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Our day started bright and kind of early--you know, "Zambian Time"--at Choma General Hospital. We first met with the director of the hospital, and introduced ourselves. We told him about the Tiny People Matter Organization and were surprised to hear that he has been taught the Helping Babies Breathe program by someone who had previously taken the course from Tiny People Matter! How cool is that?! Educate, empowering, and encouraging people to give this gift of knowledge to others is what TPM is all about! We then got a tour of the hospital. Since we're all neonatal/pediatric professionals we, of course, were most interested in seeing the Maternity Ward, which had the antepartum, delivery area, postpartum, and even a preemie room. We were quite impressed with their set up and the equipment they had! Their buildings were fairly spread out, so we headed across the way to the pediatric ward. What perspective you get when taking a look into another country's hospital! A new perspective of all the big and little blessings we have in the States. After the tour, we hit the ground running! We were informed that all the ladies and men that were standing at the front of the hospital were here to take our Helping Babies Breathe class. So, as we always do, our team pulled together and educated 51 caregivers from around the Choma area...some even driving over two hours! Shortly through the class, we were told there were more people here wanting to take the course, but we wanted to give quality teaching and guidance. So another class in the afternoon was a must! The first class went smoothly and ended with every participant receiving their precious certificate and coveted picture with Melissa and Linda. Whew! One down, one more class to go! We all had a feast for lunch, and by a feast, I mean an apple, and we were off to do another class! Our team pulled together once more and finished strong with another HBB class for 23
more caregivers eager to learn! Overall it was a rewarding day where we accomplished everything TPM has been created to do! Educate, Empower, and Encourage! How lucky are we to be able to share our knowledge with the caregivers of Zambia through God's grace? Jen from the Team
After church we met with the pastor in his office and tried the local drink made from maize, which was interesting but I don't think any of us asked for seconds. Then in the church courtyard we ran a mobile clinic and saw some very interesting conditions, including what we thought were some benign tumors, as Melissa and Robin dressed a large ankle wound. Beckie gave out lots of reading glasses to the adults, which always generates big smiles. Some of these people have not been able to read anything for years, including the Bible. Cathy did her photography thing as the others - Marc, Jen, Cathy and Amy, took blood pressures and saw patients under the mango tree.
In the afternoon we all drove to the Macha Mission Hospital about an hour north. On the road we saw our first wild game of the trip: a monkey, several guinea fowl, and three water bucks. Getting all eleven of us into Leonard's van is always intersting. Luckily we are all still getting along very well. Thanks to Marc for squeezing into the trunk. I have wanted to see the Macha Mission Hospital for many years, since I worked with one of their doctors, Dr. Phil Thuma (whose father founded the hospital over 50 years ago), when he was in Hershey. Dr. Thuma is back in the States right now, so our tour was conducted by their medical director Dr. John Spurrier. The hospital is quite large and has an excellent relationship with the district. The success they have had with malaria and HIV is amazing, and the research they do there is impressive. We don't know yet what our day will be like tomorrow. Travel is somewhat restricted for the next few days due to the upcoming funeral on Tuesday for the late president Michael Sata, who passed away about a week ago. All for now from Andy and the TPM Zambia team. Our last day at FCE. We were able to sleep in before preparing to move on to the next adventure. We had a beautiful breakfast under the trees. The table setting itself was just lovely. Linda read to us from "Jesus Calling" about trusting God in all difficulties. Remember this as I will refer to it later. We relaxed until Leonard and Alick came to pick us up. The first challenge was fitting all of the luggage into the vehicles. Dr. Marc was up to the challenge! After moving things several times and moving seats forward to make more room it was all finally in. Next challenge: fit 13 people and their backpacks, purses, pillows, etc into 2 vehicles. Melissa says we are to be flexible! Well we managed it but not comfortably unless you managed to be lucky enough to snag a front seat. The first part of our trip was uneventful with many interesting discussions (at least in our car). We register the reading at breakfast. Kathi felt it was depressing. Becki assured her it wasn't her horoscope for the day and made her sit through another reading of it. And I the. Gave us more information regarding the US flag code than we ever wanted to know. He and Becki also managed some car aerobics to manage stiff backs and cramped legs! After only 6.5 short hours and 1 bathroom stop we made it to Lusaka. The halfway point of our journey. We stopped for some much needed stretching and nourishment. When Leonard told us we still had about 4 hours to go we tried not to moan out loud!!
