Preparing for departure

Monday 27^th May

Tomorrow morning I will leave Monze and – internet willing – this will be my last post from Zambia this year.

I will travel to Lusaka and stay overnight in a hotel. My flight isn't until 02.10 on Thursday morning and it would be possible to travel to Lusaka on Wednesday. Bus times here are not predictable! You need to allow at least 3 hours just to cope with buses arriving late or coming across hold-ups. From Monze you can only book on the day, so you might have to add another hour or two if the first bus is full. Lets just say it is safer and less stressful to travel the day before!!

However, even if transport could be relied upon I would still choose to spend a day in Lusaka before returning to the UK. As I am sure I have mentioned in previous years, it is a huge culture shock returning to the UK. It is not so much the different environment, it is that people who have not been here and spent time with the people will not understand the situation I try to describe - we live in such different worlds and it's so complicated!! Someone with a smartphone might not know where the next meal is coming from or be able to afford school shoes! Poverty and hunger isn't something that is easy to spot!!

I need a day to prepare me for returning to a world in which I don't fully belong, because we speak different languages. I only touch the surface of the reality of life here. I never go hungry and usually have most of the facilities we in the UK consider essential. In Lusaka I will wander through some of the better areas and see how wonderful life is for some in Zambia. It provides a bit of a bridge and a time to reflect on the past three weeks or so.

Greetings and farewells are very important in Zambia. We were welcoming a new sister to Our Lady of the Wayside – an Indian nun who has already spent some time in the Country. As well as a formal welcome the service was enhanced here and there! At the offertory procession there was a chicken trying to escape from a basket and ladies dancing up the aisle with various goods on their heads – including one lady with a full crate of Coca Cola. I was given a rousing farewell from St. Veronica's and they insist on sending me back with a present for my wife, which will represent a significant cost for them – more than the 20 kwacha (£1.30) they couldn't find between them last week! However in Zambia it would be wrong not to mark such occasions properly.

Yesterday after my day of “prayer” at church and with St. Veronica's Small Christian Community I had a final session of pool to finish my visit properly. Fr. Clement and a young man from the church were my challengers for the evening. It turned out triumphant for me and I finished the evening undefeated! A feat I remember at another final session in 2006 which took place the day after the EU Referendum vote. I'll admit I needed something on which to focus my anger – there was no way I was going to be defeated that night!! Last night I hadn't such anger, but was a bit distracted because my back has been giving me pain for the past few days.

I arrived back home just after midnight!

I will let you know about any adventures on the journey back home and some more reflections on my visit when I return to the UK and find another laptop!

Best wishes,

Chris

P.S. Internet  did not permit!! Hence I am posting this from home!