Roses for Rob

I've been trying to load these photo's for the past 6 days, but this is the first time I've succeeded. I took them (and a whole lot more:) in Chikankata last week, between visiting the students on the various wards across the hospital grounds. One of the men who was helping to care for our group told me that they use banana peels and rotten bananas to fertilize the rose soil and that was why they grew so well!! They were all over the hospital grounds and ALL stunning!! So... here's my favorite's...

Nurse speak

This was the ICU nurse showing us how to draw up an injection using sterile procedure! A 15min procedure!! Fascinating to watch!! He gave it to a young child suffering from meningitis.

Estie and Lauren getting ready to pass out meds to patients. A different system than pyxis!!!

The next three pictures are of all the meds at one of the hospital pharmacies that we visited. There are four walls of shelves. Three are dedicated to ART (anti-retro viral therapy - HIV) and one is for all other conditions. One of the three ART shelves is all liquid doses - for newborn and pediatric patients. The government does provide ART free for patients. The three ART shelves are in a small room with temperature control. More stock is kept locked in another room, but still the balance of available medication options was eye opening - illness prevalence vs treatment options . For example, only two types of meds were available to treat malaria juxtaposed to the wide variety of meds for ART.

The shelves on the right half of this photo are the suspensions - liquid.

Above: more of the ART's.

Below: all the other meds! (including anti-malarial)

CLINICALS!!!!

This week started out at Zimba Hospital with half the students. It was my second week there with students, and it was fun to go back and already know some of the staff this time:). I've enjoyed being back in a hospital and getting to help teach skills!! Here are Lauren and Estie watching a GYN surgery!

Wednesday we spent a few hours watching a Pediatric ART (anti-retro viral therapy - HIV) clinic. We helped by checking weight, height, head circumference and temperatures. The students also observed the nurses, volunteers and other staff examining and counseling patients and their families or caretakers. It was fun playing with some of the kids while they were waiting for their check ups, but also heartbreaking to see some of the really sick kids. Putting names and faces to the innocence of AIDS brings tears to my eyes.

Later that afternoon, we drove about four hours north of here to Chikankata - the Salvation Army Hospital. It is in the middle of a VERY rural region of southern Zambia.



We were really impressed by all their facilities and the expertise and professionalism of the staff! Their ICU and NICU were the first I've seen in Zambia - they had oxygen, but no ventilators. It was fascinating to see some of the procedures - some very similar to ours in the US, and others very different. I loved asking LOTS of questions of the nurses!!:) Here's Heather starting an IV with the nurses assistance!
There is a big emphasis on education and many really impressive posters all over the hospital (we've seen similar ones around other medical facilities). This one deals with the false perception that sex with a virgin will cure AIDS. Haley and Rachel couldn't help posing with it though:)!

Ox carts like the one below are called "ambulances" - we learned they are privately owned and used to bring sick patients to the hospital for a fee. This one had a mattress in the back to make the ride a little more comfortable!

Market views...

Purple blossoms on the Jakaranda tree (sp??:)

A little market place next to Zimba hospital.

Dried fish!!!

Kapenta ... LITTLE dried fish!! We see these everywhere!!!

Jembo

Ever heard of "slash and burn" ... well we've seen this technique a few times in the past weeks, but the closest we've come to it was driving home from Jembo. A stretch of land along the road was burning, and in places it had already started to jump the road. We had no other option, but to drive through it! The heat poured in our open windows and we all tried to get a few photo's with our camera's!! We decided it would be a great idea for a new ride at Cedar point!! Those few moments really got our adrenaline pumping!!:):) The black lines in the picture above are the ladder on the side of the land rover...

Pam and Alyssa, surviving the adrenaline rush!!

Papaya sure is yummy when it's fresh!!!

We had some AMAZING lemonade from these lemons!!!

The view from the garden on the Bible School compound at Jembo. Note the cool fence and the purple tree in the background!

Village life...

I saw this lady carrying water on her head... couldn't resist the chance to take a photo (I did ask first!). It reminded me of the pen drawing that someone made for my parents years ago...

Being out in the villages on Wed/Thur last week, I used more than one toilet similar to the one above... walls around a hole. The first few times though brought back serious fears... I was reminded of the time in Sierra Leone when I accidentally lost my ONLY pair of glasses down a similar toilet hole. TRUST ME, I held on tight this time:):):)... by the end of day 2 I was a little more relaxed:).

This is one of the vista's from my favorite "mountain top" church. Sadly the photo's don't tell even a 1/4 of the story.... Sorry! You'll just have to come over and see it for yourself!!:)

Glimpses

Here are a few glimpses of the last week here in Zambia! The photo below is of Kara visiting with a few ladies under a tree, reading their Tonga Bible. This tree was just outside one of the churches. These women had walked from 10km away for revival services. The older woman had suffered from left leg swelling and right ear hearing loss. The pastor had prayed for her and she was healed. This church is at the top of a small mountain and the views around were beautiful!!

The photo below is inside another church (Sichibunde). This building was built in 1995. It too is at the top of a mountain, and the 360 degree's of vista were my absolute favorite that day!! STUNNING is such an understatement!!:):) I think it's now the second place in the world I've sat where I could have watched the sun rise and set from the same spot!! (the other at the southern most tip of India - Kanjakumari) Just sitting on those benches for a few minutes and thinking of all the men, women and children who have sat their before me, hearing about how much God loves them - and seeing Him working miracles in their lives - really touched me. It is humbling to see their trust and faith in light of the depth of struggles they face each day, just to survive!!

The past few weeks I have been blessed to see God at work around me - not only in my life, but in the lives of the other team members! We have faced various challenges, and seen God smooth the way for us - providing for all our needs!! Just the other night, one of the girls came into my room to share what God had done just that day that had shown her in a new and BIGGER way His faithfulness! Knowing the challenges she'd faced that week - to see the joy and encouragement on her face was such a blessing!! God is good!!!

