July 11th (Wednesday)

The day started around 6:15am, without fail the roosters were waking us to begin the day. The last day in Zambia! We were all ready with our suitcases and bags by the door for Dr. Ros when she so kindly came at 7am to pick us up and bring all of our luggage to the hangar. Chris and Alison had flown to a nearby mission station, Dipalata, to pick up Betty a longtime worker and nurse who also needed to go to the capital. We went back to Kariba (which is just a short walk away). We took some pictures with Jack and Kayumbo because Fiona missed being apart of it yesterday.

It is a Wednesday morning so there was a teaching session going on. Dr. Ros was leading it. We waited by her truck until it was over and to wait for everyone to come to the hospital for the day so we could say goodbye. Then who do we see walk by first but Tiffany! She had made it back to Chitokoloki late last night on the bus. We chatted with her for a bit and said goodbye. She told us that she needed to hurry as there was an emergency C-section. Then shortly after Dr. McAdam and Dr. Lipsi came along and we said bye to them as the needed to go perform the surgery and save another life (x2!) We then saw Dr. Ros and said our goodbyes to her as she had to go see her patients on the children’s ward and do quick rounds in the other wards as everyone else had rushed off to do the emergency C-section.

We then walked over to the hangar to wait for Chris, Alison, and Betty to return so that we could load up and fly to the capital to begin our long journey back to Canada. As we waited Gordon and Ruth arrived at the hangar shortly followed by Dorothy, Janice, Joey, and Owen to see us off! That was really nice that they came to say goodbye. Except some of them also had come to give a list of things to Chris to get for them when he was in Lusaka, haha!

As we waited for the plane to return we were all looking in the very clear blue African sky with hardly a wisp of clouds, just waiting for the first glimpse of the little plane. We then heard the low drone of the plane motor and then… I saw it! I pointed ahead in the sky and said “I see them!” Gordon looks and says, “where?” I simply respond, “in the sky.” Everyone laughed, I hadn’t meant to be funny or vague, it just was my immediate response, ahaha! But Dorothy responds matter-of-factly to Gordon, “You can’t see it because the wind sock is in the way.” Then the plane was coming in for landing. Chris touched down and circled around and came into the hangar. Owen was so excited pointing at the plane and squealing out, “Uncle Chris!” Chris, Alison, and Betty climbed out of the plane and Gordon and Chris began to load the plane with luggage and other items as they discussed what Chris needed to get in Lusaka, Dorothy gave him the shopping list. The rest of us talked while they readied the plane to fly.

Janice took some pictures of the 3 of us in front of the plane and I tried to capture the people who came to see us off and who have become like family during our time here. Always making sure we were cared for and who made some special memories with us that will last a lifetime. It was then time to say bye and give some hugs and thank you’s. We were so thankful to be treated so kindly and to learn so much during this incredible experience and they told us that they were thankful for our help during our time here. The 3 of us shared the sentiment that we hadn’t been able to help as much as we wished we could have (they had to teach us a lot before we could really assist them). They assured us that we helped a lot and we were happy to hear it.

I got in first, I was in the back sitting beside the luggage and I didn’t get headphones, there wasn’t enough, (they are used to block out the noise of the plane’s engine during flight). It gets really loud. Betty and Fiona were in the middle and Nicole sat next to Chris in the front of the plane. Alison handed us all candy canes for the flight which was really nice.

Then before we knew it, we were off, leaving the place we called home for the past 5 weeks. Where we bonded with people as we experienced a great many intense and challenging as well as happy and amazing things together. We had seen people die, people give birth, children play even while sick, and a child cry as she had lost the majority of her hearing and sight. We immunized children to protect them for the future, we spoke their language to the local people in the area (only a few words), but how their faces lit up when we said words they could understand! Unforgettable -that’s an understatement what this trip would be for us, for me.

As we were flying it felt like a long 3 hours looking down at the African bush, broken only by the occasional plume of smoke as people burned off the dry grass, as is their tradition during the dry season. I closed my eyes and prayed. So very thankful for all the people I met, praying for each one. Thankful for the experiences I had and all the things I learned. Thankful for safety throughout our trip and probably as we hit more turbulence and were decreasing altitude coming into Lusaka, I prayed for a safe landing! There wasn’t a lot to do in the 3 hours as it is so loud that it makes it extremely difficult to converse with the other passengers beyond mouthing a few words. So I dozed on the flight. As we were experiencing turbulence I felt as though I was on the Drop Zone or some other amusement park ride where your stomach feels as though it has dropped out of your body. This happened a couple of times when coming in to land. I began to feel nauseous after it happened a few times. Praying that I wouldn’t lose my breakfast. Thankfully, I held on and we landed without incident and taxied on the tarmac where Chris parked the little plane beside a much larger one that towered over us. We dragged our luggage towards the airport and entered through the automatic sliding doors into the large lobby. Our first stop was the washroom.

After that quick pit stop we saw that the elevator was inaccessible so we had to carry our large suitcases and carry-ons up 2 flights of stairs to get to the second floor where we would go find a restaurant to eat a good meal for our lunch. We knew we would be eating plane food for the next few meals. We ate at a highly recommended Indian restaurant (Chris told us that the food there was great and he wasn’t wrong!) It took a little while for my appetite to return as my stomach was still uneasy from the turbulence. I got chicken tikka masala with naan (of course!) and it was delicious! The other girls also loved their meal.

After a nice leisurely lunch we did a bit of souvenir shopping. I bought a green rock in the shape of a heart that can be put on a necklace chain. This rock is famously mined in Zambia. I also finally found a Zambian soccer jersey for my brother. After our shopping we went back down the stairs with all our luggage and boarded our plane to Johannesburg.

We got to Jo-burg in the evening and we had a couple of hours before our next flight. So we took the opportunity to do some more souvenir shopping (there were better stores there than Lusaka). I got a hand painted mug for Kyle, a shirt with Africa on it for Tyler and myself, some really cool African salad utensils for Mum, and I had trouble finding something for Dad. The girls found a few things as well. We then boarded our flight to London-Heathrow airport. Another overnight flight… 12 hours is a long flight but it was actually better/easier the second time around. We sat in the middle seats of the plane. Fiona sat next to me and a guy from South Africa, he was nice and had such a cool accent! We watched a movie or 2 and slept.//