Intermittent power cuts (around 3 times a day, sometimes for hours on end). Interrupted water supply (a total of only about 6 hours with actual water). Torrential rains one moment, and the scorching heat of the sun the next moment. Unpaved, muddy roads and pathways. Countless creepy, crawly creatures inhabiting your home.

If you had to deal with these things 365 days a year…is a 40-day Lenten sacrifice really necessary?

Just on the second weekend of my stay in Mazabuka (way back in May), I had the fortune to have been invited to the wedding of my officemate. It was a colourful, happy event, with lots of dancing and companionship and laughter—a real celebration of life! As the new person in town, the sights and sounds from that day brought forth for me a promising view of things to come.

But alas, that wedding has remained to be the first and (so far) last one I’ve attended. Instead of more weddings or birthdays (which they don’t really celebrate here) and other such events, what came in the six months that followed was one person dying after another. In our workplace alone, four (4) workers have passed away since I arrived. Most people would never mention it, but in three (3) of these cases, the cause of death was HIV/AIDS. (Of course, when you ask colleagues or family members how they died, they’d only say “It’s tuberculosis,” or “He’s been very sick for a long time,” or “Only the doctor knows”.) The fourth case was that of a female who died due to severe complications of having her unborn child aborted.

The abovementioned number of deaths does not even include the numerous family members and friends of my co-workers and colleagues who have gone six feet under the ground in the past months. Deaths are so rampant that almost every week, there is some funeral or burial that my friends and co-workers are attending. Zambia’s “37 years average life expectancy” is, to me, not just a mere statistical figure now. Rather, it represents real people with real names and faces.

One part happiness, three parts grief. I can’t help but wonder if this is a representation of what the next 18 months will bring.

I certainly hope not.

…And a Birth!

Meanwhile, halfway across the world, life continues to find a way. I am soooooo happy to receive the news of the coming of T and J’s little angel, Raphael Ignacio. Such a beautiful darling boy! I’m sure he’ll break a lot of hearts (like his mom and dad) someday. Welcome to the world, Raffy!

~ pol, 11/21/07