Arriving in Ndola Zambia (Day 1)

Well, it took almost 43 hours of travel but team Thorn Clothing has finally arrived. Thankfully the trip went very smooth. It was just very long. I hope my body remembers how to sleep tonight. For the last 2 days I have only managed to sleep in short spurts of 20-30 minutes here maybe an hour there.

This visit to Africa almost stopped before it got started.  Right after landing in Lusaka we were waiting for our ride to arrive and were standing out front of the airport when our photographer Ben started snapping pictures.  One particular picture almost landed us in a Zambian jail.  Apparently you are not supposed to take pictures of government workers or government buildings.  Ben did like anybody might do and took a few photos of a policeman.  Not any policeman.  A policeman holding an AK-47.  

Thankfully he let us go with a warning after watching us delete the photos with an understanding that we take no more pictures.


It's is about 9pm here in Ndola so there is little to see tonight. Kirk, the director of Seeds of Hope International Partnership gave us the tour of the guest house. There are 3 bedrooms and 2 bunk beds per room, which may be tight considering all the stuff we have, but I am so thankful for the rooms and especially a bed! Kirk told us that the Catholic church next door likes to ring their bells every morning (6am I think) which I kind of like. I hope it will be just one of the many memories I keep from this place.


I want to share my brief observation before ending this day. After landing in Lusaka we had to drive about 5 hours up to Ndola and that gave us the opportunity to just observe the land and the people as we drove through various towns and villages. The land is beautiful. Many areas are like pictures of Africa come to life. The people here intrigue me. From their traditional African clothes to the way the women carry baskets of supplies or containers of water on their heads. It seems people walk here the way we in America drive cars. Meaning walking is their most common form of transportation. During the 5 hour drive, rarely did we not see people walking on the side of the road. Sometimes we drove for miles without a break in the traffic of walkers along side the road. I assume they are walking home from whatever activity they had that day, be it work or school. Many of the children with out shoes which leads me to my observation that is somewhat of a question.


Do we apply our own standards of quality of life when we look at other cultures and nations? To see the living conditions or kids without shoes seems to us to be viewing extreme poverty. Now Zambia is a poor nation economically to be sure, but compared to what? Do we as Americans use our American microscope too much when we look at others? 100 years ago if we saw Africans living in grass huts and walking around with no shoes we might view it as cultural differences. Today we seem to apply our standards on other cultures and then make the judgment about whether they are rich or poor. 

Now obviously if a child not having shoes prevents him/her from attending school, the need is clear. My question is not about shoes, but whether we unfairly ascribe our standards to others. Who are we to say who is rich and who is poor, and don't those words go beyond our financial circumstances?


My prayer today is that we can look past this and just see people. God, give us your eyes so we may see Zambians and all people the way you see them.
-Amen