November 16, 2011

As our time in Zambia winds down, I am starting to hear more talk about food and the specific kinds of food people are hoping to get soon after our arrival in the U.S. Many of us will be happy to connect with family members at Thanksgiving; I have heard many conversations about who will be visiting and what specific food requests they will be making. As for Bud and me, all our children and grandchildren will be in our home for Thanksgiving; however, I have been told that they will be doing all the cooking, etc. We are very much looking forward to seeing everyone! We have been very fortunate in being able to Skype with them several times during our time in Zambia; a couple times when we had Skype dates, the electricity and internet were down so had to cancel L. We were without power for about 15 hours.

We have given our thanks and said good-by at Choma General Hospital and a few of us will go to Macha Hospital Thursday afternoon for some educational offerings by students and to say a final good-by there! Everyone has been very nice, and the students have had some excellent learning opportunities.

The team from College Wesleyan Church came in last Saturday, so it was very good to see each of them. Shelli Rowley has somewhat of a dual role since she is with both CWC and Indiana Wesleyan University and had a huge role in planning our Zambia trip. She also did most of the orientation for the students prior to our trip, so it is a real treat to see her and be able to chat with her.

Last Saturday evening, we had an event where everyone was directed to dress as in the 80’s, ghetto, or Zambian with chitenges. One of the students did an extreme makeover on me so I could go as an 80’s person. I have to say, I do not recall ever having dressed as such during the 80’s J; however, it was a lot of fun. Bud wore his slacks and dress shirt which he has done no matter the decade! We have a few pictures which will not be published!

We are planning a farewell party for the WHI Zambia staff this afternoon; these are the administrators with whom we have had minimal interaction for the most part; on Thursday, we share our good-bys and small gifts with the WH Guest House staff with whom we have interacted on a daily basis throughout our stay in Zambia. They are the cooks, the laundry ladies, the house cleaners, and the Guest House Manager; we have all developed great relationships and will be sorry to tell them good-by!

This entire trip has been an adventure with many lessons learned; we have had a few bumps in the road but have met some wonderful people. We are all very thankful for God who has been faithful as we have learned cultural differences; had new experiences in the hospitals, churches, and community living; experienced heat and bumpy roads, viewed the sunrise from the top of a water tower, etc. God has been good.

Bud had the privilege yesterday of meeting with the National Superintendent of the Pilgrim Wesleyan Church of Zambia and 7 of the District Superintendents. He was invited to one of their meetings and then had lunch with them which was a real honor! They are truly men of God who want to move the church forward.

I went to one of the local orphanages on Tuesday afternoon with several of the students which was a great experience. There are three orphanages close to the Guest House, all run by the same organization. They are in a building program so all the children will be moved in together which will also cut their costs of staff such as watchmen, grounds keepers, etc. They seem to do a wonderful job with these children, several of whom are HIV/AIDS orphans. They often receive these children as infants who are very malnourished, and they are able to give adequate food, health care, love, and clothing until most of them are relatively healthy after a few months.  Many of the students go there whenever they have any free time, so the children know them by name and run and jump into their arms when they enter the gate.

We start our debriefing on Friday morning and will continue Saturday and Sunday as we travel to Livingstone for our final departure from Zambia on Monday morning.  We certainly appreciate your prayers as we anticipate the long trip home!

Until next time….

November 9, 2011

We are back in Choma for the final leg of this trip. During the first two weeks back here, the students have clinicals at Choma General Hospital each day from 8  - 12, and 1 – 3. I have been going to clinicals most days from 8 – 12. In addition to the usual wards of Male, Female, Children, Maternity, Out-patient Clinic and ART Clinic ( Anti-retroviral Therapy)  which is treatment for HIV/AIDS), this hospital also has a Psychiatric Ward. There is only one Psychiatric Hospital in Zambia and very few hospitals with Psych Wards. Their patient  population and treatment is similar to what is seen in the U. S, although they do not have nearly as many patients who receive psych care as we do in the U.S.

I taught one of the Management-Leadership classes last week which was kind of fun for me, although this age group of students is very different from those I usually teach, all of whom have several years of nursing experience before they arrive in our classrooms.

Bud has worked on getting all the  budgets ready to hand back to Erin who recently returned from the U.S. after having been gone for several weeks. Due to her involvement with another team who is with us, he did retain enough of the money to get the fruit and water needed for our team.

As you can imagine, our team of 21 people go through many bottles of water each day, so maintaining an adequate number of bottles and then trying to keep them fairly cool is an ongoing process. Each of us is encouraged to drink a minimum of 4-5 bottles of water each day in order to prevent getting dehydrated in this heat. I can testify that it is not hard to drink that many and sometimes more!! 

