Getting our Zambian Drivers Licenses

I'm trying to be as detailed with this as possible.  So, you can see just what we go through to do simple things here in Zambia.

The other day, Kerri and I went to get our Zambian drivers licenses.  When we arrived, we got into line, but it was at this time that I realized that the DMV needed xerox copies of our passports.  You see in Zambia, they don't have xerox machines in the DMV.  You must either copy them yourselves at your home (which we could not do the morning of because of lack of electricity) or you have go to a photocopy store to get the copies.  So, in a mad dash, I ran to the photocopy store next door to the DMV.  Unfortunately, they did not have any electricity either.  So, one of our teammates told us of another photocopy store down the street.  Instead of getting out of line, Kerri held our place and I ran to get photocopies.  Luckily I found the place and it had electricity.

Once in line, we were told that we might have to take a test, but we weren't told what kind of test it would be.  Megan, who was escorting us through this whole procedure, assured us it would be no big deal.  When we entered the room with the examiners, I sat with one guy and Kerri sat with another. The guy I was sitting with asked me if I knew the 10 rules to driving. I said, I knew a bunch of rules from back in the States, but wasn't sure to which rules he was referring. He then said, "The 10 rules that everyone should know regardless of where they come from." When I told him that I was still unsure to which rules he was referring, he told me to go and buy the highway code book, know the 10 rules and come back another day. Funny enough, the guy that Kerri was sitting with didn't make her recite any of the 10 rules and she walked out with the necessary paperwork for the next step in the process. 

The story doesn't end there though. After being told to know the 10 rules to driving, I went outside and found someone who was selling photocopies of the 10 rules. I  paid him 10,000 kwacha (about $3) and then headed back inside to study.  After getting in the back of the line, I had about 10 minutes to try and memorize the 10 rules.  I can't remember any of them to include in this post, but I learned all ten in those few minutes and passed the test.  I can now see why there are so many bad drivers here in Zambia. If all you have to know are 10 rules, none of which really have anything to do with actual rules of the road, something must be wrong.

After passing the test, Kerri and I had to follow "normal" Zambian procedures to finish applying for our licenses.  We went to one line where they entered our information into a computer.  Yes, I said computer!   We then stood in another line to have our pictures taken, and yet another line to pay for processing.  After paying for processing, we learned that we would then have to drive across town (about 30 minutes away) to get signatures on the forms that they printed for us during processing.  To this day, I still do not know what these signatures were for.

So, we headed out to the car to drive across town.  But just then, a police officer chased us down, on foot of course, and told us that we needed to speak with someone inside.  Apparently, before taking these forms across town, we had to get a signature which gave us approval to take the forms out of the main department of motor vehicles.  So, we complied and got the necessary signatures from the men in the very first room we had been in.  That makes sense.  When we got across town, we found a small office with two employees in it.  One read the forms and stamped them while the other provided his signature.  Seems to me that they could have stationed these employees at the main DMV, but who am I to question their processes???

After leaving this office we headed back across town (another 30 minute drive) to get back into the same line where we had paid for processing before.  We handed him the signed forms, paid some more money and were printed receipts.  Our official licenses will be ready in a mere 3 months.  For those of you who complain about the DMV in the States (which I definitely did) I am here to officially tell you that you don't have anything to complain about.  This process started at 9:00 in the morning and ended at 4:00 that afternoon, still with no licenses in hand.