Lusaka! :)

For the next few days we toured the capital city of Lusaka! I never thought I would say this...but it was kind of nice to get stuck in traffic and to see stop lights! We toured a few of the government building while we were there and we took a driving tour of the buildings which we were not allowed to enter. Marianna and I got one of the biggest rooms at the hotel and all of the rooms had air conditioning and a bath tub! :) We had everyone over to our room for a movie night the first night, which was a lot of fun!
We worked at a Hospital for a few hours, weighing the infants and charting their growth, as well as giving them any vaccines that they needed. We also worked with the pediatric patients, which was really neat. Later that evening we visited Mother Theresa's Hospice, which was one of the greatest opportunities which we have had so far. The male and female wards each sang us songs as we arrived and formed a greeting line, so that we could shake all of their hands. The sisters did such an awesome job of loving their clients and giving them hope even if they knew that their life on this earth was not going to last much longer. I can not describe the feelings that came over me as we entered the Hospice. The feelings are indescribable....you would have to have witnessed the Hospice in order to be able to fully understand what I mean.
On Sunday we drove back to Choma and prepared to wake up early the next morning for a village visit. It was nice having a day off in Lusaka just to hang out and enjoy being in Africa!

Zimba....***The best day so far!***

On Monday and Tuesday of the following week a group of 8 of us went back to the hospital in Zimba. Rachel, Lisa and I began our day in the pharmacy sorting and counting pain medications into small plastic bags. After we were finished with the pharmacy Rachel and I left and shadowed one of the doctor's in the ART clinic. We learned a lot about the different kinds of medications used for HIV and the combinations of medications used when the patient has an opportunisitc infection along with HIV. We took a lunch break and then helped the techs in the lab with finishing many urine analysis, Hgb, Hct, blood type, and creatinine tests. I also had two more opportunities to draw blood, which went really well! :)
On Tuesday Rachel, Marianna, Alicia and I went to the OR all day! There were 2 hernia repairs, 1 ovarian cyst removal and a few cosmetic surgeries and dressing changes. There was a surgical team from a church in Memphis, TN there for 2 weeks and they let us do everything! It was such an amazing day! :) On the first surgery they said that one of us could scrub in as the surgical nurse!!! I volunteered and I was able to scrub in for the time ever! :) I aided the surgeon with a hernia repair and helped him sew up the incision. I got to stick my hand near right iliac crest of the pelvic bone and feel for a pulse! :) It was so neat!
During the ovarian cyst removal Alicia was able to scrub in. The cyst was the largest cyst that I have ever seen. The cyst itself was wider than I was and I had to 'catch' it from the surgeon as he cut it out. It weighed nearly the same as a large turkey. It was hard to believe that a person could carry around that much weight for such a long time. Since there were no diagnostic services provided to test whether the tumor was benign or metastatic, the surgeon let the four of us dissect the tumor. It was one of the most exciting days of my life!
God really spoke to me through all of the experiences in the OT and confirmed my calling as a nurse! He also confirmed and spoke to me about some other dreams that He had given me earlier in life. God is such a wonderful God! I am amazed by His power and His faithfulness everyday. Even though I am still awaiting God's plans and still continuing to grow spiritually in Him I am so very thankful for the direction and the love that He has shown me already in life! I hope and pray that you ask God to reveal His direction and purpose for your life, because He has something better than you could possibly imagine waiting for you! All you have to do is give Him the chance to intervene! Thank you for your thoughts and prayers!

God Bless!

Chabbobboma

On Friday the 30'th we were able to visit the Chabbobboma Banana Trust Plantation with World Hope. Our driver astonished me with how he knew exactly where to go...when there were no signs, no marked roadways and no significant land marks. We always drive so far out into the bush and he always knows where we are going! It is amazing!
We arrived at Chabbobboma and were greeted by a group of about 30 plantation workers who sang us songs of thanks, because we came to visit them. The Zambian culture is extremely hospitable in every area of life! They make you feel like family even if you have never met before. After the song, we took a tour of the Plantation and walked along the bank of Lake Kariba, which is the main water source for the Bananas. Our guide showed us the elaborate irrigation system which he had helped to build. The irrigation pumps were powered by solar panels which were an excellent source of power since there is so much sun. It had to be nearly 120 degrees that day! That is the hottest weather we have experienced since we have been here!
After the tour, we went down to a harbor by Lake Kariba and took pictures and enjoyed the scenery until lunch was ready. We ate lunch with the village workers. The women made nshima and chicken. After lunch we drove back, because the drive took a significant amount of time. The roads were crazy on the way home! The four of us, who sat in the back of the land rover, caught air a minimum of 15-20 times on the way back. But the ride was a lot of fun....we tried to make it a game and see who could keep from touching the car the longest with their hands. It was a full day and such a blessing from God to have had a day to spend with the plantation workers.

