Wrong number turns into lesson in diplomacy at high school

The Zambian ambassador was off by one number when he accidentally called a high school student during his history class at West Orange High School in New Jersey.

To atone for the mistake, explain the dialing mishap last fall and get Logan Svitzer out of trouble for accepting a call during class, the Zambian ambassador to the United Nations kept his promise and gave a speech at the high school last week. Lazarous Kapambwe explained that he was trying to reach a diplomat from Sierra Leone, but dialing the wrong number got Svitzer instead. Svitzer’s teacher, Robbin Sweeney, miffed at the annoyance, called the incoming number believing it was a teenage prank. After 10 minutes of explaining and finally proving the he really was an ambassador to the U.N., Kapambwe promised to come to the school and give a speech. Talk about diplomacy and making up for any inconvenience the phone call caused, during his speech Kapambwe spoke about Zambia and turned it into something of a career day lesson by encouraging students to consider the diplomatic service as a career after they graduate from college.