The photo below was taken at Zimba hospital with one of the nurses who work in the Pediatric and OB ward. Meagan and Heather were working with her that day! Their highlight was seeing a delivery just after lunch, but their hearts were saddened too, to see the illnesses that the children were suffering from! It is truly heartbreaking to see what dying of AIDS really looks like, but when it is young children - it is especially difficult to come to grips with!

Job 1:20-22 (TNIV)
"At this, Job got up and tore his robe and shaved his head. Then he fell to the ground in worship and said:

'Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked I will depart.

The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised.'

In all this, Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing."

This passage has been an encouragement as we wrestle with the sorrow we see. We need to follow Job's example when he was faced with unimaginable heartache - take time to express our sorrow, but then follow it closely with worship to God, knowing that in all of life's "unexplainable moments" - HE is still in control and worthy of our trust!

"Everyone ready? Flying over bridge!"

It's been a LONG, incredibly busy week with little to NO Internet access.... so will try to write a note, but must apologize for the lack of photo's. Internet is just not THAT cooperative tonight:).

First, the quote in the title was from our driver as he was HURTLING the Land Rover down the bumpy dirt road, trying to get us home before dark. He DID warn us before we caught some air going over this little bridge.:) Not only did he get us home on time, but he proved himself to be a very safe driver on some VERY challenging roads!

Half the group and I went out with World Hope staff today for a "Food Distribution" for the "Home Based Care" program. The grant runs out this month so this was the last opportunity for us to observe. My camera battery ran out after only three photo's today and so I used a couple of the girls camera's a few times:). I'll eventually collect them and once the Internet is working better, will try to post them. We were traveling in some STUNNING country side today!!

Last Sunday we spent the day in Jembo at the Wesleyan Bible School. (we enjoyed a youth meeting and even shared a couple songs with them... their singing/dancing was way more impressive than ours though!!:) It is a 60-75min drive from Choma. The first 20 min are on a nice paved road, but then the last 30km are on dirt roads up and over and into this "range" of hills - stunning vista's. The vegetation and dust, as well as all the traditional homes along the way kept reminding us that we're smack dab in the middle of Africa!! On Sunday, when we drove straight to Jembo, I kind of wondered why the Bible School was "out in the middle of no where", but then today as we visited 7 churches along that 30km route (some up to 30 min down deeply rutted dirt roads) - I realized how there are communities for miles around, with active churches that are being pastored by graduates of the Bible school. The food (finely ground corn meal in 10kg bags and cabbages) we were taking was to support orphans, vulnerable children and others dying of Aids. We enjoyed meeting the men and women of the communities as well as playing with the children!

I'll try to post some more stories from the past week in the next couple days... I should THEORETICALLY have some time....

Random pics

I uploaded these last week, and am finaly able to post them... enjoy!!

Some random guy riding his bike, with a bag of charcoal on the back... they make it out of wood and sell it on the side of the road!
Carla (far right), the history Prof who's here for 2 weeks with (l to r) Estie, Meagan, Kara and Brittany The turkey that wandered around our patio for nearly a day before the girls watched his last moments... he'll be our dinner in the near future!!
Taking a walk last week, we saw this pump being used to irrigate the gardens nearby. It reminded me of the pump Dad used to empty the duckpond into the rhubarb patch!

The sunsets have been stunning every night!!!

New Definitions

We are learning new definitions to word's we thought we knew. Flexibility for one. Our daily schedules often change multiple times throughout the day. It's an adjustment for all of us, but we are learning! I remember in Zimbabwe learning the difference between "just now" and "now, now" - JN meant "any time now or later" where as NN meant "right away." "A little bit difficult" is a typical Zambian phrase and we are learning it is often the ultimate understatement!!

This poster hangs near the front door of the office building here on the compound.

Here's the classroom...

And here are some of the girls wearing their traditional "Chitenge" - a wrap around skirt. We're excited that we'll be here on Zambian National Day on October 24th and hope to get to watch the festivities!! We'll all probably be wearing one of these! I love the bright designs!!

Tuesday we took a "history field trip" and visited the local museum that talked about the local provincial history. They had a lot of really interesting photographs depicting village life, as well as artifacts from the past few decades. It is interesting to see what each culture finds most important to emphasize about themselves!

We then spent some time visiting the city library. It was a very small building, one medium sized room, with two small rooms attached. Approximately 20 bookshelves full of books. The newest book I found was from 2000. Many books were printed in the 70's and 80's. It was fascinating also to read the various postings along the walls. There was a whole section just with HIV related pamphlets. Two computers were in one of the side rooms, but I am not sure if those are free for people to use or just the librarians.

That afternoon Pam and I got to meet with Dr Jain, one of the local surgeons. He and his wife, an OB/GYN own a clinic (with 6 inpatient beds), that is located just down the road from us. He is originally from Rajastan, and was born in one of the cities Kirsten and I visited over five years ago. He and his wife have lived in Zambia for over 30 years. For the past few years they have run their own clinic, but previously for over 10+ years he was the only surgeon/MD for the local state hospital. It was incredible to hear him tell of some of his experience - the challenges and rewards. As the only surgeon available he was forced to become skilled at all types of surgeries, from orthopedic to neurosurgery to abdominal or whatever else came along! His enthusiasm was catching!

Some of the students' clinical hours will be at their clinic and I know they will learn a lot! Seeing the various rooms within their clinic reminded me of my experiences both at Karanda Mission hospital in Zimbabwe (back in 1998) and the orthopedic surgeries I assisted with in Chennai, India (in 2003). Fond memories!!:)