Ready or Not

Time flies when you’re having fun and that certainly can be said for my stay in Zambia. Although it feels like I’ve just arrived, my departure is now just a few days away. My upcoming schedule is as follows:

• Wednesday, January 24th – last day of work in Zambia
• Thursday, January 25th – fly to Amsterdam via London.
• Friday, January 26th – debriefing at the MSF office in Amsterdam.
• Saturday, January 27th – visit my Dutch VSO comrade Frank, who has just returned from his two-year placement in Kenya. We started on our journey together, but ended-up taking different paths.
• Sunday, January 28th – fly to Vancouver.
• Monday, February 5th (tentative date) – back to work at BC Hydro.
  

It’s really hard to believe, as I sit here in my house in Lusaka, drinking coffee on this cloudy Saturday morning, that over the next week I will be in three different continents and will be leaving Zambia behind. At one moment I’m thinking about what tasks I need to complete while still in Zambia and whether I can fit-in one last floor hockey game at the Swedish Embassy. Then I shift to questions about my imminent new life back in Canada – where will I live, what will it be like to return to work at BC Hydro, and how long will it take me to get back into reasonable shape?

I have thoroughly enjoyed my time here in Zambia. With trips to Nchelenge district, Livingstone and South Luangwa National Park I have been able to see an interesting cross-section of the country plus I’ve really enjoyed the friendly and relaxed Zambian people. The work has been less intense compared to what I experienced in Pakistan and it’s been easier fitting into a new situation now that I have MSF experience. All in all, this has been a great assignment.

As much as I’ve enjoyed being in Zambia I am quite content to be making my way back to Canada. The MSF project here is relatively quiet and I suspect that I would grow pretty restless if I stayed much longer. Also, although there are some interesting aspects to my job, the main components are either not too exciting (financial) or a pain in the butt (human resources). It has been the greatest of experiences, but not the greatest of jobs. Finally, after two years of being a gypsy I’m looking forward to being based in Canada again. Of course, it will be interesting to see how long that feeling lasts.

So after two years of wandering the globe I am finally returning to Canada to stay. At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter if I’m fully prepared to return, as ready or not here I come.