Lusaka, Zambia Report of what it's like to live there - 02/22/26
Personal Experiences from Lusaka, Zambia
Background:
1. Was this post your first expatriate experience? If not, what other cities have you lived in as an expat?
This is our fourth overseas tour as a family, formerly in Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina; Bogota, Colombia; and Guatemala City, Guatemala.
2. What is your home city/country? How long is the trip to post from there, with what connections? How easy/difficult is it to travel to this city/country?
Lusaka feels extremely remote. The typical flight to DC includes a seven-hour flight to Doha, Qatar, then a layover of anywhere from 90 minutes to 12 hours, then a 14-hour flight to DC. Traveling in the region is also harder than expected. Cape Town is a popular trip, but that requires a layover in Johannesburg, and it's pretty much a full day of travel. Same with other popular "local" trips, like Mauritius or Namibia or Zanzibar. Flights are expensive; upwards of 2.5k for our family of five. In-country travel mainly includes safari lodges, which aren't cheap either and involve hard travel on rough roads. We traveled much less than we expected here, once we realized how expensive even a quick weekend trip could be.
3. What years did you live here?
2023-2026.
4. How long have you lived here?
Nearly three years.
5. What brought you to this city (e.g. diplomatic mission, business, NGO, military, teaching, retirement, etc.)?
US Embassy.
Housing, Groceries & Food:
1. What is your housing like? What are typical housing sizes, locations, and commute times for expatriates?
Most people are happy with their housing, and the embassy is trying to move towards more compound living instead of single-family homes. We live in a very large house with an enormous yard and a pool, and the house/yard is one of the biggest in the housing pool. Most people have very large homes with at least some yard. Our yard includes lemon trees, lime trees, key limes, and mangos. Others have pomegranites or berry bushes or orange trees. That part is very nice.
Luckily, we got our housing assignment before we arrived, and after we saw the size of the yard, we stocked our HHE with outdoor play equipment, which was 10000% worth the weight. After we arrived, we had a swingset built by a local carpenter and added a zipline, and they get used daily. Our compound includes five houses total, and we are next door to another compound of four houses. Our kids love being outside, and it's been nice to be in a compound where they can run next door to a friend's house without always needing an adult to take them. My oldest sometimes complains about feeling a bit secluded; she was used to riding her bike to the park in a neighborhood, but that isn't possible here. It's ideal for the littler kids. When the neighborhood chemistry is good, the kid life is great.
The housing itself is older and quirky and involves a lot of recurring maintenance issues: leaks during the rainy season, cabinet doors falling off constantly, pest issues (mainly ants and termites), water and power issues. GSO is at our house almost weekly, often for the same issues again and again. Even though GSO is wonderful and responsive, it does get really frustrating.
It is extremely rare to have a dishwasher, so be prepared to do your own dishes. The water here is EXTREMELY hard, and it's taken a toll on both appliances and household items. For example, our washer has been replaced three times because the minerals just keep clogging up the drum. We used refillable hand soap dispensers, and the minerals clogged the pumps and made them useless (yes, even with regular vinegar rinses). We have to soak our shower head in vinegar often to get rid of the minerals, otherwise it becomes very clogged. Bring clarifying/hard water shampoo with you.
We all have small water heaters, and our family of five cannot all take showers at the same time of day. Our water heaters max out at about 20 minutes of hot water at a time, even after they replaced our water heater with a larger one. If your kids take a big bubble bath, plan for a cold shower afterwards for up to three hours.
2. How would you describe the availability and cost of groceries and household supplies relative to your home country?
Groceries and the general cost of living have increased significantly since we arrived. Our family of five spent around $180/week in groceries in the first year, and it's closer to $300 three years in. We were all shocked when they took away our cost of living allowance (COLA) in early 2026.
The biggest frustration with grocery shopping is that nothing is in one place (if it's there at all). We go to Shoprite for the basic trip, and we can get about 60% of our list, but their produce and meat are terrible. Then it's off to Melisa or Green & Grains or PriceSmart for produce (sometimes all three). Then to the Butcher Block for meat (meat in other places is often spoiled). We hit up Woolies, Delicasa, and The Pantry for cheese, cured and deli meat, and anything imported (these are SUPER expensive so we only get the absolute necessities). Finally, the commissary for any American products we need, but be aware that the products are about 30% more than it would cost to get on Amazon and often close to or past their expiration date. Last, if I still have energy, I go to Farmgate for fresh produce. Oh, and a drive to the strawberry guy on Saturdays just for berries.
It takes almost an entire day to do a full week of shopping. There are farmers' markets and the commissary does a veg basket, but you need to pick those up or go to the market on Saturday mornings, which can be a pain with kid social schedules. It's also frustrating because it's not uncommon to go shopping and find a staple to be completely unavailable. There are weeks where potatoes don't exist, or red onion, or whatever. Finally, you have to be careful about frozen and refrigerated items. The cold chain is not reliable, especially during the dry season (the country is powered by hydropower, so when the water table is low, there are frequent outages). This means that items in the freezer section have clearly thawed and refrozen. After a couple of bad experiences, the only frozen stuff we buy is frozen fruit, and never meat or packaged goods.
