We arrived at the Roan School of Midwifery in Luanshya to teach HBB to 56 second year midwife students. They were very engaged in learning and top notch students.
The TPM team made a donation of bags & masks to the school and hospital. We traveled to the Encounter Revival Ministries run by Leonard and were greeted by Pat Colman (Rotary) and were entertained with beautiful singing with sign language by the Encounter Young Adult Group. We traveled on a long dirt road filled with potholes to Kafube Community and School. There were lots of joyful, energetic kids. We provided a mini mobile clinic and had the wonderful opportunity to play with the children. We toured the small school and it was obvious the dedication of the teachers. Next we stopped at the nearby clinic and were given a tour of the new building located across the street ... to be opening soon. We donated medications and supplies to this clinic. Tomorrow we plan to leave at 4:00am to travel to Solwezi and pray for safe travels and trust God's plan for our team. Cel and Betsy
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Everyone was excited as a child on Christmas morning. Today we began the work we came these thousands of miles to share.
First stop was Copperfield Polytechnical School.A school for aspiring nursing students. We were warmly greeted by the staff and approximately 150 enthusiastic students. Melissa and Linda started by sharing the process and procedures addressing the potential breathing problems of newborns. The students soaked it all in. Then we divided the students into small groups led by Michele. Betsy. Cel, Melissa and Linda for hands on clinical skills learning. Next we went to the Central dispensing pharmacy where additional medical supplies were purchased for donations for our trip to Solwezi. Lastly, we spent the afternoon at Arthur Davison Children's Hospital. This is the only one if it's kind in Zambia. We were delighted during our tour to see significant progress i.e. increased use of isolettes and monitors and ventilators. Then we taught helping babies breathe to a group of nurses and midwives followed by small group hands on practice . Next, we provided instruction on the use of NICU supplies, ie nasal cannulas, IVs, feeding tubes, nasal aspirator and reploggle tubes provided by Michele and thanks to the generous donation of Sinai Hospital of Baltimore. To say that the supplies were appreciated would be a drastic understatement. All of us are looking forward to another productive day tomorrow. - Michele Block We have arrived safely to our first destination in Ndola Zambia.
We took 3 planes, 2 trams, many escalators, and 4 buses and are now here! All the. Bags made it unharmed and although the team was exhausted we are in great spirits ready to begin the work! Our "word of the day"( or in this case Last 2 days ) are As follows! Cel-safe Betsy-smoothly Grace- unexpected Linda -ready Michele-opportunistic Steve-beyond Melissa -faith I will assign a different team member to blog every day and hope To include pictures ! Thanks for all your support and prayers From Melissa for Team Zambia 2017 Awesome day! We left western province at 4am!! Got to see an amazing sunrise and the most magnificent clear sky full of stars! We arrived in Livingstone around 1230 and checked into the hotel! Some of us went swimming while others explored. We met back up around 4pm to catch a ride to go on Zambezi Sunset Cruise . We saw zebras, giraffes, Cape buffalo, hippos, baboons, elephants and lions with Cubs at a distance! And such an amazing sunset!!!! What a great and wonderful gift God has given us in his creation!!
Tiny people matter team taught their 4th and final HBB class in the western province. The total for here was 85 Helping Babies Breathe graduates !! For the trip the total was 111!!!! So very blessed to have had such a positive response from the provinces and for the team to have made such a significant impact!!
Our class was wrapped up with graduation, individual Photos (snaps) and the opportunity for the class to offer their feedback and words of encouragement , appreciation and gratitude. We presented the provincial officers with the HBB teaching equipment we were donating. There were 35 clinics that sent midwives and nurses to take our class within the western province. We then washed up and headed to the orphanage to help with VBS! That was both fun and exhausting!!:) Leonard gave a speedy message on the hope of the lord and how he has a plan for all people !! Even these orphaned children deep on the bush! We left there feeling recharged and then were given a tour of the hospital! Quite amazing how resourceful the nurses are! And ONE doctor to cover all the wards of the hospital!!! YIKES!! We will be leaving the western province heading for livingstone tomorrow at 4am!! Pray for safe travels!! Melissa for TPM team Started with another beautiful day in Zambia. After breakfast we headed to our 3rd HBB class at the local midwifery school. We taught 19 excited nurses, doctors and midwives. Some traveled as far as 150 kilometer to attend our class. Many were the only midwife for the entire clinic but they were also responsible for emergencies as well as in patient care and all deliveries . Sounds a bit overwhelming!!!