Mochipapa, weddings and kitchen parties....

In the next few days following Independence Day, we went back to Dr. Jain's to shadow him and his wife! He told us a couple more incredible stories where he had saved patient's lives from infection caused by traumatic events, without having to amputate any limbs. It was incredible....he is an amazing doctor! We also visited the Hospice, however there were only 2 patients present on that particular day, so we read to the primary school children in the day care next door. After reading for about 45 minutes the kid's attention span was quickly decreasing.....so we decided to take them outside and play Land Rover, which is one of their favorite games! Our American version is Red Rover, but the children here say Land Rover. We thought it was so funny! The children are taught to speak very proper English, so instead of saying Red Rover, Red Rover, send Charles on over....they said Land Rover, Land Rover, We want Charles to pass over here. It was too cute!
The following day we had a meeting with some of the women staff and talked about marriages, weddings, and kitchen parties. A kitchen party is a party which can last anywhere from a couple weeks to 3 months and it prepares the men and women for marriage. It was extremely interesting! There are many cultural differences in preparing for marriage and it was really neat to be able to see how much preparation is involved in entering a marriage here. The family is extremely involved and there is a tremendous variety in cultural practices between many marriage partners as well.
On Thursday of this week we left for a Trust, through World Hope, and taught the villagers about nutrition and health promotion for their children. There were many different spiritual beliefs associated with health care practices, which made the teaching a little bit difficult. Many of the practices were related to newborns and the manifestations caused by a lack of adequate nutrition. Diarrhea was also considered a complex problem with children, because if a child got diarrhea there were many assumptions made about the parents and their commitments to each other. We had to clarify that diarrhea comes from bacterial and viral pathogens and that the child's diarrhea had nothing to do with the parent's marriage. It was a wonderful opportunity to use our knowledge as nurses to prepare the villagers to practice preventative health care measures.

Zambian Independence Day! :)

The 24'th was Zambian Independence Day! Our director of the guest house, where we are staying, is also the president of the Rotary Club down the street. The Rotary Club held a fashion show in order to raise money for school uniforms for the entire school of the child who won the pageant. We went to the pageant and were surprised! Almost all of the music was American music. It was a lot of fun and the pageant raised a lot of money for the school systems and road repairs in Choma.

The following day, we left early for a park near downtown Choma. The District Commissioner gave a commencement speech and the festivities began. A group of children from each school in the community performed either a skit, poem, or a dance for the crowd. The DC made a closing speech and the crowd left. It was extremely hot that day! A few of us got a little sun though, which was nice! :)

We came back to the compound and Mrs. B, the cook, made us a feast for Independence Day! We ate lunch and finished writing papers and tried to catch up on some sleep!

Chikali...

It has taken me quite a while to update the blog since we just returned from Lusaka, where there was no internet! But, hopefully by tonight, it will be updated all the way up until the present date! :)

A couple weeks ago we drove two hours away and visited a mission hospital in Chikali, Zambia. The Hospital appeared out of nowhere....after driving along a bumpy, dirt road for approximately 1 hour, small houses and huts began to appear. The Hospital was directly around the corner from the small houses. The hospital in Chikali was one of the nicest hospitals that I have seen so far in Zambia. We all took a quick tour and then left the hospital to meet a traditional healer in a nearby village. We took a small bus to the village and the roads became extremely narrow. The road was tremendously bumpy and the trees screeched as their branches scraped alongside the windows of our bus. It was a lot of fun to witness the bus driver's ability to maneuver through the narrow and winding path!

We talked for about an hour with the traditional healer and learned about all of the types of healers and the physical treatment that they provide for the villagers. The traditional healer let us take turns and ask him questions, so I asked him how many traditional healers live in Zambia. He said that there are nearly 465 traditional healers within the southern province only! That number was extremely hard to comprehend, especially because there is such a shortage of orthodox doctors in the southern province. The traditional healer shared some of his experiences with us and then showed us his hut, which was full of various herbs and medicines. Since there was a long drive home, we left immediately after our question and answer session and boarded the bus to drive back to the compound.

