Arrival at Mukinge

Good Morning All -

Sorry for the delay in posting. We did not have internet access in Amsterdam, Nairobi or Lusaka, but we have arrived safely at Mukinge Hospital in Zambia. Our travel here went surprisingly well. We had three checked duffel bags (47.5, 47.5 and 48.5 lbs respectively thanks to our bathroom scales at home) all of which were waiting for us upon our arrival. In addition, we somehow managed to avoid any checked baggage fees at the ticket counter which was excellent.

Our flight was initially delayed from Cincinnati to Detroit; however, we were able to make it in plenty of time and grab one last "American" meal prior to our departure. The flight from Detroit to Amsterdam lasted between 7-8 hours followed by an 8-9 hour flight to Nairobi and a 2-3 hour flight to Lusaka. Needless to say, we were ready to get off the airplane upon our arrival in Lusaka.

Upon arrival in Lusaka, we were met by a member of SIM Zambia and were taken to the guest house for approximately a 24 hour stay. We were able to take a nap and a warm shower in the afternoon prior to eating dinner with the SIM representatives in Lusaka. Sleeping that night was different as we kept waking up due to the time difference (and roosters which crow between 1 -2 a.m.).

Upon awaking on Jan 2, we drove to the supermarket for groceries and an ATM for cash. The exchange rate is approximately 5,000 Kwacha to $1 USD so it was odd paying 1,200,000 Kwacha for groceries and withdrawing two million from the ATM. After buying groceries it was off to Lusaka International Airport for our flight to Mukinge.

We flew in a 6 seat light aircraft (picture to be attached later) for 1.5 hours into the bush of Zambia. It was amazing to see that much undeveloped land with either nobody living there or sporadic indigenous people living in very small establishments along the country side. Believe it or not, the landing we had on the grass runway at Mukinge was the softest landing of all of our flights combine.

Upon arrival we were greeted by Lynn and Michelle, both of which have been here for quite some time. We were shown our guest house where we will be staying for the month (the corner house or house closest to the hospital for those who are familiar with Mukinge). It is a two bedroom house with a bathroom, kitchen, dining room, living room and pantry. We were both excited to unpack and stop living out of suitcases / backpacks for awhile. We were invited to a weekly potluck dinner which the hospital staff holds. It was a good environment to meet people and also eat some good food.

That is pretty much our last few days in a nutshell. Now that we have access to wireless internet, hopefully the posts will be more frequent in nature (daily). We hope 2009 is going well for everyone!