Bumps in the road

Zambia's President Levy Mwanawasa died a little over a week ago in Paris hospital; as I wrote before he suffered from a stroke and had been recovering up until Tuesday when his condition had worsened overnight and he passed away.

The country is in shock - we are under a 21-day national mourning which means no entertainment, no major celebrations, festivals, etc. People are worried about the economy—foreign investors are being sketchy about the upcoming presidential by-elections after 90 days as the opposition parties could gain popularity and the MMD could potentially fall apart (the party in power now).

The general feeling in Lusaka right now is one of confusion; this is the first time the country has lost a state president - people are sad, praying, uncomfortable. It's what everyone is talking about this week; the local media is all over it and pages of newspapers are filled with condolences.

Since the President's death, things have been a little up and down. I've been sick all week, coming home from a stressful meeting early Monday at work with a fever and sick stomach and after my fourth day of being sick yesterday I finally went to the clinic and they said I have gastric acid ingestion (whatever it's called) and gave me some antacid for me. Basically it feels like someone is yanking around the tubes in my stomach every couple of minutes. Not fun. I wasn't at work the whole week and went for a bit this morning only to find my boss not there and nobody doing anything so I went to immigration to pick up my permit, which was not ready, and am now unsure about where to proceed.

I am going to Livingstone tomorrow with a fellow JHR friend which should take my mind off things - I'm feeling pretty crappy, again, about my placement and just want things to get better but don't have the physical or mental energy to do anything about it right now because of how my body feels.