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andwatchedthemovie'Ghost'.IwenttobedfullofunbridledjoythankingGodforgiving
me the chance to meet these priests and especially Brother Waldemar.
Father Joseph said a special mass for me at 7:00 a.m. and after saying a big thank-
you and good-bye, I cycled straight to the Polish mission. Again, the bike responded ex-
tremely well. The Polish priests took my photo with all the workers and with one final
good-bye, I left for Lusaka. Mary and the rector took it upon themselves to follow me with
the truck for six kilometres with their 4-way flashers on. Since it was still early in the day,
Icouldn'tgetintoanyrhythm.Ithinkitwasmainlyduetobeingwatchedsocloselybymy
escortswhoweredirectlybehindme.Theythenpulledupaheadofmeandstopped.Icame
alongside the truck and Father gave me a blessing and some pocket money. I thanked him
again and watched as he turned the truck around and returned to the mission.
I momentarily looked straight ahead, took a deep breath and began to cycle. The
road had one lane in each direction and a narrow shoulder. Unfortunately, with excellent
roadscamespeedingvehicles.Sincethiswasthemaintruckingroutetothecapital,onsev-
eraloccasionsIwasblownontotheshoulderfromthegustofwindcreatedbythespeeding
trucks.Iquicklyformedahabitofcheckingovermyshouldertoseeiftruckswerecoming.
I passed through Kitwe and continued onward looking for the turn-off for Ndola. The road
soon became a dual carriageway so the stress caused by the lack of space and the speeding
traffic was greatly reduced. With the lowered stress, I started to cycle faster even though
the road was slightly hillier.
I bought five buns from a stall and rested long enough to just eat two of them. I
quickly resumed cycling and came across a dishevelled woman in tattered clothing on the
side of the road. As I neared to where she was sitting, she bolted into the bush to hide. I
stopped and offered her the rest of my bread and some money and placed them next to her
things.AsIcycledaway,InoticedthatafterIgainedsomedistanceshereturnedtotheroad
and started to eat the bread.
I finally arrived at the turn-off to Ndola. I still had 20 kilometres to cycle and really
didn't want to continue. I just kept lying to myself that I would stop after the next kilo-
metre. The strategy worked and quite quickly the distance dwindled. I finally arrived by
6:30 p.m. at the cathedral where Father Francis Katai immediately welcomed me and let
me stay in the guest room. After a quick snack, Father Francis invited me to join him for
he was leaving to visit his friend. We drove to the home of Bernard Sakala and his family.
Aftereatingdinnerofshima,beefandvegetables, werecitedsomeprayerswiththefamily.
Bernard then invited me to call home and to stay as long as I wished (he worked for Zam-
bia's main telephone company.) I stayed on the line for about 15 minutes and chatted with
my mother as she was baby-sitting my nephew, Michael. She told me that St. Benedict's
Elementary School in Toronto had made a mural in the hallway and the students were fol-
lowing my journey through Africa. I thanked Bernard and his wife for the opportunity to
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