Safe Arrival in Lusaka
Greetings from Lusaka, Zambia. I arrived in Lusaka this afternoon 1430 Lusaka time (3:30 am Seattle time). It is a balmy 82 F. Officers of the Church of Central Africa (CCAP) met me; friends from previous trips. After we caught up on some news from both sides of the Atlantic, my hosts left me to unpack and try to stay awake as long as I can before I crash for the night. Here’s a recap…
I left Tacoma on Friday, a cool and wet day. I flew Emirates Airline to Dubai, had an overnight layover in Dubai, and then flew out this morning to Zambia. We flew a mere 14 hours on Friday (I anticipated a 15 hour flight). I sat in my preferred spot, a window seat, and enjoyed an empty seat next to me. Emirates had a large selection of movies as well as delicious Middle Eastern food. With a 6 hour nap, the time sped by and I landed in Dubai feeling refreshed. I also enjoyed the warm 91F dry heat, ahhhh.
Don’t be too concerned about an overnight in Dubai. Emirates offers free hotel and meal vouchers if one’s layover is more than 8 and less than 24 hours. The drawback, Dubai’s location places it 11 hours ahead of Seattle time. My comfy 6 hour nap ended only 6 hours before I needed to go to bed. That is why I wrote this portion of my email at 3 am Dubai time ot 4 pm Seattle time. The food is good at the hotel and allows me to continue the Mediterranean diet Machelle and I began several weeks ago.
Up early to catch my flight to Lusaka. Again, I sat in a window seat with the middle seat empty for the 7 hour flight. I am going on 40+ hours with 6 hours of sleep.
Tomorrow I plan to see some more friends, visit some schools and hopefully see at least one Strengthening Children group. On Tuesday, I will train some of my more promising trainees from last spring and summer. I hope to equip them to train others in the Strengthening Children curriculum Machelle and I wrote. It is a resilience curriculum covering emotion understanding/recognition, emotion regulation, problem-solving, and the beginning of a trauma/traumatic grief narrative. The trainers and I will then train the community school teachers in the curriculum on Wednesday and Thursday. On Friday several members of the CCAP Synod officers and Nancy Collins out Presbyterian USA contact in Zambia will visit the University Teacher Hospital’s child abuse center. The CCAP is developing policies for responding to child abuse/neglect and are keen to see what this newly developed center is doing. On Friday I will travel to Eastern Province, a 10 hour drive. More on that later.
Peace, Bob