Dentistry anyone? :)

Rachel and I were paired again at Zimba Hospital this past week. We met the dentist, who also serves as the hospital chaplain, on Tuesday. We met him early in the morning and helped him open up the dental office to prepare for his clients. He was such a neat man! We talked about how he got started doing dentistry. He studied for 6 months in India and begin his practice as a dentist after God told him that he needed to put physical actions behind his teaching. He preaches to all of the clients in the hospital about staying healthy spiritually and he considers it his calling to be able to help his clients with their physical problems as well. He does not get paid for any of the dentistry work, he only gets paid for being a chaplain. He was an incredible man!
We got to help him prepare the anesthesia for teeth extractions and assist him in extracting three client's teeth. We also helped him with taking out an old filling and putting a temporary filling back in to a client's tooth. It was such a fun day!!! :)
After the dentistry we went to the pharmacy and helped cut pain killers and distribute them into appropriate dosages in small plastic bags, so that the clients could just pick them up upon discharge. I have loved this time of getting to know my classmates! Rachel and I have been paired together a lot in the last few weeks! She is such a wonderful woman! I am so glad to have gotten to know her better! God has truly been faithful to our team through many prayers! He has provided so many opportunities for us and it has truly been a blessing to be here! Although, I know I will love seeing my family back home and my new niece!!!! :) .....it is going to be harder than I thought to leave here. I know that God will be faithful through the transition back home as well.....Thank you God for your many, many blessings and your love and faithfulness for this group of girls!

Blessings....

traditional Zambian food.... :)

For two days now we have had a "meal from the bush." The meals consisted of nshima--the staple food of Zambia, a root of some kind--which tasted like potatoes, ground pumpkin leaves and ground nuts--which I thought was really good! :) And fish....but actual fish, with the bones, the scales, and the heads. All traditional Zambian meals are eaten with your hands, because they do not use utensils. It was really fun to try the Zambian foods! :)

St. Mulumba....

Yesterday we visited a Zambian school for the hearing impaired, the visually impaired and the intellectually impaired. And...oh my goodness... it was awesome! This school was the nicest school that I have seen so far! We arrived right before the tea break...so we got to see many of the classrooms while they were having class. The teachers have a very hard job, but most of the students were very attentive. The deaf class was learning how to play volleyball--i guess this was their gym class. It was interesting to watch the teacher interact with the students. He would show them what to do and then point to each child individually, like the ball was coming at them, and they would demonstrate what technique they would use to hit the ball back over.

The students in the visually impaired classroom were taking a math test. They would feel the math problems in brail on a piece of paper and then they would take a board with small square pegs and align the pegs in such a way to make the appropriate answer to the problem. The teacher would then check the answer and the student would move to the next problem.

The teachers in the intellecutally impaired classroom had a very, very challenging job. All of the students were on different levels of intellectual progress, so whenever the students would show an adequate improvement they would move up to the next level. The students in this classroom all came up and gave us hugs and shook our hands as we walked into the room.

The school also teaches the students agricultural traits, as well as, gives them musical and artistic opportunities to compete with other children across the world. The school was very proud of their three silver medals, which they won in the Special Olympics when they came to the U.S. a few years back. We spoke with the head of the school and he gave us a tour and introduced us to all of the teachers. Many of the teachers had visual and hearing impairments themselves. And one of the students, who recently graduated from the intellectually impaired classes, is using his traits and skills that he has learned to help his fellow students with their intellectual struggles in learning.

The Japanese are big supporters for the school's financial program, so today a Japanese group is visiting the school to put on a dance for the students. The head of the school invited us back to watch the dance, as well as, watch the Zambian children perform a traditional Zambian dance! I'm so excited to see them and I can't wait to show you pictures! Until later....

Blessings.... :)

Hopefully there will be more pictures posted....many times it takes way too long to display pictures on the blog, therefore I am not able to post many pictures to view. I will try to post more pictures this week!

Chikankata....

This past week, our entire group went and stayed for two nights at Chikankata, the second largest subsaharan AIDs research hospital. It was so neat!!!! :) We had such a wonderful time! As we took a tour of the hospital we got to see their labor ward, maternity ward, ICU (which was more like a med-surg floor), female/male medical and surgical wards, TB ward, the OT (operating theatre), OPD (out patient department) and the nursing school/midwifery school, which was located directly to the right of the hospital. Seeing a nursing school in Zambia was really interesting! Some of the people in our group sat in on the lessons with the Zambian nursing students. The students were talking about mental health and psychosocial care.

