out and about in Choma

The team back in the States

Over the course of the last 2 weeks, I have been bombarded by so many emotions and experiences that is no wonder I sit here today feeling quite tired and in need of some R&R.  This past week we have been in classes for the majority of the week.  I have spent many hours reading books, articles and participating in discussions this week that have shook me to my core.  We have been talking about foreign aid—what good is it doing, what needs to be improved upon, and what our role as Christians is in the aid that is given.  

On Thursday, we went out to the community…this was such a treat because we had been on lock down in the World Hope compound because of the elections that went on this week (just for everyone’s information, everything has been peaceful in the area that we are in right now and our contact people here in Zambia feel we are safe to go outside of the compound now).  We first went to a school in a rural community called Sianyinda where we participated in assisting the school children who are sponsored by families in the United States write letters to their sponsors.  It is an unbelievable process in that there is 1 man who is responsible to meet with just under 1,000 children every 2 months to write letters to their sponsors…the thing is that most of these children do not know how to read or write English well even when they are 13 years old and older.  The school that we went to has over 500 students with only 10 teachers which leaves the teacher to student ratio at about 1:70.  As you can imagine this doesn't exact create the best learning environment.  Nonetheless, we were able to assist about 30 students to write letters to their sponsors.  After enjoying some time playing soccer and other games with the kids after we finished our projects we loaded up in the Land Cruisers and went to the Sianyinda Community Trust.  A community trust is a program that was begun by World Hope to help develop this community.  It involves HBC (home-based care) which consists of caregivers who visit and help those who are unable to take care of themselves--mostly HIV/AIDS patients, but also those who have diseases that causes them to be stuck in their homes unable to receive other forms of health care.  Another aspect of this program is the OVC program -- orphans & vulnerable children program -- the community uses its strengths, providing for one another and working towards a common goal, to be take in children who are left orphans due to HIV/AIDS, as well as those who are vulnerable to become orphans because of HIV/AIDS to live in homes together within the community.  We also were able to see one of the local wells which was put in by World Hope and is to be maintained by the community.  World Hope's goal in these program initiatives is to have the community depend upon itself instead of constantly having to depend on outside donors. 

Mercy and me working on her sponsor letter

Chielo's letter

One of my team members and a young woman as we head out to see the local well.

Sianyinda community well

On Friday we were able to go to the Children's Nest Orphanage homes which conveniently, one of the homes is just over a block away from our compound so I plan to spend a lot of time. 

children from "The Blue House" -- 1 of the houses in the Children's Nest Orphanage homes

So, there's kind of a recap of the week we've had here in Choma.  Other than these fun events, we have been spending close to 5 hours a day in the classroom!  This week we should be getting outside of the compound a little more than last week.

Your great Name

What an amazing week it has been here in Zambia.  We just arrived here in Choma after a 4.5 hour bus ride from Chikankata.  I would love to sit here and write for hours about the experiences I had while in Chikankata but I sure don’t want to annoy anyone but I am going to share a few highlights from the trip.  We arrived at the Salvation Army post on Tuesday evening around 6pm after quite a ride from Lusaka.  During this ride I was completely overwhelmed by the beauty of God’s creation.  All I could think of while sitting next to the window taking in the fresh dusty red air was how BIG the God I serve is.  I am on the other side of the world and yet His creation still screams His name.  I listened to the song, Your Great Name by The People’s Church for probably over 10 times during the ride. We stayed in dorm like rooms with two people to a room…and we had our first experience sleeping under mosquito nets.  I thought it was pretty nice to sleep under them because it feels like you’re in a little cocoon.  On Wednesday, we went for a tour of the Chikankata Mission Hospital which was way more than I expected!  They have an outpatient clinic, mother/baby clinic (for weighing babies and to check to see if both mother and child are receiving adequate nutrition), pediatric ward, intensive care ward, tuberculosis ward, women’s and men’s separated medical-surgical wards as well as a neonatal section and labor and delivery section.  They also have two surgery suites, HIV/AIDS clinic in which ARV (anti-retro virus drugs) are given out – these drugs are to help improve quality of life in HIV/AIDS patients allowing them to maintain muscle mass, have their normal amount of energy and be able to continue to function normally so they can continue to conduct all the same matters of their lives before HIV/AIDS.  And lastly they have their own laboratory, pharmacy, and x-ray room on the compound.  If you know anything about overseas health care, you realize that this many wards and other amenities is amazing to have in this type of an environment.  Although to myself, I was pretty shocked to see how little resources they have, but encouraged because they are so great at using every single part of the resources they do have to impact the health of those that are cared for. 