3. What household or grocery items do you wish you had shipped to post?
Good baking chocolate and chocolate chips are high on the list. The commissary does stock chocolate chips, but they come via container and have often melted and resolidified into a solid block. I also miss convenience foods: prepackaged salads, frozen chicken tenders, quality frozen pizza, that sort of thing. Every meal requires a full cooking-from-scratch event, and that gets old, even though we like to cook.
The pools get cold, so a pool cover is helpful. Bring any large furniture, patio furniture, play equipment, bikes or kid supplies you might need; these are hard to find or very expensive locally.
Electronics are not available here or they're expensive. If you want a new laptop or ipad or phone, get it before you come, with the caveat that power surges can fry stuff. We lost an expensive espresso machine and a brand new TV when we arrived.
Kids clothes and shoes are not readily available here, so we stock up every time we're back in the US. Same goes for shampoo and condition, first aid supplies, and other personal care items. No electronics through the DPO, so if you need an ipad repaired or a new phone, get it before you come. We also do our Christmas shopping over summer break, and usually bring back one whole suitcase of stocking stuffers and remote-controlled doodads that won't make it through the DPO. Bring any holiday items (decor, costumes, fake trees, lights, etc.) as those aren't really available locally. I'm glad we invested in a high-quality fake Christmas tree before we came here.
4. What typical restaurants, food delivery services, and/or takeout options are popular among expatriates?
There are a few decent restaurants in town, but nothing that has ever really stood out in my opinion. They are fine when the point of the evening is to get together with friends, but none are good enough that I'd think to myself, "wow I'm really craving X, let's pile into the car, drive through crazy streets at night, and eat out at a place with questionable cold-chain supply."
There are two places to get take-out pizza that are close to the school where we live. Both are very underwhelming. There are delivery apps, but after a few attempts that were not super successful, we gave up on those. I REALLY miss being able to Uber an easy dinner on those random Tuesday nights when the kids are melting down, and I'm working late and/or sick, but that's just not a thing.
There are several local chefs who come to the house and cook for extremely reasonable prices (like, $40 for the whole day plus the cost of ingredients). We've availed ourselves of that several times, and Chef Bernadette will stock our freezer with bagels, mini pizzas, chicken nuggets, balls of cookie dough (so clutch for last minute school events), or whatever else we ask. She also helps us with parties, which is so nice, as I get to actually enjoy hosting my own events instead of being stuck in the kitchen the whole time.
5. Are there any unusual problems with insects or other infestations in housing?
Lol.
Look, I'm a hardcore arachnophobe. Before we arrived, I cried when I heard about the flatties (large wall spiders endemic to the region). For the first two weeks, I did a full room sweep: under the bed, behind the headboard, even rifling through the sheets before turning off the light at bedtime. I called my therapist and asked to restart my antidepressants (not joking).
Flatties are not the problem.
It's ants, termites, a weird flying insect that hatches and swarms inside our kitchen at least twice a year, roaches, mosquitoes, wolf spiders (shudder, thankfully these are fairly rare in our house), and things like that. Every morning we wake up, and the ants have made a thick line to the cat food, or the stray speck of bread that didn't get swept up the night before, or the apple core that I hadn't gotten to cleaning off the cutting board from breakfast. We've found massive ant clusters in the water chamber in the coffeepot, the honey, the kitchen sink. Every morning. You MUST do your dishes and sweep/mop the floor after meals, otherwise the ants will consume anything not nailed down within an hour or two. The houses are not sealed against the outside: there are large gaps around the door thresholds and windows. So anything outside that wants to come in is going to come in. The sooner you adjust to that, the better it will go for you.
Our baseboards have fist-sized holes in them from the termites. We find dozens of wings from the flying termites scattered across the kitchen floor during their swarming season.
We find roaches a few times a week, but our cats and the resident geckos help a lot with those. There's a gecko named Bob who lives in my bedroom, and we're friends because he makes sure the mosquitoes and roaches generally stay out of the sleeping area.
Same with the flatties. I like the flatties now. Flatties eat the mosquitoes and other bugs. As long as they stay generally out of sight on top of the kitchen cupboards, I do not even think about them anymore.
On the bright side, my fear of bugs is much, much diminished. Exposure therapy does wonders. Also, there's really no malaria in the city, so we don't sleep under mosquito nets (though the Embassy does provide them). You only need malaria prophylaxis if you travel out of the city.
It's important to be wary of snakes, and we've found a few big-ish ones around the neighborhood, but most are non-venomous, meaning that they won't kill you if they bite you, but it will definitely leave a mark and slow you down for a few days. It's not a big enough concern that it stops me from letting the kids run around outside sans shoes. We remind them not to reach into thick brush when making forts, and there are a few trees we've told them not to climb because the foliage is too thick to properly check for snakes. It has honestly not been a problem.
You also have to be careful about wet laundry left outside. There's a bug that lays eggs in wet cloth, and if you then use (for example) a towel that's been left outside, the insect will burrow into your skin to lay eggs, hatch, and then emerge. It's happened to several people in the community. Apparently, you kill them by rubbing vaseline on your skin to smother them. No, thanks. We don't leave clothes outside.
But the ants. My god, the ants. It is a war you will not win.
