The past week.

Greetings from Choma, Zambia, home to World Hope International Zambia (WHIZ). This week has been full of emotions, fun, and several great eye opening opportunities. Before we left for Chikankata on Tuesday we went out for lunch again. In a gas station there was the pizza parlor and chicken place which seems to be a chain restaurant around Zambia. While we were eating lunch the gas station workers were playing… blaring, Christian Worship songs. They were only listening to these but dancing with their whole being. It was such an eye opener seeing them praising God with their whole body.

In Chikankata there is a big hospital and mission which The Salvation Army runs. We were told the bus ride would be about 4-4.5 hours long. Well that was not the case. At a check point we sat for about an hour because we did not have the proper paperwork for the trailer we were towing. To get to Chikankata we had to drive down an unpaved road for about 31 kilometers (19 miles). It took probably close to 45 minutes to travel this very bumpy, rocky road. But probably after about five hours we finally arrived to Chikankata. Although the drive was not as desired it was very peaceful and beautiful to know that God creations is beautiful all over the place and in different capacities. Our room which I shared with another girl was probably about 10x14. With our entire luggage it was very small. I opened the door and started to look around until I saw about a 2 inch spider crawling around. Not cool. So Simon the Hospital Administrator who is on missions from the UK shooed the spider out of our room. After settling in our room it was time for dinner. Our meals at Chikankata were all very close to being the same. Rice, n’shima, chicken/fish/sausage, cabbage, and some kind of dessert was about what we had every meal for lunch/dinner. Breakfast it was egg, jungle oats (oatmeal), bread and sausage. Although this breakfast sounds like ours it isn’t. The first night in Chikankata I painted my finger nails. I had forgotten about where I had put the bottle so later that night I had accidently knocked it off the chair and it shattered all over the floor. We were able to get almost all of it up using nail polish remover and toilet paper.

Wednesday was our first day in the hospital. We first met the head nurse, Miss Brenda, who showed us around the hospital with all of the different wards. After this short tour we were able to break up into different groups and go and work in the different wards that we wanted to work in. I chose the maternity ward. When Miss Brenda dropped us off they said they had just sent someone to “Theatre” (OR) for a c-section. So we took off in a swift walk to the OR. We got all changed and ready for the surgery. The surgery team was just finishing draining an abdomen abscess. It was disgusting to see the drainage filling 3+ liters of liquid. After moving the patient to the gurney and cleaning him up better we were off to the other room to set it up for the c-section. The team did not do this in a swift motion even knowing the baby was in distress and the heart rate was getting slower. After about 20 minutes they finally wheeled the mother in, the “wrist band” taped on her forehead. They gave general anesthesia to the mother. Having not seen any c-sections before I was very excited for this adventure to begin! When the doctor pulled the baby boy out he healed him up by hanging onto one foot. The baby did not start crying and only had one little cough. The receiving nurse and the anesthesiologist went over to the baby warmer to work on the baby. There was several different events that happened which probably prolonged the baby from breathing including suction machine was not working. All the anesthesiologist did to try getting the baby to cry was pinch his stomach and hyper-oxygenate him. It took 8 minutes for the baby to have a first cry which was very weak. It wasn’t until we left the OR five minutes after he cried that his lungs proved his was ok. I had a chance to visit the birth mom and baby the next day and all appeared well.

Later that afternoon we toured the school of nursing there in Chikankata and had an opportunity to listen to a lecture on malnutrition. After that lecture a few of us went on a walk up a hill, there were several village kids who started to walk with us and tell us more about their village and school.

Thursday seven of us stayed back (the others went to a clinic at a village) to spend the day in the “Theatre.” At first all seven of us were going to be in the OR but they did not have enough shoes (instead of booties they had shoes designated for the OR nor theatre gear for us. So Joe and Bethany and I went to the outpatient clinic which is like their ER. Basically the nursing students ran the ER by doing all of the treatments without a nurse supervising them constantly. Joe and I were able to do several dressing changes and injections. One dressing change that will stick with me for a very long time is this little girl who was probably about a year whose fingers got ran over by a wheelbarrow. When taking off the gauze it stuck to the gauze and caused this girl so much pain. There were no telfa pads, or nonadherant gauze on top of this wound. This was very difficult for me to watch/do to this little girl because I kept thinking to myself this could be so much better in US. When we redressed her wound they did not have antibiotic cream or even soap to clean it properly. I will never forget this little girl. Another frustrating dressing change we did was on a high school girl. She had a sore just show up on her heal. When I started to clean it I noticed the skin was fairly warm in areas as well as cold in others. The whole bottom of her foot was swollen. The 3 of us thought it was more than just a wound but they nurse we had consulted did not think so. No blood glucose test, HIV test, nothing at all. It was just a fungal infection. Honestly I really hope it is just a fungal infection.