The wards were decently busy and there was so much to learn! The hospital had health promotion/disease prevention posters set up on almost every inch of every wall. The nurses and doctors were so friendly and very helpful when we asked questions! Rachel and I were paired up again and we started the day off in the OPD. The OPD was more like doctor's office/emergency department. It was extremely busy and we had to admit about 6 patients within about 25 minutes! We noticed that most of the admitting diagnoses were severe malaria, upper respiratory infections, PUD/GI problems and skin disorders. After a few hours in the OPD we left and went to a family planning session with some midwifery students. They asked us about our forms of family planning in the U.S. and then they told us about their family planning options that they have available.

We hung out and played Skipbo (which I had never played before, but it is lots of fun!) that night in the common room. I put my purse on my bed that night and a spider crawled out of it, which made me a little nervous to go to bed! But, we all ended up getting a really good nights sleep and woke up early the next morning to go back to the hospital! The following day I paired up with Alicia and Rachel and went to the ICU. The ICU did not have any equipment such as equipment to intubate, ventilators, etc. The ICU was more of a med-surg unit for patients with more severe complications. The patients needing respiratory support were sent to the University Hospital in Lusaka. Around 10:00 AM everyone in the hospital takes a tea break, which is kind of funny, since it is really, really hot outside! But it's fun to take some time and talk to eachother, while reprogramming your mind before heading back to the ward. That day we did not take a break, because we only stayed for half the day. Instead, Kara and I left to go to the Pediatric ward for the rest of the afternoon.

At the peds ward we took lots of vitals signs and we assisted the nurse with passing medications. When the nurses give medications here they usually measure out the doses and hand them to the family members at the bedside. The family members are, therefore, responsible for making sure that their children receive their medications. We saw many malnourished children, but it was really wonderful to get to hold them and make them smile! Quite a few of them were also HIV positive. We got the chance to sit in on a counseling session with one of the families. The boy, receiving the counseling, was dropped off at the hospital by his father and left for 2 months. The mother had passed away from AIDs. Fortunately, the mother's older sister was able to find transportation to the hospital and volunteered to take care of the boy for the rest of his life. She was quite a bit older, however, she still had the kindness in her heart to take care of her sister's child.

We experienced a couple deaths, one of which I felt rather close to. There was a small infant in the NICU, who died the night after we visited her. I was so thankful that God allowed us to talk to her and make her smile that night before she met Jesus. God gave us the opportunity to give that precious baby hope in life and even hope in death. Thank you God for the experiences and opportunities, which you have given us to share hope and love with the world. Until next time.....God bless....

Zimba....

On Monday of last week we had the opportunity to visit Zimba Mission Hospital and stay the night. Rachel and I partnered up and started taking vitals and preparing the ART (Anti-retroviral therapy--AIDs treatment) patients for their doctor's appointments. There had to be nearly 40 people who passed through the ART clinic for the 2 hours while we were there. It was very chaotic, but a wonderful opportunity to get to know some of the patients. I talked to one man, who was a farmer with five children. He said that he was not sure how he was going to get his 4 youngest children through school, because no one is buying his crops. He said that he was bankrupt and could not find a way out. I talked to him about his extended family and he said that none of them were nearby and that his father and mother had died with AIDs. He has been staying on schedule with taking his ART medication, therefore his health is pretty good at the moment.
After the ART clinic Rachel and I moved to the lab. Dr. J taught me how to draw blood for the first time! It was exciting! It was not as hard to draw blood as I thought it would be. IVs, however, might take some more practice! I tried a couple IVs the next morning and had some trouble, but I am very anxious to try again! The next morning Rachel and I were paired together again and were placed in the med-surg. men's and women's units and the TB unit. We had a couple blood draws and a couple IV sticks. There were quite a few patients in all 3 wards and there was only 1 nurse for these 3 units. There were many AIDs and malaria cases and a few musculoskeletal problems on the men/women's units. Later that evening Rachel and I got to scrub in for surgery in the theatre (the OR). Rachel scrubbed in to be the surgical nurse! How cool is that? It was a wonderful experience, especially because I love the OR! We watched 2 hernia repairs and then saw a severe burn patient, who had fallen into fire in the village. I have seen many surgeries at home and it was extremely interesting to see the difference in how the OR's are run. I can not wait to go back to the OR when I get the chance! We have had some wonderful opportunities this past week and I am looking forward to what is coming over the next month and a half!
Blessings,
~Alivia

Beautiful Baby Girl!!!! :)

This is the newest addition to the family!!! My niece.....Mckenna! She was born this past Sunday and isn't she beautiful? What a sweet heart! Thank you God for this wonderful blessing which You have given our family!!! I can not wait to see her upon arrival back in the U.S. for Thanksgiving! :) I love you Mckenna and will see you soon!!! :)..... Julia is doing well after the delivery! :) Praise God... And Brandon is loving every minute of it! :)

Hospitals, healthcare and hospice...