Daily Life:
1. How do you send and receive your letters and package mail? Are local postal facilities adequate?
DPO takes three weeks to infinity. They've really cracked down on the shipping limits, so we can't get things now that weren't an issue three years ago. There are ways to ship from South Africa, and the commissary will add non-perishables to the quarterly shipments; that's how we got a piano from South Africa, and I know others have used the commissary to get things like pool covers or trampolines. Most people do big stock-up trips when they go back to the States for R&R.
2. What is the availability and cost of household help, and what types of help are typically employed by expatriates?
Household help is plentiful and high-quality. Due to the closure of USAID, there is no shortage of great helpers looking for work. The cost has increased signficantly though, due to the weakening dollar and inflation.
We have a full-time nanny, a full-time cook/housekeeper, and a full-time gardener (all employed when we were both working full-time and the kids were younger; this staff ratio is a bit ridiculous now that I'm unemployed and the kids are a little older). Some also employ drivers or chefs.
The cost per month was $900 for all three when we arrived in 2023, and now that's closer to $1500 a month. That doesn't include the random payouts, like educational reimbursements (we offer 17,500 kwacaha per year per employee), or their weekly groceries (we provide all breakfast/lunch/tea supplies), or funeral expenses when a relative dies, or medical expenses, or annual vacation day payouts, or the 13th month, or the severance costs. We also pay for their cell phones, uniforms, transportation, and retirement (NAPSA). We set aside about $200 a month on top of regular salaries to cover all of this. Even with this comprehensive salary package, our staff frequently request loans and are almost always in a state of payback. They have never missed a payment, and they've used these loans to build a house, purchase mosquito netting, install solar in their homes, cover extra school fees, etc. That said, it's a lot more expensive than we anticipated. I think we pay around 25k per year on staff, which is nuts when you remember our kids are in school until 4pm every day.
We are extremely lucky that our helpers both drive, which makes the shopping and general kid runs much, much easier. A previous employer paid for them to go to driving school and take swim lessons, and we've paid for both our helpers to attend cooking school and get their Level 1 certifications. Our family reaps the benefits of these professional investments, but it's another expense to consider. Our helpers work incredibly hard, and they make our lives easier in a thousand ways. They more than earn their salaries.
That said, it's been a big adjustment to have extra people in our house...all the time. It's a bit hard for me to relax on our back porch or to try to do a workout out there (for example), because our gardener is there from 8 - 5:30 every day, or the guards are walking through to the bathroom facilities out back. Our helpers are always cooking large meals during the day for themselves, or working incredibly hard to keep up with the dust and general kid chaos inside, so as a former work-from-home EFM, I often find myself hiding out in the bedroom.
I long for the day when I can have a "sick day" and watch TV in my living room while the kids are at school, or to randomly decide to bake something midday, but I never feel comfortable doing that because of my "roommates". For example, when my helpers make lunch, they use 47 pots and are usually gutting a fish in the kitchen sink, so it's not like I can just walk into my kitchen and decide to fry an egg or something. I microwave some leftovers, wave, and go back to my room. We've had helpers in Latin America, but this is a whole other level, and I'm not sure it's for us. I wish I had set things up differently at the start to provide slightly clearer boundaries and more private family time.
3. Do you feel that it is safe to walk, run or hike outside? Are there areas where bike riding is possible? What is the availability and safety of outdoor space for exercising? Are these easily accessible?
This is tough. We live in one of the very few areas where it's possible to go for a walk, and it's specific to our road. Even that requires braving traffic on the road, as there are no sidewalks or even shoulders on the roads. Most roads are bordered by deep drainage ditches (for the rainy season), so the 2-3 feet between the passing cars and the drop-off are packed with people walking to and from work. It's dicey, but I do go for a walk most days of the week (with extreme caution). There are areas to go for walks or bike rides outside the city, but you'll need to drive there. People go for runs, and one or two very brave people bike to work.
The roads are dangerous for pedestrians. While we've lived in places with much worse traffic, this is the first place where there are no public parks or neighborhoods within our immediate vicinity for walking. Roads are narrow, riddled with constant potholes/craters, and packed with people, so driving requires constant vigilance. Drunk driving is a serious issue; I've watched men pour themselves a road whiskey at the grocery store parking lot and climb into the driver's seat mid-afternoon. While we lived here, a drunk driver crashed through a gate at an embassy residence, sped down the driveway and rammed into the wall of the house in the middle of the day; thank god their toddler wasn't in the driveway when this happened. I've witness multiple accidents on the road outside our compound, all due to excessive speed on poorly designed roads. We live close enough that my oldest could feasibly bike to school, but I would never allow it because of the traffic.
4. What kinds of gyms or other sports/workout facilities are available? Are they expensive?
The embassy has a small gym, and there are several other facilities throughout Lusaka offering both general workout facilities and classes like pilates, yoga, aerobics, etc. There are also reasonably priced trainers who will come to your home.
5. Are credit cards widely accepted and safe to use locally? Are ATMs common and do you recommend using them? Are they safe to use?
Yes, we rely on credit cards around town. ATMs are scattered throughout the city, but it's not uncommon for them to be out of order (or out of cash). We've had fruitless days going from ATM to ATM to ATM trying to get enough cash for staff salaries if we happened to miss the cashier window at the embassy. Most people here use mobile money (through their cell phones). For farmers' markets, craft stalls, random ticketed events, or even larger chain stores, it's best to set up mobile money on your phone and keep it stocked up, like a debit card.