Yesterday we learned more about the program the Salvation Army provides for the HIV patients in the different villages. This was cool to learn about and get a better understanding on how they are reacting to this disease. We went out into one of the villages and met with a guy who was potentially infected. We met this 75 year old in his hut. With flies swarming around us we learned more about his story and had the opportunity to pray over him. It was great to learn more about this disease and be able to pray over the souls of these people. This guy broke down after we prayed for him. It was heart breaking seeing this man wasting away in his hut, not being able to move to be able to relieve himself. We went back to the compound for lunch. For lunch we thought we were having fish and beef. Well the fish was fish but the beef was not really beef…. It smelled like manure. It tasted like manure. It was tongue. Yes, I ate tongue without knowing what it was. Let’s just say I did not eat very much for lunch after that point. But later that day we went to the market just outside the compound and got some sugar cane. Did make the day the best day ever but did bring it up in the books after the whole tongue incident.

When we got back to the compound the power was out, like the night before. So once again we ate supper by candle light. It was quite an adventure eating unknown food like this. (Not quite like before however J)

This morning we left Chikankata and arrived in Choma. Time to people here in Zambia is totally different than in America. Our buses are usually always late and today they said or bus ride would be 2-2.5 hours. It was closer to 4.5 hours with about a half hour bathroom break. But we are finally here in Choma at WHIZ. We will be here at least 3 weeks, if not longer. This week is filled with class room time since we haven’t had much time for that.

This morning we went to church. Instead of an 1.5 hour service in the US it was a four hour service. Not my ideal morning but the service was good.

Second day in Lusaka

Today we had the opportunity to go to church here in Lusaka. The church we went to is called Kabwata Pilgrim Wesleyan Church. We left the compound after breakfast around 8:45. On the way to church we saw quite a different part of Africa than we had yesterday. All over Zambia along the streets there are walls/fences which divide each compound or living areas. They are there to prevent petty thief from happening. On these walls and billboards you see all of the political aids for presidential election which is taking place in about two weeks. These signs are all over the place. Most of them just show the two main candidates but there are ten running all together. As we journeyed to church I saw trash lying all over the place, in ditches, in trees. It was sad to see how poorly these people take care of the beautiful land they live on. Also we saw mothers carrying babies/kids as old as probably three on their backs with a small piece of fabric about two yards long.

When we arrived at the church which seats about 300 people we participated in Bible Study. There were probably fifteen people who participated as we studied Romans 2:17-28. It was cool to hear the different thoughts of people and how they interpret scripture. After the Bible study we sang Father We Adore You. Although it was slightly different than our version it was beautiful to hear all of the parts and harmony.

For the church service we started off singing a few songs. I did not know any of them but they were very catchy. Some went like “Jesus is higher (repeated)” followed by “Satan you are lower (repeated)” another one was “Jesus is the winner(repeated)” and the second verse was “Satan you are the loser (repeated)”. For the sermon we studied Acts 9:32-41. It was totally different from our church services. The pastor got so into the sermon that he was yelling into the microphone. As we dimiss from the sanctuary you shook everyone’s hands on the way out. As the rows are let out you form a line in the court yard so everyone can shake your hand. It was awesome to meet some of the people who attended the church. After this processional the pastor invited all twenty-one of us into his tiny office for a drink of Coke/Sprite/water.

We left the church and went to search for a market to buy souvenirs. The first market we went to all of the men flocked the bus trying to sell us things. Our leader Miss Miconge did not let us off the bus. The men were drunk and she felt that it was unsafe. So we went to the Arcade where we had lunch and was able to shop at the market there. I got a purse/bag for 20000 Kwatcha which rounds out to be about four dollars. For lunch we went to another restaurant. It would probably be more like an Applebee’s type place. It was more expensive and with only given 50000 kwacha we had very few options without having to spend our own money. I had a Spud with Chicken and Mushrooms. It was good. A giant baked potato with cream of mushroom soup covering it with grilled chicken.

