How cool is this?

Hey all! I am writing to you from Delta flight 1562 out of Atlanta! I am currently in the air. We are to arrive in Indy a little after 11:00. We missed our flight from Atlanta at 8:40 because our plane got in an hour late from Jo'burg and then our baggage took forever to come up on the carousel. There is free wi-fi though on the plane as a special holiday offer from Ebay and Delta i guess. So that is nice :). I 'm just enjoying my last plane ride for awhile. This flight will be one hour and 2 mins! Can't wait! Love you all :)

Keri and I on the plane currently!

Home

I'M COMING HOME! Last post from Africa! Love you all and can't wait to see you!

Safari and Victoria Falls Photos

Week 10: 2nd half Photos

Week 10: Part 2, Livingstone

We left Choma on Thursday morning after saying all of our goodbyes and giving some small gifts to show our appreciation to the staff at the guest house. We headed out around 9:00 and stopped in Zimba at the hospital and guest house. We left 5 loaves of banana bread that we had made and tea and coffee for all the staff at the hospital. We were there about a half hour or so and got to see and say goodbye to a number of nurses and doctors. It was good to recognize many faces and give hugs goodbye. We got to Livingstone around 2:30 and I got a chocolate muffin for lunch. I had the rest of the day to relax and do whatever i liked. I watched Mission Impossible before dinner and Mission Impossible 3 after dinner. I had a chicken quesadilla for dinner. I went to bed around 10:30 after MI 3 got over.

Friday i had a lot of fun. In the morning around we went on a safari and saw giraffes, monkeys, buffalo, birds, warthogs, hippos, and crocodiles. We came back for breakfast afterward at the ZigZag where we are staying. Around 11:45 we left to go to Victoria Falls. Because of the time of year it is, with the dry season, there was not much water at all coming over the falls on the Zambia side. At the furthest point we could go we could see a lot of water coming over on the Zimbabwe side. It was a lot of fun still and i got a lot of pictures. There were several small stands set up by the falls and we had some to do a little shopping. I only needed a few more gifts and didn't have a lot of money left to spend. i did find gifts for my bridesmaids that i absolutely love! So taht was good. I got a couple other things too and ended up spending all of my money. So no more shopping in Zambia...which is okay cuz i got a lot of good stuff earlier on the trip. I did not like shopping there though. All the shop owners were very aggressive and pushy even when i told them i had no money left to spend. I'm glad the rest of my shopping experiences weren't like that. The rest of the afternoon and evening after the falls we had time to relax. I organized some pictures into a slide show and went to bed at 10.

Today so far we have just been at the ZigZag. I did try to go to the AWANA club today. Just Pam and Phoebe went with us. Phoebe is helping us while we are in Livingstone, she works for WHIZ. We had not been able to contact the pastor before but i knew the time and place so we went to the building where it was supposed to be. No one was there for the club though and we called the pastor and found out from him that they are now meeting on Sundays from 10-11:30. So i probably won't be able to go to the club. The Pastor did say i could come after 1 and he would still be there and some of the kids would be there so i may do that just to meet him and talk to him for a little bit. We came back to the ZigZag and had a debriefing meeting with Lisa for a hour and a half and now i'm sitting in the coffee shop eating a coconut lemon syrup muffin and a papaya smoothie. Pretty good for lunch. I will attach some pics soon from the safari and the falls soon! Miss you all and i will some in just 3 days :)

Week 10: First half

So I told you I worked all Saturday and Sunday on my paper. Monday was more of the same. But i finished my paper at 4:00 pm. Right before we went over for our Community Health final. My brain was so fried and i am still trying to recover from it. I just have two history essays left to write for work for the semester. Monday night i relaxed and watched a movie and didn't do much that night.

Tuesday morning i went to the orphanage and spent time with the younger children mostly. Jonathan stuck with me again and i got to carry him on my back for a little while. I got some really good pictures of him laughing. In the afternoon i decided i'd just go with the group that was going to the craft store to see if i could find anything i wanted. and i did find quite a bit so i was glad i went. I finished up almost all of my gift shopping. I am now just looking for two more people and i will see what i find when we go shopping in Livingstone later this week. I did some packing in the evening after watching Keri pack up all of her stuff earlier in the day. It made me excited to pack to so i started yesterday. I got all of my souvenirs packed and that left me with just clothing and odds and ends for today.

This morning before breakfast i sorted through my clothes and packed all the ones i won't need for Livingstone or coming home. I can hardly believe i will be home in only 6 days. Does not seem possible i've been here for almost three months. I have loved it so much and am going to miss it. I have seen God work in some really amazing ways in the people here and in my own heart as well. We had devotions for the last time with WHIZ staff this morning and now i'm just blogging and working on some last minute things like packing and those history essays... This will probably be my last blog from Zambia. We leave tomorrow morning to go to Livingstone and we will stay there til we fly out on Monday. While there we have plans to go on a safari on Friday morning, go to Victoria falls, and some shopping. I am also trying to arrange an opportunity to go to an AWANA club on Saturday morning.

Please continue to pray for me during these last 6 days as i pack and prepare my heart to return home. I have had an incredible journey here in Zambia. Thank you to all of you who have faithfully prayed for me and read this blog. I pray God has blessed you in some way through the experiences he has given me here. I look forward to seeing you all upon my return and sharing my time here with you all face-to-face. God bless and i will see you all very soon!

Week 10: 1st half Photos

Week 9: Orphanage, OVC, HBC visits

Monday of this week, my team of 8 girls went with a team from Kara Counseling services to a village called Habanuga that was 30km out from Jembo Bible College. It took us about 3 hours to get to the village. The road from Jembo to Habanuga was the worst road that i have been on this whole trip. I have found i really enjoy bumpy rides though. My group had a lot of fun even though it was tiring day. We left at 8 and got back around 6. At the village where we went my team sang some songs for the men, women, and children who had come and the team from Kara Counseling did some health education with the people and covered a wide variety of topics. It was interesting to see how the people interacted and responded to the education. Before we left Marianna and i and some of the other girls ran around some chasing the children. There were so many of them, and they all just scattered when you moved towards them. I was worn out after a few minutes.

Tuesday morning i woke up to the sound of rain around 6:30. It fell steadily all morning and stopped before we had class around 11. It was very nice and helped to cool the air off here some. Later it did get pretty humid though. In the afternoon i worked on homework.

Wednesday afternoon i finally got to go to the orphanage. I went to the one closet to our guest house. It is run by a German couple and there are several young girls from Germany who volunteer to come over for 6 months at a time to work with the children. I was only there about two and a half hours but it was a really good time and i got to hold another baby on my back. I also had Jonathan with me the entire time. It was a good day.

Thursday our whole group got to go out on OVC visits (orphan, vulnerable children). We met with four families and their children and got to hear from them about how they are providing for the children and what their struggles are. Then we got to pray for each family. We also gave each family a bag of mealy meal, salt, sugar, cooking oil, and kapenta (little dried fish). A few of the girls gave some extra clothing they had with them to some of the families.

Friday we all went on HBC visits (home-based care). We met with two men who are HIV positive and are currently on ART therapy. We sat with them at their homes and heard from them their story about how AIDS has affected them and how they are doing with their medicine and if they are able to work to make a living for themselves. Both men that we saw the caregivers were encouraged by them because they were doing much better than when they had last seen them. We also gave them food and a bag of clothing and some other small gifts. Thursday night we made up gifts to each of the families from yesterday and to the families we visited today. I really enjoyed both days of visits and getting to meet with the different families.

Before Saturday of this week i had finished all my work expect for my research paper for Community. So that was my project all day Saturday and Sunday. Saturday night we also had a time of washing each others feet and praying for one another. That was a very powerful time for me and just brought some healing to my heart. Sunday we had a meeting with Megan from World Hope International to start our debriefing process.

Enjoy the pictures!

