Kim Blazer

Post #2

Hello all.
Thanks for all the friendly replies.  It’s really nice to hear from you all back in the states.  I can’t believe there’s 12 inches of snow in Chicago/the midwest.  Are you all surviving?  Most days it’s 60 to 80 degrees in Zambia.  I’m in Luanshya which is in northern centeral Zambia in the Copperbelt.  There are two main tribes of people here - the Lamba and the Bimba.  “Muli shani” is how you say “hi” in Bimba in case you were all wondering.  I’m living on a mission compound in a nice house with running water and electricity most of the time.  They do this thing called “load shedding” here where half the country is without electricity for the night so the other half can have it and vice versa.  Last night was our night for no electricity.  It was sort of like camping! Local villages surround our compound.  Villages are composed of one family unit.  The Bimba tribe is a maternal tribe so when son’s marry they move to the wife’s village.  The land here is mostly flat and very green.  It is their rainy season January through March.  February being their most rainy month.  I can pick’em, can’t I? Today, is really nice and sunny though.  But yesterday was a monsoon and all the roads were like rivers and the parking lots like lakes.  It was quite interesting actually. We are visiting local hospitals in the city of Ndola - the 3rd largest city in Zambia - today.  Here there is no in-hospital care.  If you need food or bedside care your family has to do it.  Any medicines you need your family buys and brings to you as well.  Very different from the US.
Well, that’s all for now.
Hope to see you all when I return and hope you’re doing well.
Kim
PS. I can’t send pics over the web while I’m here because they don’t have enough bandwidth to accomodate that.  I’ll have a picture party when I get back.