6. What English-language religious services are available locally?
Our family does not practice, but we know several families who attend services locally and it seems like most people have been able to find a faith community that suits them. There is also a Chabad house that hosts services and cultural events, and the community there is lovely as well.
7. How much of the local language do you need for daily living? Are local language classes/tutors available and affordable?
English is fine. Staff at major stores will all speak English, and the helpers within the expat community all have some English. Gardeners and other maintenance staff may have less English, but it hasn't been a problem for us. Outside of the city, locals may not have much English but all tourist destinations will be fully in English. I find that locals love to practice their English as soon as they see a "muzungu" out and about. If you are white or otherwise obviously a foreigner, you will likely attract notice, especially outside of the city. Once, I had to ask a family to stop following my children and filming them while visiting a tourist site outside of Lusaka.
8. Would someone with physical disabilities have difficulties living in this city?
Yes. There are no sidewalks, parking spots are narrow, and no standards as far as ADA accessibility. A lot of what we do on the weekends involves trekking out to areas that are sandy/muddy/tall grass. There is a deaf community in Lusaka, but I'm not sure how someone with visual impairments would be able to get around.
Transportation:
1. Are local buses, trams, trains or taxis safe and affordable?
Local transport is not safe. People are robbed at knifepoint routinely in taxis. You must use private vehicles or private drivers at all times.
I find driving here to be quite stressful, and I get my fill just doing school pickup and running to piano lessons and the embassy. I don't like going out at night because of the lack of street lights, the prevalence of drunk drivers, and the poor visibility overall. If we're going out with friends to dinner, we hire a driver or book a shuttle with the commissary. It makes fun a little less spontaneous, as I miss the ease of calling an Uber, but it's the best option we've found.
The upside is that driving here is generally slow and fairly polite. There are almost no functioning traffic lights in the entire city, but if you nose out into the intersection, people will let you in. My husband says it's a dream compared to his tours in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and it's much more tepid compared to the cities we've lived in in Latin America.
2. What kind of vehicle(s) including electric ones do you recommend bringing to post, given the terrain, infrastructure, availability of parts, burglary/carjacking risks, etc.? What kind of car or vehicles do you advise not to bring?
It's left-hand drive here, so you'll need to buy a car locally or import one from Japan or South Africa or similar. It's best to get something rugged that can handle rain, washed-out roads, mud, sand, and general off-road conditions; even taking the kids to piano or horseback riding lessons requires a certain degree of off-roading. They only paved the (major!) road to our house a year after we moved in. A car that you don't mind getting dinged or sun-damaged is wise.
Phone & Internet:
1. Is high-speed home Internet access available? How long does it typically take to install it after arrival?
Starlink internet is essential as the local internet is not very reliable or fast. There's a waiting list for Starlink, so if you can arrange to get the equipment beforehand, it will save you a lot of headaches. Otherwise, it can take weeks to a month to get internet set up in your house. The commissary rents modems, but there's a limited supply and they're slow. Before we got Starlink, we could not stream shows on multiple devices in our house, and I was unable to have video calls for my remote job in a reliable way. With Starlink, the internet is fairly reliable, outside of really bad storms or generator failures.
2. Do you have any recommendations regarding mobile phones? Did you keep your home-country plan or use a local provider?
We keep Google Fi so we can get passcodes for logging in to American sites, and use local cell for everyday use. The plans here are the kind that you top up monthly, and it's a bit annoying to realize you've suddenly run out of data when you're driving down an unfamiliar road to get to a birthday party at the other side of town. I flip over to my Google Fi in those cases, and it's also a good insurance policy when the local network isn't working for some reason.
Pets:
1. Are qualified veterinarians and/or good kennel services available? Do animals need to be quarantined upon entry to the country? Are there other considerations regarding pets that are particular to this country?
We worried about bringing our pets on such a long flight, but it was fine and the transit via Doha was really good. There is a good local vet, but the facilities are a little...spartan. Emergency care for pets is limited. That said, pets live a very good life here, with the large fenced-in yards and tons of helpers who will dote on them.
Many locals are frightened of dogs, and for good reason: people breed and keep guard animals. I was bitten just visiting a local's house by their German Shepherd who thought I walked a little too jauntily towards the front door. Another friend was bitten by a dog that escaped its gate while she was going on a run.
There are lots of strays here, and the foster community is active. If you like animals, there is a lot to keep you busy here in terms of volunteer work.
Employment & Volunteer Opportunities:
1. What types of jobs do most expatriate spouses/partners have? Locally based or telecommuting? Full-time or part-time? Can you comment on local salary scales?
Lusaka had a HUGE USAID presence, so when that closed, the employment opportunities for EFMs shrunk considerably, both inside the embassy and with the ancillary partners at NGOs and other international development organizations who worked with USAID (ask me how I know...). There are the standard low-pay, low-skilled EFM jobs at the embassy, and many people work remotely though it's best to have that set up before you arrive. Time zone differences can be a challenge if your client/employer is back in the States.
2. What volunteer opportunities are available locally?
There are many volunteer opportunities, including orphanages, the local animal shelter, environmental organizations, and the like.