Week 9 Photos

Week 8: Last week at Zimba and trip to Lusaka

Happy November to everyone! I realize it's been November for awhile but this is the first blog about Novemeber :) I am so excited for what God has done this week. A really incredible time and i hope you enjoy reading about it.

Monday of this week i was in Peds and OB at Zimba. There were a few women in the maternity ward but no one was in labor the whole day. So i spent my time checking on the children in Peds and on the babies and mothers in maternity. It was good day to spend with the patients and i had some good discussions with the nursing staff.

Tuesday i was in the theatre all day. It was a really good experience and i was glad I got to go back to spend more time in the OR after my experience there last time. This week there was a team of American Surgeons from Memphis, TN. They came over for 2 weeks to spend time at Zimba doing lots of different surgery cases. I got to see a couple more major surgeries in the morning and then in the afternoon i saw some dressing changes and more minor procedures. I was really excited in the morning because the surgeon let me scrub in on one of the surgeries he was doing. The doctors weren't sure what to really expect with the patient so i watched for the first part and then I got to help tie the stitches the doctor made and cut them when he was finished. He told me I was a natural at it and couldn't believe i'd never done it before. I really enjoyed it and it will be interesting to see if God will lead my life into surgical nursing at some point. I am open and ready for whatever He has and so excited to follow where He leads me!

Wednesday morning we left for Lusaka, the capital city. We left around 7 and arrived around 1. It was so strange to be pack in a city and see tall buildings and stop lights!! what are those?!? I kept thinking to myself why are we stopped there's no one coming...:) We went to a fast food place for lunch where i got a chicken burger and chips (fries in America). In the afternoon we had two speakers come and then we had dinner at the guest house we stayed at. The guest house was really nice. I shared a room with Janna again. We had air conditioning and a nice bathroom with a hot shower! I have felt so blessed with all the housing arrangements God has provided for us on this trip. I did get some work done while watching a movie with some other girls and then went to bed before 11.

Thursday we went to St. John's Medial Centre for a tour. It is a private hospital in Lusaka. It was very nice. Then we drove around the city in our bus for a little while and Mrs. Sianchapa pointed out some of the government buildings and other interesting sites to us. We then went to a shopping complex where i had a chicken and mushroom pizza wrap and a chocolate mint ice cream spinner for lunch. In the afternoon we went to a Kumbyah Community School. The children sang and welcomed us and one of the teachers sang for us and performed a drama with some other men. Then we helped serve them lunch of a bowl of porridge. I ended up passing out most of the bowls and it was so good to see the gratitude on their faces but hard also as i wished i could give them more. We weren't not at the school very long but it was still an awesome experience. We went to dinner at a sit down restaurant and i had chicken cordon bleu. Then in the evening Janna and I watched National Treasure and i tackled some homework.

Friday I went back to St. John's from 10:30-12:30 to help at the under 5 clinic and to rotate through some of the other units too. The nurses there were so kind and willing to talk to us and answer any questions we had. I really enjoyed it there. In the afternoon after lunch we went to the Churches Health Association of Zambia for a short time to hear what they are all about and then we had a brief time at the General Nursing Council to meet with them and ask a few questions. In the afternoon we went to Mother Theresa Hospice and saw the patients there. They care for many children there in addition to patients who have AIDS. I really enjoyed our time there. We got to hold babies for a little while and then we went and saw both the female and the male wards. At the female ward we were greeted by all the patients who were well enough to be up which was a lot probably 40 or so. They sang to us and then shook all of our hands. The same was true when we went to the male ward. I really enjoyed the time there. I got pizza for dinner when we got back and a grape fanta. Before bed Janna and I watched A walk to remember and i did some more homework.

Saturday morning was when we got to do some shopping. We went to a craft market area where they had a lot of carved things. I found quite a few good gifts for people back home and i enjoyed the bartering. Overall i was satisfied with what i was able to get. After shopping there we went to a mall that had a movie theater and ate lunch there. I had chicken and chips. We went to see A Christmas Carol at 3. We left the mall around 6 and went to eat dinner. I got a hamburger and chips. When we got back to the guest house Janna and I watched the wedding planner and i did more homework! I went to bed at 12:30.

Sunday we had planned on going to church in the morning and then some more shopping before we left to come back to Choma. However, Pam and Kara were not doing well and were quite sick so we left to come home right away on Sunday morning. We got back to Choma around 3 and both Pam and Kara made it okay. They rested the rest of the day and within a few days were doing much better. We did not have internet in Lusaka so when i got back i checked my email and got to talk to Kirk for a little bit. I did some more homework in the evening after dinner but we had so many bugs in the house and flying ones so they kept attacking me and my computer screen. I got stuff done and then went to bed trying to keep them out of my net. I'll attach pictures below from this week!

Week 8 Photos

Week 7: Hospice, Muchipapa, and Chabbobboma

This week on Monday I went to Hospice. My group was supposed to go out on home visits with Kara Counseling services but when we arrived to go, they only had room for two of us. We decided that it wouldn't be good for just two to go if a leader couldn't go to so we just went back to Martin Hospice and worked there for the day. We helped clean the rooms and then had tea. After tea the other girls went with one of the nurses to the hospital to get some medications and i stayed back to play with the children at the house behind. There were only two patients at the hospice that day so there was not much to do for them. I went back to help with the children and the teacher was teaching them about the alphabet. After she finished she told me i was in charge and could do with them whatever i wanted. I taught them the song Head and Shoulders Knees and Toes. Then we played "Lion and Zebras" for a little bit but instead of the lion getting the zebras everyone was just chasing each other. We finally ended up playing "Land Rover, Land Rover" which is red rover in the US. they really enjoyed it though and loved making me run back and forth! I played that with them until their lunch time and the other girls came back from the hospital and played for a while too. We left around 1 to go back to the guest house for our lunch. I was a little disappointed about not going on the home visits but then i learned that Mrs. Sianchapa who was with us for the day was not feeling well at all and it would have been a very long and hard day for her had we gone on the visits. So i was glad that God worked things out the way he did.

Tuesday i was to go to Dr. Jain's, but i was not feeling the best with a sore throat and headache and stayed back at the house for the day. I rested some and did get quite a bit of homework done so it was a productive day.

Wednesday we had WHIZ staff devotions in the morning and then had class after that. After lunch we had time to work on homework and for two hours from 3-5 we had some women from the WHIZ staff come and talk to us about marriage and family here in Zambia.

Thursday morning we all went to Muchipapa Trust with Rebecca, a staff member at WHIZ. She was doing a nutrition education session with the caregivers there. It was really good time to interact and share with the caregivers there and also learn from them. After the education there was a meal provided for each of the orphan or vulnerable children that the caregivers care for. Before the meal was ready i was just standing in between some of our other girls and one small boy just came right up to me and put his arms out. I picked him up and held him for quite awhile while we waited for the food to be ready. He was so sweet and even though he didn't say a word to me that was okay. When the food was ready we watched them all eat and then before we left i asked one of the woman if i could carry her baby on my back. So she helped me tie the baby on. But he didn't like it for very long and started squirming so i let him down. But it was nice to hold him for a little bit.

Friday was our trip to Chabbobboma banana plantation which is the livelihood project for Chabbobboma trust. We left early around 6:30. It took us about 2 and a half hours to get there. The roads were very interesting and at one point when we turned off the dirt road i couldn't see a road that we were turning on. It just looked like a dry riverbed but we drove on it down to the plantation. When we got there all the woman came out and greeted us with singing and handshakes underneath this huge old tree. Then we had a tour of the plantation and saw quite a few bananas on the trees. After we walked through the plantation we drove over to the harbor at Lake Cariba which was just about 10 mins away. We spent a little time there and got lots of pictures before we went back over to the plantation and had our lunch underneath the big tree. We had chicken, greens, and a big lump of nshima for lunch. I could not eat it all but the Zambians had more nshima than i did and they ate it all. We left after lunch and traveled back home. We got back around 4:30. It was a really fun day and a nice chance to get out and see some different things.

