Binchy-esque woman who hugged me like a lost child when I arrived. If there were ever a place to send money, orphanages are it.

THE HOSPITAL

The hospital was a rough day too. It was tiny given the population it treats, and the doctors were very over stretched.  People, rather flippantly, say that we’ve a third world system here. They need a serious reality check. This is a hospital with children under the beds. You have to bring your own food (and cook it in the dirty yard outside), or go hungry. They ran out of anesthetic and all operations had to be stopped.  I was there during ‘cold season’ which meant that there were a lot of burn injuries to kids. With few painkillers, they were forced to have their wounds cleaned yelping with the pain. There was another boy of about 12 who seemed to have broken his leg. There were no wheelchairs, crutches, or splints, meaning that he had to walk on it. Again, there were no painkillers. You could wait for hours and then be told that the hospital was out of medicine. You could wait for hours and not be seen.

FAITH

Faith was very important, both to clients and The Presentation Sisters in their work. Mass was a real celebration of faith, mixed with the congregation singing, dancing, drumming and taking part in processions and spear dancing. Mass was exciting. Three hours long, but entertaining and everyone was involved.

THE PRESENTATION SISTERS:

They were, in a word, amazing. They’ve been off saving the world for years, and no-one knows. The work they do is amazing. Their attitude is exemplary, they’re an example to us all.

MY AFRICAN ROADTRIP:

Having finished work, I had a few days to do the tourist thang. I travelled to Livingstone, which was about two hours from where I was based, to see the Victoria Falls and some of Zambia’s prime tourist attractions. The falls were awesome, in the original sense of the word. Again, the pictures describe it far better than I ever could. Epic.  Crossing the footbridge, the force of the water propelled steam upwards as if it were raining from below. When the sunrays hit the water, rainbows spiraled beneath us. I have never felt so small and insignificant as I did by the Falls.  I got drenched and loved it.

En route to the falls, we ran into a herd of elephants who were having a wash in the nearby river. There could have been 60 of them, from babies to huge ones, in their natural habitat. Gorgeous..  The Vic Falls were surrounded by monkeys too. They were well used to people and would come right up to you if they thought there was food in it for them. I met two Irish priests that day too. You think the world is so big, but you’re never far from a thick Dublin accent.

We took in the Museam too, which had a big tribute to explorer David Livingstone- the first white man to see the ‘Masi Tuni’ which translates as ‘The Thundering Smoke’, the Tongan name for the Vic Falls.

On my penultimate day, I made the journey from Kalomo to Lusaka. Roadtrip. Amazing. We spent the day traveling through breath-taking scenery and the game park, stopping at each of the Presentation Houses en route meeting a youth group from Belfast along the way. We arrived in Lusaka as night fell. It was one of those days truly awesome days. A day that will never be repeated. The perfect conclusion to my time in Africa.

The trek home was long and exhausting. All the more so, due to my reluctance to leave. But Africa’s not going anywhere, and I’m determined to get back there.

GO!:

You really should go to Africa. I’ve fallen in love with the place. I’m gonna get back there someday and in the mean time, I’m gonna watch it all from here. Go to Africa. It has to be seen. It’s a whole other world that is so worthy of exploration. Do yourself a favour, and go see it for yourself.

Generally, the consensus on Africa is in the ‘poor them’ vein of things. How wrong we are! What the people I met lack in material possessions, comforts, luxuries and extravagancies, they make up for in faith, human kindness, good humour and amazing smiles. They say that we in the West have so much. Sometimes I wonder, do we?  A fresh perspective on that continent is needed.  They need neither pity nor charity, they need justice. There’s so much more to it than sad ads on the telly. Do yourself a favour and go see for yourself.

More tomorrow.