Now that this part of our journey is wrapping up, I am sad to note that this will be the last blog post for Gonzaga-in-Zambezi 2025. It feels like a lot of pressure, but I hope this does it justice!
To be so completely honest to the strangers that read this blog, I was terrified in the weeks leading up to this trip — terrified of meeting so many new people, terrified I would not form meaningful relationships, and terrified in my lack of knowledge of what the Zambezi community would be like. Now, looking back on those feelings, I can’t help but laugh. This community that I was so scared of meeting has become my second home these past 3 weeks. The people of Zambezi have welcomed us with open arms, hearts of excitement and gratitude, compassion for our lack of Luvale/Lunda knowledge and love for more of God’s people. With all that they have shown us, the best thing this community has offered to us is teaching what true accompaniment is.
In my previous blog post, I focused on human connection and wrote “connections don’t have to be some grand gesture, and oftentimes are formed in moments we don’t notice or remember”. The same can be said about accompaniment. Within our group of 18 zags, we have lived by accompanying in the quiet moments — as we walked to the Zambezi River to watch the sunset, trudging through the sand on our way to the market, and the loving glances when someone’s “person” comments on the blog.
Every time my parents comment on the blog (hi you two) and their names are read aloud, I know the tears are coming. It’s become a little joke when they comment now, as all of the zags turn to look at me when their names are read, and I try my best to make it 5 whole seconds before crying. The truest form of accompaniment I have felt is in those moments, when inevitably the zags who chose to sit next to me offer an arm rub, hand squeeze or a hug.
Every year, on one of the last nights in Zambezi, Gonzaga students are asked to invite a person that has accompanied them throughout their time to “The Accompaniment Dinner”. Guests are invited for a night of yummy food, trivia questions, and lots of photos to remember the smiles of our favorite Zambian people!
My dinner guest was a young man named Musoka, who was an A+ student in our English class. He showed up to every class at least 10 minutes early, with a giant smile on his face, eager to learn more from what we had to offer. On the first day of class, Musoka showed up with his arm completely bandaged from his wrist to his elbow, I was concerned about what had happened. He shared with me, Sarah, Natalie and Becca that he had gotten hit on the forearm by an iron bar. He said it so calmly that I was slightly thrown off, but his calm presence became something I continued to gravitate towards throughout the 3 weeks of classes. For the final project in our English class, we asked our students to write a 1.5-2 page paper, reflecting on an object that held significance to their life and who they were as a person. Musoka wrote a detailed and emotional piece about a picture frame being his item and how this ties back to his late mother as it holds a special photo of her. He taught me accompaniment through the way he trusted us in teaching him, but also the way he trusted us with his raw and emotional story.
As much as Musoka is AWESOME, there are so many other awesome people we have met during our time. So, here are short highlights of each person our ZamFam invited to the accompaniment dinner:
Grace is a teacher at Chilenga, who Carly said practiced accompaniment by trusting Carly’s ability to teach her 2nd graders, guiding Carly through teaching in an unfamiliar environment and language, and sharing the wisdom that comes from being an experienced teacher.
Nathan accompanied Kamy by sharing nursing school advice and providing opportunities for the health students to grow and learn more about Zambian healthcare.
Steve was my and Cate’s homestay host-dad! Cate felt he accompanied her by educating us on Zambian culture while teaching us the importance of letting loose through music and dance. (We danced A LOT)
Monica is a teacher at Zambezi Boarding who accompanied through trusting Caroline M., Katy and Mia to teach the secondary computer class, reassuring them of her trust, which helped increase Caroline’s confidence in teaching.
Mary is one of the local tailors, who Sean felt accompanied as they sat and chatted many times, instead of making it a transactional relationship. Their relationship was bound tight as Sean learned her life story and what motivates her.
Becca felt accompanied by Mercy and Andrew, two English teachers at Zambezi Boarding, as she learned about teaching in a Zambian secondary school and was given the opportunity to step into their classroom.
Eunice showed accompaniment as she warmly welcomed Alea into her home for her homestay and made her feel truly welcomed in Zambezi.