Saturday i got up at 10 as we had a free day to do whatever we wanted. I worked on some homework during the day and then after dinner we had a Halloween party for our activity night. If you remember from a previous post i talked about how Fred, one of the Zambian men who work here on the WHIZ compound, had killed the turkey that had been roaming around for a couple days. So Lauren had a good idea to dress up as Fred and the turkey. I think it turned out really well. I was Fred and Lauren was the turkey. We found feathers, construction paper, and watercolor paints in our supply closet to use for our costumes. I wore a black shirt, red hat and blue pants because that's what Fred usually wears. Lauren painted my face black before we went over and we made a knife out of construction paper and put some red paint on the edge of it. Everyone else had really good costumes too. I put a few pictures of them in the album below. We got a big group picture of all of us too at the end of the evening.

Sunday was church in the morning and i had Chabota come and sit with me for most of the service after she saw me during the offering and came to sit with me. In the afternoon i worked on my journals for Transcultural and did some other homework. This week was a pretty good one.

I have lots of pictures from this week so please enjoy them!

Week 7 Photos

Additional Photos

Hello All!

I have added an aditional 6 photos in the album under week six. I found i had not included any pics from the beauty contest or independence day so i added a few! Enjoy!

Week 6: Zimba, Traditional Healer, and Independence Day

This week I was in Zimba for the second time on Monday and Tuesday. On Monday I spent the morning with Meredith, a Physician’s Assistant student who is working with Drs. Dan and Joan Jones. A woman came in that morning who had been in a bicycle accident and she was taken to the theatre. Meredith knew that she was in the theatre so she let me go over with her to see what was going on and help clean the woman up. The woman needed several stitches in her upper lip and had a few other abrasions on her forehead and elbow. After helping the woman get stitched and cleaned up, I went back over to the outpatient department with Meredith. It was kind of nice to work with Meredith, because she does not know Tonga and can only communicate with patients who can speak English. I was able to better understand what was going on with the patients as Meredith interacted with them because they did speak in English. A number of the patients she saw were high school students. The students are taught English in school. I stayed with Meredith in the outpatient clinic until 1230 and then went for lunch at the mission house. After lunch I went to the lab. This time in lab there was more going on than last week and I got to do several blood draws. I did well with the blood draws, and it helped to build some confidence for starting an IV sometime. I also got to do several rapid blood tests for malaria. We were not able to spend the night on Monday in Zimba because the guest house we stayed at two weeks ago had some other people staying there, and the bathroom at the mission guest house was not yet completed. So we left Zimba around 1630 to head back to Choma for dinner and to spend the night.

Tuesday morning we left at 0700 to go back to Zimba. I spent the first part on the morning in the female and male wards. I was able to go around with the doctor as he did his rounds and ask him questions. After he finished his rounds, Lisa came and got Marianna and me and told us we could go over to the theatre to see the one major surgery for the day. It was a woman with an abdominal mass that the doctor was going to remove. Meredith got to scrub in and assist the doctor with the surgery. After that surgery I saw an amputation of a young boy’s finger, removal of a skin tag, and the removal of a lipoma on the forehead of a man. After the surgeries were finished for the day, I went back up to the guest house for lunch. Around 1500 I went back down to the hospital and spent the last hour and a half in the female and male wards. I helped the nurse by taking vital signs and passing medications. The nurse also had a new admission come in before I left for the day and she needed an IV started. Lisa was there when the woman came in to the ward and was able to help me start my first IV! I was able to get it in on my first try. I struggled with holding the cannula down firmly when I retracted the needle so some blood did come out. I really think that the blood draws I was able to do the day before helped prepare me for inserting an IV and I had more confidence. We left Zimba again around 1630 and headed back to Choma.

Wednesday of this week was just class time.

On Thursday, our group left early in the morning to travel to Chikuni Mission Hospital. We had plans for the day to meet with two traditional healers, one male and one female. We were only able to meet with the male traditional healer. There had been some lack of communication when we got to the village where the healer was. He had not been made aware that we were coming but was willing to talk with us for a little while about what he does as a healer. He told us that he is a diviner and works with the local hospital. He showed us the building where he makes his medicines before we left. After meeting with him we went back to the Chikuni Mission Hospital and had a short tour of the facility. We then traveled to the Monze School of Nursing and had a tour of the school facilitates.

Friday we had more class time. In the evening we all went to the Miss Rotary Independence 2009 contest. We left at 0700 and left around 2400. It was a late night and we left before the results were announced. It was a fun time to be out with everyone and do something different. There were 10 girls in the contest and they each had outfits for 5 different categories including office wear, cocktail dress, traditional, summer wear, and causal wear. In between each category of dress there was entertainment, mostly by Zambian rap groups. That part was not my favorite but there was one group of three guys that danced that was cool.

Saturday was Independence Day for Zambia. In the morning we went to the town center where it seemed like the whole town was gathered for the celebrations. Our group got to sit up under the tent behind the District Commissioner of Choma. There was a lot of singing and dancing by groups from different schools in Choma. Some children shared poems, and there was a short drama reenactment of the Zambia’s fight for independence. After the dancing, the District Commisioner briefly spoke to all the people then we were all dismissed. We came back to the guest house for lunch and had the rest of the afternoon free to do homework and relax. In the evening after dinner we had our activity night. Janna, Keri, and Lauren put together the “Zammy Awards” for us, and then we played a DVD game about movies. It was a lot of fun and afterwards I worked on homework a little and then went to bed.

Sunday was a really good day at church. There was a lot of singing, and several songs were in English this week so I was able to sing along more. The sermon was about Job and his faith in God. Throughout the singing our row had a little girl or about 4 or 5 being passed back and forth. She finally fell asleep on Sandy’s lap during the sermon. Sandy Emmett works in the global studies office at IWU, and she and Rob Dawson, the division chair of the undergraduate nursing program, came over on Tuesday of this week to stay for about a week and see how things were going here for us in Zambia. This week was pretty good overall. As usual I am attaching some pictures below!

Week 6 Photos

This was on October 31, 2009. I do not have a picture of the spider i killed but i found a video of one in Irag and it looked the same so i will attach the link for the youtube video.

Camel Spider LIVE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XOXvdfcct8g

Here's the story:

So I killed a nasty bug last night that i assumed was a spider but did not look at it closely. Then today another one of the same bugs ran across Haley's foot while watching Friends. So i decided to look it up and discovered the lovely beasties we've been killing are camel spiders also know as wind scorpions or sun spi...ders. i will attach a link with a picture and another page with info about them. Definetely killed it in the spur of the moment yesterday then freaked out later....

Here is another link with facts about camel spiders:

http://www.howtodothings.com/pets-animals/understand-the-camel-spider

If you would like to see more images of the nasty critters feel free to search google images. I am still in disbelief that i killed one. My family would be proud!

Week 5: Choma and Classes

This week team B was back in Zimba which meant my team was in Choma for Monday and Tuesday. Monday I spent the morning at Martin Hospice center. We got there around 7:30 and sat with the staff for their morning devotions. After devotions we donned gowns over our clothing and helped the nurses with the cleaning of each room and making and changing on bed linens. After the cleaning was done we had tea at 10. I had the opportunity to go to Choma General Hospital with one of the nurses to get some medicine for some of the patients at the hospice. We were there for a little while and got to see the ART clinic that was packed with patients waiting to be seen and get their medicine. When we I got back to the hospice from the hospital, I helped Pam with one of the patients who wasn’t feeling well. I took her outside in her wheel chair for a little bit and then took her back inside to her room before we left at 12:30. That day I also met two of the teachers who work in Kara house behind the hospice. Kara house is a place for vulnerable children to come to receive extra help with school, nutrition supplements, and counseling services. Many of the children who come there are HIV positive and are receiving treatment. I did not have much time this week to interact with the children but I did get to meet a few of them. Most of them will come after they finish school for the day. In the afternoon I had some free time to work on homework and relax.