3. What is the typical dress code at work and in public places? Is formal dress ever required?
It's fairly casual here, even at the embassy. My kids never wear shoes, and I've started having them just leave the shoes in the car when we go visit friends (less to hunt down later). You often see kids without shoes even at restaurants.
It's good to have 1-2 formal dresses/suits/tux for the Marine Ball and other work events (the military community does several balls, and the other diplomatic communities have their own formal events). It's also useful to have 2-3 outfits for cocktail attire, which happens fairly frequently.
Health & Safety:
1. Are there personal security concerns to be aware of at this post? Please describe.
We've felt quite safe here from a security perspective. Security risks generally come from crimes of opportunity, and violent crime is very low in the expat community because we don't use local transport, and all our homes have 24/7 guards.
I've never lived anywhere with 24/7 guards, and oh boy, I am very tired of having to ask permission to go in or out of my own home compound. They are right outside my front door. All day. All night. Make sure your blinds are closed! In all seriousness, we are grateful for the service they provide, but just keep in mind that they don't work for you personally. We know of at least one guard who broke into a neighbor's home in our compound. I found a guard stripping to his underwear and bathing in the hose and my six-year-old daughter asked why there was a naked man in the front yard after school. Again, boundaries are hard, and there's no such thing as a private life here.
2. Are there any particular health concerns? What is the quality of available medical care? What medical conditions typically require medical evacuation?
I am a former medical professional who worked at a trauma center in the US. I would say that lack of medical care is a big, big stressor for me, likely due to my professional experience and knowing what can go wrong. If you get in a car accident on the twisty mountain roads on your way to a safari, well...that's it. There's no ambulance coming to get you.
There are okay hospitals in the city, but I would not feel comfortable with any sort of general anesthesia or procedure that could risk bleeding/needing a transfusion as they just don't have the facilities, resources, or back-up care to make this safe. If you have a serious medical condition that requires frequent follow-ups or ongoing therapies, this might not be the post for you. if you require medication for a condition, be sure to get a full years' supply before arriving.
It's also VERY hard to not have any sort of care outside of business hours. If your kid has an ear infection on Christmas Eve, you're out of luck until Monday morning. Bring a large stock of kids' fever medicines, allergy meds, ice packs, and general first aid supplies. Strep throat here is like nothing I've ever seen before; our kids get it CONSTANTLY, and when it hits, you'll blow through your stock in a few days, and there's no CVS to run to for a quick restock. Also...bring the lice treatment (again, ask me how I know...). You don't want to wait a month for Amazon to deliver the lice shampoo when it suddenly breaks out in the classroom at school.
We've been medevaced twice while living here. Once, for tonsils + repeated ear infections. We ended up in South Africa, and the care was subpar and dated compared to America (in my professional opinion), but...fine. Incidentally, while we were on that medevac, there was a cholera outbreak in Lusaka and the kids' school closed and went to virtual learning for a month. My kids basically didn't go to school because I wasn't there to oversee it, and the nannies weren't up to the technological challenges of Zoom classrooms.
The second was for routine specialist follow-ups we couldn't do here in Lusaka, and for that they asked us to go to America for continuity of care. I found it very frustrating to have to take a month off of work, use an R&R ticket, pay for hotels and rental cars out of pocket, just to go see the ENT and GI and respiratory docs for the routine specialist check-ups my kids need.
There are limited resources for ongoing therapies. One of my kids gets 30 minutes of physical therapy weekly at the school, but would likely benefit from more if it were available. There is an online occupational therapist who is lovely, but the utility is limited for wiggly kids. There is a single speech therapist here, but we did not find the quality to be worth the cost. There is a local center that offers psych counseling to adults and kids. In other words, there are resources here, but it's limited to just 1-2 people, and the quality varies.
3. What is the air quality like at post (good/moderate/bad)? Are there seasonal air quality issues? Does the air quality have an impact on health?
It's fine. There's dust and burning trash. We use air purifiers in the bedrooms, just because the air can get musty in the rainy season and dusty in the dry season. It's nothing like a big city, though.
4. What do people who suffer from environmental or food allergies need to know?
Food allergies would be very tough here when it comes to restaurants. There are gluten-free options in stores, and one gluten-free bakery in town.
My kids have struggled with environmental allergies here, for reasons I can't quite pin down. Two of my kids now take daily allergy meds (when they did not before we got here) due to recurring hives.
5. Are there any particular mental health issues that tend to crop up at post, such as Seasonal Affective Disorder (winter blues)?
Mental health issues would be highly individual. I can't speak for others, but I struggled with this tour. I felt like excursions required a lot of effort and discomfort, while being home required living under a microscope, with all the staff and guards. Sometimes a girl just wants to walk around in her underwear and eat ice cream at noon, okay? That doesn't happen here. It's hard to feel like you can't ever really relax in your own home.
My usual coping mechanism, local travel, was limited because of the expense and difficulty of getting places. Why would we travel five hours on terrible roads to stay in a cramped hut with no air conditioning in 95-degree heat full of spiders for hundreds of dollars, when we have a nice house with a pool and reasonably functioning AC at home? More adventurous folks who actually like hiking and camping as a hobby would likely feel differently here. My idea of a fun weekend away is exploring cultural sites, historic cities, museums, concerts, culinary destinations, nice beaches, or nature retreats (with AC/good linens) and that's not really the vibe here. This is an example of a "know thyself" post.