Nancy and Trinity are the sweet women who have helped us with our laundry and keeping the convent clean throughout our stay. Sarah felt accompanied as she and Nancy sat and did laundry together, as well as when she and Trinity hung out in her room as Trinity cleaned.
Ruben and Francis work in the hospital’s lab, and Sloane felt accompanied as they took the health students in and taught them more about procedures. They created a safe, inviting and fun environment that helped the group learn more about health care.
Katy met Charity randomly in the market, and they ran into each other a handful of times during our stay in Zambezi. Katy felt accompanied as she was invited into Charity’s close community and space, as well as through Charity’s willingness to always talk.
John accompanied the business class way before we even arrived to Zambezi as he worked to promote the class and do the heavy lifting on the administrative side of the class. Mia felt accompanied when John would show up everyday to class, not to help teach but to watch and support silently.
Dr. Clayton is the main doctor at the Zambezi District hospital, and Ellie felt accompanied as he allowed the health students to follow him around the building, making sure they were informed and up to speed on each patient they saw.
Piper met Mwangala while exploring the market, and felt accompanied as they chatted about lives and the difference in experiences due to the age gap.
Brudas is a physical therapist that Taylor has been shadowing at the hospital. Taylor felt accompanied as Brudas made the experience very hands on and truly ensured the health students learned.
Ester was one of the first Zambians that Kathleen met organically, and she invited her and Sean to sit in the backyard of her house. Kathleen felt accompanied as they chilled and chatted, while appreciating the company and music around.
Natalie felt that Arnold was the first person she had an actually deep conversation with. She felt accompanied in his willingness to sit and teach Natalie about the deeper meanings behind some of Zambia’s cultural practices.
Ephraim is an ophthalmologist whom Jeff met when taking James (the tailor, NOT our James) for a check-up appointment. Jeff saw accompaniment in the selfless way that Ephraim consulted James on his eye issue, with no expectation of being paid and instead chose to use his expertise to serve someone in his community.
James felt that, with Winifrida, the accompaniment was a two-way street as the health students got to accompany her on her visits with her HIV/AIDS counseling patients.
Chipego was a new-to-Zambezi student in the business class last year that Lucia got to know, teach and accompany. Yet, in this past year, the two have grown, and now can accompany each other in learning and teaching each other more about Zambezi and the broader community.
These community members, who come from all different walks of life and around Zambezi, have shown us hands-on what true accompaniment looks and feels like — trusting others in our spaces, offering a comfortable silence to sit in, and sharing knowledge and life experiences with one another. We truly could not do this trip without this community and their selfless accompaniment. As we sat at around for “The Accompaniment Dinner,” I felt the comforting love that emotes from each person we brought; a testament to the power of accompaniment and how deep of an impact a small gesture or moment can have.
There is an African proverb from one of our readings that says “The stranger who returns from a journey may tell all he has seen, but he cannot explain all”… I pray that this blog has given our families, friends and everyone we love, a little more insight into the journey and transformations that occurred through accompaniment during Gonzaga-In-Zambezi 2025!
ZamFam 2025 – Thank you for accompanying me on this trip, I couldn’t have done it without your support to lean on. I’ll see you in the fall, chindeles!
Mom and Dad – Please don’t forget to pick me up from Oakland Airport. Love you!
Lots of love, gratitude and peace,
Caroline Oromchian
School of Education, Class of 2028
Caroline, I’m so proud of you for stepping out of your comfort zone to go on this trip and it seems like it has been a truly life changing experience. I can’t wait to hear from you when you get home, and I have loved reading all of the blog posts that everyone has so beautifully written. Love you lots!
Caroline,
Thank you for sharing the last blog post! As a stranger to the zags it has been incredible to read each and every one of the blogs and get to know you all through your different experiences, accompaniments, lessons and more. Thank you all for sharing!
Caroline…what a perfect last post. I am so incredibly humbled by the ways in which the Zambezi community has embraced our Gonzaga ZamFam! Thank you for letting us all be a part of your journey. Safe travels! Love you Taylor and we will see you soon.
