Fam to Zam

This week my two families united. My family from Zambia and my family from the United States. This meeting came at then end one of the most challenging months of my life. This month was unintentionally spent away from my host family. For very many reasons the arrival of my American family, as I have started calling them—my parents, Mitchell, and Dylan—was just the medicine I needed after a whirlwind of a month.

Seeing people you love after you’ve been apart for a long time is a very interesting experience. You get nervous as you expect them, but then before you know it, being together is like nothing changed. But some things have changed. Brothers grow another few inches and tell mature jokes and boyfriends are more sweet than ever, not afraid to show you how much they’ve missed you. J

Their trip started out with a bang on their first morning as our hefty Toyota minibus got stuck in the Zambian mud after a long night’s worth of rain. It made us late to meet the Tembos, but it didn’t stop us from having a lovely afternoon at a botanical garden and zoo.

The next day, my dad expertly drove the bus with its additional YAV passengers six hours south to Livingstone. Dylan, Mitchell, and I survived with minimal whiplash from the many nearly invisible speed bumps. We enjoyed high tea and drinks at the Royal Livingstone Hotel on New Years Eve and loved seeing our first wild animals including zebra, giraffe, and impala. We rang in the New Year under a grass hut as it rained around us at our lodge.

The next day the Wisconsinites took a bus, a boat, and then another bus into Botswana to enjoy a river and land safari at Chobe National Park. It is amazing to see strong, beautiful, even dangerous animals out in the wild. I’ve seen many in zoos before, but it’s quite striking to realize that if you get out of the safari vehicle there really is nothing—no glass or cage—between you and a crocodile, hippo, giraffe, buffalo, elephant, or impala (to name a few of the majestic creatures we saw!) We also got the experience of a safari in pouring rain, which was actually quite interesting to see the habits of animals in a downpour. As roads turned into rivers, things got a bit uncomfortable cruising at 50 mph with pelting raindrops coming at your face!

The next day the real adventure began as we took what seemed to be advertised as a nice walk out to Livingstone Island, a stretch of land near the strongest current leading over Victoria Falls. This turned into a near dangerous but exhilarating trek where we had to hold hands to balance ourselves over slippery rocks and rushing waters, too close for comfort to the edge of the raging falls.. We got to swim in the Devil’s Pool where a rock formation under the water provides a seat to sit literally at the edge of the falls. My arm could stretch over the edge. Our feet survived the biting fish, but my parent’s camera did not survive the trip! We ended the day with a beautiful hike around the Zambia side of the falls to really see the view.

Back in Lusaka two days later, I took my people to church at the Chawama prayer house. As the first Sunday after the New Year, the congregation was extremely lively. People often talk quite seriously about how thankful they are just to live another year. The service lasted for almost four hours and included the debut of my gospel hip hop song I’ve been working on and two songs with the Mighty Angels Choir that I actually knew the words and movements to! Of course I had no idea I was performing anything before I got there, but remaining flexible is a constant lesson here. I was so happy my family could see some of the beautiful music that has come out of my beautiful relationships here.

In addition, Rev. Tembo welcomed my parents, Mitchell, and Dylan personally in front of the whole church. The family got many hoots and hollers and dad even appeased them with a booty shake. They felt welcome and I felt whole as two of my families came together. Later, the Wisconsinites finally got to try nshima and heard about engagement and wedding traditions in Zambia from the master storyteller, Rev. Tembo (using Dylan and I as an example of course…)

The next day I was quite nervous about cooking and hosting a lunch at my school so the teachers could meet my family. I didn’t know if I had purchased the right ingredients and I knew I would need to rely on the help of my host sister, Precious. As soon as we got there, Precious and her cousin dove right into cooking and directing my mom and I around the kitchen. They boys enjoyed a walk around Chawama with Rev. Tembo and got to see the crowded Monday market in full swing. We prepared a large table in a classroom and served about 18 people, including the Tembo family. When I asked Mitchell what one of his favorite moments of the trip was, he said meeting and befriending my friend Stephen outside the school. The two guys just a few years apart got to talk about lots of differences in culture.

With only a week and a day, I think my family got a perfect Zambian experience. Rev. Tembo now calls them family, is speculating on where they are in their flight home at the moment, and won’t stop talking about how much he misses them. They got to see the natural beauty of Zambia and the urban, dynamic life in Chawama. They also got to know the other YAVs and Kari, Joel and and Sherri, now collectively our site coordinators.

The last month now feels quite surreal. Did all that just happen? But as is sometimes the case, the surreal sometimes helps you better understand the real.  Having this experience alone in Chawama sometimes leaves me wondering if all this is actually happening. Is this my real life? But now that I’ve gotten to share it with people I love, and somehow things feel more concrete. Now my family has a reference point for this experience that is transforming me. Now that they are gone, I miss them terribly, but what an adventure to share!