Heroes and Unity Days

Long Weekend!

Kafue River Cliff

Here in Zambia we got a 4-day weekend to celebrate Heroes Day on the 2nd and Unity Day on the 3rd. Taking full advantage of the time off we headed out to Kafue River Cliff for a day of drinking and grilling by the water. Before I get into the fun of the weekend I decided I should research a little into the meaning of these holidays giving me a break from work. Thanks to the free encyclopedia online below is a little information on Heroes and Unity Day.

Zambia Heroes Day (First Monday in July):
In 1964, Zambia won its freedom from England and became an independent nation. Those who fought in that freedom struggle are honored and remembered each year on Heroes Day. The somber day is a public holiday and all Zambians take the day off work. In 2004 Zambian vice-president Nevers Mumba proposed that Heroes Day be refocused to include the members of the Zambian soccer team who died in a plane crash in 1993. Eighteen members of the winning team died when the Zambian Air Force jet they were riding in crashed off the coast of Gabon.

Zambia Unity Day (First Tuesday in July):
Because Zambia is composed of several different tribal groups, the founders of the country promoted the idea of national unity as a means to keep the young nation from falling apart. Zambia Unity Day was created to help foster solidarity between the diverse groups that make up the country. The slogan "One Zambia, One Nation" is used to signify the goal of the holiday. Remembrance speeches on Unity Day stress that people of varying backgrounds and political beliefs had come together to work for Zambian independence. That spirit must be maintained for Zambia to grow in the future.

Road block traffic

On the drive out we hit a minor snag at a roadblock on the way. Apparently I hadn't renewed my road tax and it expired the day before. "Thankfully" for us, there was someone there to collect the payment so we wouldn't have to pay the fine for driving without paying the road tax. Once we finally made it through that, we were once again on our way.

Leaving a little later than planned we were happy to find that there were still open spots. We quickly set up camp and got the meat on the braai (aka grill). We relaxed all afternoon to the live music they had playing and enjoyed some time in the sun. As the sun went down it got a bit chilly so we decided to head home.

Monica and I waiting for the boys to finish cooking on the braai

Sunset on Kafue River

When we made it back to the city, we headed out to Smuggler's Lodge to watch Spain vs. Italy. It was already packed when we got there but we found a spot, got some drinks and munchies and settled in for an evening of football. Changing venues at halftime to Polo Grill we met up with some more friends to watch as Spain destroyed Italy 4-0 becoming the European champions. After a long day outside we called it a night.