Lessons in Lusaka

One day we went to Lusaka to visit Anthony, one of several African Education Program students on college scholarship. Anthony is studying business at Evelyn Hone College in Lusaka.  All of the dormitories are named after African nations, and our group of seven visited Anthony in the Tanzania dorm. Students at Evelyn Hone don’t live in spacious suites like some of their counterparts in the United States. When university is fully in session, as many as 10 students might illegally live in a dorm room that could comfortably accommodate three.

Anthony and his classmates sleep two at a time in bunk beds and spread an additional mattress on the floor.  Lockers that one might expect would hold clothes instead contain books. There’s so little room that clothes fly outside the windows on hangers. Anthony and his classmates weren’t complaining. They’re conscious of their special status as college students in Zambia, something only about 5% achieve.

“It’s a unified effort,” Kathy said. “If one succeeds, they all succeed.”

After visiting the dorm, we checked out the dusty football field. The scheduled match Evelyn Hone and Cavendish was cancelled. We had been looking forward to watching Anthony play goalkeeper.  We also checked out the art building, where beautiful life size sculptures decorated the grounds and a student was hard at work on another one.