I wouldn't have missed it for anything.

Last Thursday we were able to go visit a traditional healer. I was really looking forward to this, thinking that we would learn all about herbal home remedies - but right when he started describing the roles and action of himself as a "diviner" we realized...witch doctor. Oh. Ok...Well, it was interesting. He explained how he was a doctor (um, sure??) and that he gets all of his ideas about healing from his ancestors through his dreams. So he went on to explain several of the different things he does for certain diseases such as TB and malaria...none of which make sense in our training in Western medicine. I think it hit me later on how we were in the midst of ungodly spiritual forces and how God was protecting us the whole time we were there. I was never afraid but I have confidence that God was in control of that whole situation.

Last weekend was Independence Day here in Zambia. I loved every minute of the weekend events. Friday we were invited by the lady who runs the guest house here at World Hope, Mrs. Phiri. So finally for the first time since we have been here, we were able to go out AFTER DARK. This may sound shocking but its true. And its mostly because its just really not safe after dark. But this was a special occasion. It was the Rotary Club’s Miss Independent Independence Day pageant. When we got there, we had VIP seats on the side at the front, right by the catwalk. And for the next 5 hours we listened to incredibly loud American pop music and narration by the Emcee as we watched the 10 contestants go through 6 different categories of modeling. My favorites were:

Office wear – The girls would walk out wearing appropriate attire for their aspiring profession and many of them would sit down at a desk while the Emcee made sure the crowd knew that they were “hard at work for the day.” A nurse even had a patient come on stage and we all watched as she listened to her lungs and “saved her patient’s life.” It was entertaining.

Sports wear – This was one of my favorites because 2 girls came out in swimsuits. Many of the girls wore tennis or futbol outfits but these girls decided to come out in the smallest bikinis. And the best part is that they were soaking wet. Or according to the announcement they were “straight from the pool.” Again, hysterical.

Traditional wear – Probably my favorite category because each girl came out and modeled a traditional outfit and did a traditional ritualistic dance. The dances were a little more provocative than we had expected – but I can't say I wasn't a little jealous of the way they can move!

I laughed so hard that night. They also had entertainers come out in between the category – almost all of which were a group of 3 young guys either rapping (aka lip-syncing and jumping around on stage) or break dancing. After my favorite group called The Disciples performed I just kept thinking that I could not be any happier. I wouldn’t have missed it for anything.  

Saturday was the Independence Day program. We went, thinking we would be just watching like everyone else. And we were – only we were told to sit on benches in the middle of the huge rectangle roped-off area. Half of our group sat there, on a bench under the tree while the other half sat behind the District Commissioner under the tent. I have no idea why they had us sit there or thought that we were somehow at all important but we were definitely stared at by hundreds of people. It’s a good thing we are pretty used to it by now! The program was a few hours long and we watched about 12 different secondary schools perform. Most of them were a type of African social dance – probably not appropriate and definitely a little disturbing that young children were dancing in this way. Entertaining for us to watch? – yes. Would we ever get away with it in schools in America? – not even a little.

Our team on Independence Day

Independence Day performances

Monday and Tuesday were my last 2 days at Zimba Mission Hospital. I spent Monday with a P.A. student in the outpatient department (closest thing you get to an Emergency Room) and I really enjoyed that. Then I got to spend all day Tuesday in the surgery department, otherwise known as the theater. I watched 5 different surgeries, including a hernia repair, chest tube placement and a keloid scar excision. I will spare you the details of the others for now, but would love to talk about them later if you want to know!

 

That brings you up to my life in this moment. It's still so miserably hot and we have had 5 girls get malaria – so keep the prayers coming!!

Here and Now

As I’m sitting here this evening, I’m watching the most beautiful fiery red African sunset, drinking a cup of coffee, feeling the evening breeze, writing my resume and listening to James Morrison. This moment in my life could hardly be better.

I’m learning a lot about living in the here and now. As I have been here, I have been reminded time and time again to live in the present. Not that planning for the future isn’t important, but it’s not everything. So often I find myself living for the next event in my life – to graduate school, to find a job, to get married. While I look forward to those things with great anticipation, I have realized that I do not want to be one of those people who are always waiting. I want to be like the Zambians I see every day – living for THAT day because they see each day of life as a gift, no knowing if they will have a tomorrow.

