My experience in Zambia
By Aisha Wells
Zambia Correspondent
Here, the sunsets are bright, ruby red. In the early morning and night, the sky is electrified by the sun. Especially in October, when everyone is burning down grasses and fields to get rid of snakes and prepare for the next planting season. All of the haze and smoke create a layer in the troposphere that makes the sun appear flaming red. It is really beautiful, but if you think about it, it’s sad. Only smoke and air pollution can make the sky that stunning.
When my parents told my sister and I that we were going to Zambia, I asked, “Where’s that?” I didn’t know that the country Zambia existed, as I’m sure not many people do. I was expecting a rustic but urban city, like the pictures I searched up, with people moving everywhere all the time. I wasn’t completely wrong. Now, looking at pictures online, I can say, “Hey, I was in that spot!” or “I’ve been to that street!” I notice so many things that I didn’t before, like how staged and inaccurate some photos online are. For example, I’ve never been surrounded by a pride of lions in Zambia. That was in Namibia.
When I search up “Zambia” in Google, the first thing that pops up is Victoria Falls, or Mosi-oa-Tunya National Park. But there is so much more to Zambia than just Vic Falls. Zambia’s biggest export is copper from the central and northern parts of the country; the main provider of energy, ZESCO, is powered by Kariba Dam in the south; and over 80 languages are spoken all over Zambia.
I have lived in Lusaka, Zambia for three years now. It has been wonderful to properly experience living abroad and getting to know a country. My family and I have picked up a few of the local languages around Lusaka, and we have traveled to several other southern Africa countries around Zambia. We enjoy living internationally, experiencing other cultures and people.
I didn’t know there was such a big international population, especially in Zambia. The school I attend is an International Baccalaureate school called the American International School of Lusaka (AISL). It doesn’t seem very significant now, but when I had my first day at AISL, I remember that I was silently amazed at the diversity of the students in my class. On my first day, I made friends with a Cameroonian-Dutch girl, later meeting a girl who was French and Indian, a Zambian kid, a Chinese-Zambian girl and many more.
It seems that everyone here is a third culture kid — they were born, grew up in and have lived in several different countries, but still hold the passport for their parents’ nationality. Between the 20 people in my class, we had about 12 different nationalities among us. It seems normal to me now, seeing that no one really talks about it; it’s just something in the back of our heads.
I wish I would have grown up around these kinds of schools, moving around to different countries and experiencing many cultures. I am glad to have these opportunities to live internationally, but I am happy to come back to Carbondale and visit the Valley again this summer.