Back to the car we went. We switched up seating arrangements to make things fair and I finally had the coveted front seat! It was heavenly. The talking began to dwindle the longer we drove. Did I mention there were many speed bumps? To slow you down for the many check points. We came to a check point and were told to pull over. We were in trouble as the drivers could not see out of the back windows. Leonard, of course, talked his way out of a fine. He unfortunately couldn't do the same for poor Alick. They finally come back to the cars and Leonard pulls out. Meanwhile Alick tries to start the car and all we hear is "click click click click". The battery is dead. We try to reach Lenard. He has no service. Did I happen to mention that our driver is deaf and mute? And the rest of us don't know the language? It was at that point that I told Kathi the morning reading actually just might be her horoscope! Alex had some cables - except they weren't like what we have. Just exposed wires on the end. He found someone to help jump us. He asked Andy to hold the wires to the battery with his bare hands. He was reluctant to do so.... The car was started and we were back on our way with windows down and air conditioning off due to the low battery light being on. Leonard then picked that time to call to see where we were. Really? You just realized we weren't behind you?
Although Linda and Beckie were extremely busy, I couldn't help them much. At the end of afternoon, 72 glasses were enjoying their new life on an African nose. I then went to see how Melissa, Amy, Jen and Betsy were dealing with the HBB lesson. Initially there were only three
women but after a little while it was pretty crowded in that little room. 11 certificates were given to amazing learners. They quickly got the hang of it. There was no room for me to squeeze in so I went back to see those kids. Kathi was still playing with her camera and the kids. They loved her so much. I asked Leonard, our main contact down here to help me triage all kids. We made 4 queues. One for the kidswith no complaints. one for the toothache, one for the ear pain, one for the abdominal pain and one for the other complaints. I browsed around with my otoscope to look all the ears and mouth needed to be seen and wrote the kids' name on a paper and what could be done to help them. We were finally able to reunite with the rest of the group who were waiting along the roadside trying to convince the vendors that they did not need any fruits and vegetables! We made it the rest of the way to our lodge in Choma uneventfully. Praise God! After a round of musical rooms / roommates we were able to retire to our air conditioned rooms to stretch our cramped muscles. We learned that we do need to trust our difficulties to the Lord and he will see us through! We then looked at the aching tommies and the other issues.The clinic is going to follow up with a dentist or the proper medication as needed, hopefully. Then it was time to wrap up. Leonard made the children dance and sign and laugh. We waved them good bye and came back to King's highway, where we lodge for a last night. Once more today, our path got drawn as we were experiencing it. We had no control and had to let it go. This is obviously nothing compared to those who don't even know if they are going to eat but this was a wonderful experience. Marc for the team What a full day! We began our day by joining the staff for a prayer walk thru the nations. Praying for Gods presence to be felt by all! We then traveled to a nearby town and held an HBB class under the trees in Lyuancha. After the class and enjoying lunch with the students we were off to make some "political visits." We then returned to our home base and enjoyed an authentic meal in an African village as children sang and danced by the beat of African drums. The sun was setting as the full moon was rising over the African horizon. God couldn't have been more present in nature then he was tonight!
Today was a very full and rewarding day. We began at Arthur Davison children's hospital. We taught a class Of 10 nurses and 10 doctors. They were very receptive and our time was well spent. We were given a tour of their NICU and faced with the reality that they have one nurse for 35 babies on nights ( we decide we will never complain again about a heavy patient load!) We then enjoyed a African meal with them. The team loaded up in the van and we were off to childlife touch orphanage to enjoy the children. We examined the children and were encouraged at how healthy and happy they were. It was a great day but very exhausting!
Day 4:
Team Africa. We began with breakfast outside our rooms under the trees. We then took a walking tour of the place where we are staying. The area is all self sustained and the staff are amazing. They teach the village children at the school and also teach the villager how to use their resources with out waste. We taught a class of 20 health care workers HBB. They represented about 10 surrounding rural health clinics. Dr. Marc then taught a class of 60 women from the village. Then day was exhausting but fulfilling!! Day 3..
Team Africa today was our large clinic at the village school. We did complete physicals on 213 kids as well as eye exams, malaria testing, HB testing, wound care, and urine testing and the team worked amazingly well together! God is so good! The kids were very appreciative. Tomorrow we will teach an HBB class to the health care workers from the local clinic and village.Thanks for all your prayers and support! Day 15. Up early and heading out for game drive in Botswana. It is very hot today so we are hoping that doesn't keep the animals in hiding! Hope to send some pictures! Day 16... Team got up early to soak in every last moment of Zambia. Had a wonderful breakfast and toured Victoria Falls. We will head to airport around 11 am Zambia Time to begin our long journey home. God has been good, faithful and provided much spiritual rejuvenation on this journey for all the team members. We know that the many prayers and thoughts of all of you where showered over us as we traveled and focused on God's plan in all of what we did. Day 17... Finally arrived home on US soil. Very long flight and all are looking forward to seeing family! Thanks for all the thoughts and prayers and support! Team Africa
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November 2018
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