Jesus Life 87 - Jesus Army

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Continued from previous page
Victoria Falls’
viewing path is like
plunging through
dancing rainbows
18
Jesus Life
Ian washes a delegate’s feet
Some of the conference delegates
Food, fellowship and African hospitality
half of our Zambia visit. First we’d be travelling
nearly 600 miles south to Livingstone, and then
heading back to Lusaka for our flight home. In
both places we’d be holding half-day conferences,
with some time scheduled in between to meet
pastors. Stephen arranged for us to travel by car,
making a 6am start on the Monday morning.
We were up at 4.30am to pack, and grab what
we could for breakfast. I was in the shower when
Iain checked his phone and found that Stephen
had texted just before midnight to say the plans
had changed, and we’d be aiming to leave by
coach at 11am, accompanied by Austin. African
time works differently.
Some time after 1pm we were finally on the
road. With an hour’s break at Lusaka, I couldn’t
see how we’d reach Livingstone that night.
At Kipiri we slowed down to cross the Tazara
railway line that runs 1,200 miles north-east to
the Tanzania port of Dar es Salaam. The coach
was surrounded by women with trays of bananas
balanced on their heads (and babies on their
backs), hoping to attract a quick sale. Later, we
overtook a chugging open truck: in the back were
eight people, a goat and a pig.
Our driver’s technique was to thunder down
the middle of the road and blow his horn at
everything in his path. We reached Livingstone at
an eerie 2.30am. Iain tells me that as he fell asleep
he heard a cock crowing.
The next day was our chance to see the
Victoria Falls. They’re obviously used to Western
tourists, because you can canoe, bungee jump,
or fly by helicopter or microlight if you’ve got
enough dollars. Austin, who was looking after
the finances, looked worried. Much to his relief,
we settled that we’d just take a walk through the
viewing area.
You can see the clouds of spray rising from the
Falls six miles away in Livingstone’s centre. The
unique feature of Victoria Falls is that the river
Zambezi cascades 300 feet downwards into a
gorge that runs right across – not in line with – the
direction of flow. Beyond a small downstream
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