Jenna
Muli Shani?! (”Hi, how are you?!” in Bemba- the local language)
To continue on with Sean’s account of our great adventure with Sheila and the great city of Chingola I need to begin with the ride to town- and when I say ride, I mean a turbulent adventure that is both horrifying and wonderful all at once and can only be appreciated by those who have driven around these parts of Africa. We left promptly at 7:30 as Sheila had planned, but not before turning on the tunes in the little car. This morning it was Lady Gaga and Billy Ray Cyrus who sang us down the road. Sheila has such a love for music that she honestly loves every genre you could come up with. It made me laugh that this sweet little old lady was tapping her fingers to a new American pop star singing about getting drunk in a club, losing everything but her name, and just dancing the night away. Sheila has become and expert pot hole dodger from many years on the roads partially washed away in the rainy seasons. Despite her experience, it was a struggle to keep seated and not flail about on top of the other passengers. We talked a bit with Sheila and amongst ourselves and had some laughs, but ultimately thought it would be best if Sheila concentrated solely on the road and we shut our mouths.
This was my first real trip to Chingola and I was so interested at what was happening around every turn. The majority of people walked around and dodged cars zooming past. There were stores and painted advertisements everywhere. Many people in town were dressed in nice clothes or in school uniforms. It was much different than an American city center. Once in Chingola, we went to the Chimfunshi office, met Mary (a secretary of sorts), dropped off our bags, and called Dr. Lungu, the surgeon we hoped to meet. The doctor said he was ready for us to come on down so we piled into the car again and Sheila drove us to the South hospital- also known as the mine hospital as it is a privately run hospital primarily for the workers of the copper mines and their families. We were all excited meet this man from a completely different world that had some of the same interests that we have.
The trip only gets better from here so keep reading to hear what happened next…