Tuesday I went to Dr. Jain’s clinic. In the morning I stayed busy with taking vital signs and checking on Alyssa. She became very ill the Saturday before and was admitted to Dr. Jain’s in the middle of the night on Saturday. She was being treated for malaria and dehydration. Tuesday she was finally able to return home with us when we left at 11:30. We were all very excited to have her back at home with us, and she was glad too. She rested the rest of the day. After lunch I went back to Dr. Jain’s. There were not many patients in the afternoon, so Dr. Jain took us into his office and told us stories about interesting cases he’s had and a little bit about his life. Tuesday evening the team from Zimba returned and we all had dinner. After dinner we had post conference where we all had a chance to talk about what we’ve been learning and seeing in our clinical.

Wednesday morning my team of 8 had the opportunity to go to the pediatric ART clinic at Choma General Hospital. The other team of 8 had been able to go the week before so I was glad that we too had the chance to go and help. I helped take vital signs and got to sit in with the doctor for a little while as he checked up on the patients. The rest of the day I worked on homework and did some relaxing.

Thursday I woke up feeling really achy like I had worked out the day before and was really sore, but I hadn’t worked out or done anything to make me sore. I also felt really hot and sweatier than usual. I didn’t think too much of it and went to class in the morning at 9. After an hour and a half of lecture I was really not feeling well and was really tired. I decided to tell Pam and she had me go back over to the guest house and take my temperature. It was 100.8 and I was feeling really hot and had a headache by then. Pam and Lisa decided I should go to Dr. Jain’s to be tested for malaria. Lisa took me over and they took a blood smear to look for the parasite in my blood. They found it and Dr. Jain gave me coartem to take for three days. I went back to the guest house and drank lots of water and rested for the rest of the day. After I got back my roommate Lauren was not feeling well either. She was diagnosed with malaria too and started the medicine not long after me.

Friday was another day of class but I did not go since I was still feeling unwell. I rested most of the day, making sure to drink lots of water.

Saturday was my last day of meds and I finished them up at dinner. After finishing the coartem I was feeling much better. My fever was down and my headache was gone. My body still felt kind of sore and I was still very tired but I did feel better than the previous couple days. In the afternoon on Saturday, I felt well enough to go with the group to St. Mulumba’s school for disabled children. That afternoon there was a group of Japanese young people from Lusaka who had come to share their cultural with the children. They performed a dance for the children and had different learning stations in the classrooms that included Japanese calligraphy and Japanese toys. It was a nice break to get out of the house after being inside sick for a couple days.

Sunday morning I decided to go to church but after the singing was done and before the preaching I walked back with Alyssa. I realized I wasn’t yet feeling the best and did not think I would be able to make it sitting through another hour or more of preaching when I felt like I might fall over already. So I came back and rested until everyone else got back for lunch. I did a little homework on Sunday. I was feeling really behind after missing several days while I was sick. But I don’t think I got through too much as I was still feeling pretty tired.

Week 5 Photos

Two more pictures! These are from Zimba :)

This is one of the little girls i took care of on the Peds Ward.

The Hospital sign for Zimba Mission.

Week 4: Zimba and Chikankata

Starting week 4 off on Monday, I left with 7 other girls at around 7:00 am to travel to Zimba Mission Hospital where we would be spending two days. Monday I volunteered to spend the day in the Maternity and Peds Wards, hoping that i would be able to see a birth. The group last week i think was able to see one or two births while they were at Zimba. However, there were no births and no women even in the Maternity Ward waiting to deliver. So i spent the day with Marianna in Peds. (Marianna has been my partner each time we've gone to Zimba because the 8 of us split into 4 pairs and then work in different areas each week.) So in the morning when we first arrived, our whole group had a tour of the hospital and of the different areas where we would be getting to work and observe. Around 9:30 Marianna and I started in Peds with the nurse that was working that day. She was doing her meds at 10 so we got to help pass out the tablets and we drew up one injection each to give to two children. After meds at 10 Marianna and I looked at some of the charts for the children and talked with the nurse a little bit about how long she has worked there and what types of things she has seen in her time as a nurse. The rest of the time Marianna and I just stayed pretty much in the ward talking with the children and checking on them. There were several babies who were sick with pneumonia and one girl who had burns all over her legs. At 1 we went back up to the guest house where we would be staying and had lunch. Then we had some time before we were to go back to to hospital at 2 so i took a short nap. The rooms in the guest house each had an air conditioning unit! so that made it very nice and cool in the rooms. At 2 Marianna and i went back to the peds unit and just hung out with the kids and talked to some of the mothers who were there to care for their child. At 4 we helped the nurse pass meds again and then around 4:30 we ended for the day and went back to the guest house to relax before dinner. Dinner was at 6 and we had some really good chicken. During dinner we had started a conversation about experiences with broken bones and other medical things so that continued after dinner too. Then we all shared what we would want our last meal to be. We talked about some other stuff for quite a while and then we all went to bed around 11 i think. Marianna and I were on call that night in case there were any births at the hospital they were to call us and we could go down to watch. I slept with the phone but there were no calls. :(

Tuesday we got up and had breakfast at the guest house and then were down to the hospital around 8. Marianna and I spent all morning in the Maternal Health Clinic. It was similar to the clinic we went to at Siachetema where we sat in on an antenatal clinic for the pregnant woman. At this meeting however, there were special guests from Lusaka who came to talk with the mothers and fathers who came to the meeting. They were from the Mothers 2 Mothers Program which is a program that seeks to help mothers prevent transmitting HIV to their babies. The room for the meeting was not all that big and in no time it was packed with women who had come to learn. Marianna and I were on the side of the room and we sat there for probably an hour or so before they meeting actually started. I believe it went for at least 2 hours. And it was all in Tonga except for a few things that some of the people from Lusaka were unsure how to communicate in Tonga so they would say a little in English and the women that worked at Zimba would interrupt into Tonga for the women and men present. So it was long time to sit there. But it was interesting. After the teaching was finished, the staff started the assessments on the women. Marianna took blood pressures and I got all of their current weights and recorded them in their books. Then i helped one of the nurses with counting out pills for the women that they would get after being assessed by the midwife. The pills were an iron supplement and folic acid. After counting pills for a little bit I asked the nurse midwife if Marianna and I could come in and watch her as she did the assessments. She was very willing to let us come in and learn. She let us watch as she did one assessment and talked us through it and then the next few that she had she let Marianna and I do. I felt like i learned a lot and the midwife was so helpful and willing to answer all of our questions. So it was nice to be able to do something after sitting in the meeting part for so long. We went back up for lunch with the other girls and then at 2 when we came back to the hospital, Marianna and i went to spend some time in the lab. Some of the other girls had gotten to do blood draws and blood smears for malaria but there was not much going on then. So i copied down numbers in a book after running complete blood counts of different vials of blood and just talked with the lab technicians. We left around 4 to come back to Choma so that we would be sure to get back for dinner.

Wednesday morning the other 8 went to Choma General Hospital to help with the pediatric anti-retroviral clinic and the 8 of us who stayed at the guest house either did homework or helped some of the WHIZ staff with data entry. I went over and helped Ms. Peggy with data entry for 3 hours until lunch time. Then after lunch our whole team left to go to Chikankata where we would spend a few days observing in the hospital there. It was a long drive to get there and it was after dark when we did arrive. I think it was around 7:30 when we got there. We got our stuff into our rooms and then we had dinner around 8. I shared a room with Janna. The beds were nice and pretty comfortable. It was kind of strange sleeping there but i did get some good rest.