On Monday the other half of the girls visited the Hospital in Zimba. Two of the girls got to deliver a baby! :) A couple of the girls started IVs and drew lots of blood work. Everyone got some good clinical experience! There were no surgeries due to a lack of an anesthesiologist, however he is supposed to be back next week. Two more girls got to travel to a beef farm and perform well baby check-ups, immunizations and blood work. Our group gets to visit the Hospital next week, which is really exciting! There were many, many cases of HIV/AIDS and a few people died overnight and there was a still birth, which was very hard for some of the girls to see.
Today we traveled to a Hospital near our compound. (About 70-80% of the patients at this hospital were dying of AIDS.) We took a tour of the wards, which we spread out among quite a bit of land. All of the wards were seperate from eachother and you had to step outside and walk to the next ward. I was really surprised by what I saw in the wards. The beds were extremely rusted and the mattresses were extremely thin. Each of the babies had a bassinet and very little sheets. The patients, who arrived first, were able to get bedding. However, if there were not enough sheets to go around then the patients had to wait on bare mattresses until sheets were given to them, following a discharge. The OR is called a Theatre and one of the nurses said that it is usually very, very busy. I am so excited to get to see a surgery! The nurse to patient ratio ranges anywhere from 1:5 to 1:50. One of the nurses talked to us about how she became a nurse in Zambia and we asked her if the nurse to patient ratio makes her job hard. In response she simply stated, "It is a little bit difficult." She never said that her job was hard, or frustrating. She just said, "a little bit difficult." I get nervous sometimes having 10 patients at one time....50 patients I can not even imagine! The Zambian people are so kind! And most of the nurses we have met are so passionate about their jobs!
We left the hospital and took a tour of the Hospice, which was extremely nice! The hospice does not hold very many patients, most of which are AIDS patients. We only toured for about 5 minutes, but we will be going back for clinicals this next week. After leaving the hospice we stopped by a village and gave candy to the children. It was a lot of fun! Tomorrow we are planning to all leave in the morning and give immunizations all day! God is keeping us busy with lots of opportunities and I can't wait to see what we are going to be doing next! :)
until next time....God bless....

WHIZ food distribution....

On Monday we got the chance to visit Dr. Jain's office. Half of the group went to Zimba Hospital and half of us went to Dr. Jain's. Of the eight girls going to Dr. Jain's, 4 went in the morning and 4 went in the afternoon. I was one of the 4, who went in the afternoon. He is not as busy in the afternoon, however we were able to see lots of cases of Malaria. I got to watch one of the lab personnel dye slides for malaria and we got to see the parasites through the stethoscope. Most of the cases were malaria related...but there were a few that were accident related, or involving skin disorders. We had to take temperatures and blood pressures with mercury sigmomenometers and thermometers. The mercury blood pressures were extremely hard to read, because I could not see the mercury while trying to read the diastolic pressure. All of the medications, which we gave, I had never seen before, so I had to look all of them up on the internet.
On Tuesday we got to participate in a food distribution for WHIZ. The mealy meal, which was completely out in the supply store, finally came in and was given to World Hope for distribution. The 8 of us left that morning (the other 8 stayed overnight in Zimba) and began driving north towards Lusaka. After about 20 minutes of driving we were pulled over for a car safety inspection. We were supposed to pull over on the side of the road until we could pay enough for a fire extinguisher for the truck, which was hauling the food. Every time we tried to deliver the food something would happen. We prayed together in our car and we were released to begin driving again. Thank you God! :) We drove for a total of about 3 hours between different cities on the way to Lusaka. We were able to stop in about 6 villages and deliver cabbages, mealy meal and emergency kits. It was a wonderful opportunity to see how the villages function related to community health. We were able to get out of the land rover for about 20 minutes at each village and play with the children, as well as, meet and greet the mothers and fathers. It was a very humbling experience and I am so thankful that we were able to finally deliver the food! Thank you God for your faithfulness in this situation! :)
God bless...