For the first day, I chose to go to the pediatric ward because I am very interested in possibly working on a peds unit when I graduate.  While there I spent a lot of time visiting with the nursing students from the Chikankata School of Nursing that is connected with the hospital.  It was amazing to me that there wasn’t a registered nurse anywhere on the ward, there were just 6 nursing students who were more than capable of taking care of all the procedures and treatments that needed to be completed on the floor.  Over half of the unit was malnourished children who needed treatment.  There was one other case that I was involved in and that was a little 2 year old boy who had fallen on what the Zambians use to cook on and had burns over most of his abdomen.  I was able to sit in while the dressed his wound and it was so interesting the salve they used to help the healing process.  It truly gives a different perspective to see what health care looks like in another country…I can already see how it will continue to affect the care I give both presently and in the future.

Another highlight from the week was going to the rural mother/baby clinic in a small village called Dundu.  Once we arrived, we prepared to hold a clinic in which babies can receive their newborn vaccinations, every baby and small child is weighed and recorded on their growth chart.  This process is such a joy to be involved with…I was given the job of getting the BEAUTIFUL children from their mothers and placing them in the sling that was hanging on a tree to get weighed.  I cannot even put words to describe how absolutely gorgeous the children are here…the closest I can come is by showing pictures.  If you go to the blog I wrote yesterday and see the photo with the sign “Mother/Baby Clinic” in the wall that is the sling and scale we used but we hung it on a tree limb.  I also was given the opportunity to learn how to assess a pregnant woman to see how many weeks she is just by measuring her stomach.  Along with this, I had the immense joy to learn how to listen to a baby’s heartbeat inside of the womb using an old style fetal monitor.  Not many people know what this is these days but let me tell you, I was once again struck by the immensity of the power of God.  There is nothing like listening to the heartbeat of a baby in the womb knowing that even then the Lord already has every moment planned for that child’s life. 

Lastly, I would like to share the story of Jacqueline.  She is a 40 year old woman who is living with HIV/AIDS in the village of Malala.  She has been taking antri-retro virals for a few years now and her quality of life has been improved so much that she is strong and healthy and you would never ever guess she is living with HIV/AIDS.  A group of us had the amazing opportunity of sitting down and talking with her for about an hour about her struggle with HIV/AIDS.  This opportunity really opened my eyes to better understand the struggle of HIV/AIDS.  In the photo below stands Jacqueline and her brother along with her young baby who also has been diagnosed with HIV/AIDS and is currently on the ARVs.  This family was such an amazing testament to looking to God for their hope and strength.

As you can probably tell, Chikankata made quite an impact on my life as well as the way I look at nursing care.  After watching two of my teams scrub in on surgery, holding beautiful African children, and asking to Lord to show me new things from His viewpoint each and every day, I know that Chikankata will always be a very special place to me that want to never forget.  

birthdays!

Hello everyone!! We arrived in Choma at the World Hope International Zambia compound on Saturday afternoon but the internet has been a little sketchy so far so I haven't been able to update.  I don't have a lot of time today to write out all the details of what the last few days has been like but I will hopefully have another update with more about Chikankata later tonight.  I woke up this morning and to my wonderful surprise as a little birthday treat, I was able to finally get on the internet for a few minutes.  I'm loving it here!  The weather has seriously been amazing -- 80 degrees and sunny -- who can complain about that!

Here's a few pictures from the past few days...be looking for another update hopefully later tonight to update all the fun details!

barter, barter, barter

What an eventful day it has been…beginning with morning prayer time with our team which was such a blessing because we haven’t had a lot of time to do this together.  After breakfast and some relaxation, we left for a casual driving tour around Lusaka as well as going to a cultural center where there was a market to go shopping at.  This was so much fun!  I perfected the art of bartering today even more so than I have done in the past.  I was able to get some pretty sweet finds and one item that I was SO excited about – a globe that really, I can’t do it justice without showing you a picture of it.  After the market we went to lunch at a cute sandwich shop.  I have officially begun a craving for veggies and fruit, so any time I am away from our compound I make sure I find something that has lots of veggies or fruit with it.  We were able to tour the national monument here as well as see the embassies that are located here in Zambia.  The last big event of today was going to tour of a local hospital called St. John Medical Center.  This is mainly an outpatient center that services about 60 people per day.  Within the clinic they have 1 emergency room, 3 treatments rooms for procedures, and 3 consultation rooms for patient education and screening.  Within the hospital they have their own lab and pharmacy which was so neat to see in a foreign country.  In most hospitals in countries outside of the hospital the family or friends of the patient are responsible to go outside of the hospital to pharmacies to get the required medications or equipment needed for the treatment of this loved one.  One the second floor of the medical center there was a children’s ward, which included two pediatric beds in one room, then there is a maternity ward which included three post-partum (after giving birth) rooms to allow the mothers to recover after delivering the baby, a surgery suite, and a birthing room which included two beds in the same room along with 1 incubator for premature babies and 1 examination table that are used for newborns after the birth to keep them warm while the nurses assess the baby’s status.  This was so neat to be able to see what this sector of health care in Zambia looks like.  I was overwhelmed looking at their surgery suite and how minimal equipment was available to perform surgeries that I am sure are quite complicated.  I’ve been in operating rooms in the U.S. and let me tell those of you who have never had this experience, they are full of equipment…pretty much anything you would EVER need, so to see this was quite astounding and yet I know that this is probably a very advanced surgery room here in Zambia.  The nurses at the hospital were so great to visit with and learn more about health care in Zambia from their perspective. 