After the graduation ceremony and photos were taken and distributed we offered a reading eye glass clinic. It's truly amazing to be a part of helping to improve people's ability to see, read, suture and do their job with better quality because they now have improved vision. After a brief rest, water splashed on face, reapplication of deodorant , potty break and putting on a somewhat clean Tiny People Matter t shirt ....we were off to see the wizard... The wonder King of western province !!! We actually got to visit the royal museum and saw the palace behind gates. Pictures were not permitted 😪 We did boost the Zambian economy by purchasing MANY hand woven items at the gift shop. We had the unique opportunity to meet some of the young rowers of the king . When the low lands flood the King moves to his palace on the higher ground. He and his family and precious belongings are loaded into a row boat manned by 150 row men. They showed us the royal bow and special hand clapping! On our way back to our temporary home, we had the rare opportunity to see a native dancer in ceremonial garb ! Kinda freaky!!!! At first we thought we were being cursed by a witch doctor but not so!! However he charged us a few kwatcha to snap a photo! It was a packed day!!! Lotsa Love from Linda and Melissa and TPM team Zambia The team is in top gear with the training as a class of 18 is game on today. Our breakfast is served just-in- time as the hospital bus driver Fred pulls up for team to load up.
After training a graduation is graced by the principle tutor for school of midwifery . 17 in total managed to graduate and speacial donation is made to Lewanika General hospital of various hospital equipment . These donated items , I learnt , are in memory of one of TPM team member's friend's mother who died. This was so emotion as team kathie watched on. Today we had pizza for lunch but more excitement was brewing in the team as we headed out to kids alive orphange for a visit. Lord help us see these kids in your own eyes. Not all these kids are orphans , some are abadoned, abused but all tiny people really matter in His eyes. A donation of various medicaments is done for the orphange clinic and team is loading up back to the lodge. Time well spent today. All things bright and beautiful All creatures great and small. All things wise and wonderful , The Lord God made them all. We arrived at the Provincial Medical Office where we were greeted by Matron Catherine who is the head of the maternal-fetal ward for the local hospital and Dr. Andrew who is the lead physician.
The room was filled with polite uncertainty by both parties because we were one of the first American teams to be permitted into the western province to provide education. However after a few minutes the mutual hesitation was lifted by humor and recognizing that our ultimate goal was to help the tiny people of Zambia. Our first class was a group of midwifery students who were filled with nervousness, however an eagerness to learn. With some encouragement and yet again humor, their nervousness dissipated and lead to a very successful class. We ended our day by shopping in the local market where we received many curious and confused stares however we were always greeted with smiles and kindness. We bought chitangas (traditional Zambian skirts), laughed and walked throughout town. We all ended the day exhausted and eager to see what the next day held for the team. After a grueling 14 hours in the team van yesterday, we were rewarded with a day of rest and reconnection today.
We have settled in to our new accommodations at the Country Lodge in Mongu in the Western Provience of Zambia , and had a chance to connect with our new local coordinator and her community today by attending church and holding a mini-clinic for the congregation. When we arrived on the grounds of St Francis Catholic Church in central Mongu for Sunday Mass we were welcomed by a boy, Emmanuelle, who is 7 years old and in Grade 1 in school. Upon first look at Emmanuelle you can’t help but to notice his extremely misshapen head, likely caused by some type of cranionsynstosis that was not able to be fully treated ( this is a condition in which the cranial sutures are fused at birth instead of open). Since his condition was not able to be treated it has resulted also in some mild disabilities in speech and muscle control of his limbs. Despite his physical limitations and differences, Emmanuelle is a bright and happy child who was an active participant in the church community, the church service and our after church health clinic activities. He loves to sing and dance and play games. He was also very intrigued by Marcus’ camera and the two of them became fast friends. Meeting Emmanuelle was a good reminder of the important work we are doing here in Zambia and the limited available resources to provide for children who are born needing specialty care and interventions; which we can easily access and take for granted in the US. The priest and congregation gave us a warm welcome and said a blessing for our work in their community this upcoming week. Although the service had many familiar parts for the Catholics in our group there were some parts that seemed completely unique to Africa. I especially enjoyed the dancing altar boys who had moves like the Temptations, the step-dancing choir with incredible voices and it wouldn’t have been complete without the live drummers who put an African beat in every song. After the church service our team offered a mini-clinic on the church grounds where we tended to the needs of adults by offering blood pressure screening and fittings for reading glasses; and for the kids we offered ear cleaning and basic first aid. Since the kids from the Mongu Parish didn’t have the same acute needs as the kids in the rural villages we spent most of the time with them playing games and singing songs. We made it back to our hotel around 2PM (a pretty early day for us) and were able to do a bit of shopping at the local convenience store and then had the whole afternoon to relax and hang out together and learn more about each other by playing a guessing game. I learned who in our group was almost kicked out of nursing school, who has 6 brothers, who has cliff dived, who was crowned prom queen, who can’t speak Spanish, and who vomited while skydiving. Less than a week ago we were a group of complete strangers but when you choose to put your passion in to action and join an adventure like this, there is no way to stay strangers for long. I’m truly looking forward to the next week in Zambia with these amazing people! Kathi Randall – from California |
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November 2018
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