13/08/2025
This is a story from 15 years ago, when I ran a project to raise money for a water pump in Africa. Afterwards, the NGO I donated to offered me a chance to visit Africa.
This trip would eventually become the inspiration for “Well Done Mathematics! Book, a math book for African children.
This particular story begins with some bizarre moments when I arrived in Zambia.
After flying from Korea to Hong Kong and then to Johannesburg, I finally landed at Lusaka Airport, the capital of Zambia.
For a nation’s capital, it was a very small and simple airport, probably less than a quarter the size of Johannesburg’s.
Just as the airport was small, there were few people, but the processing speed was incredibly slow.
We had to pay 100 dollars per person for a visa-on-arrival, and even though it was just a matter of getting a sticker, it took almost an hour to get out.
We even stepped outside the immigration area out of boredom, and no one seemed to care. I wonder if I could have just walked out.
After finally getting our visas, a group of men who carry luggage came and snatched our bags. Since the airport was so small, the distance to the car was extremely short.
After loading all our luggage, the men lined up in a row. The person who seemed to be the leader held out his hand.
Our coordinator gave him about 5 dollars. With a menacing look in his eyes, the leader threatened, “There are so many of us, you think this is enough?!”
Everyone had yet to exchange money, so we only had large bills. Luckily, I had some change in my wallet.
When I gave him a bit more money, the leader snatched it with a ‘thud!’, divided it among the other men, and they all left without a word.
At first, I was bewildered, thinking, ‘Who asked you to do that?’
But by the time I was leaving Zambia, I came to a realization. It wasn’t just rudeness; it was their desperation to earn money to survive in a city with limited jobs and a high cost of living.