The country was on fire as I flew out from Lusaka, must of been 100
brush fires burning in the bush in the surrounding lands around the
city, with the termite mounds standing up like burned out chimneys in
the middle. After the pilot's amusing struggle with the aircraft
controller's accent in order to get off the ground (it's a good thing
Lusaka International isn't that busy) we did make it out here with
little incident, and as you get closer the fires gave way to the green
of the game park and the area of Mukinge. They built the hospital here
because of the abundance of water in the area. As you fly in, you
approach two low green hills, and then a patch of white as the hospital
peeks out between the trees. In the dry season, the trees that were
planted around the hospital flower, so as you hike you can always pick
out the station by the blaze of color amidst the green.
I settled in with the requisite words of wisdom from the staff who has
been here longer -- beat the grass for snakes at night, unplug your
computer when the lightning storms come, enjoy the mangoes while they
are in season -- has been easier than expected. My accommodations,
while not large, are plenty sufficient for me, and the hospital is
surprisingly roomy after my experience in Rwanda. I have a lovely
grenadilla vine growing up my screen door, but the fight against the
daddy-longlegs seems to be never ending. I did suffer the
disappointment of my fan breaking as soon as I got to Mukinge, but the
beginning of the rainy season is really a good time for that to happen,
not too hot, in the 80's. Other than that, life in Africa has been as
expected -- the phone lines are down, there's a gas shortage so my stove
doesn't work, and there's no electricty for three days after the most
recent storm. Hopefully the power will be back on today. I'm hiking
into town (about an hour) to go to the local phone company office to see
if I can get on my dial-up there.
Send recipes and eggplant seeds.
No comments:
Post a Comment