Changes

On September 20, 2011, Zambia held their Presidential Election. The winner of the previous election, held in 2006, was decided by a mere 35,000 votes. Unfortunately, the victor only held office for a year and a half before a tragic stroke. The serving Vice President, Rupiah Banda, took over office and has been the President for the past 3.5 years. The runner-up from the 2006 election, Michael Sata, wanted another shot and decided to run against Rupiah Banda this year. After 3 days of waiting, the final results came out Friday morning, September 23. Michael Sata was officially announced Zambia’s new President and swore in that same Friday. The total race was not as close this year, a difference of around 188,000 votes. From what I have gathered, as a whole, the country was somewhat surprised at the outcome (most people believed President Banda would be sure to win another 5 year term) but the country has remained peaceful so far and seems to be embracing the change well. Joey and I were both able to watch on TV as President Banda gave his final speech which was delivered with great poise and gratitude for his people. Sata is sure to bring change to Zambia, and we are all hoping it will lead to a better Zambia.


On the home front, Eric and Paul Olsen have been with us for just over a week now. We picked them up at the airport on September 15th and came right up to our village that same day. The four of us have been enjoying euchre games, digging holes in Joey’s field, crosswords, and playing lots of soccer! Paul has been a great help with cooking and Eric has been an outstanding dishwasher! It has been wonderful to have so much time together in the village. Next week we will be preparing for our trip to Tanzania where we will have the opportunity to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro and visit the island of Zanzibar (off the coast of Dar es Salaam). We will certainly put up lots of pictures from this adventure in upcoming posts.