1/4/10 from Megan (HIV Ed Team)

Happy birthday to me. Feel free to send presents. You’ll need lots of postage.

In other news, we have successfully arrived in Mufulira. The train ride from Dar Es Salaam across Tanzania and into Zambia was amazing. The scenery in Tanzania is gorgeous (puts Zambia to shame) and once we got up onto the plateau, it was blissfully cool. Which means that we spent the first 12 hours in extremely uncomfortable heat and humidity - 7 people plus 14 bags in a 2nd class compartment intended for 6 people with presumably no luggage whatsoever. We had to pile the bags on one of the bunks, so we slept seven people on 5 narrow bunks. I use the term “slept” loosely, since you have to wake up every 30 minutes at a minimum to adjust your position (“my tailbone!”, “oh, my hip”, “my arm is asleep”, “I can’t feel my legs”, etc. for 6 hours) and to prevent yourself falling onto the cockroach-infested floor when the train makes sudden stops.

The cockroaches were actually a late addition, when our first car was deemed unfit for service (something that sadly could not be fixed with a four foot pipe wrench and excessive banging on the joint between the cars). They said we had to get out of the car and unload all our bags through the window so we could stand on the side of the tracks in the rain for an undetermined amount of time. We declined that offer and opted to simply move our bags into the next car while the whole train moved forward and back on the tracks for about an hour. Apparently there is not a clear procedure for replacing a car (which could be construed as a good thing if it doesn't need to happen that often, but judging by the number of abandoned, tipped over, and rusted out cars along the route, I’d say the normal procedure is simply to dump the offending car and let the passengers walk to the next destination). They did eventually succeed in inserting the staff car where ours had been, but the staff gets the short end of the stick when it comes to quality living conditions. Jim is our master cockroach stomper, and taught us a thing or two about how not to jump onto the benches and scream like little girls at the site of a scurrying, hideous, creepy critter (you may be noticing a theme here by now).

Aside from that, the ride at large was awesome. We did see a herd of giraffes (twiga = giraffe, in Swahili), a couple warthogs, and a bunch of antelope things which may have been impala. It was fun seeing all the people run out to the train as it passed – they come through twice a week, but the kids still get really excited and there are a bunch of people selling things through the windows at every stop. We also met some interesting people on board, including a nice chatty guy with the MCC (Mennonite something something) working in Zambia, and a couple girls with FORGE, which also stands for something, doing aid work in Zambia. We didn't get a whole lot of sleep so you’ll have to forgive the lack of details. The food was pretty good, and we only had one upset stomach (which actually resulted in tossed cookies out the window of the moving train – one more reason not to stick your head out the window unless absolutely necessary – you don’t want to be downwind of that…).

We arrived about 6 hours late, but were greeted by William (yay! Newly arrived from the states via Johannesburg) and Felix, who works for Zamtel up in Muf, and two other Zambians we’d never met before. You’ll be delighted to hear that a 7 passenger minivan can in fact hold 8 STS’ers, 3 Zambians, a million bags AND a stray Canadian who needed a lift to Ndola. So yeah, 3 hours in the van made those dingy train cars look like the Hilton. But we made it safe and sound, and got to enjoy a substantial rainstorm on the way. Good times.

We did some HIV ed stuff today, but I’ll leave that for the next blogger, since it’s not my birthday anymore, and I need some sleep. Sendamenipoe, mukwai (we’re back in Bemba territory now).

Megan