We started off our morning by packing up and waiting for Pastor Hartmann to kindly pick us up. Asher relayed to us a story he heard from a woman who worked at the hostel. Her sister had given birth the morning before, so she was at the hospital and somehow heard about a woman in the room next door. The baby she had given birth to was born with some deformities, so the doctors killed it and told the mother the baby died in childbirth. I feel sick writing that sentence. The thing is that it wasn’t really a big deal. Because of the history of witchcraft in the country, babies with abnormalities were often killed because of the fear of demons. There is a tremendously strong presence of the Christian church in Zambia, but there is still an underlying belief and participation in witchcraft.
Pastor Hartmann picked us up and before leaving Livingstone showed us the local Zambian markets. This was interesting because we’ve seen all the other markets that are more expensive and really only designed for tourists and were just wondering where the locals get their products. There was fish, chicken, and other meat all over on various tables and buckets. Clothes from America and Europe were hanging up and every item you can imagine was found in there. Bike seats, soap, and even vitamins are examples of things we saw. The vitamins are interesting – they looked like chunks of rocks that you’re apparently supposed to gnaw on.
We stopped at Pastor Hartmann’s house and got the grand tour. His house is amazing. It’s not a mansion or anything, but the layout, decorations, and overall appearance is so gorgeous. His wife, who is an artist, designed the layout and much of the art is painted by their kids. My apartment is going to be so sad in comparison.
Along the way, we saw some interesting things. Villages made of primarily of mud huts, about ten people squeezed into a pick-up truck along with a couple pigs, cows, and goats, and some schools. In Livingstone, we passed their University of Technology or something close to that name. The university was a couple of sheds with broken windows. We couldn’t help but wonder what kind of technology was used there. This was good for me to see because it made me realize how much of a city Lusaka really is. It’s certainly not the typical life for most Zambians. I’d like to venture out more into the villages sometime.
We got back just in time for church. We quickly changed and hustled over to the church to practice with the choir. Our song for the evening was “Lord, I Lift Your Name on High.” Unfortunately for me, there was some choreography/dancing to go along with it. This is to be expected in African churches but certainly not something I’m used to (shocking, I know). Right before we were supposed to sing, the power went out. Rachel and I quietly celebrated our good fortune and sang the first ten seconds of the song happily and without any self-consciousness. Then, literally five seconds before the refrain and the dancing started, the lights came back on. So everyone was able to witness me trying to dance and sing at the same time. I’m sure it was very nice and pretty.
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