Zambia 🇿🇲

Zambia is, so to speak, real Africa. Especially when compared to South Africa and Namibia, these two countries are quite touristy and 'Germanized'. That's why I'm so glad I decided at short notice to spend the three weeks I had left after my Namibia tour in Livingstone, Zambia, at a community project. The project works with a primary school and a nursing home in the Maramba township in Livingstone. You are accommodated in an old school right in the middle of the township and get to experience the full package; rarely running water, no hot water, and electricity is not always available. I was there with a group of Christian girls from the USA who were on a mission trip. I got along great with them. In the first week, we helped out at the school in the mornings, and in the second and third weeks, we were at the nursing home. In the afternoons, we always went to the 'Maramba Stadium' (a large field where we could play football) and spent time there with the children. I enjoyed my stay very much, even though it was sometimes tough and exhausting. But I learned that it is possible to live without running water, hot showers, and electricity, and that it is not difficult at all, that you don't need it! And that even though it is obvious to us, it is luxury. And it showed me that joy of life has nothing to do with money. I know that sounds very cliché, but the children there who only played in the mud with tires and other rubbish transformed into toys and greeted us with joyful shouts of 'Mzungu, Mzungu' (White, White) seemed more content and happier than some other children I know. Of course, there are also many problems (alcohol, drugs, forced marriages, etc.) and the German in me sometimes could hardly stand the inefficiency and lack of structure, and often I thought that things would work better and be easier if some things were simply better thought out. But still, everything somehow works there.