I am so happy that your fears about the trip were resolved and that your time in Zambezi was so meaningful. Thank you for this post, it’s so nice to be able to hear some insight into the people you’ve met and connections you have all made with the people of Zambezi. I hope each and every one of you had an incredible experience! Mia, I am soooo excited for you to come home I’m literally counting down the hours. Love you! And thank you to everyone for sharing these posts!
Caroline,
Thank you for sharing such a vibrant description of accompaniment Zambezi style. My hope for you all is that this new habit you’ve learned and practiced these past few weeks will be with you for life. May you have a safe trip home and lots of fun sharing your memories with loved ones.
Blessings on you all!
Caroline, I enjoyed your blog. Learning a bit about some of the people you have met was enlightning. Thinking of you, Becca and eagerly waiting for you get home. So glad we were able to go ou this eye opening trip. Love you, Grammie
Natalie, It’s so great to see your smiling face! Thinking of you today. Miss you lots and can’t wait to catch up on everything when you get back! I hope these next few days go smoothly and I hope you’ve been having an incredible time. Much love!
Last blog post. Wow. Caroline, you did it justice. So many gifts of presence and spirit come through in all the reasons different folks were invited to your special dinner. The love-all-around must have been palpable last night. And love the Carpe-Diem spirit that got some of you up for that last Zambezi sunrise. What a great photo!
En route from Lusaka to Dubai now, you’re all already the other side of your bush plane flights and time in Zambezi. You have said your goodbyes and imagine you might be overwhelmed with re-entry stimulus already (airports, working phones and wifi, etc!). Caroline, got excited to see that, like Mia, your final destination through Oakland. 🙂 The Bay Area is ready to welcome you home!
Safe and smooth travels to you, Zags. Don’t forget your compression socks and hydrate up on these long flights home (cue obligatory eye rolls). 😉
3:49 PM in Oakland. 12:49 AM in Lusaka.
xoxo,
Elisa
1-2-3
Caroline – nice wrap up on the blog. I learned so much from all of you. Thank you for the quote, we parents will want to soak up every bit of your experiences and I’m sure some of it will be unpacked over the upcoming weeks and months.
Praying for your safe returns to your families. Kathleen, I can’t wait to hear your voice.
Beautiful final blog post, Caroline!! Thank you, Zags, for giving us a window into this amazing experience! Safe travels!!
Love you Caroline! Can’t wait to see you and you absolutely did justice with this blog post which is a fitting end to a trip filled with memorable blog posts.
Safe travels everyone!!! I hope I get to meet each of you when we are up in Gonzaga for family weekend! You should do a ZamFam get together so we can all meet up! You each (and the family members posting) have become a staple in my life…. The blogs have each been filled with the most incredible writing…. But I think I’m all out of tears for a little bit!
Ween, I just can not wait to for you to be home! Your absence has been felt and we all just want our home to feel complete once again:) love you honey.
Feel the exact same, Ozzie. Well said!
Caroline, great wrap up post. Thanks to you and the whole group for sharing your experiences and reflections on this blog. It has been so meaningful to follow! Can’t wait to see you all return home safely…and hear more stories from Piper!
Thank you, Caroline, for this final blog post. So touching to see how each of you felt accompanied in your journey. What a wonderful celebration it must have been.
So appreciate each and every one of you for your stories, reflections and insights. I can only imagine how powerful this experience was. Thank you for providing us with meaningful glimpses of your lives along the way.
Blessings to you all!
Caroline!!
Your blog was so beautiful crafted! How lucky were we to build such amazing connections in only 3 weeks! A part of my heart will forever be in Zambezi and I know that is true for each and every one of us. Thank you for highlighting some of the connections we made there. I appreciate you putting in that proverb at the end. It truly would be impossible to summarize our trip using words. The impact that Zambezi has on each one of us will continue to develop through out the rest of our lives! We are so blessed. I am thankful for you Caroline, everyone in ZamFam ‘25 and each of the wonderful connections we made!
Thank you x1,000,000
Kamy Epefanio
My people, it has been such a wonderful experience to accompany you, whether in person or through the blog, for the past month. Truly a joy. Thank you parents, for encouraging your Zags to join the program. Thank you ZamFam 25 for making it such a memorable time, and for helping me to overcome my phobia of improperly opened jars of peanut butter butter. Thank you Caroline for this wonderful final post, and for reminding us all that just being with each other in solidarity and love is what makes us truly human. Thank you Jeff and Lucia, low key, for the great leadership you so effortlessly display. Tunasakilila mwane!