My gift today was playing with children – go figure! I spent the morning at Choma Hospice. There were only 3 patients so after awhile we ventured to the backyard and spent time with 15 children from the community. It is a Day Care Center where children come before and after school for tea, games, and reading. And some of them even come for their schooling. There are 120 children registered and 96 of them are HIV +. They are a joy to be around and speak wonderful English, which is always helpful to us! Today we got to read books, drink tea, teach each other songs, and play Red Rover and Hide-and-Seek. It was one of those days where you realize afterwards how great it was and that it truly was a gift and exactly what you needed that day. Hopefully for those children it was what they needed to.

Nelly, Esther and Fred :)

Overflowing joy.

If you know much about me, you know that I have a special place in my heart for babies and mentally handicapped children. I love non-mentally handicapped children too, but there is just something so precious about the innocence of babies and those with mental delays. They have no regrets, very few faults and take complete joy in the little things in life. And they remind me of how I am called to have “child-like faith” – full of wonder, curiosity, dependency, and wholehearted joy. I could go on and on about why I love them.

Today was one of my favorite days here so far. We visited a school right here in Choma called St. Mulumba’s Special School. This school was for mentally handicapped, deaf, and blind children – grades 1 through 8. There are just over 200 kids total and they all live in dormitories right on the schoolgrounds. We were able to get a tour of the place and visit many of the classrooms. These children have such an incredible opportunity at this school! We didn’t get to stay too long but we will be able to go back soon. We were also invited to go back tomorrow to watch some African and Japanese cultural dancing. YES!!!

One of the classrooms where there are 3 different teachers teaching the hearing impaired.

This is one of many very powerful signs they had at the school.

They waved us off. It was hard to leave them.

Chikinkata

Every week has gotten busier and busier. Monday of last week I spent the day at Choma Hospice. The hospice centers here are different than the ones in the States. They have primarily AIDS patients, however, most of them are expected to improve significantly and return to their villages. So while it is hard to see, it is much more encouraging compared to your typical hospice center at home.

Tuesday I spent the day at Dr. Jain’s clinic. This clinic was started about 5 years ago and is run by Dr. Jain and his wife, called Dr. (Mrs.) Jain. They make a great team and have a wonderful clinic. They are highly respected in the community and do incredible work. Dr. Jain is a very talented surgeon. He is a general surgeon but basically operates on anyone and anything that needs operated on…and at any time of the day, no matter what. He is phenomenal. And his wife is too. She is a gynecologist so she sees all the female patients who come into the clinic. They are from India but have been here for 33 years… they have incredible hearts for the people of Zambia.

On Wednesday, I was able to visit and help out in the ART (AntiRetroviral Therapy) pediatric clinic at Choma General Hospital. This was sad and heartbreaking, to put names and faces with the completely innocent side of HIV/AIDS. These children were beautiful but also very obviously unwell. As good of an experience as it was, it was heartbreaking to see several 12-year-old boys who were the size of 7 year-olds, and with breathing difficulties, visual impairments, malnutrition and many other health problems.

Thursday and Friday were spent at Chikinkata Hospital – the second most prestigious AIDS research hospital in Africa. We spent the 2 days in the different units of the hospital. I spent my time in the Intensive Care Unit, in the nursing classroom with some of the nursing students, in the Out-Patient Department (kind of like an ER), and in the Female medical/surgical ward. It was a really short visit, but I loved my time there and loved that hospital…it was much nicer than any of the medical facilities we have seen so far! My favorite part was working in the OPD because I got to take vitals and talk to the patients about the reasons why the came to the hospital…in Tonga. It was very challenging because of the language barrier. I would say, “Cinzi ciza?”…(or something like that), which means, “Why did you come here today?” And then they thought I spoke Tonga. So they would rattle off their reasons while I’m frantically look at my cheat sheet and trying to identify the Tonga words for headache, backache, fever, etc. But it was so fun and I loved it. I felt very helpful and learned a lot so much in doing that. Busy week, but fantastic.