Praise Rally in Jembo.....

On Sunday we had the opportunity to visit Jembo Bible College and Jembo Clinic! The car ride was only about 1.5 hours long and the road was paved about half of the way there. The second half of the drive was the bumpiest road that we have driven on so far! But I thought it was a lot of fun! :) We finally arrived at Jembo and the missionaries, who live there, made us lunch and took us on a tour of the Bible college. Following the lunch we headed over to the church where the praise rally was to be held. The rally served about 500 youth and praise and worship took up about 1.5-2 hours of the service. There were 3 different choirs and a various amount of independent singers! Our group sang 2 songs with some motions! It was so much fun to be able to take part in one of their worship services. An American missionary spoke for about half an hour and we concluded our time together with about 5 young men praying for Christ to come into their lives. It was such a blessing to be a part of that service! We formed a long greeting line outside the church and spent about 20 minutes shaking everyone's hands!
A young girl took me by the shoulder and asked if she could take me on a tour around the girl's dormitories. We walked through each of the 3 wings of the dorms and looked at the 25 rusted bunk beds. Each wing had 25 beds, however, in the guys dorms many of the young men had to double bunk--2 guys per mattress. The girl, who was giving me the tour, told me that she wanted to become a pharmacist and that she would love to run her own pharmacy. I told her that that would be a wonderful job and that she would be a great pharmacist! That made her really excited. It was really hard to leave, because right before we left she said, "I don't want you to leave, because I will miss you so much. We were blessed from you guys coming." They were so sweet and really excited to have some visitors for the day! We left and followed the long, bumpy road back to the compound, had a meeting and then went to bed.

Visits with Dr. Jain...

On Friday of this week we were paid a visit from Dr. Jain, who is the general surgeon who lives down the road from our compound. Half of us will be visiting him this Monday and following him during his practicing hours. The other half of us are going to Zimba Hospital and following the nurses and staff there. Dr. Jain talked with us for over 1 hour on Friday. He has been in Zambia for over 30 years and he is an expert on treating almost every possible case you could imagine! He told us that he once visited a community in the mountains about 1 hour away from Choma. It was rainy season at the time and it began to pour rain. All of the sudden there was a flash flood and the water was rising in the clinic incredibly fast. Dr. Jain looked over and saw the bassinet for one of the babies floating out the door in the water. He reached for the bassinet and swam the baby and the baby's mother over to a high land area and dropped them off. He then proceeded to swim back and forth between the high land area and the clinic, saving 7 people. After everyone was safe he looked to his left and saw a bunch of snakes swimming around him AND a crocodile! He, fortunately, was able to make it back to dry land and he was awarded one of the highest honors from the President of Zambia for courage and bravery. He is an awesome, awesome doctor and he has so many stories! We are all excited to shadow him this next week! :) His wife is also a OBGYN!!! So hopefully we will get to see some babies being born!! She did a c-section yesterday...unfortunately we were unable to go....but I believe that there will be many more opportunities to see some babies! :) Praise God for sending Dr. Jain to us and providing us with many opportunities!!!! until later....God bless!

Surprises...surprises.... :)