Caroline O, this blog is such a testament of the biggest lesson we all learned in Zambezi: what true accompaniment, not only looks like, but feels like. I am so proud of our English class, and cannot believe all of the stories and raw emotions we encountered on the last couple of days. Thank you for emphasizing all of our connections, and highlighting how this community welcomed us with open arms, day after day. I am so proud to be a part of the ZamFam25, and cannot wait to reunite over a meal without peanut butter! This blog is awesome. Zambezi is awesome. Human connection is awesome.
With so much love and gratitude over the past 3 weeks!
Becca Hershey
Ween!
This post wraps up our time perfectly! I’m so grateful that we were able to not only accompany each other, but learn and grow together. Getting to know you was one of the best parts of my experience and I couldn’t imagine it without you. You were always there to listen and offer comfort during the hard times. I’m thankful for your insight on this blog post and mention of Musoka’s story; which touched us the moment we read it. The Zambezi community showed us the true meaning of accompaniment, which was highlighted during our last dinner. Can’t wait to make more memories with you. I love and miss you so much! -your girl Nat
Weenie! And other zamzags! After my almost 20 hour hibernation after our flights home, I’m awake now and taking time to reflect on our time in Zambezi. The love that I have for this group is infinite and I am so glad I got to be accompanied by 20 strangers as we met a whole community of strangers who became fast friends and even family. While leaving Zambezi was incredibly hard leaving such a wonderful community, leaving SeaTac yesterday felt even harder. Not only had it been more than a day since leaving all of our new Zambian friends, we as a group of zags are now splitting up. It’s going to be weird not having Sarah and Natalie leaving the room at 6 am to go teach. Weird to not bless and eat food with you all that worked hard to prepare daily. Weird to not sit in reflection and discuss our days while laughing, crying and enjoying deep conversation. Safe to say I will miss everyone deeply (especially those going abroad in the fall). But I will always remember this community for what it was, a home, a loving group of people whom many I didn’t know who took the time to get to know each other on much more than a surface level. Already, random memories of Zambezi pop into my brain and I laugh or reflect with myself, I am overjoyed to say that I have 19 new zag friends and plenty of friends across the world who I will cherish deeply.
Much love, Katy
BTW it was so fun meeting everyone’s parents yesterday and approaching them already knowing their first and last names, still hype to one day meet El Padre de Natalie, Bryan Krill, Denice Mullins and Ali and Ozzie, thanks for keeping up with all of the blogs and sharing what you love about your zags I grew to love over the last month!
Caroline! Name twin! Weenie!
Thank you for your beautiful post highlighting a small piece of the love and human connection each of us was blessed to experience in Zambezi. I am so grateful that I got to learn and grow alongside you. Over the past four weeks I found myself constantly admiring the way you formed deep connections with Zambians and Zags, as well as the way you pushed yourself beyond the boundaries of your comfort zone. Even though this is just our first full day back home, I am already finding myself struggling with the stark differences I feel interacting with people here vs. in Zambezi. We all learned that accompaniment means taking time to develop a genuine connection, something each of our Accompaniment Dinner guests seemed to do with ease. I am trying to process how this will look back home, being that it doesn’t happen so naturally.
Tunasakilila mwane for writing an incredible last blog! So much love for you and the rest of our ZamFam!
With love,
Caroline Murphy
Weenie!
This was absolutely beautiful and took me right back to the accompaniment dinner. Brought tears to my eyes reading about the amazing people who shaped our time in Zambezi. I can picture everyones face and all the laughter and smiles so vividly from that night. I am beyond grateful for this experience and for everyone that accompanied us, and of course the amazing ZamFam ’25! Love you all so much
Ween!