We also go through many apples each day (all imported); many of the students and staff eat at least one apple for 1 or 2 meals daily. We have also enjoyed some oranges: bananas have also been a real treat until the past couple weeks when they have become unavailable. Mangoes are becoming available, and we look forward to being able to get more or them. We have been able to buy a few, but they are not in full season yet.

Bud and I had a date one day last week for lunch; we went down to the restaurant at the local museum. We had a good lunch and then went into the museum gift shop to browse and make a couple purchases. On Friday evening, the entire team went to the same place for dinner which was a nice break for all of us. Bud & I took a taxi while the rest of the team walked!

Saturday evening, the two students responsible for the entertainment that week sponsored a costume part which was a lot of fun! There were some very creative costumes since we had to use what we could find here as costumes. We played games, had snacks and a bonfire where they roasted marshmallows and cooked brownies in orange skins! It was a fun-filled evening, and I believe everyone enjoyed it.

We do have two different people (one student and one faculty) with malaria, but they started receiving treatment right away and hopefully will get well quickly. Now that the rains have started, they do cool things down which is wonderful, but they also bring out mosquitoes which are not so great. Pray with us that no one gets malaria during our short time remaining!

I’ll probably try to write one more time before we come home, then I’ll probably do something on the plane to describe our visit to Livingstone where we visit Victoria Falls and a Game Park.

Appreciate all the prayers and support during this leg of our African Adventures!!

11-1[-2011

We returned back to Choma from Macha on 10/21/11. We were only there three days until we traveled to Zimba where the Zimba Pilgrim Wesleyan Church and Hospital is located. The missionary doctors are currently in the U.S.; however, there are some Zambian physicians who are excellent. We were in the Zimba Mission Hospital only Wed, Thurs, & Fri. and originally planned to travel to Namiwianga Orphanage on Saturday. However, a very strong wind storm blew down several electric poles between Zimba and Livingstone on Friday evening, so we changed our plans and returned to Choma on Saturday morning.  The power outage itself was not so bad except that they depend heavily on refrigeration for the food products and have no back-up generator. The more major thing for our team is running out of water with no real back-up for obtaining clean safe water. We were able to secure a bus in Zimba to come back. We were happy to come “home”.

All the students who were sick earlier in the week are well and participating in clinicals, exercise, etc. etc. We are grateful to God for that!

Yesterday morning was spent at Choma General Hospital where Bethany, Ms. Mukonde and I met first with the “back-up” Matron and the Hospital Administrator to discuss our options. They are very generous and kind and welcomed us into all parts of the hospital. Their bed capacity is 208, and while they are not full, they do have a nice population of patients in most of their wards. This hospital has both a dental unit and a psych ward which the other hospitals have not had. Both the doctors and nurses very openly welcomed our students to make rounds with them on the wards and to explain both the patient diagnosis as well as plan of treatment. Jerilynn delivered a baby girl today and also got to name her; so Hannah Grace entered the world today! Each of the other students working OB today had already delivered babies while in Macha J.  I believe the students will have a great experience at this hospital.

I spent the morning today with Ms. Sianchopa, the Senior Matron, who is actually on leave but agreed to come in a couple hours today to discuss the needs of the students while here at Choma General. She helped us arrange a time for the students to present their leadership projects to the other staff nurses and arranged opportunities for two students each day to spend the day with one of the other Matrons. We are very disappointed she will not be here during out stay, but she helped get us on the right path so all will have good experiences. I believe she would be an amazing woman with which to work!

I think some of the students are beginning to get something akin to “senioritis” since our time is getting short. I am hearing more and more comments about what foods they want to eat when they get home, etc. etc. I do believe, however, that each is staying very engaged here and that they will finish strong!

We are all looking forward to the rains…the heat and humidity has been oppressive the past couple weeks. They tell us all that will change with the rainsJ.

Jon and Erin Stephens returned to Choma today and were very glad to be back in Zambia. Bud was happy to turn the finances back over to Erin, although I’m sure they will be meeting several times in the next few days.

Another team of eight adults from Sheridan, Wyoming also arrived today and will be here through 11/9/11. We are enjoying getting acquainted with them.  They will be gone only two days when the team from College Wesleyan Church arrives. We are looking forward to their arrival. They will also travel home with us on 11/21/11.

Until next time….

10-28-11

Today was the last day in Zimba Hospital; another great opportunity for the students to get good experience. A couple of the doctors here are outstanding and also very good with the students. He explains everything and then asks them to compare it to care in the U.S.A. He also wanted to know a lot about crime and TV in America since he has certain preconceptions from the TV show he watches! American TV does us no favors overseas…several years ago, people overseas thought everyone in America looked and acted like those portrayed on Baywatch!! 