Thursday and Friday we spent at the hospital moving between different wards. On Thursday i was in the Maternity Ward with Alyssa and Alissa. i was hoping again to see a birth. There were several women who were there waiting to give birth but the nurses said some of them it would be a couple days at least. We all took a tour in the morning of the hospital and when we went to the maternity ward there was a woman in labor. But when Alyssa, Alissa and i got back there we found she had had her baby a half hour ago :(. So we hung out with the nurses there and we got to see the delivery room and the ward. The nurse that showed us around was very helpful and answered all of our questions. The hospital also has a special room called the Prem Unit. It would be probably the closest thing to a NICU here. They had three incubators and 5 premies there at the moment. One had gained enough weight that he did not need to be in the incubator and there was one set of twins that shared an incubator. Seeing that room for the premature babies and watching the nurses give the feedings through the NG tubes was one of my favorite things of my time at Chikankata. To save some length i'm going to do some summarizing of the rest of the time there. Basically i waited around all day to see a birth and missed another one by mins when i went down to get lunch. Then after dinner i went back up with 4 other girls and we waited for 2 or 3 hours for a woman who was in labor but she never advanced far enough while we were there and we could not stay there any later. We did see one baby who had stopped breathing be resuscitated by the nurses. We found out later the next morning that that same baby had not made it through the night. That was hard for me to realize that i had been there and i felt like if i had just been there and checked on the baby more often it might have lived. But my experience just from that one day and couple hours at night in the Prem Unit really helped me to see that God has placed premies and their families on my heart and that i want to be there to help care for them. Which i had thought before i wanted to work in a NICU but i had never really had any experience and to be in that unit with those babies just felt right. So i'm interested to see where God takes me and what he has planned for me after i graduate!

So that was that and then on Friday i spent half the morning in the ICU and the other half i was in the outpatient department with one of the doctors just observing her as she saw patients. She was really good about talking with me in English and explaining what was going with each patient. We left after lunch around 2 to come back to Choma. We got back and had dinner here in Choma and then had a free evening to relax. Saturday we had a guest speaker come and talk with us from 9-11 and then had free time the rest of the day to do homework. And then Sunday was Church.

My pictures this week are all from Chikankata and i don't really have a whole lot but i'll share what i have!

Week 4 Photos

Week 3 photos

Got them loaded :)

Week 3 Photos

Week 3

On Sunday of this week are team traveled to Jembo where there is a Bible college and a secondary school. Mike and Cindy Helvie are missionaries at Jembo, teaching different classes at the Bible college. We spent the morning with them at their house and had lunch with them. At 2:00 there was a revival service for the youth attending the secondary school. My team got to go to the service and sing a couple songs for the group of students. There were also several students from the school who sang in small groups. I really enjoyed the message as well. After the service we got to see the dorms where the students live. Liz, a 10th grade student at the school, showed me all around the girls dorms. It was not what i was expecting. A lot different than dorms in the states. There was really just one really long room with bunk bed after bunk bed lined up next to each other. There were probably around 50 girls in the one dorm i went in. All of the students asked when we would be back. I had to tell them that i didn't know if we would be able to come back.

Monday Team B, made up of half of the group, went to Zimba to spend two days working at the mission hospital there. Our time spent at Zimba will all be dedicated to fulfilling the hours required for our Transcultural Practicum. Each group will get to go three times and we will rotate the weeks that we go. I am in Team A so this week i stayed in Choma. On Monday I went to Dr. Jain's clinic in the afternoon. I went with three other girls and we did not have to be over there until 2:00 so I decided to take that day to skip breakfast and sleep in. I think i got up around 10:00 and then did a little homework before lunch. After lunch i went over to Dr. Jain's. Dr. Jain is an Indian doctor who has lived here and worked in Zambia for many years. His wife is also a doctor and they work together at their clinic to treat and care for the people who come to them. Mostly that afternoon i just had a tour of the clinic and got to see the doctor talk with a couple patients. The office closes at 4:30 so i was only there for about 2 and a half hours. One thing that was interesting and that i learned was how to use a mercury blood pressure cuff. It was really hard to read and see the mercury as it went down the tube, but i got to practice using it a couple times.

Tuesday is when I finally got to go out and do the food distribution with WHIZ. We were scheduled to go a week earlier, but the mill that was grinding the corn into mealy meal did not have enough corn to fill the order that WHIZ had placed. But today they finally got it, so we set out with about 500 bags of mealy meal and 500 heads of cabbage to distribute food to the community trusts that WHIZ supports. We left about 9:00 in the morning. One thing that was a huge praise was God getting us through a government check point just outside of Choma. Before we had even gotten to our first village we were stopped at a check point and told we could not go on because the truck that was carrying the food did not have a fire extinguisher. We could have been there an indefinite amount of time waiting til we were told we could go on, but our group prayed and that God would let us get through the check point. The driver of the truck went and talked with the officer in charge and basically got down on his knees and begged him to to let us go. We were there only about 20 mins before they let us go. The driver had told the officer in charge that we were carrying USAID food that we had to get delivered today which i think helped some, but i know that God worked to let us get through that check point to distribute the food. We traveled to 4 or 5 different trusts that day giving out bags of mealy meal and heads of cabbage. At each trust we gave the food to one of the community committee members who took responsibility of the food and who would make sure the food was delivered to the right people. A bag of mealy meal and a head of cabbage were left with the committee member for each family that was caring for a vulnerable person. So at one trust we left 9 bags and heads of cabbage while at another trust we left close to 90 bags and heads of cabbage. I really enjoyed that day and got to play with and hold some children. Our team worked well together too to unload the food from the truck and formed an assembly line to pass the food down the line to the place where we were stacking it up. It was a long day with lots of travel. The furthest village we went to we were told we were close to Lusaka which is a good 4 or 5 hours from here. I don't know how close we actually were though but it did take us a while to get back to Choma from that last village.

Wednesday the team from Zimba was back and they got to go on food distribution that day. My team got to go to Choma General Hospital and meet with the director and have a tour of the hospital. It was a good experience to get to see what different hospitals here in Zambia are like and what each offers and doesn't offer. Wednesday my group was also able to go to Martin hospice in Choma and have a tour. On the weeks that I am not in Zimba, my team will take turns going to Dr. Jain's clinic and Martin Hospice on Mondays and Tuesdays. One thing i learned about the hospice here is that it is very different than what i think of when i think of hospice in the U.S. Here the hospice has 12 beds, 6 for men and 6 for women. The hospice cares for people who have HIV/AIDS. Their goal is to help people who have AIDS get well enough so that they can get their strength back and be able to go back home. Hospice also works with the hospital and ART clinic to get the medicines that those people need to help control their AIDS. After our visit to Martin Hospice, we were able to go to a village near our compound and pass out tootsie rolls and play with the children. We went with Dave and many of the children knew him already. There was one girl named Ethel who just smiled and went around to each of us girls giving us hugs.

Thursday was a really cool day! We all went to a rural health clinic in Siachetema. We spent all day there. The main thing that i got to do was sit in on the antenatal education and assessment clinic. About 15 or 20 women came to the meeting. A couple girls from our group lead the education and really just talked with the women about what they already knew about what they should be doing during their pregnancy to keep themselves and their babies healthy. Then after the education each of us students got to go in with one pregnant woman and do a head to toe assessment on her and then feel for the position of the baby and listen for the fetal heart rate. It was hard for me to find the fetal heart rate with the small metal tool they used but the nurse was very good at finding the FHR and then showing me where to listen so i could hear it also. The other thing that was going on at Siachetema was the outpatient department where people came with all sorts of complaints to see the doctor's who were there. I was able to stand in with Dr. Joan Jones as she listened and assessed patients who came to see her. Two cases that were very interesting to me were both children. One was a 10 month old baby who had been sick for 7 months. This was really hard for me to comprehend but the mother had brought the baby to the clinic several times all with the same complaint of a persistent cough. The first thing that i noticed about that baby was the lack of energy and movement. The baby just sat on the mother's lap and didn't move much at all. It was such a stark contrast to another baby who came in with his mother who was about that same age. That baby was active and smiling, laughing and banging his hands on the desk. That baby that was sick was referred to a hospital where they would be able to do more tests to try to figure out how to treat and care for the baby. Since it was a small rural clinic any person who comes with a more severe problem will be referred to a hospital for further evaluation. The other child had a large skin lesion covering the calf of his right leg. The boy was not very old and his father told the doctor that it had started about a month ago and just kept getting big. Dr. Jones was not sure about it and referred the boy to a hospital, but she thought it could have been some kind of fungal infection.