Later this evening, we had another guest speaker to talk to us about history of Africa/Zambia.  This was a little painful to sit through because it was less than entertaining or attention holding but thankfully, three hours later, I was still awake and functioning.  A blessing of today was being able to debrief and chat as a team late this evening.  We haven’t been able to do this yet because things have been so incredibly packed as far as our schedule goes so it was really really wonderful to be able to get together as a team and talk about what we have been experiencing.  I can’t tell you how great it is to know that I have people on the other side of the globe praying and thinking about our team.  I know I’ve only been here a few days but wow we have experienced so much! 

Tomorrow we head to Chikankata!  We will be taking a tour of the hospital when we arrive and getting settled into our new location.  I am SO excited to see what is in store.  It sounds like it could be a little overwhelming at some points and yet it will be so awesome to be in the health care setting doing what I love to do.  I ask that you would pray for our team as we step into the real work of this journey.  There are definitely challenges to overseas health care because of the deprivation and intense sickness that is so often found here so I ask that you would pray that the Lord would give us extra strength in the coming days as we see, communicate and work with the people of Chikankata. 

“The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor, he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound, so proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor, and the day of vengeance of our God to comfort all who mourn.”                       Isaiah 61:1-2

here are some photos of the past few days. 

the group hanging out in the morning before heading out for our adventure

The market we shopped at today

beautiful children who we hung out with

emergency room at hospital on right, treatment room on left

Children's ward

Post-partum recovery room

surgery room

birthing room

Incubater

church, veggies, and markets

Since it is Sunday we arose a little earlier today than yesterday to get ready to go to church here in Lusaka.  We went to a Wesleyan church called Kabwata Pilgrim Wesleyan Church which was started in 1962 by the Wesleyan denomination and from this church there have been many church plants that have happened in other provinces of Zambia.  We left our compound at around 9:00am to head to the church and upon our arrival we figured out that we were the first people there besides the worship team and the leadership (pastors, Sunday school teachers, etc.).  After about 15 minutes of getting seated and just chatting with our team, the Sunday school teacher came to the front and began to conduct class.  About five minutes into this whole experience, two of our leaders, Bud & Judy (the elderly couple that are with us throughout our time here) came to us and asked that half of us go to the youth Sunday school class and about 3-4 go to be with the children.  I jumped at this chance.  One of my favorite things to do when I have spent time in other countries in the past has been to go to their church services and experience the way that they worship the Lord.  It is so amazing to me to think of how cool it is that God made us so that we can all praise and glorify His name.  He is so big that He can understand and receive the prayers, praises, and glory give to His name in English, Tonga, Spanish, and any other language around the world.  That is one of the biggest things that I have taken away from today—catching a glimpse at the magnitude of the God that we serve.

Sunday school was such a wonderful experience.  I was given the opportunity to sit in on the youth service which I would consider more of a young adult class as there were many people who were age 20 and older.  These Zambian people take the Word of God so much more serious than we do in America I felt like today.  We spent time studying Romans 2:12-29 which talks about how we are no longer under the old Law but we have been given a new covenant with God.  During the class, the teacher posed questions to the class in a way of expressing his own lack of understanding on the topic which allowed for a much better chance of discussion occurring in the group.  I really enjoyed that whole time to spent getting to experience interactions with the Zambians on a much more personal level.  After Sunday school we attended the church service which lasted probably close to 2 hours.  It was a great time of worship and I just loved experience how they praise the Lord Almighty with every fiber of their beings.  One thing that was definitely different than that of the U.S. was the way that the pastor preached.  Let me just say, if I had had ear plugs and stuck them in, I would still feel like I was standing next to a jet engine taking off…that to say, I was a little thankful when the service was over so I could regain my thought processes.  But, nonetheless, the people of this church were amazing.  They were so welcoming and happy and just wonderful to spend the morning with.  After church the pastor invited our team into his office to share a coke with him.  It was so great to be able to converse more with him and learn more about the church and his family. 

