Quotable Jeff R.
“Zambia needs to start importing responsibility and start exporting power.”
Archive for March, 2009 — Page 2
A Couple Interesting Moments
The first was a time that I was riding in a car with Mwewa, one of our Zambian Directors for Zambikes. We were on the road returning to town and we had to stop to pick up the Canter, our big flatbed truck that we own. We stopped on the side of the road at around 3pm to wait for the truck to come, and as Mwewa turned the car off, there was no noise but the Great Noise. The Great Noise of nature that feels like silence but includes the birds and insects that one would expect from Africa. I’m used to silence at night when I’m out camping or something, but it was very strange to be only 10 kilometers out of the capital city of Zambia and for there to be that kind of natural silence during the day. It was a little surreal and it reminded me that I’m in an interesting place, doing interesting things. I feel like I’m getting to a point in my time here that I am getting into a routine, so it was a nice event.
The second occurrence(s) worth noting was my first and second times driving in Zambia. Both times have been out of necessity, and both times I didn’t do anything too stupid. The first time I drove Zambikes’ newest car, a brand new Isuzu 4-door manual transmission pickup truck, through one of the poorest areas of Lusaka to one of our bike races. There was nobody else to drive and so I did it without stalling or getting stuck in mud or freaking out in a traffic circle (which they have a lot of instead of big major traffic lights). The second time I drove was right when we picked up the Canter. We were in Lusaka West, near our farm and I drove to our shipping company’s office to talk with them, and then I drove in rush hour all the way across town through the heart of Lusaka to our place in the North East part of Lusaka. I was really proud to be driving on the other side of the road and to fit in so well. I even joked around with a guy walking through the lanes of traffic when I was at a red light. He was trying to sell me a Rolex watch for $200 and I told him in my best Zambian accent that I had a clock on my phone and when he said that he had one too but I still needed a watch to look good, I said that he was the one who needed a watch more than me.
…Not funny as I recount it, but when these guys are expecting a muzungu (white person) to have tons of money and to be dumb enough to buy stuff like that and then I respond in a decent accent to joke with him, it ends up being funny.
Zambian Nugget Of The Day: Traffic lights here are called robots. I laugh every time someone calls one a robot out loud.
