
A typical roadside market in Zambia

UCZ Theological College, the statue is an outline of Zambia is the symbol of the United Church of Zambia

Celebrating with a cake on the last night with the group we taught in Lusaka
Here is everything you wanted to know about Zambia and a brief description about our daily lives.
Population: 11, 477,447 (2007 est.)
Capital of Zambia: Lusaka, population ~ 2-3 million people
Population of Kitwe (were we live): ~ 700,000, but I have also heard estimates anywhere from 500,000 to 1 million. Kitwe is the 2nd most populated 2nd city in Zambia.
Climate: Mid Nov - Apr is the rainy season. It is still hot and wet with scattered rain showers in the afternoon. May-Aug dry and fairly cool. September-November is dry and gets progressively hotter. October is the hottest month in Zambia.
Time zone in Zambia: GMT + 2. Zambia is 10 hours ahead of the west coast and 7 hours ahead of the east coast.
Currency: Kwacha
Exchange rate: 4700 Kwacha = 1 U.S. dollar (we usually round to 5,000 to make it easier).
Mini Bus: Big mini vans that are everywhere!!! A minibus from our house to town (4 miles) = 2300 kwacha or 50 cents.
1 can of Coke: ~ 5000 Kwacha = Just over 1 U.S. dollar
1 bottle of Coke: ~ 2500 or 3000 Kwacha= about 50 & 60 cents. Bottles are cheaper because they are reusable while cans are more expensive because they are imported and “disposable.”
Diet Coke: Coke Light
French Fries: Chips
Fruits and Vegetables: Grown locally, cheap and seasonal. For example:
- Tomatoes are 1000 kwacha (20cents) for 4 tomatoes.
- Bananas are 750 kwacha (15 cents).
- Apples are 1000 kwacha (20 cents).
- Oranges are 1,500 kwacha (25 cents).
- Watermelons are now in season and are 10,000 kwacha ($2).
- Mangos are also in season. We have a large tree behind our house which means they are free!
Staple Food in Zambia: Nshima.
Nshima is made out of milli meal (ground maize) and water. Nshima is cheap and abundant and it looks like really thick mashed potatoes. To eat, you ball it up in your hand and dip it in relish (cooked vegetables such as cabbage, spinach, rape, tomatoes, onions) and soup which is also made out of tomatoes onions and meat drippings. Some people eat nshima 2 or 3 times a day and almost all Zambians eat it once a day.
Driving a car: On left hand side of the road and using all of your defensive driving skills you learned in driver’s ed!
Stop Lights: Robots
Weights and Measurements: Metric system
Soccer: Futbol a.k.a. life
Gasoline (Petrol): ~ 5,800 kwacha per 1 liter ($1.20) which is about $4.80 per gallon.
White person: Muzungu
Language: 72 tribal languages are spoken throughout Zambia while most people also speak English. We have learned some Bemba which is one of the most commonly spoken languages.
Religion: Christianity, we have heard estimates that over 90% of the people claim to be Christian.
Flag of Zambia: Bright green background with a panel on the lower right with three vertical bands of red, black, and orange, surmounted by an orange eagle in flight (see the picture in the header at the top of our blog).
Motto: ‘One Zambia, One Nation’
Life Expectancy at Birth: 38.4 years
A typical meal on the road: When we are on the road teaching we eat many of our meals at the host church or in people’s homes. This is a great experience for us, as we are exposed to traditional Zambian food, customs, and traditions. A common meal consists of:
- Nshima
- Rice
- Boiled vegetables
- 1 type of meat (mostly chicken, but also beef, fish, goat or pork)
- Soup, made out of tomatoes, onions and meat drippings, usually poured over the rice and nshima. A typical meal at home in Kitwe: We enjoy Zambian food but we get a little burnt out on Nshima after three straight weeks. In Kitwe, we buy our produce from the market and everything else from Shoprite, a chain supermarket that has a good selection and offers many of the items we can get back home. However, food is seasonal here and imported items are very expensive. But, since we have a little more time to cook we make a lot of what we eat from scratch. These are our top five homemade meals thus far:
- Homemade spaghetti sauce over stuffed feta and spinch cananlli
- Homemade pizza dough and sauce
- Apple pie (yes, it can be a meal)!