6. What is the overall climate: is it extremely hot or cold, wet or dry, at any time of year, for example?
I was a little confused by previous reports that say the weather here is glorious year-round. I mean, compared to Saudi Arabia or something, sure. But coming from Guatemala and Bogota (both lovely) and the four seasons in the Balkans, I found the weather here to be just...fine.
May - August is cool, dry, and pleasant. This is my favorite time of year, but it's a ghost town during the summer because everyone leaves for the summer holiday. There are very few kids' camps, and without neighbors to play with, it gets a bit tedious. But this is a perfect time to go on safari, camping, or travel in-country, because it's not too hot and the bush is dry enough to see animals. We often need to turn on the heat at night, as it can dip into the low 40s or even 30s. You'll need a light jacket and long pants/light sweaters for this time of year.
September-November is HOT, with Halloween-time in the mid 90's and humid. Leave the full-body fleece onesie costumes at home. This is the time of year when we use our pool. Bring lots of bathing suits, googles, pool floaties, and your preferred brand of sunscreen. And bug spray for the mosquitoes.
The rains start in late November and continue through April. You can have nice, warm days (75-85 midday, upper 60s or low 70s in the morning and evening), but expect almost daily downpours, usually in the afternoon or at night. By January or February, it's starting to cool off enough that we aren't swimming very often. The rains cause the roads to flood, and with the ubiquitous tin roofs, it can be quite loud - it wakes the kids up. Many people travel out of the country for the 4-5 weeks of school break in Dec/Jan because it's warm and humid and rainy here, and the bush is too dense and green to see animals (and many safari camps close).
Schools & Children:
1. What is the availability of international schools? What has been your general experience with them, if any?
Our three kids have hit every single grade at the American school over our three years here, from the ELC 1 (preschool) up through 5th grade. We've had great experiences and subpar experiences, usually depending on the teacher that particular year. Leadership was fabulous the first year we were here, and we felt very supported. The leadership changed two years ago, and things went downhill to some extent.
I think the overall curriculum at the American school is fine. Not great, but fine. We like the focus on social-emotional learning as well as all the project-based learning. The kids have done a lot of cool projects, especially in grades three and up: business fairs, overnight trips, extended personal projects, etc. We LOVE the specials teachers, who are universally phenomenal: the art teacher and librarian are really special people. AISL is also the only real library in the city.
Academically, the school is behind American public schools. Universally, I hear that kids who move from AISL and go to American public schools are at least six months behind, even bright kids. In my opinion, the math curriculum is a joke. I'm shocked by the first and second graders who are still struggling to read. My oldest was starting multiplication in second grade in America; my current second grader is doing subtraction problems like "82-5." Her spelling words last year in first grade were "responsibility" and "exceptional." This year, she brought home a spelling test, and the words included "hope" and "gate." In other words, it's really inconsistent. Other parents I talk to in this grade are similarly confused, and across the board, most parents are supplementing at home. It's a big ask of parents who are also working.
We were disappointed in the preschool/pre-k program, and I wish I'd listened to my instinct that first year and moved our youngest to the Montessori school, Casa de Bambinii (which goes up through 2nd grade). While the Early Learning Center (ELC) at AISL has very nice facilities, and I liked all the resources: the big library, the swimming classes integrated into the curriculum, access to the art and music classrooms, etc., I just felt like the kids didn't actually learn anything academic while having ridiculous expectations for personal self-care (zero tolerance for bathroom accidents, even for newly three year olds, which caused HUGE stress and just slowed things down in that regard). When my youngest got to kindergarten after two years in the ELC, he could barely recognize a couple of letters and sort of count to five. My girls were already reading simple stories by that age, coming from other schools. I thought maybe it was just a quirk of being the youngest kid in the family, but the kindergarten teacher confided in me that every kid coming from the ELC was "like starting from scratch." We had to do a lot of catch-up work at home to get him up to speed. Lo and behold, he was fully capable, but had never had the opportunity to gain those skills. But sure, he finger painted a lot.
There are other options: the British school, the French school, the Montessori school (for younger kids), LICS. Everyone older than grade 2 goes to AISL, as far as I'm aware. While the school has been fine for us, it has been a challenge in ways I didn't expect. I am glad we're moving on as we approach middle school and onwards.
2. What accommodations do schools make for special-needs kids?
The school talks a big game when it comes to accommodations, but under recent leadership, support services feel more punitive than encouraging. We don't feel like our quirky kids have the encouragement and space to recognize their unique strengths, like they did before, and instead are being forced into lowest-common-denominator coursework. The school isn't really able to offer any extension work, so we do a lot of extra math and reading at home. My extremely gifted, high-masking AuADHD girl struggles a lot because she's bored silly by the school work, but needs to be with her peer grade level for social development reasons, and the support services available mean she's in "conversation practice groups" with kids who have severe learning disabilities. It hasn't been a good recipe for success. My oldest is also gifted, but in a more "conventional" way, and she's had the most positive experience of the three kids. She still takes full extra math class outside of school just to keep her functioning at the level she's capable of (aka, I'm the meanest mom ever).
