Goodnight from Zambia: Happy Jubilee: In Photos

October 24th each year in Zambia is Independence Day. This year marks the 50th anniversary of independence for Zambia. The Jubilee is a BIG deal here. For example, hundreds of prisoners are released from jail as part of the jubilee festivities. Market vendors have a special "jubilee price" on their items (a bartering advantage we learned of a little too late that weekend). And no surgeries are scheduled at the Beit CURE Hospital of Zambia, meaning Mason and I had the day off. We conveniently live just across the road from the brand-new National Heroes Stadium, one of the city's 2 venues for jubilee celebrations. We went to the stadium with our friends Ephraim and Davy, two nurses from the hospital, which was loads of fun. I felt very privileged to be able to witness such a historical event. Here are some photos from that day, October 24, 2014:

The National Heroes Stadium, early in the morning on October 24th.

People arriving for the festivites

Mason and I had several people come up to us and ask if they could have their photo taken with us, "the muzungus at the Jubilee". We considered it an honour. The photographer in this photo is our friend Ephraim, who brought his camera and photo printer to the event to sell photos to people.

The parade begins!

These "Jubilee Babies" were people born in the year of independence, 1964, and were honoured during the parade.

This was one of the highlights of the parade, seeing these "freedom fighters" - those involved in the original struggle for independence - walk in the parade.

Following the parade there was a display of various martial arts, dancing, and even a simulated battle scene with gunfire and ambulances driving around the track...I was too engrossed in the display to get a good photo of the battle, unfortunately!

Another highlight of the day - this hooligan broke into the stadium on his bicycle (note the very cleverly engineered handlebars) and made it all the way around the track before getting arrested. He received a very enthusiastic round of applause before being escorted to the designated detainment area.

Not sure where these guys were when the above cyclist came on scene

The people in attendance were wearing the Zambian colours - orange, black, green and red.

This boy's sister explained to us the meaning of the colours of the Zambian flag: green for natural resources, orange for mineral resources (Zambia is rich in copper), red for blood (signifying the struggle for independence), and black for the Zambian people.

This kid kept turning around to peek at us strange-looking people wearing the Zambian colours. This time I caught him on camera!

Our wonderful friend Ephraim - nurse on workdays, entrepreneurial photographer on holidays.

Ephraim in action

Mason with Davy (middle) and Ephraim. Davy is the charge nurse on the children's ward.

When people asked us what country we were from, we said, "Today we're Zambians."

Probably the classiest couple there.

Kenneth Kaunda ("K.K."), the first Zambian president, now in his nineties, waving his signature white cloth out the window as the event ends. Three of the five Zambian presidents were in attendance at the event.