Friday was a day devoted to class and homework. Saturday was Kirk and my 2 year anniversary and Sunday was Kirk's 20th birthday. I wasn't sure if i would be able to talk to Kirk on those days but i did have a few minutes each day so that was a real blessing and encouragement to me. I'll include some pictures now from this week! Enjoy!

Ok...so it's taking awhile to load so i will try to get them up later today!

Week 2

So it has been awhile since i have written.....almost 3 weeks (sorry!). I've decided to write a post for each of the past 3 weeks and summarize briefly my highlights from each week in hopes to catch y'all up. Enjoy :)

Last time i mentioned that we had a turkey friend here on the compound. Well, a few days after that post we all got to see Fred, one of the guys who works on the compound, cut the turkey's head off. A lot of the girls took pictures of it and a few took videos. I must say that it was interesting to watch. We will all get to enjoy that turkey plus one other turkey on October 24th which is Zambia's national Independence Day!

On the 22nd for my history class we all went to the museum of history in Choma and to the Zambia Library Service in Choma. The museum was small, not like the museums we have in the States. There were several big boards that covered history of Zambia from when the British arrived and colonized Zambia to when Zambia received its independence from Britain in 1964. There were several display cases that had various artifacts from different tribes in Zambia and described what all of the traditional items that were used were. The display cases talked about traditional life for women and men in a tribe and about such things as childbirth, farming, and celebrations. We spent just about a half hour to forty-five minutes at the library in Choma. I was very interested to see the library and to be able to compare it to the libraries we have in the States. The first thing i noticed was the size of the library. There was one main larger room that had several bookshelves. Most of the books looked old and had been well worn. Off of the main room there were a couple smaller rooms. One room that i found interesting was a room dedicated to literature on HIV/AIDS. There were a few signs that listed the rules for the library. The one i found most interesting was that no sleeping or dozing is allowed in the library.

On September 24th, our team traveled to Arise School. This school is a school that was opened in the community of Choma by a pastor's wife. This woman had previously worked as an educator for the government but decided to open a school for orphans and other vulnerable children who could not afford to buy the uniform and supplies necessary to attend the government schools. In Zambia school is "free" but the children must have a uniform and supplies to be allowed to attend. Many orphans do not have the money to buy these things and cannot go to school. The Arise school has 7 volunteer teachers and has grades 1-7 offered for the children. There are about 250 students who attend this school. The woman in charge told us that they will not turn away a child who is vulnerable and in need of schooling. This was an encouragement that these children have a place to come to receive an education but also discouraging for the fact that there are so few teachers and supplies for the teachers and children. Only the teachers have books and they copy down the chapters onto a chalkboard for the children to copy down in their notebooks.

The 25th was to be a trip to the market place for a history field trip, however, when we got to the market to shop and ask some questions of the women who work there we were told by the market chairperson that we would not be allowed to ask questions that day because the committee members first had to meet and agree that it was okay for us to ask questions. So instead we had class for a little while and then in the afternoon we were able to go to a village and play with the children there for an hour or so. It was so good to be out with the children and see the smiles on their faces.

Lastly for this week, on the 26th, we had a guest speaker come who talked to us about much of the traditional beliefs and practices among Zambians. I learned a lot from the speaker and as he talked with us, he related how the practices and beliefs could influence the health care of the people. That was important for us as nursing students to know as we begin our time of working and caring for the people of Zambia!

(I am not including class time in my highlights but I am attending class sessions! :) )

Click on the picture below for more pics!

Week 2 Photos

Gobble, Gobble

I got up this morning at 7:00. I had breakfast at 7:30 and was supposed to leave with my group at 8 and some people from WHIZ to go out today and distribute food to several different villages in the area. However, Maureen told us that there was some kind of emergency meeting with some of the WHIZ staff members that was going to delay our start to the food distribution. So the group of us that was supposed to go got out Phase 10 and played an entire game while we waited to leave. Normally i would be frustrated if I was supposed to leave at 8 to go somewhere and hadn't gone anywhere two hours later, but it's just different here and i've learned already in the short time i've been here to be flexible and go with the flow of things. I've learned to find things to do to make my time productive while i'm waiting to go to church or to town or out to the villages. So we finished our game and then around 11:30 we were told that we would not be able to go out to the villages today. I was kind of bummed because i had really been looking forward to going out and actually getting involved with the people here. Although my group was not told why the distribution had been postponed the WHIZ staff is looking into arranging things so that we will be able to go with them later this week on Thursday and Friday. I am praying that God will work everything out so that we will be able to go and share with the people.

I took a hour nap before lunch which really helped to refresh me after just sitting around all morning playing a game while we waited. Some of the girls had some interesting experiences with wild life today....no more snakes though!! Apparently there was a muskrat type animal in the superdorm and Alyssa Rogers was able to corner it and throw a sheet over it. She then took it outside and released it. Right after she released her and a few other girls who were outside looked over and there was a turkey flapping it's wings and sqwauking at them. It surprised them and they all screamed. A friend of Dave Waters', the missionary here, had brought it over to him today. Dave told us that the turkey will probably be a meal for us in the next couple days. It was interesting watching the turkey walk around on our porch. He came up to the door a couple times and the glass in the doors here is reflective so he would see himself in the window and then start hitting the window with his beak and calling. Our history professor let the turkey inside for a couple mins and it was so funny because its feet kept sliding out from underneath it on the tile floor. After a few mins our Prof shooed it back outside.

This afternoon we had our nursing classes from 3:30-6 and just went over a couple powerpoints. After dinner was my history class from 7-9. I wasn't too sure about this class when i signed up, but i think it will be really good and i will learn a lot from it. The Professor is also very nice and is being very flexible with all of the unexpected schedule changes that have come up already since she got here yesterday. Tomorrow we are suppposed to get out for a little bit and take a field trip for history class to the museum in Choma and the library. i am interested to see what their library is like here. I will fill you in tomorrow on whether we make it there or not. Basically i think the thing God has been teaching me this far in my trip is just to be flexible and not get frustrated or uptight when plans fall through and have to be moved around. Good night from Zambia!

Sunday in Zambia :)

There seems to be a bug going around amongst several of the team members. I thankfully have not had it and hope to stay clear of it. Some people have had it worse than others but everyone that has had it has had diarrhea and an upset, crampy stomach. Megan has a fever of 101 and has been sleeping since lunch. Hopefully she will be feeling better tomorrow. Church this morning was really good. We went at 10 this week instead of 9. We just didn't go to sunday school. The man who preached taught from Genesis 16 i think? It was about abraham and isaac when God asked him to sacrifice his son. He talked about how God is faithful to us and how our faith is dead if there are no works along with it. There was a lot of singing that i really enjoyed. It's amazing just to listen to them all singing at the top of their lungs worshipping their Creator. Church got done about 11:45 and we got back to the guest house at 12. Lunch was at 1:15. At 2 i went with several girls to a craft store that Beth, the missionary, knew about and i got several things. All the items were handmade. They had jewlrey, wooden spoons, carved animals, carved boxes, candle stick holders, baskets, all sorts of stuff. When we got back i worked on hw and my journals that are due tomorrow. Dinner was at 6 and then at 7 a few of us went over to Beth's house, which is in the compound, and played with some children she had invited over, and Beth and Dave had a bonfire going. i was over there til 8:30 and then we had a time of sharing testimonies here in the guest house with the whole group. Each sunday night 3 girls are going to share their testimonies and about how God is working in their lives. It was really good to hear the stories of some of the other girls. i took a shower after we all talked and then finished up my journals. I am going to go to bed soon. Tomorrow i will get to go with 7 other girls to do food distribuitions in about 20 diff villages! I am really excited for that :) We will leave at 8 and won't get back til around dinner time. Then i'll have history class from 7-9 tomorrow night. it will be a long day for sure. Breakfast at 7:30...so i'll need to get some sleep in! Good night!