We feel like we're fighting the guidance counselor every step of the way (I hate being "that parent") and there's an unofficial parent support group where we share similar stories of struggles when it comes to kids who don't easily fit into a neat box. If you have kids with special needs, just be prepared to advocate heavily and be open to doing your own work at home. The school offers some great opportunities when it comes to projects and social-emotional learning, but for academics, individual therapies, or individualized curriculums, it falls far short.
3. Are preschools available? Day care? Are these expensive? What has been your experience with them, if any? Do the schools provide before- and/or after-school care?
Preschool starts at age 3 at AISL. Casa takes younger kids. Most people use nannies as before/after care.
4. Are local sports classes and/or activities available for kids?
Yes, to some degree. There are several options for affordable horseback riding. There are two gymnastics studios, but both required a long commute during rush hour and weren't worth the drive for us. There are several swim teams. There are two piano teachers that we know of. There is a local dance studio for younger kids. There are tons of options for soccer. My oldest was disappointed when there was no ice skating rink here (sorry, kiddo).
The school offers a good variety of extracurriculars, though the offerings change frequently. A quarterly offering might include knitting, chess, swim, soccer, tennis, a general "games" club, art or drawing, newspaper, theater, choir, lego or keva club, animal club, community service, robotics, or mountain biking. Our kids have tried a lot. One thing to be aware of is that the school day is already quite long: the bus comes at 6:45 am and comes home at 3 pm on a normal day. With extracurriculars, the bus comes home after 4 pm, including for my kindergartner. We've learned to scale back our expectations a bit to allow enough time to rest and play.
Expat Life:
1. What is the relative size of the expatriate community? How would you describe overall morale among expatriates?
There is a good-sized expat community, both within the Embassy and with other diplomatic and business communities. We've enjoyed good friendships outside the Embassy community. Morale has not been great the last few years due to poor leadership and the loss of USAID. Lots and lots of families experienced serious upheaval, and many more spouses are now out of work.
2. What are some typical ways to socialize, either with local people or with other expatriates? Are there groups or clubs that you can recommend?
We are SO busy here, but it's all self-made fun. Every weekend includes multiple birthday parties for the kids, or swim meets, or scout camping trips, or Embassy social events. Within the community, we're frequently meeting up at each other's homes for self-run book clubs, poker nights, or BBQs ("brais"). We meet at the local pizza place for trivia night once a month or quarterly wine tastings at a resort outside of town.
If you are willing to brave the multiple-messages-per-second local community WhatsApp groups, you'll hear about cultural nights at the French embassy, or an art morning for kids at the pizza place, or a nature walk at the national park. There are paint-and-sip events or yoga mornings at local hotels. There are small art galleries that host events. As I write this, my kids are at a "math in nature" event at the local arboretum. There are a couple of movie theaters that are okay. There are a few coffee shops outside of town where you can let your kids play. There's a local circus that puts on shows and does circus classes and camps for kids. The school hosts bigger events like Trunk or Treat for Halloween along with fundraisers, triathlons, etc. You could be very busy here if you want to be.
That said, there aren't a lot of "indoor" places to go. There are a couple of soft play places, but they're far and not super nice. There aren't a lot of options for museums or that kind of cultural entertainment. Outside of the school playground, there are no parks or playgrounds for spontaneous meetups. There's nowhere I would go to just browse or stroll or hang out. You schedule things, arrange them with friends, and then show up.
3. Is this a good city for single people? For couples? For families? Why or why not?
This is an excellent post for adventurous families of young kids. Household help is plentiful, and kids are able to play outdoors most of the year. There are many activities to keep kids busy at the school, and the expat/school community is very active. If you are a flexible person who likes the outdoors, who has a go-with-the-flow attitude, and who enjoys taking the initiative to make your own social events, this could be a great place for you.
I think singles struggle a bit here, as there aren't a lot of get-togethers for singles. Most social events revolve around kids and school events, even within the embassy community, so that's something to keep in mind.
4. Is it easy to make friends with locals here? Are there any prejudices or any ethnic groups who might feel uncomfortable here?
We've made a lot of friends outside the Embassy community, but they're all through the school and diplomatic community. In other words, they're all extremely privileged and wealthy compared to local Zambians. Our local Zambian friends tend to be white Zambians with ties to South Africa, just by virtue of who we meet through school and work. If they're non-White, they're from India, Kenya, China, Japan, the UK, Israel, or Germany, and they're here for business/work. There's absolutely a class divide with a long history of colonialism here, and it's something to be aware of.
5. Is this a good city for LGBT expatriates? Why or why not?
This could be a struggle here. We don't know of anyone in the community in a same-sex relationship, and I would imagine that locals would not be very welcoming of this type of situation, given the conservative/religious local culture.
6. Are there problems with ethnic, race/racial minorities or religious prejudices? Gender equality?
White South Africans or White Zambians are at the top of the social hierarchy here. Black Zambians are still predominantly in service jobs or agricultural work, often single-family subsistence farming. Women hold traditional gender roles here. I get some good gossip from my nannies, and it's clear that local Zambian women struggle a lot.
