Captain's Log Star Date 7539. I (yes I am watching Star Trek First Contact right now)

Hey, thought I should write and let you know in detail what I have been up to for the last weekish. I have been craving Timmy Ho's since I left, until tonight caramel coffee…oh sooooooo good! You can put this into the newspaper if you want to that's the other reason for me to be sending this. The internet is very slow and very expensive to use, I won't be getting my email address for a bit so emails will be few but I will do my best.

Well where to start? After leaving my parents at the airport in Toronto to catch my flight to Atlanta I ended up meeting another exchange student also going to Africa. Yes, she was a Canadian and part of Central States as well. We both were very tired from lack of sleep the night before and since it was about 4:30 a.m. that didn't help much either. We boarded the plane full of excitement and nerves. I had not flown in almost 5 years so I was shaking like a leaf. The flight was short only about 2 and a half hours. We had a nice smooth landing in Atlanta and then we had the fun task of getting to our next gate. For those who don't know Atlanta is a very, very big airport. We landed at gate A our plane was to take off from gate E. Not knowing where to go we decided to pull out the Rotary card, ask and if you still don't know sit on your bags and cry. Asking worked for us. We followed the directions the lady gave us but soon had to start reading the signs around the airport to find out where to go. When we asked for directions she said we would have to take the train or walk to our gate. When she said train I really didn't think it would be a real train, well more like a subway. We got there just as the train was leaving so we waited for the next one. We rode it all the way to the end of the line and began to look for our gate. We passed many duty free shops but didn't bother going in we decided to window shop! At our gate we sat down and watched the TV that was on. They had pictures and news broadcasts about 9/11 on. Whata nice thing to see right before a 18 hour flight. Finally the time came for us to board the plane.

The final part of the journey for my friend who would be living in Joburg for the year. As for me after I would leave her I would have a 6 hour lay over there then onto another plane for another 2 and a half hour flight to Ndola, Zambia. The flight made one stop to change crews. They had many different movies on the flight I think I watched all of them at least twice well the interesting ones, like Madagascar, Ice Princess, Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy. I think almost every two hours they were giving us food of some sort. That was when I had my first look at the differences in the way things where packaged. The packaging here is very plain and simple. No fancy designs or pictures just two colours with what it is written on it. The flight was horribly long and my body ached when I got off the plane.

The Joburg airport wasn't as big but was more confusing to get around then Atlanta. Eventually I found my way to the domestic departures area and got checked in and found my gate. I had 6 hours to waste since we got in about an hour early! I decided to sleep a little so I wasn't dead looking when I got off the plane in Ndola. I had two carry-ons with me so I connected my bag to my backpack and wrapped another cord around my wrist so no one would be able to take them while I was sleeping.

You would think that Africa would be hot like very hot but that day it was only 11 degrees when we landed! So every time the doors opened to let people board the bus to catch there plane the cold air would come in and I would begin to freeze. I can see the headlines now "Canadian Frozen In Africa!" I managed to get some sleep and finally it was time to catch the bus to get my plane to Ndola. I began to talk to a person on the bus that had actually been to Zambia before and was on my flight as well. He gave me some tips and warnings about what I might encounter. I listened carefully because this was the first person I had ever met that had actually spent some time in my new country.

Our flight like I said before it was only a 2 and half hours so it went by fast.  When we were landing I got thefirst glimpse of what small African towns looked like. The thoughts that ran through my head where, "What have I gotten myself into?" and "Why Africa?". I began to get worried that I made a mistake about choosing this country. We landed smoothly on the runway which I was hoping wasn't grass,which it wasn't. As we all began to get off the plane I set foot onto my new home, the person I had been talking to before said "Welcome to Africa".I collected my bag and proceeded to follow him into the terminal which is not much bigger then the one we have in Wawa. I was greeted by Sherry Coleman, my councilor for the year. We got my visa all set on a tourist visa which expires in 60 days until I can make the trip to Lusaka, Zambia's capital, to sign for my student visa.

