Keri and I on the plane currently!Tuesday, November 24, 2009
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!
Keri and I on the plane currently!
Sunday, November 22, 2009
Saturday, November 21, 2009
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 :)
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 :)
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
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!
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!
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| 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!
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!
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| Week 9 Photos |
Monday, November 16, 2009
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!
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!
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| Week 8 Photos |
Sunday, November 15, 2009
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!
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!
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| Week 7 Photos |
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
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!
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!
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
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!
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 |
Monday, November 9, 2009
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.
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!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XOXvdfcct8g
Here's the story:
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!
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