Dávid from Zambia – II. Blog Post

Now that Péter and I have "conquered" the cold Antarctica, let's head to a warmer climate, say all the way to Zambia! Welcome to Zambia, Ndola!

I promised this post a little earlier, but in my defense, it's been really hard to adjust to the local lifestyle here – and not because people are in a rush, but because the circumstances are totally different. I'll write more about that later!

Anyway, high-five to everyone! Here's the first photo straight from Zambia, just like I promised.

So... after successfully enduring the more than 30-hour journey of bus, car, and flight, with a layover in Ethiopia, we arrived in Ndola city with all eight of us. After the obligatory paperwork, checks, and visa stamps, we finally got out of the airport (which is about the size of Budapest's Ferihegy airport), and the DAPP team (the organization we're working with) was already there to greet us.

Once we hopped into those authentic safari vehicles, we headed toward our accommodation, which is about a 25-minute drive from the airport. And along the way, we got our first true taste of Zambia: a crazy amount of people everywhere, an insanely fast-paced life, markets, local vendors selling all sorts of things, red sand, scorching heat, beautiful nature, huge cacti and palm trees, women carrying baskets on their heads, mangoes, avocados, lychees, pomegranates, banana trees everywhere... and of course, poverty.

When we arrived at our accommodation, we were warmly welcomed. After introductions, we were shown to our rooms, then had lunch, and everyone could rest. Later that afternoon, the team members from DNS School (International Teacher Training College) arrived, and they headed to Mkushi city (the school's headquarters) to start setting the foundations of their project.

After nearly 12 hours of sleep (Ah, it felt soooo good!), we had a delicious breakfast, got ready quickly, and then headed to the DAPP NHQ (National Headquarters) – basically, the Zambian DAPP Organization's national central office – short version: this will be our workplace for the next 6 months. We met the leaders of the organization and the various ongoing projects, and after attempting to memorize each other's names (which, of course, they had no trouble with ours), we were given a tour of the area. By the end of the tour, our memories were already filled to the brim with an additional 60 names.

Once we finished everything, we got to try one of the first real local dishes – Nshima (basically a type of grits, but prepared a little differently) and Chiwawa (pumpkin leaves cooked in a tomato and onion base). Surprisingly delicious! I'm a meat lover, but I really enjoyed it (since then, I've had it several more times, it was that good).

In the afternoon, the other two members of our team left for Chibombo city to start setting the foundations of their chosen project as well.

The afternoon was declared "rest time," which we were all pretty happy about... Even though we'd had a long nap during the night, we were still very tired from the long journey. But before heading to rest, we went grocery shopping in the downtown area with a few local friends we'll be working with on the project... and of course, something interesting happened, but I'll save that story for the next post!

See you soon!