- Homemade salsa, guacamole and tortilla chips
- Stuffed peppers
We also enjoy many of the foods we eat back in the U.S.:
- Vegetable chicken curry
- Chicken, rice, and salad is always an easy option
- Grilled cheese (a real treat here)!
- Pasta
- PB & J
Breakfast (similar to back home)
- Tea, coffee, toast, eggs, yogurt and granola, bananas, oatmeal, and on occasion French toast
Food we miss or that is difficult to find:
- Mexican Food: They don’t have plain tortillas, tortilla chips, or salsa. In Lusaka they have chipatas which are like tortillas but a little thicker. We stocked up on several packages of these. We sliced, salted, and baked them to make tortilla chips, we also make quesadillas.
- Ice Cream: it is here but often not available or the quality is not good.
- Diet Coke and Coke Zero are available but often hard to find. For example today at Shop Rite neither were available. Next week they will probably have it but you never know. They always have regular Coke and orange Fanta.
A Typical Day in Kitwe:
6:30 – Rise and shine and get that water boiling.
6:45 – Time for some yoga (yes, even Brent!!!). Once a week I walk and shop with my friend Cheryl. After we drop her boys off at school we walk around the school track and then hit the market and Shoprite for our groceries.
7:30 – Shower, some times hot, some times cold, some times no water at all J.
8:00 – Breakfast
8:30 – Head to work. We have a long commute of approximately 30 – 60 seconds walking. We are still learning about our role at TEEZ now that our travel has ended for the rainy season. We will likely work on writing curriculum for future TEEZ courses, revise current TEEZ courses, visit the prison once a week where we will conduct TEEZ courses and other things as opportunities arise. We love our colleagues at the TEEZ office and appreciate the conversations we get to have with them on a daily basis.
1:00 – Lunch and boil more water.
2:00 – Back to work 4:30 – Head home where we are frequently met by the neighborhood kids who want to play! The evenings here are cool and this is also a good time for a walk, to visit friends or unwind with a book. Brent and I have enjoyed cooking in Zambia and have taken advantage of the wonderful produce here. Although our resources are a bit limited, we have time to make a lot of what isn’t here the old fashioned way; homemade. We also head into town at least once a week. We are about 10 minutes by car, or 30 or 45 minutes via minibus from town.
6:00 – Dinner (of course this time often varies). On Wednesday we are having our colleague, Richard and his wife Dorothy, over for pizza and then to learn how to make apple pie. In return, Dorothy is going to teach me how to make nshima, the staple food in Zambia. We usually share a meal once a week with our dear friends, the Smiths. Peter, Cheryl, Brendan (10) and Jason (6) are from the U.S. and live and work in Zambia.
After dinner activities: Games with the Smiths, reading, watching LOST, Friends and other movies, using the internet (highly unpredictable), journaling, other fun “projects,” and boiling water.
10:00 – 11:00 – Head to bed.
A Typical Day On the Road
6:00 – Rise and Shine and time for yoga!
7:00 – Shower and get ready for the day.
7:30 – Breakfast
8:00 – Depart to venue for TEEZ courses. Brent, Richard and I rotate teaching, and Brent and I rotate leading the African Indigenous Counseling Course.
10:00 – Tea break
1:00 – Lunch
2:00 – More teaching
4:30 – Finish teaching (this time also varies greatly). After we are done teaching for the day we are free to explore the town, relax at the guest house, head to the internet café or visit local sites.
7:00 – Dinner usually at the guest house, or some times at someone’s home.
After dinner activities: See above minus games with the Smiths L and boiling water J.
10:00 – Head to bed.