Independence Day

So yesterday (Sunday) was Zambia’s Independence Day. Since it fell on a Sunday the word around town was that celebrations would take place on Monday, since all of the students are out of school. Several of us headed to town today (Monday) with a couple of our Zambian friends, Augustine and Edmo. Both Augustine and Edmo are students at George Benson Christian College here at Namwianga.
When we finally arrived in town, we headed towards Kalomo highschool for the Independents Day celebrations. We were looking forward to drums and dancing all day. When we arrived, several older men informed us that the city kids celebrated Independents Day on Sunday. I was absolutely shocked that people would celebrate Independents Day ON Independence Day; instead of the day after. I was determined when I woke up this morning to have a culturally enlightening experience, so we decided to keep walking. Augustine and Edmo led us to a very old-school bridge that was quite sketch. Although I was afraid of breaking through the old wood on the walkway and falling, it was very beautiful. The bridge reminded me of a great setting for senior pictures. Apparently the other guys felt the same way, so we began taking pictures of one another with our shirts unbuttoned and the wind blowing in our hair.
While climbing on the bridge we saw some Zambian children playing in the water. We obviously had to strip down to our boxers and join them, disregarding the fact that the water is filthy with parasites and that we could very possible get hook worm, bilharzia, roundworm, whipworm, or death. We had an absolute blast playing with the children and throwing them into the air. We formed a basket toss (cheerleading type things with two people) and threw the children into the air one at a time. Some went up to 10 feet in the air, doing flips and flops. Quintyn teaches gymnastics and I used to be a gymnast myself, so we entertained the children with flips and spins. I was looking forward to celebrating Independence Day with my Zambian friends; however, I ended up having much more fun diving headfirst into African Culture.