After shopping we came back and had a guest speaker. He is a Doctor here in Lusaka and he talked about the different research he has done to help the community. It gave an interesting aspect to the medical culture here in Zambia. On example he shared was that there is Morphine expiring on the shelves because nurses and doctors are assuming that if the patient is quiet that they are not in pain even when their faces and body language show such pain. With giving palliative care in the US we talk to our patients about death and how to handle it. But here in Zambia if you talk to a patient about dying they assume you are a witch. The only way around it is to not talk about it and ignore it.

After that meeting we had supper. We have been eating late at night lately like around 8:00pm. Tonight for supper again we had potatoes, rice, N’shima, chicken, beef, and for dessert…. Ice Cream with something I would compare to as Vanilla Wafers. It was delicious!!

Tomorrow Judy and Bethany are going to try and get a nursing license here in Zambia so we can work in more hospital instead of just the mission hospitals. If you could be praying that they are able to obtain these tomorrow that would be great. Also tomorrow we will be going to the monuments and old presidents’ house here in Lusaka. We will not be able to take pictures because of them being government buildings. Tuesday afternoon we leave for Chikankata. There we will being our clinical time.

Other prayer requests: sickness is starting to set in. Just a few head colds but these are not fun yet and safe travel as we move to Chikankata. Thanks! Hope you all have a great day!!!

Hello from Lusaka Zambia!!!

Last night (Friday) we arrived here in Zambia around 10:30pm ( 4:30 at home). Our travel time had a few dilemmas along the way. While driving to Indy we hit some traffic leaving us with about an hour and a half to check in and go through security. While checking in we had a hard time with the weight of the bags. Several of us struggled. But the United worker who was checking us in did not charge us for the overage or the extra bags in which a few of us brought!!! Already Thursday morning we saw God at work!! After our flight from Indy to Washington DC (Dulles) we had about a four-five hour layover. After we got lunch at Chipotle we walked around for a while preparing for our seventeen hour flight to Zambia. While walking around the airport we stumbled upon an interactive “shape maker”. After struggling with figuring out how to do it we were finally able to complete two puzzles.

With walking back to our terminal we stopped at a booth to pick up a little dessert… Ben and Jerry’s! Also during this layover we had to cut our carryon luggage down to one bag for more room on the plane. This took some strategic packing (thanks dad for teaching me well!) Our flight was supposed to depart at 5:40 but we waited on the plane for close to an hour waiting. This caused panic for us because we only had an hour and a half layover in Johannesburg, South Africa but God had a different plan once again. They held the plane for us in Joberg so we could make it to Lusaka last night still. The long flight was not as bad as I had imagined. Yes most of our feet swelled and are still swollen but there were plenty of opportunities to walk around and stretch. We did land in Dekar, Senegal for about an hour which we did not know about but we were not allowed off the plane. For our total time of about twenty-one hours with spending time on the airplane I probably slept about six-seven of those hours despite taking melatonin. This was the only part that was bad but it did help with the jet lag. When we did land in Joberg we had to practically run through the airport through customs, and immigration. But we did make our flight!!

Last night (Friday) we arrived here in Zambia around 10:30pm ( 4:30 at home). Our travel time had a few dilemmas along the way. While driving to Indy we hit some traffic leaving us with about an hour and a half to check in and go through security. While checking in we had a hard time with the weight of the bags. Several of us struggled. But the United worker who was checking us in did not charge us for the overage or the extra bags in which a few of us brought!!! Already Thursday morning we saw God at work!! After our flight from Indy to Washington DC (Dulles) we had about a four-five hour layover. After we got lunch at Chipotle we walked around for a while preparing for our seventeen hour flight to Zambia. While walking around the airport we stumbled upon an interactive “shape maker”. After struggling with figuring out how to do it we were finally able to complete two puzzles.