Zimba Hospital is much smaller than Macha Hospital, but they seem to have a better patient/nurse ratio which makes is easier to provide good care.

Lauren Gross, a 2-year Go Net Employee with Global Partners works with Mike and Cindy Helvie in Jembo but has been temporarily reassigned to help our team while in Zimba. She has been the Chief Cook but does have local help. She is doing a wonderful job with this. I went with her to Livingstone this morning to help with some of the shopping for the remainder of our time here. It is so hot that fruits and vegetables do not last very long, and refrigeration is somewhat limited given the number on our team.  Some of our team members have also pitched in and helped her with both meals and clean up. We do have a great group of students!

Bud was able to check out the site identified for the new generator for Zimba Hospital that Tom Garber's group plans to install some early next fall. He was able to send him and description and all the measurements so they know what to expect when they arrive.

I had a very interesting opportunity today; the father of one of our cooks died yesterday so Ms. Mukonde took Lauren and me to get her at the “funeral house”. It was actually in the homes of family members. Men and women greet separately so when we arrived, we went into the home where 14 women were sitting on the floor and leaning against the wall. We stooped down and shook hands with each individual, and when we reached the end of the line, we also sat down. It was very quiet; no one spoke for about 10 minutes, and then one of the women started exhorting (I am guessing since it was in Tonga). I heard her speak about Jesus Christ several times so I’m certain it was a Christian talk. After she finished, Ms. Mukonde prayed and then we went outside and went through the handshaking with all the women sitting outside the house. We sat down again for a few minutes and then left. No one was crying, but everyone was very respectful and quiet. It was very interesting and a great experience.

10-19-2011

Hi again! I (Judy) had the day off today so Bud and I visited Ubuntu where ITEC, the group working with him on the Sierra Leone electrical set-up, recently installed a new generator and switching gear to go from commercial power lines to the generators. He was able to see their installation and have a better idea of what he will need to do in Sierra Leone. He has also been asked by ITEC to check the location at Zimba where they plan to come sometime next year to see if the location for the equipment is satisfactory.

We also went to a Craft Shop where they have many carvings, baskets, and other things made by the local people. Beside it is the Vision Restaurant where we had a great lunch. The Craft Shop restaurant and Ubuntu Campus (contains secondary school, and primary schools) as well as a place where people come in for HIV/AIDS education, sewing lessons, computer training, etc. All these things as well as a small airport is within an organization called Macha Works. So, in Macha, they have the hospital, the Malaria Institute, and Macha Works. It’s all very interesting.

I visited a place behind the hospital today where the bedsiders, people who stay by the bedside of a good friend or family member stay while hospitalized. There are a few shelters back there, but mostly the people live outside. They each have their designated cooking areas. Behind them is the market where vendors sell used clothing, all kinds of supplies, including food, detergent, oils, soaps, cooking pots and serving dishes, etc. The vendors go to Choma and buy their supplies in large quantities and then, for example, divide a box of detergent into one cup sizes and wrap it in plastic to make it affordable for the bedsiders who are staying there.  I took several pictures today and then printed them and gave them copies…they were thrilled! They laughed and showed all their friends. It was a fun afternoon!

Pam Leslie has gone home (we’ll really miss her!!) and Jerilynn Spring has come for the second half of the semester. Jerilynn, who is a Nurse Practitioner, brought Bud a knee brace which seems to stabilize the knee a little better. After she examined the knee, she

threatened him within an inch of his life if he didn’t stay off it more and keep it elevated, so he has really been trying to do better! We have a driver with a Land Cruiser here in Macha, and he has been wonderful about driving Bud wherever he needs to go.

Late this afternoon Chris Book, Macha Institute Administrator, offered to take half the students to climb to the top of the water tower. It’s about 75 ft. tall. When they get on top, they are able to get a great aerial view of Macha. The students loved this experience even though it was somewhat intimidating to climb!  Chris will take another group tomorrow afternoon.

10/22  We returned to Choma last night; everyone was very tired but glad to be “home”; since this has been our home base, we felt like we were coming home.

The night before we left Macha, several of the students worked the night shift where more babies seem to be born. All the students except our male student have now delivered babies. They have been so excited! This morning before we left, they all got to fly in a 6-seater airplane which takes short trips over the entire Macha compound. There were four groups which went up, including Bud and one of our drivers. They all love it and some were able to get some nice pictures.

We have a couple days here and then head for Zimba on Tuesday afternoon where we’ll stay through Sunday lunch. There is a Wesleyan mission hospital at Zimba where the students will be doing clinicals. We’ll also be visiting an orphanage one day while there. We will have no internet access during our time in Zimba.

When we return to Choma on Sunday, November 6, we’ll be here until we leave for U.S.A.   Till next time J.