Where I am living

Yesterday was a good day. We had a session in the morning with the Livelihood program director and then a review session of the things we had learned this week in sessions with Debbie from World Hope International. We had a little free time before lunch that i used to do some reading for class. Then after lunch it was more reading. Class was from 3:30-6 and we just discussed interesting topics from the chapters we had read. Dinner was at 7 and the cooks had prepared a big cook out for us. I had the most wonderful potato salad and grilled chicken. Then after dinner we all watched Miss Congeniality together. It was a good day all together.

Today was the first free day i have had since i got to Zambia. I got up at 7 to go running with several girls but didn't make it very far. It was still nice to get out and exercise though. Although now my calf muscles are killing me, especially after having cramps in both of them last night while i was sleeping. I took a quick shower after getting back and then had breakfast. After breakfast, we all had one group session together this morning from 8-10:30 with a woman who works as a nurse at Choma General Hospital and is currently working to get her Master's degree. She talked to us about working as a nurse in Zambia and then very graciously answered all of our many questions about health care in Zambia. Before lunch I went into town with 7 other girls and we just spent a little time walking around. I went to Spar, which is their main grocery store here, and i also stopped at the museum and craft centre to get a couple postcards to send home! When i got back from town i had lunch and then took a nap in the afternoon and did some more reading. it was a very warm day and a little hard to nap but i woke up feeling more refreshed than i was in the morning.

Lastly on this post i just want to give you a tour of my "home" for the next couple months through some pictures. Hope you enjoy them!

Another day

I slept very well last night. The best i have slept since leaving the States. I still woke up feeling a little groggy but i think i'm finally starting to get the hang of this new time! For breakfast I had a piece of toast with apricot jam and a hard boiled egg. The eggs are really good and I have one just about every morning. After breakfast we had a session over in our classroom with Ba (Mr.) Richmond. He is the director at WHIZ for the Reach 4 Life program and the AB program. I really enjoyed his presentation about these two programs. The reach 4 life program is a program that is mandated by the Zambian government for all schools that the WHIZ staff approaches. The WHIZ staff first must approach the school adminstrators about implementing the reach 4 life program in their school. The program is for high school students and focuses on teaching the students about abstinence from a Biblical perspective. For each new school where the program is started there is a launch where each student is giving a reach 4 life Bible. This Bible is published specfically for the program and includes the entire New Testament as well as a few chapters from the book of Psalms. Integrated into the Bible are discussion topics with relating Bible passages focusing on Spiritual life, sexual purity, dating relationships, and living a Christian life. The WHIZ staff will train group leaders who will have from 30-45 minutes a week to complete a lesson from the Bible with the students in their group. I really enjoyed hearing about this program and was impressed with the resources that WHIZ has to use with this program. The program is completely dependent on donations in order to go into a new school and launch the reach 4 life program.

The other program Ba Richmond talked about was the AB program which stands for Abstinece and Being faithful. This program is funded by a U.S. grant and the WHIZ staff will go into rural areas to educate adults from ages 24-49 about abstinence for single people and being faithful for married couples. This program cannot focus on teaching abstinence from a Biblical perspective because it is funded by a U.S. grant. The grant for this program will end at the end of September, and as of now the WHIZ staff does not have more funding lined up to continue the current program. I had just never really heard anything about programs being used in Africa to help decrease the spread of AIDS and so it was really interesting today to hear about these two programs in particular and about some of the successes they have had using them.

After that session I had some free time that i used to check my email and do some reading for school. I am glad to say i am staying pretty on top of it all...for now ;). Then lunch was at 1. We had some soup with chicken and noodles in it and also a salad. After lunch we had some more free time that i used to do more reading!! Yay! Some of the girls walked into town to do a little shopping. I think it will take about 30-40 mins to walk to town. It took the girls who went today 25 mins but they were speedwalking. I had class from 4-5:15. There wasn't any lecture because Prof. Leslie didn't have her computer with the powerpoints but we did get to talk about some of the things we will get to do for clinicals and minstry opportunities. We had a little break before dinner at 6. After dinner i took a quick shower and then got ready for a group meeting at 8. We have often had group meetings after dinner this week where we can all get together and talk about what we've seen and learned that day and about any struggles we may be having. It has been a good time to talk and learn from the other girls.

Praise God my headache didn't come back at all today. I will continue relying on Him to help me through everyday here. All of you that are praying, your prayers are so appreciated and needed. I also want to praise God for watching over and protecting Alyssa, a girl on my team, this morning. Some of the girls have been getting up early to walk with the missionary who lives here and when Alyssa went out the door this summer she slipped and fell on a rug. When she looked over she saw a small snake curled up to her right. She quickly got up and went to get Beth Waters, the american missionary. Beth came over and one of the other girls tried to push it away but it reared up and started hissing at them. So Beth threw the rug over it, dropped a big rock on it and then jumped on the rock to smash the snake. She was able to kill it and no one was harmed. Beth later told us that the snake was a baby Black Mamba, one of the most dangerous snakes in Africa. So just praise the Lord for watching over Alyssa and the other girls this morning. We will all be on the look out and watching carefully our steps around the compound. Please pray for God's continued protection over me and my team.

I will try soon to take pictures of the guest house where i am staying so you all can get a better idea of where i am staying!

Quick Update

I could feel my headache on the edge of my mind all day but it did not come back full strength so taht i couldn't focus on things. Praise the Lord! So just thank you for all your prayers. I appreciate them and it helps so much to know all you guys back in the States are praying for me!

So far...

So it's been a couple days since i got on here and updated ya'll. So i'll fill you in but try to not get too lengthy.

First off, I must just say that I serve an AWESOME God. I am so amazed that He chose me and brought me all the way here to Zambia. I am greatly enjoying my time here but it has not been free of some frustrations. Let me first bring you up today in Zambia and then i'd just like to share a few prayer requests at the end that I would ask you to pray for as you remember me here in Africa!

I left off with arriving in Zambia on Saturday evening. I did get some sleep that night. Sunday morning our group of 18 was broken up into 3 groups. Each group went to one of 3 local Wesleyan churches. I thought this was really great because we will stay at the church we went to the first Sunday for the remainder of our stay and will be able to get invovled in a local church and the people that attend there. The smaller groups make it much easier for all of us to get involved. The church that I attend is called Muche Papa. You will have to pardon my spelling as I am just trying to spell it how it sounds but i'm sure it isn't correct, but then again you won't know either. :) The church service started at 9 with Sunday School and then around 10the main service started. The service went til 12:30, but I really enjoyed it. It was very refreshing to see the worship of God's people here in Zambia. I will share just a few highlights from that service. That Sunday was communion Sunday for the church I attended. It was really much like communion at my home church. The Pastor talked about the importance of communion and read from the Word about it and then the bread and cups were passed out to the congregation. After communion we sang a few songs. Most of them were in Tonga, a native language here, but the voices of the Zambians all raised together in praise to God was beautiful. One last thing I will share about the service was a time of corporate prayer. This was very different from anything i've experienced in the States but it was special time. The choir began a song and as they sang people would break out into prayer to God lifting their voices aloud to Him. Soon all the Zambians, inclucing the children, in the church were praying aloud to God, shouting their cries out to Him. It was amazing to hear them cryign to God and know that He heard everyone of them. The time of prayer was closed with a song. After church we came back to the guest house and when the other two groups returned we ate lunch together. We had a little free time in the afternoon and then some training sessions with our professors and some of the staff here.