We then went and collected the rest of my baggage and met Colin, Sherry's son. To Luanshya we went. The roads between Ndola and here are very poor. It made for a bumpy ride but the sights I saw were those that I don't think I could ever forget. One of the first things I saw was a lady carrying sticks on her head while walking down the street. Its one thing to see it in a picture but its another to see it in person with your own two eyes. Grass fires are a common thing here as well. People are afraid of snakes, who wouldn't be when most of them can kill you, so they burn the grass. This isn't the normal everyday grass that would see in your back yard. This grass can grow to be like 8 feet high and it is thick in the rainy season. So instead of cutting it they burn it so it is easier to see snakes and other creatures and to protect themselves. These fires are controlled and have a very distinctive smell to them. Almost every night when I got to bed I can smell the burning grass or other material that would be burning near by. The forest between the two towns has nearly been all but down for heat, shelters, and again protection for critters. There is one tree between Ndola and Luanshya that has survived it was the slave tree. This tree was where tribes would sell people to others,this tree is still standing. There was a fence around it but someone stole the fence for whatever reason.

There are check points on the roads and at these road blocks there are police with large guns. For a girl coming from a place where I haven't seen a gun in person ever this was a little freaky. Even if you walk around town you will see military and police with AK-47s just standing or walking around. It is just something that is very common here, there are there for your protection. When we finally made the half an hour car ride to Luanshya I had been traveling for just over 24 hours. Almost all homes here have large walls for protection around them. At the Coleman's they have a wall but at the top there is shards of glass so if anyone tries to get over they will be in a lot of pain. They also have three dogs. Two of them being good sized rotties, no one will be trying to get over the wall there. They are friendly dogs when you get to know them. Once at home I was brought to where my room is. As we walked in Sherry said "oh don't mind those they are harmless" I looked up at the wall and there was a gecko. Funny enough I have at least one in my room almost every day. My day isn't complete unless I see a gecko or two! They also seem to like to leave me little "presents". In the last four days I have had two gecko eggs right beside my bed on the table. Its nice to know I'm loved.

I met my Rotary Club that night as well. They were all so happy to meet me and all have a very good sense of humor, almost everything can be made into a joke when the time is right. Everything and I mean everything is different there, from the greetings to the food to the atmosphere of everything. That probably sounded really confusing but it is one of those things that you would have to see to really understand.

Security is tight everywhere because if its not nailed or tied down it will get stolen and even if it is if you leave it out of your sight for even a second some one will somehow get it off and steal it. I went to the market shortly after arriving here and I noticed many differences in the way things work. You can't bring bags into the store you must leave give them to an employee who will put them into a room for you and you go and pick it up when you done. The registers all have cages above the drawer so you can't try to reach over and steal money out of the till. Before you leave there will be someone at the door to check you bag and look at the receipt to make sure you didn't steal anything. Most things that are imported here like Kellogs cereal are extremely expensive. The people here are very friendly and always want to help you out, some it's for money but most its just because that's the way they are. You have to be careful walking around because there are people that will take advantage of you, even more so if you're white. Once they see you they think you have money and see you as a free ticket to a better country.

Many people have trouble speaking English because it could be there second or third language. Many children here can not read, its very sad to see a child in grade 7 that can't read at all. That's why some organizations have set up correspondence classes for children and run programs to help kids learn to read. My parents told me before I left that I would have to speak slower and more clearly for people to understand me and they where right. Some of the words I use people here don't understand. I had to explain what humid was and wow my brain hurt after that it wast ough just to try to describe the feeling and so on. I also realized that peoples names here are pretty hard to pronounce and they feel the same way about mine as well.