Last night (Friday) we arrived here in Zambia around 10:30pm ( 4:30 at home). Our travel time had a few dilemmas along the way. While driving to Indy we hit some traffic leaving us with about an hour and a half to check in and go through security. While checking in we had a hard time with the weight of the bags. Several of us struggled. But the United worker who was checking us in did not charge us for the overage or the extra bags in which a few of us brought!!! Already Thursday morning we saw God at work!! After our flight from Indy to Washington DC (Dulles) we had about a four-five hour layover. After we got lunch at Chipotle we walked around for a while preparing for our seventeen hour flight to Zambia. While walking around the airport we stumbled upon an interactive “shape maker”. After struggling with figuring out how to do it we were finally able to complete two puzzles.

With walking back to our terminal we stopped at a booth to pick up a little dessert… Ben and Jerry’s! Also during this layover we had to cut our carry on luggage down to one bag for more room on the plane. This took some strategic packing (thanks dad for teaching me well!) Our flight was supposed to depart at 5:40 but we waited on the plane for close to an hour waiting. This caused panic for us because we only had an hour and a half layover in Johannesburg, South Africa but God had a different plan once again. They held the plane for us in Joberg so we could make it to Lusaka last night still. The long flight was not as bad as I had imagined. Yes most of our feet swelled and are still swollen but there were plenty of opportunities to walk around and stretch. We did land in Dekar, Senegal for about an hour which we did not know about but we were not allowed off the plane. For our total time of about twenty-one hours with spending time on the airplane I probably slept about six-seven of those hours despite taking melatonin. This was the only part that was bad but it did help with the jet lag. When we did land in Joberg we had to practically run through the airport through customs, and immigration. But we did make our flight!!

So we arrived here in Lusaka around 10:30pm after figuring out who did not have their luggage (about 6 bags were lost and with the turn around it we were all surprised that we had so much luggage here) we went to our compound. There they had supper waiting for us which included rice, beef, chicken, N’shima and greens which they call rape.

Today (Saturday) we woke up and had breakfast. We had about an hour to walk around the compound and see everything. It is so pretty here and amazing! It is almost like we have not left the US with all the same foods and all. But there are differences like driving on the other side of the road, Kwacha (sp?) instead of dollars, and other differences. After breakfast which was also like American food we went and exchanged our dollars to Kwacha. One dollar is equal to 4860 kwacha. For lunch we went out to lunch at Mandahill Mall. There we ate at Mugg and Bean which is like a Panera/Starbucks/sit down restaurant. I played it safe… err Dutch and went with something I knew I would like. I got the smoked chicken wrap which had a cream cheese paste, avo, cucumbers, and a red pepper type sauce. And yes Trisha, they do have ketchup here!!

For the five us our total came to 220000 kwacha which seeing that number seemed unreal for us. But that figures to about 45 dollars. After lunch we walked around the mall for a bit which was very similar to an American mall. We came back to the compound while others went back to the airport for their luggage. I took a nice nap during that time.

We had a guest speaker come in tonight and talk about African Art and Literature. It was interesting to listen to him. For supper we had another very similar American dinner. Spaghetti, potatoes, rice, and fish. After supper we learned more of the language and greetings. So far it feels like we are not in Africa but in a few days we will be moving to a new location which is more rural/village.

Tomorrow we go to church. Then I think we may have a guest speaker planed as well as free time on the compound and shopping around.

Love you all and thanks for all the support!

Sarahlyn

Simplicity

Have you ever tried packing your life up for three months into a bag which can't be more than 50 pounds, along with a carry on and a back pack?? Its really hard. Things come to mind like what am I going to want to bring, what can I bring to help the people I am serving, do I have all of the essentials to last me, what in the world am I missing and the most important question what do I NEED. Main goal now after a couple tries at packing: Bring what you absolutely cannot live without. It is very tough to get all of the things you want into weight restricted small suitcase.

Simplicity.

I feel as though this trip to Zambia is going to focus on simplicity. Do we really need all of the extra fluff in our lives to make them great? With going into a new culture do I really need makeup, the nicest clothes, gum, and so on. Already in the past hour while packing God has reminded me that simplicity is the key and I do not need it all.

Tomorrow at 10:02am I along with about twenty other nursing students and professors will be hitting the runway for the trip of a life time. From then until Thanksgiving we will be in Zambia not only taking classes but most importantly being the hands and feet of God. Pray with and for us for safety, and most importantly for the lives we will be impacting. I will try and update as much as I can but I feel the new theme of simplicity it will not be my main focus.