Here are some pictures from this last week. 

This is their "ambulance" for bringing people to the hospital from the villages.

Working on my IV skills

Smiling, laughing, waving

I have come to really appreciate and love the things in life that are universal. Smiling, laughing and waving. You don't need to speak English or Tonga to communicate this way. When we drive through villages, we always have kids smiling and waving. Even though there are so many times when we are confused because of language barriers, this is a beautiful way to communicate. Especially with children.

The girls from a nearby village having been coming over quite frequently. Yesterday, I sat with them and they colored while I did homework. They speak very little English but we had a great time...

...smiling, laughing, waving and making funny faces. Aren't they beautiful?!?!

Friendship

"Friendship is acting out God's love for people in tangible ways. We were made to represent the love of God in each other's lives, so that each person we walk through life with has a more profound sense of God's love for them. Friendship is an opportunity to act on God's behalf in the lives of the people that we're close to, reminding each other who God is. When we do the hard, intimate work of friendship, we bring a little more of the divine into daily life. We get to remind one another about the bigger, more beautiful picture that we can't always see from where we are." - Shauna Niequist, "Cold Tangerines"

The last few days, I have been thinking a lot about all of my friends and family. I am blessed to have so many and such great ones...in Leesburg, Grand Rapids, Marion and pretty much all over the globe right now! Thank you, friends, for representing God's love, for reminding me of who God is, and for being a very beautiful part of my life!!!

"Today...you deliver a baby!"

Ok, get ready for this long post. Because it has been a LONG week. And so much has happened…I will attempt to put into words what I have experienced and learned this week. Last Sunday we spent the day in Jembo at the Wesleyan Bible College. Jembo is a small village about 75 min or so from Choma. About 25 minutes on a beautifully paved road and the rest of the way on a very bumpy one. This was a great day for all of us. We got to enjoy a youth rally at a church that is run by graduates of the bible school. I could listen them sing praises forever…their singing and dancing was, by far, much better than ours. 

This is a picture of some of them. They loved taking pictures with us! 

 

On Monday and Tuesday, half of us spent the day in Zimba, a town about an hour from Choma. I spent the day in pediatrics and maternity. You all know I love the babies and kids. But this was SO hard. Night and day difference from the pediatrics unit I worked on at Spectrum Health this summer.

This is a picture of the pediatric ward. The mothers of the children loved having us there and loved having their pictures taken!

But the most exciting part about Monday was that I GOT TO DELIVER A BABY!!!!!!! I have always wanted to but didn’t know I was going to be able to on my first day at the hospital! A pregnant mother came in to deliver and the nurse midwife asked Meg and I if we had ever delivered a baby before. Well, no. “That’s ok,” she says… “Today,... you deliver a baby!” Um, OK! And we did, about a half hour later. Crazy. If you are interested in hearing the medical/nursing details about it, just ask me and I will have plenty to tell you! It was SO different from typical American deliveries...but still an amazing and beautiful thing to be a part of!

This is the BEAUTIFUL baby boy I helped deliver! 

Tuesday, I spent the day in the village. I was supposed to be in the ART (Anti Retroviral Therapy) with the HIV/AIDS patients but instead went to a village to be a part of a community education on AIDS transmission and prevention. While waiting several hours to start, I got to play with the kids…of course I didn’t enjoy it one bit…;)

Here they are…they loved us. And copied everything we did!  

Wednesday we spent the day delivering food in the villages. We went to 7 different villages and distributed Mealie Meal and Cabbage. Each 10 lb. bag represented an orphaned or vulnerable child with AIDS. And even though I didn’t feel particularly helpful, it was important that those bags were delivered. It great to see the different villages but also hard to see as well because we knew that each village held multiple sick, orphaned or vulnerable children.

This is a picture of one of the churches in the villages…what better place could there be to worship the Lord in than this?! 

Today, Thursday, we spent the day at a clinic. We thought we were going to be doing immunizations all day but ended up doing prenatal education and monthly assessments of pregnant mothers. We also got to spend time with the doctors and a PA student while they saw patient after patient. We have been going nonstop all week and I have been exhausted but have enjoyed every minute of it!!