Today has been interesting to say the least! :) One thing that we have learned as a group in Africa is to expect the unexpected. Last week we finished all of our meetings and orientations with World Hope International Zambia and now we are finally on our own. We began classes last Tuesday and this week we have picked up a the final 2 classes: History of Zambia and Professional Transitions. Today was to be our first day in the villages! We had planned on distributing food (mainly mealy-meal, or a base to make nshima--the staple food of Zambia) to over 20 Zambian villages. However, Zambians do not go by schedules, but rather by which event is the most important. Therefore, since an emergency WHIZ meeting was planned, we had to push our distribution days back to Thursday and Friday. The remainder of the day was spent in class, so that we could prepare for Thursday and Friday of this week.
:) We did have an interesting event that happened earlier this afternoon. I was studying in one of the common rooms and Janna yelled my name, so I ran back to see why she was frantic. When we met up she said she saw something scurry behind the door and that it was big and had a long tail...so I opened the door to see what it was....and we happened to find an African muskrat. (gross!) Well....Alyssa lives on a farm and is used to dealing with these situations....so I got her a sheet and she wrapped the muskrat in a sheet and took it outside to release it. (None of us were planning on getting anywhere near that thing!) About 6 of us went outside to release the muskrat with Alyssa. As soon as the muskrat was released we all noticed something big and black moving around to the right side of us. We all turned around.....Estie screamed :).....and we saw a gigantic turkey. Estie didn't know what it was at first so she yelled, "What is going on right now?" .....And...I am not exaggerating when I say that this was one of the biggest and weirdest looking turkeys I have ever seen! Then the main cook in the guest house walked by and told us that that was Friday's dinner and he would show us how he prepares the chicken if we wanted to watch. (No thank you! :) ) Oh goodness! If we only had a video camera at the time! :)
Speaking of videos....I have some of the most beautiful videos of some of the pre-teen girls singing some worship songs for us! The missionaries who live with us, David and Beth, invited the pre-teen girls over for a bonfire where we roasted marshmallows and sang praise songs! It was too much fun! I tried to upload the pictures, however, the internet is moving way too slow to do so. When it begins to move faster I will try to send them again. The girls had never had a marshmallow before. So David roasted the marshmallows over the bonfire and the girls tried them one by one. We played a game where they could only chew the marshmallow one time and they had to say "chubby bunny." (Which you can't say with your mouth full.) They just laughed and laughed and laughed. Then we played with glow sticks, which they had also never seen before.
I switched churches and I really enjoyed the service this last Sunday. Our Pastor is one of the best preachers I have ever heard! He is extremely passionate about what he preaches! And everyone danced during praise and worship! It was a lot of fun! During the Bible study at the beginning of the service I got to answer one of the questions and one of the members of the church referred to me as his 'sister'. It is the best feeling when two different cultures can share in worshipping the same wonderful God.
Before I go.....thank you again for your thoughts and your prayers! You have no idea how much they are helping us here! :)
~Alivia

God's protection....

This last week has been wonderful. On Monday we split up into our 3 church groups and visited the market in Choma. The Choma market is only about 5 minutes down the road driving and it only is about 30 minutes away by walking. This time we drove because we needed to pick up groceries for the whole group. Beth, one of the missionaries here, gave us a tour around the closed market first. She took us into SPAR, which is about the only grocery store that has what you need almost all the time. Beth knew about half the people in the market it felt like, so I was glad to have her as our group's guide. Zambians don't stand in line at the grocery store, it's more of an organized bunch of chaos at checkout. As we entered the SPAR there were a bunch of Zambians in the front of the store waiting to pay for their groceries. Behind the counter was a metal fence which separated the groceries from the front of the store. The groceries were all stacked up on top of eachother in about a 20 ft by 20 ft space. It was really crowded, but really interesting to see the difference in grocery shopping!
After grocery shopping, we went to the open air market down the street. This one was a lot more fun, because you can actually barter the prices down. We all shopped for pieces of material to make chitenge's, (the cloth that african use for everything) however I didn't buy any yet because nothing really stood out to me. On the way out of the store we saw a boy, whom our group remembered from church. He was on the street selling fritters, which were most likely made by his mom at their home. His left side of his face was extremely large and we assumed he had an extremely abscessed tooth. Beth bought 10 fritters from him and asked him what was wrong. He just responded that he was sick and that it hurt. It was a little sad to witness, especially because he was so young.
For the last couple days we have been preparing for and having nursing classes, along with more orientation meetings. Throughout this trip many people have been praying for our safety and protection. And this morning God gave us more of His protection. One of the girls walked out of the front door of the compound to do devotions this morning and she slipped on the rug on the way out. Underneathe the rug happened to be a snake curled up in a ball. With God's protection she was able to get up and get away from the snake before it even woke up. God's protection was with her and we are so, so thankful! It was such a blessing of protection! Thank you God! I hope that you praise and thank God for his protection and his blessing on your life everyday! :) You need it more than you know!
Blessings,
Alivia

The best birthday ever! :)

Today, we visited a Zambian church by the name of Mochipapa. (Moe-chee-pa-pa) The pastor's name is Imeson, however, we can not pronounce the last name and everyone keeps forgetting it! The church was wonderful! We left the compound at 9:00 AM and came back at 12:30 PM. This church service happened to be a short one, believe it or not. The usuall duration of a church service is 3-4 hours. The first hour was a bible study, which was followed by a half hour of praise and worship. Oh my goodness!....Can they sing! :) It was one of the most beautiful sounds that I have ever heard. When they sang as a congregation it was incredible how much volume there was. After the praise and worship the church prayed outload together. Even the small children prayes aloud. It was overwhelming to know that God heard each and every prayer in that room. A woman from Germany, who was working at an orphanage in Choma, preached the message for the day. It was really neat to hear her extremely German accent.

