It’s been over two weeks since I published a post, mainly due to “technical difficulties” at work. Since our return from South Africa, PCI has experienced significant Internet connection issues. When we were lucky, Internet worked once a day for about 10 minutes... In addition, for the last 5 days or so, the phones were dead. The entire organization had to rely on one phone line and no internet connection. Can you imagine running a business under these circumstances?
The main subject of this post, however, is not related to “technical” difficulties. I’d like to describe our last day in Lusaka. We were hoping to be able to relax, reflect and say our good-byes in peace. That was certainly not the case.
Early in the morning we “moved” for the fourth time in less than 8 months. At around 9:30 (please don’t tell our boss J ) we finally arrived at the office, and received the “big news” of the day; A friend of ours tried, but was unable to do us a favor, and we had to figure out how to go about it. Guardian Insurance Brokers, who provided excellent service us, issued us a refund for the unused portion of our policy. Supposedly, this is unheard of in Zambia. Within our network, not a single person has ever heard about an Insurance company giving cash refunds. The fact that they issued a refund is only the tip of the level of service they provided. Here are further details:
As we didn’t have a bank account in Zambia, we would have had trouble cashing a check, so they agreed to write a check in a friend’s name. Unfortunately, that friend was unable to cash the check due to bank issues, so we decided to take the check back to the insurance company, explain the situation, and see if they can do anything. Astonishingly, they agreed to cash the check for us, and asked us to come back in the afternoon. When we arrived in the afternoon to pick up the cash, the owner of the brokerage invited us to his office for a little chat. We learned that he is a very active member of the Lion’s club, and we talked about a few of their projects. Once (too much) time passed Mr. Chiti, personally, called the accountant who had gone to the bank to cash the check, to see where she is, and it turned out that she forgot to take the check with her. Upon hearing that, and knowing our situation (of leaving the country the day after), the Chief Executive took out his wallet, and paid us cash directly. We were very pleasantly surprised. Although I have been quite happy with our Insurance companies in the US, I haven’t heard a story quite like this one. As a thank you, I have provided their contact information on the sidebar of this blog. If you are or will be in Zambia, and need insurance, call Mr. Chiti!!
On the way to the insurance company, we had another EXPERIENCE!!! We were pulled over - for what, I’m not sure. I think for having a clean car J. It’s interesting how it works here. Traffic police generally do not drive cars, so they physically jump in front of the vehicle (while it is driving at full speed until the driver reacts – In other words, the officers risk their lives).We were driving behind a car, following it safely, and going exactly as fast as it did. The car in front did not get pulled over, but we did… hmmm … wonder why J So the officer comes up to the car and says something to the effect of “Nice Car!” As soon as he said that, I regretted asking the PCI gardener to clean it that morning (to help him raise some money on the side). Anyway, the officer further asked for my driver’s license and asked what I do in Zambia. I told the officer that it was not my car (not a lie as I had sold it J). Then I gave him the story of how we are volunteers for one NGO and started another NGO. Unfortunately, he still figured we have money (maybe I should have taken off my rings J). He said: “That’s 275 (thousand kwacha)”. No reason was given for why we were pulled over or why we had to pay this amount. I took out my wallet, and confidently showed him that I had less than 5 thousand Kwacha and I told him that I am leaving the country the following day. Given that I was not speeding, and did not do anything else wrong (other than driving a clean car), I had a feeling that he just wanted some lunch money. Sure enough, he went back to discuss this further with a colleague of his, came back and sent me off…. I got lucky! From what I hear, some of our friends that were pulled over for similar “offenses” (driving a clean car) had to pay on average 50 pin (50,000 Kwacha).
WHAT A DAY!
Given that I am now in Hungary, and have a SOLID internet connection (after 7 months I feel like I am in internet heaven), I plan on writing a couple more blogs related to Zambia, and then figure out whether or not to continue this blog.
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