Monday I woke up still tired but excited for the day. Monday was the day we were able to go into the town of Choma and see the stores and market place. one thing they have tried to stress to us here is that the Zambians are not focused so much on when seomthing will happen but that the event will happen sometime that day. So i learned this on Monday morning. We were supposed to leave in 3 groups to go into town at 9, but 9 soon turned to 10 and then 10:30. I decided at 9:20 that i would just get my history reading and work on that so that i would accomplish something instead of just sitting and waiting, which helped a lot. We finally did get into town and my group walked around with Beth Waters, an american missionary who works with World Hope here. She has been here in Zambia for 2 years so she was able to tell us all the good places to go and where we could find things in the town. It was a different experience going through the town for sure. It was very crowded, people just everywhere. But they were all very friendly. Beth just encouraged us to smile and say hello if someone was looking at us and the minute we did we got a big smile in return. The people here are just beautiful and were so friendly. They take time to greet each other and ask how each other is before just asking whatever they need to ask. The greeting is very important to Zambians. They don't want to just discuss things if they haven't greeted you properly. In the town we got our money exchanged and then i bought two designs of fabric. The one i had made into a chitenge, a traditional multi-purpose peice of cloth that is worn and used by Zambian women. The other material I payed a woman to make me two purses/bags from. The rest of the day Monday we had some more sessions and a little free time.

Tuesday was a day filled with session after session it seemed like. We did start classes finally, but didn't do much besides talk about what will be expected and what projects and papers we will have for each class. We also had another session with Debbie, a worker with WHI in the US, where she helped us to think about all the changes we are and will be experiencing during our time here. Tuesday night i did not sleep well at all. I had a horrible headache. i was able to get a few hours so that was good.

So that brings me to today, Wednesday. This morning we had breakfast at 8. I had some pancakes and a hard-boiled egg. At 8:30 our team joined the World Hope Zambia staff for their weekly devotions. We had time to sing and pray together, as well as hear a devotion from one of the staff members. At 9:30 the devotion time ended and we had a half hour to relax before another training session with Debbie. That lasted til 12:15, and we had another small chunk of time to relax before lunch at 1. I took a short nap before lunch. For lunch we had rice, chicken, and peas and carrots. It was really good. All of the food here has been really good. I will try to get more pictures of some of our meals so you can all see how well they are feeding us here! It really is great. So now i think you're all caught up. I'm going to lay down for a nap after this. And then we will have class at 3:30, dinner at 6 and a time to talk as a group at 7.

Some prayer requests for me right now would be:

1. Comfort from God as I am really really missing Kirk and my family.

2. Strength and energy to get through this week!

3. This is a big one right now...I have had a headace on and off since i left the States, but last night it was really bad, so bad that i couldn't sleep because of the intensity of the pain. I lay in bed, after getting some medicine and talking with one of our leaders, just praying and asking God to help it to subside. I finally did fall asleep for a few hours. When i woke up it wasn't there, but i can feel the pain kind of on the edge of my mind right now as I type. Please just pray that God would give me the rest that I need and that He would take this headache away or give me the grace to handle it.

Zambian Sunset on Sunday night!

More Travel

After leaving Indy airport, the team and I traveled to Atlanta, GA. That flight lasted around an hour and a half and was pretty nice. I had a window seat and was able to look out at the scenery easily during the ride. The clouds were amazing during that flight, very fluffy and bright. I did not have my camera easily accessible, and therefore, did not get a picture of them. When we got to Atlanta, we had a couple hours to kill before our next flight so we used our time to get some dinner and relax before the next looong part of our journey! Our next flight would be about 15 hours long!!!

And it was long. My strategy for this flight was to try to stay awake as much as possible with the idea being that when we got to Johannesburg, South Africa, I would be exhausted and able to sleep through the night even with the 6 hour time difference. I kept myself occupied watching four of a host of free movies, listening to some good Country music and watching an episode of “What Not to Wear”. The movies were decent and they helped pass a couple hours at a time. It was a little disheartening though after watching my first movie when I looked at the time we had left and it was still 13 hours. So they passed some time but not as much as you would think. They had all three Lord of the Rings movies and those are long so maybe those will be some good ones for on the way home if they still have them available. Their movie selection overall was pretty good and they had several episodes from different TV shows that you could watch too. There were also games and a ton of CDs you could pick from to listen to from all sorts of genres. I did sleep a little on the plane but it was very difficult to get comfortable with three of us in a row and not much space. The first class seats had seats that laid out flat like a bed. I considered sneaking up there to see if there were any available quite a few times!

At last we all arrived in South Africa. When we got off the plane we went out and got a on a shuttle to take us to our hotel. We stayed at the Town Lodge. It was a very nice hotel, and we all got to take nice hot showers, after a long long day of travel!!! :) The rooms had two beds each so we were all split up into pairs. Despite my plan to stay up during the long flight so I would be exhausted and sleep well at the hotel, I did not sleep very well at all. My roommate and I both woke up at 3:15 South Africa time and were wide awake. I had a stuffy nose that was bothering me and keeping me awake. But around 4:00 we both fell asleep and got a good hour and a half of sleep before we had to get up and head back to the airport. For breakfast in Jo-burg we had bacon, eggs and french toast, as well as, fresh fruit, yogurt and muffins. It was wonderful! Then after breakfast we headed to the airport.

We got checked in at the airport and then had a little time to look around at some shops that were in the airport. Then we had a short hour and a half flight to Livingstone. We left at about 11:00 and landed in Zambia at 12:30. The line for customs took a while as there was only one line and many people on our plane. We made it through customs just fine though. Only two people from our group of 18 had their bags searched. Once we made it through customs, Maureen, a Zambian women who works with World Hope International and Debbie, a World Hope International staff member from the United States were there to greet us and take us to Choma. They had a bus that I think normally seats like 24 people or so but we had all of our luggage to fit in the bus as well. So we ended up having to put 5 people in seats that usually held 4. Overall, the ride wasn't too bad. There is one road from Livingstone to Choma and about half of it was paved. The part that was unpaved was just like a gravel dirt road and it was quite the bumpy ride. But we all made it. We stopped about half way to Choma in Zimba and were able to see the mission house there where we will be staying from some nights during our stay in Zambia. We saw the outside of the Zimba hospital where we will have some of our clincals. We also stopped at a small shopping center before leaving Livingstone. We got some water and had a chance to look in a few stores. The local grocery store in Zambia is called Spar, and they have just about anything you would need there. We got to our guest house in Zambia around 7:30 and then were served our first traditional Zambian meal. It consisted of chicken, ground corn meal that they cook called Nshima, green beans, a really good tomato type sauce, and salad. We also ate with our fingers which is the way Zambians eat their meals. I really enjoyed that first meal. We went to bed that night around 12:00 after having some time to check email and call family.

First Zambian meal! Mmmm good!

Day One

I have arrived in Indianapolis. Our plane is scheduled to leave at 2:45. I made it through security just fine and my bags weighed in at just over 90 lbs for both of them. Phew! After lots of weighing and repacking they made it through. Now just to get them at the other end when we arrive in South Africa. I am tired but am trying not to sleep at all until we get on our long flight from Atlanta to South Africa. It will be a 15 hour flight. The time difference will be 6 hrs ahead in Zambia. I did subscribe to Skype so that I can call any land line or mobile phone anywhere in the US. So that has been good. I have used it to call my Mom and Dad and Grandma so far and it works really well. So if you'd like me to try to call you sometime just email me your phone number at alicia.anne.cline@gmail.com. Just about 40 mins and we'll be boarding so for now I'm going to go and relax a little bit before getting on. Please check back often for new stories and updates as this incredible journey continues. I will try to update as much as I can so you can all stay in touch with me. Please pray for me also that God will open my heart to the things He has for me to do and that I would be willing and flexible to do whatever He asks

Our group in the Jackson Library with the "World".