I would have looked up Ndubi Mvula, the Zambia Daily Mail's Livingstone bureau chief, in any case. His health reporting had been mentioned to me several times and Livingstone has the highest rate of HIV in the country. The stories there are important, and I looked forward to working with him to tell them in depth. And it's nice to know someone in a nice place. Adding to the fun, though, was that he had just come from my place -- all over the place, covering the most critical American presidential election in either of our memories.

LUSAKA, ZAMBIA — "If you live on a small farm, as I do, your last prayer at night is that an elephant won't find your maize field," Dr. Mannasseh Phiri told an audience of African health journalists today. "It will wipe it out."

Phiri is a quietly compelling speaker and so he had the audience's attention as he went on to describe the feeding habits of elephants.

With small snouts and small mouths, they can only take in a little at a time, so they eat all day long. And as they search for food, they walk quietly; they don't run.

LUSAKA, ZAMBIA — I had already spent a jet-lagged weekend here, strolling the dirt footpaths to the center of town and to the local shopping strip before I met the editor of the paper where I will be stationed the next year.

That may be why when I asked him if he thought journalists here would be receptive to the support I hope to offer, I found his answer as credible as I did.

"Yes, they will.