April 10th, 2018 by Daniel Boron-Brenner

Eating lunch in Zambia, especially while working at the hospital, is a hit-and-run affair. Today, I spent three and a half hours helping see patients in the ART clinic, the facility designed for HIV/AIDS patients on anti-retroviral drugs. After I was done there, I thought I could slip out to an early lunch but something told me the outpatient department (our clinic) would need some help. I stopped there and saw only one physician, Dr. Msani, working while a roomful of patients sat patiently nearby. So I ended up helping see patients with him and instead of a regular, noon-hour lunch, I ended up having a meal of boiled eggs, sausage, cabbage, and pasta around 3 pm (more on that later.) So it goes.

I typically take a minimalist approach to breakfast here. The facilities at the guest house aren’t particularly robust (we have a hot plate sitting on top of a small oven and a microwave) so it’s easier for me to load up on coffee and then start the day. Lunch is typically at the hospital guest house (a separate facility) prepared by a wonderful woman named Esther. Esther is Zambian but spent a year learning “the Western style” of food preparation and more than capably dishes out lasagna, pizza, and other carb-heavy cuisine I never thought I would find in rural Zambia. Sometimes the dishes tend to skew a bit more local, as with the plate I had today, but it was still tasty, albeit with closed eyes and an open heart.

I make dinner, with supplies gathered at the supermarket in Livingstone before I left for the hospital. I have one seasoning, salt, and some olive oil, in which I liberally sauté the vegetables that I purchased. Everything turns out to be some variation on stir fry but its tasty. Between that, and Esther’s cooking, I’m doing fine.