HIV/AIDs was a serious issue here for decades, and this had just started to reach epidemic control, but the loss of USAID means that this will likely backslide enormously. All the nannies I know are caring for children of brothers, sisters, aunts, and uncles who have died either from AIDS, cancer, or road-related fatalities. Gender-based violence is horrific. I find it interesting that if my husband is home and hanging out in the living room, the nannies will walk right by him, come to the home office where I'm working, knock, and ask me a routine question about the house or what's for dinner or whatever, even if my husband is the one "on duty" at the moment.
7. What have been the highlights of your time in this country? Best trips or experiences?
While I'm sure it's clear from this post report that this overall tour has been a struggle for me, it's also been formative in a lot of ways. We've made the closest friendships of anywhere we've ever lived. We have formed lifelong relationships with other families that I will willingly fly thousands of miles to maintain. Our kids have formed relationships with other kids who are now closer to them than their own cousins. The majority of our in-country travel is with close family friends we've met here, and it's just wonderful. For all my complaining about the lack of infrastructure or lack of local resources, I have a true community here, and I think most people feel that way. Neighbors show up when we're sick with soup or precious stocks of children's Tylenol. Friends notice when we have busy weekends and text to say, "hey, can I take your kids home from X event for you? How about having them for a sleepover so you can take a night off?" When tragedy strikes, as it can anywhere, the influx of help and support from our community is instant and full of love. The community here is genuine, caring, and uplifting, and we will miss it intensely.
8. What are some interesting/fun things to do in the area? Can you recommend any “hidden gems"?
This is a safari and camping post. There are three main safari regions, and each is unique. They require a minimum of four hours of driving, and some require flying. The other big thing to do here is Victoria Falls, which is a ten-hour drive or a short flight.
I know some people love safaris and camping, and they're out every weekend enjoying the bush. Rock on. Unfortunately, after our family had gone on our fourth safari, we were kinda like...okay, we're good. Safaris are hard on little kids. You wake up at 5 a.m. (animals are most active at dawn), spend five hours in a jeep on rough roads, and you have to stay very quiet not to scare the animals away, which is hard for a three-year-old or even a ten-year-old. Safaris are also expensive, since it costs a lot to get materials out of the city.
9. Is this a "shopping post"? Are there interesting handicrafts, artwork, antiques, or other items that people typically buy there?
There is chitenge, colorful local fabric. We've had several pieces of furniture made, including a lovely patio set. There is an art and design exhibition every year, and it's very popular.
10. What are the particular advantages of living in this city?
Nice weather, low traffic, decent school, strong community, plentiful household help, unique view into a new part of the world
Words of Wisdom:
1. What do you wish you had known about this particular city/country before moving there?
The previous post reports oversold this place. I guess if you're coming from, I don't know, Sudan or something, sure, it's great. People call it "Africa lite" and I suppose that's true, but as our first Africa posting, it was still a big change coming from primarily Latin America. I wish I had tempered my expectations and come in with a better grasp of the challenges of living here.
We also thought we would save a ton of money while living here, and that hasn't happened. Part of that was me losing my job with USAID. But part of that was the huge increase in cost of living here coupled with the surprising cost of local travel/household help. We'd "be good" for months, then snap after yet another round of e. coli or long stretch of power outages, book a trip somewhere, and be right back where we started financially.
2. Knowing what you know now, would you still move to this city?
Ye-es (aka, a qualified "yes"). It has been a good, if challenging, tour for our children. They've grown and built important relationships. The whole family has gained valuable and humbling insight into a new part of the world, and that is very important. It's been...an educational tour. Not always a fun one. My husband, the FSO in a leadership role, has been busy here, but nowhere near as busy as he was in any of his previous tours; this has been a relaxing tour for him. He reliably leaves work at 5 or 5:30 Mon-Thurs, and by 4pm on Fridays (most people leave by 12:30 on Fridays). There are limited evening events, a couple per month, max. He TDYs a few times a year, but it's not terrible and it's usually within the region.
As the EFM trying to build a career and the default parent left to figure out how to glue together the mishmash of resources for our kids, it's been hard. I don't regret it necessarily, but I am very done, and I don't have any desire to come back to this part of the world. For me, this has been a "check the box" post, and I'm ready for something a little less "adventurous" after this.
3. If you move here, you can leave behind your:
snowboots, expensive jewelry or electronics, nice cars.
4. But don't forget your:
sense of adventure, well-stocked medicine cabinet, camping gear.
5. Do you have any other comments?
I realize this hasn’t been the most glowing review, and I do want to end on a positive note. After nearly twenty years in the Foreign Service lifestyle and multiple overseas tours, we’ve learned that every post comes with tradeoffs, and it’s important to name them clearly. Zambia has stretched us in ways we didn’t always expect — logistically, professionally, and personally — and at times it has been genuinely hard. But hard does not mean negative, and challenge does not cancel out value.
Our time in Lusaka gave our family resilience, perspective, and some of the deepest friendships we’ve formed anywhere in the world. We are grateful for what we’ve learned here and for the community that carried us through the tougher seasons. If we leave with slightly fewer tears than at some other posts, it’s not because this tour mattered less, but it has shaped us differently. For those coming next: arrive prepared, stay flexible, invest in your people, and it will be a good tour; demanding at times, but meaningful and memorable.