What an amazing final blog post! I am feeling emotional reading the blog and comments one by one alone in my bedroom. I love that you circle back to the idea of connection happening in the little moments rather than the grand gestures. Every meal I have had I imagine myself once again across the table from Becca and Caroline trying so hard not to giggle while feeling the comforting glances of Sloane by my side as tears form in my eyes during the blog. Little memories of our sacred rituals make me more grateful for the accompaniment of our group. Having the ZamFam ’25 by my side along this journey is something that I cannot be more grateful for. Home has a little different of a meaning after being in Zambezi, and you all are a big part of the shift of this definition. Thank you for embracing home.
PS…my skin is back to normal, thanks to some Benadryl
Big hugs,
Taylor Mularski
Caroline! Thank you for this post and for sharing some insight into those who have accompanied us along the way. I love how you described each and every person. Before this trip I had never thought deeply about the concept of accompaniment but now have felt its effects first hand. How great it is that we all can simply just be human together and find purpose in that connection. In times of anxiousness, sadness, joy, pain and love we all had the blessing of accompaniment and it was so beautiful to see the experiences that involved it. This post helped show the web of connection and all the souls that became a part of our journey, you did such a great job at taking us back to all those we had met! I miss my Zam Fam already, but i’m so grateful to have learned and experienced all of it with all of you! Great job Weenie, miss you and our times stuck in the zam boarding english office!
Much love,
Alea
Caroline, Caroline, Caroline… how lucky we were to have you accompanying us over the past month, and how grateful I am that you shared our final blog post to wrap up our time in Zambezi. Though I’d heard all of these stories and anecdotes of accompaniment about each person during our dinner, it was great to relive this through how you shared about each of our accompaniment guests. And this post will be a helpful one to return to as we continue to process our experience, reminded of the many different folks we met from all different backgrounds and experiences, and the insights we were lucky enough to gain from hearing about their lives and stories. This past week has felt a little unsettled for me, and I’m not quite ready to go around the globe again tomorrow… but I hope I can continue to practice accompaniment with my family throughout our experience, as well as share with them more about our time in Zambezi. Thinking of our whole Zam Fam and hoping everyone is doing well, processing our experience and returning (albeit differently) to life back here. Thank you again, Ween, for a great final blog post, and I can’t wait to see you on campus (yelling ‘chindele’ and maybe throwing in a little Zambian handshake) in the Fall.
<3 Sean
This post made me tear up a little and made my heart ache to be back in Zambezi with you all. Caroline I loved your reflection on our time and how you focused on the idea of accompaniment. When you brought up being accompanied while getting emotional over blog comments it really landed. I realized that the emotion and energy in the room when we are all gathered waiting to hear and being there for each-other in our loved one’s absence was a sacred and special moment we were all able to have. Thank you for reminding me that while we are not in Zambezi any more, we all have this experience inside of us in our hearts❤️
CAROLINE!!! This is amazing. So well said. I haven’t checked the blog since I’ve been home, and this took me right back to Zambezi – oh, how it’s been missed. I love how you reflected on all the sweet moments we shared with each other and others in the community. I cherished all the time we spent together throughout our trip and cannot wait to make more memories with you back at GU! Love you lots, Sarah
WEENIE! What a wonderful post to wrap up on. I’ve been on my sister’s farm and pretty off the grid, so I’m sorry for not commenting sooner. I’ve been helping her a lot with her kiddos and her business, and processing slowly as I do. Can’t wait for our retreat and to catch up with you outside of school to hear about your transition. I’m really mulling over your quote about how human connection is made, “in moments we don’t notice or remember.” It reminded me of this Maya Angelou quote, “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” Human connection and the feelings it gives us is something I felt so strongly in Zambezi and have been craving.
p.s. I hope your parents don’t forget to pick your you up at the airport!
WEEEENIE! I’m a little late commenting on this. I skimmed this beautifully written blog post a couple of days after getting home and felt too emotional to get through it. Now, after being back home for over two weeks (crazy), reading this brings a giant smile to my face and takes me back to our incredible shared experience. I appreciate how you gave each guest their own little biography. I miss the people of Zambezi, as well as the small moments of walking to the market or giggling over blog comments together. I miss all the singing and dancing we experienced. I can’t wait to be all back together in the spring. Thank you for taking me back to Zambezi in this moment and reminding me of the growth, connection, learning, and joy we were so privileged to experience there.