Donald of Zambia.

I start the draft of my first blog as I am sitting in the Ethiopian Airlines ticketing office in Lusaka, Zambia at 10:30pm- awaiting assistance after sitting here all day and missing my flight that left at 3:10pm. 

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Donald of Zambia 

What I thought would be just a two-hour lunch excursion from Ethiopia turned into an 11-hour day at the Lusaka airport with many twists and turns. I should’ve gotten on the initial flight- a wash. I should’ve had a hectic loop to Europe and back to end the trip- a Kenya airways eight-hour delay on a flight to Nairobi made that a wash as well. 

this time and restlessness I experienced unexpectedly on this day, however, forced me into a thinking space I may not have reached without these circumstances.

every place you go is extremely different: with extremely different people, with extremely different lives and extremely different ideoligies, cultures, and morals. Things I have learned to respect.

I only had an hour actually in Zambia as in time outside of the airport. I didn’t go on a safari. I didn’t go to Victoria Falls. And I honestly did not even get the slightest opportunity to learn about the culture. 

Something I very much did get to experience was Donald; a born and raised and true Zambian. 

I will admit, I have a problem with taxi drivers; this may change in the future but as of now, based on past experiences, I do not really care for them and try to use ride-sharing apps whenever I can. Bad attitudes, little care or respect towards the passenger(s), and the combined amount of money getting scammed of being almost $300 in just two rides in Serbia and Georgia are all factors that can add to my reasons for this conclusion of taxis really not being my thing. 

The lack of internet connection in Zambia, and therefore, the lack of the ability to use the unique and one-off ride sharing app of Zambia, ironically called Ulendo-Taxi, and further having what little time I had already; I somewhat reluctantly approached Donald. I informed him that I just wanted to visit the waterfall mall, which I had used a two-minute google search in Rwanda the day before to find, to have lunch. He allowed me to go exchange some of my US Dollars into kwacha, accepted my request, and actually offered a fairly decent price. 

Getting his name and very quickly getting to know him at least passed the extremely general and normal passenger to taxi-driver conversation, I informed him that my flight leaving Lusaka and back to Addis Ababa was only in an hour and thirty-five minutes. He was very alarmed at first because he knew I had just arrived and was fresh out of customs when he first saw me. However, after finding out about my job, how this is possible, and my further extremely abnormal and odd travel desires, he then offered to wait for me to eat, finish my lunch, and then take me back to the airport for the same fairly reasonable price as on the way there. I graciously accepted his offer and he was then extremely excited to be able to help me and be apart of my small and odd mission of coming to Zambia simply for a lunch. 

We arrived at the mall and I opted for the hole-in-the-wall fast food resturant called “the hungry lion” rather than KFC, which was right next door and I think I remember us having a few of those back in the states. I ordered the most basic spicy chicken sandwhich possible due to the time crunch, patiently awaited losing my hungry lion virginity, and before even truly breathing in the beautiful air in which waterfall mall had to offer, my sandwhich was properly scarfed and it was already time to return to Kenneth Kaunda International Airport. 

Donald knew the crunch that time was currently and drove as calm as possible while also as fast as possible down the airport road in efforts to help me make this flight that I, essentially, had no other choice but to catch. After some small talk, asking him about small simple things and then telling him about some of my other journies throughout the year that i’ve experienced - we began to approach the official outskirts of the airport’s territory. This was the pivital moment in which Donald handed me his business card and offered me a ride to and from the airport whenever I needed and even if I had my family with me as well whenever I found my way back into Lusaka. This was something that honestly does not seem too far fetched or insane in terms of what he offered- at the surface, he is a taxi driver and he offered to drive me in his taxi some more one day if i’m ever back. his job. However, this was a moment I had personally not gotten to have in my travels before. An actual genuine taxi driver who cared about me, where and in what time I needed to get somewhere, and even about my family he doesn’t even have a clue about.

I will always keep this moment with me. This is still the same trip in that is my very first time in Africa- which before coming I had been warned about going here solo and that it was very different than any other place I had been to; and I knew that that wasn’t entirely true for everywhere in the continent and am still aware there very much are places to always stay vigilant about here; but it was the first time I truly felt I could be at ease here at least more to a degree than I imagined before. That was a big moment feeling that way, because now I know I can feel that way in the future. And this happened relatively quickly as well at only about 42 hours into my experience on the continent; I’d say that is pretty telling and any advice I have to squander is to always go experience things as much as you can yourselves before denouncing something else as for-certain. The gain of knowledge, experiences, and the making of new friends or aquqintences, good or bad, is absolutely eminent.

The funny ending to this day and story is that Donald did everything he could to assist me in getting back to the airport in the most prompt way- in which he did! 

But I still missed the flight, which I spoiled in the beginning portion of this. That further goes to show that even when effort and desires are at the most high and definite, it does not guarentee success. However, getting discouraged from a bad result is the best way to keep the next outcomes similar. 

Me missing the flight does not at all change the moment Donald offered me- which is almost the first big message I want to illustrate in this innagural blog. 

And I guess the universe needed me to check out what the Lusaka airport had to offer in the grand scheme of things; I did get a pretty cool bracelet and sausage roll.

Until tomorrow, the return to Ethiopia and hopefulness of catching a quick connection to Lomé, Togo. 

The first of West Africa.