The wildlife that I have seen has scared me. No cute elephants and lions yet for me. You have to go to a game park to see anything like that. I have gotten used to the geckos in my room but one morning I walked out of my room and saw a spider the size of my hand! Of course I am terrified of spiders back home now to see one that size made me start to shake luckily Colin was in the hallway when I saw it and he killed it for me.  He keeps on telling me that I am exaggerating about the size but this thing was huge! Later that day they told me that I don't have to worry about the spider I saw but the smaller, black, fuzzy spiders because they bite. Well, guess what I saw when I was going to bed that night on my curtain? A little black fuzzy spider! So I picked up my sandal and hit the blinds as hard as I could I really don't know and don't want to know where it went but I didn't see it again.

My body has gotten used to the time difference pretty quickly! I'll go to bed at 9:30 p.m. I know yeah early but this small town has not night life! Then I will be awake normally by 6:30ish. (Don't put that in please kinda jumpy just wanted you to know). I went and saw the Rotary Club's centennial project a couple of days ago.They dug bore holes so that people could get water. This project was done in partnership with the Saint Albert Rotary Club from Alberta, Canada. While there I actually saw the REAL Africa. Children ran behind the cars we were in as soon as they saw us. Once we got out there were at least 50 kids looking at Colin and I if we were to stand still they would slowly get closer until they were practically on top of you. I had on girl come up to me as I was talking and touch my hand she scared me so I jumped and all the kids started to laugh. All they wanted to do was to touch your hand or leg or anything they could reach. If you wanted to take a picture of someone you would have to have a local person come with you and ask the people if it was okay to take their picture. As soon as I pulled out the camera kids started to run towards me so they could be in it while many others have been told by their parents to run away if someone tries to take there picture. These are the real children of Africa. These are the kids you see on TV that have no food, water, clean clothes anything at all. The only difference is the kids you see on TV always look so sad theses kids were happy to have what they have. Many of them are lucky to eat even once a day, have more then one pair of clothes, to even have shoes. Yet they are still happy having nothing because they don't know any differently. This hit me and hit me hard. It really makes you think about what makes you mad and what we take for granted just because it is always there. For example your internet goes down and you can't check your email or talk to your friends or your cable goes out and you can't watch your favorite TV show.These things mean nothing. These kids don't eat or have clean water and yet they are still happy. So when you get a chance to help someone else that is less fortunate then you are help them as much as you can. Also when you think you have it bad and your life so to say sucks just please think ofthese children that have nothing. I also saw things that you would see in a National Geographic! There was this little girl carrying another little child on her back, the smaller one was tied onto her back with a piece of fabric. It was a perfect picture but I didn't have anyone around to ask her for me, but it is in my head and again something I will not forget.

I was allowed to attend a "kitchen party", which is the equivalent to a bridalshower. This is where you give the bride and groom different things that they can use in their home so they won't be in debit when they start off their lives together. This was a very traditional party. I was one of very very few white people there and I was glad that I wasn't sitting in the sun or other wise I thought I would have blinded the person sitting across from me! I was able to see some true African traditions. Aside from feeling like an alien on a totally different planet, my short time spent here so far is going well. Many people ask me what I think of Zambia so far and I honestly can't say much because I've been here for such a short time. The difference out weight the similarities by far, again its one of those you have to see it to believe it type of things. Even from being here for such a short time so far my views on many things have changed. I have always been interested in helping people but not as much as I do right now. After seeing the children and seeing some of the country, I realize how fortunate we are to live were we do.

Well that's all I have to say for today… I'll do my best to send emails once a month for the newspaper and so you know what I'm up to. This is probably the longest email you will get from me EVER! Its just everything is so new and different that I want to tell you about it in some kind of detail…I may have missed some things but will fill you in when I get home if I ever want to come home…lol….jk…I'll go through all my books and pick out things you may want to hear about!

Well till the next time I email you, have a good time doing whatever you're doing and I'll talk to you later! Love you tons! Shalenipo (Stay well…Bemba) <- must be in the paper please. Court.

Patrick & Sherry Coleman
P.O. Box 90010
Luanshya Zambia Africa
tel:(h)260-2-510033(o)260-2-512539
or 260-2-512359 fax: 260-2-510718
cell: 260-096-780112 or 260-096-780113