After lunch, we went to the arcade (the mall) to grab some yummy, yummy lunch and go to the market that was set up in the parking lot.  We went to a restaurant called “Mike’s Restaurant” and I had something called Sweet and Sour Pork…all I really wanted was to have tons of vegetables and my plate not to look like one blob of carbohydrates…and let me tell you, they hit the nail on the head.  It was seriously the best dish I’ve had in a few weeks both this side of the Atlantic and in the U.S.  If I could take one thing back to the U.S. when I go home in a few months it would be this recipe.  It was wonderful to chat with some of the girls on the team while we ate lunch and talk about things we’ve been doing and experiencing as well as just fellowshipping together.  The market that we went to was awesome!  I loved it.  It is always a little overwhelming to walk around a place where people are constantly attacking you to buy their items…think of when you go to a department store and that really annoying sales lady comes up to try to get you to buy stuff and will NOT leave you alone...but I was able to get some really neat items already!  I bought a tote bag made of pieces of many chitenges (shi-tang-gay) which is the fabric that most women here in Zambia use as skirts.  Overall, I loved the market experience and spending time outdoors.

I really don’t want to bore anyone who is reading this so I will spare most of the details from the rest of the day but after slipping into a nice coma when we came back to the guest house, we had a guest lecture from a Zambian doctor who specializes in cardiac care about Zambian health practices.  This was SO interesting and although we sat through a 3 hour lecture, I seriously feel like I could have sat there for hours picking his brain on everything involved in the Zambian health care system. 

I am already falling in love with this place and these people.  Today, even though it is the second day here, I am finding myself already really really missing my family and friends.  I cannot imagine what it was like when you could only write letters to people as a form of communication…to wait for a response is like torture.  We are not given much internet time so all our emails and blog updates are written in Word documents then copied into our email or other sites.  Then the emails that we receive we copy onto our computer and read them after we get off of the internet.  I think this will be one of the most challenging parts of this trip and an area that I would really love prayer for.

we have arrived!

I can’t believe I have already spent a full day here in Zambia.  Life is pretty stinkin great here.  After about 21 hours spent in airplanes, we finally arrived in the beautiful capital city of Lusaka.  We are currently staying in a guest house connected with the World Hope International organization.  It is so nice and luxurious…helping transition us a little easier from the American lifestyle into the simple, yet wonderful, Zambian culture.  The people here are great and the weather has been wonderful so far.  We will be staying here in Lusaka until probably Tuesday.  The plan right now is to leave on Tuesday at some point to travel to Chikankata, a remote village a little ways out.  We will stay there until Saturday.  While we are there, we are going to be getting our feet wet in the Zambian health care system by working in one of the hospitals there.  During this time we are spending in Lusaka, we are taking time as a team to rest up, get rid of the jetlag we are all feeling and orientating ourselves to Zambia.  Today we were able to go to the mall here and enjoy a really yummy Indian restaurant and I was able to stop at a local grocery store and pick up my absolute favorite chocolate in the world – Cadburry.  I had this when I went to Mozambique about 3 years ago and wow is it just as great as I remembered.  So overall, its been a great few days so far! 

A verse I read this morning that was so fitting was from Isaiah 41: 9-10. “You whom I took from the ends of the earth, and called from its farthest corners, saying to you, ‘You are my servant, I have chosen youand not cast you off,’: fear not, for I am with you, be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.”

Here are a few pictures!

My life in 1, 50lb bag

 Our group just after we arrived in Lusaka, Zambia

My room that I am sharing with my good friend Emily

Emily and I while we are loving the African landscape outside out housing building!

Our living quarters for the next few days in Lusaka.

planes, trains, and automobiles

WOW!  What a whirlwind these past few weeks have been.  Life has been very very very busy to say the least.  I know that the Lord's peace and strength is truly the only thing that has brought me through the main moments of tears, laughter, and stress over these last moments before our trip.  I have been so blessed with a team of people who love the Lord and love each other.  We have enjoyed getting closer over the past week or so and have enjoyed so much laughter, I have literally left team meetings with a stomach ache because I was laughing so hard. Overall I think I can say...I'm ready to head overseas to see what is in store.

The picture above is of our airplane we will be taking to Johannesburg, South Africa.  Much bigger than the one we took here (which was incredibly small and cramped).  The layover has been needed because it has been a time to just sit, write some letters, enjoy each others company and get ready for our long flight ahead.  I have been so overwhelmed by the support of friends and family over the past week...my friends and family (you know who you are), I am so blessed!! That is the hardest part of all of this -- leaving friends and family for a time.  But I know that this experience is going to be SOOO worth it in the end. 

I am going to try to update as often as possible but I don't know how often that will happen.

Hope this side of the world treats you all well!!