7 days of Mourning

Zambia's president Patrick Levy Mwanawasa's death was confirmed and a 7 day national mourning was announced by the Vice President. Google it if you are more interested in the story (I don't want to post facts that are already all over the internet.)

Yesterday morning as I was walking to class, I heard from a friend that The president's health had taken a turn for the worse. Then in the evening I heard that he had died, but I heard nothing about the period of mourning. So, this morning I showed up to school to see how my students would react to this news. The first student to arrive mentioned to me about the 7 days of mourning, so as the other students arrived we looked on the internet and read different news articles about the death of president Mwanawasa. This then started discussions as to whether the president had already been dead or not and if the vice president will be able to fulfill the role of President of Zambia (Jokes and laughter accompanied these discussions.)

Not knowing exactly how to respond (the students didn't seem to be effected very much) I asked, "How should we proceed?" One of my students said "Let's just go on with class and see what happens tomorrow." I knew that I had to make a decision concerning the method in which LITA honors the passing of our president. So, I decided to pray with the class for the Nation of Zambia and then I canceled classes.

I never would've thought that the President's death would've effected me much. Yet, here I am feeling a bit sad and realizing that this is a very serious situation. I pray that the transition goes well keeping the peace, stability, and growth that has existed here in Zambia for quite some time.