At the end of the church service the congregation is dismissed and they leave the church to form a line outside. Pastor Imeson led the congregation out and we followed. As we went throught the line we greated every single member of the church body by shaking their hand and lowering our heads to show respect to the elderly and the men. It was wonderful to be able to greet the entire church body and see everyone's face.

Blessings,

~Alivia

These are some pictures of the long plane ride over the Atlantic and the bus that we crowded into to ride to Choma!

Finally made it....

After 3 plane rides and 1 bus ride on a bumpy road, we are finally here! Last night was spent in a hotel in Jo' Burg, SA. It was a really long plane ride to Jo' Burg, however, there were a lot of movies and distractions to keep us busy. While leaving the plane in Jo' Burg we collected a variety of stares from the airport workers. I don't think they see blonde hair that often! It was freezing in Johannesburg and it did not feel as if we were in Africa.
This morning we flew into Livingstone, Zambia. As the plane landed you could feel the heat coming in through the windows of the plane. We then fit 22 people into a tiny bus...with all of the luggage...and headed on a 3 hour bus trip to Choma, Zambia. For 1.5 hours of the trip the road was unpaved and we had to shut all the windows to keep all of the dust from entering the bus as cars passed. For the entire 3 hours, all we saw were occassional, small villages of huts where some of the Zambian tribes resided. We passed the city of Zimba, Zambia, which is where the main hospital is located. We stopped for a restroom break and we got to see the guest house, which is where we will be staying while in Choma.
We arrived at the compound at around 7 PM and ate our first Zambian-style meal. Nshima (shee-ma) is the staple food of Zambia and is eaten with every meal. It is a rice-based food and is about the same consistency as play-do. Nshima is meant to be eaten using your hands. Tonight we ate nshima, chicken, green beans and salad with out hands and then took a tour of the compound. The compound is extremely nice! So far, we have hot showers, they just have to run one at a time. And we each have a bunk bed to use for sleeping and to store our belongings. The internet runs a little slow and we have blown a few fuses trying to plug in computers, but I'm sure we will figure it out tomorrow! We are going to our first church service tomorrow which is extremely exciting! I can't wait to attend! :) We are all split into 3 groups, for 3 different churches, which we will attend the entire time that we are in Choma. (This way we are able to become a part of the church body and get to know the congregation over the next 3 months.) Well....it's time for bed since we are waking up early....May God Bless and good night!

And the adventure begins....

First and last 2 days on campus! Nerves are setting in, but the excitement of the trip is so much greater! We have had 2 full days of lectures, orientation sessions and group leadership activities to prepare our team for our journey! As of now, we are staying in Shepherd House on the side of the campus and we leave for Indianapolis tomorrow morning! We have received more information about where we will be staying and I'm not exactly depending on the internet while we are there. The internet is sometimes hard to get, but I will try my best to update the blog as much as possible. I can't describe how I feel right now....maybe a little nervous, extremely excited, unorganized, maybe a little bit fearful of the unknown....but I know that God is in control and He has some big plans! Our team is bonding well and we have heard so many encouraging stories in Zambia and of how God is working in and through the Zambian people. I can't wait to get there! We will be leaving tomorrow and arriving in Zambia on Saturday afternoon! :) Until a later date.....

Blessings,

~Alivia

Just some summer fun....

Summer proved to be a busy and wonderful time!

The first stop was Indianapolis to visit 4 of my best friends from school, while attending a wedding for one of my freshman roommates. It was fun exploring Indianapolis and spending the weekend together, especially since there was no homework or studying involved....just friend time!


I worked for a majority of the summer at The Christ Hospital as a patient care assistant. In June my brother, Drew, graduated from high school and my sister, Julia, and brother-in-law, Brandon, came to visit! We took Brandon for a tour of Cincinnati and spent a lot of time with extended family. In July our Sunday School class embarked on many adventures, one of which was canoeing down the Little Miami River. Later that month I visited my friend, Belita, in northern Ohio and we went river rafting in Mohican State Park, near Columbus, Ohio.



In August I visited Julia and Brandon in their home in Springville, CA. Julia and I went exploring in the Sequoia National Park for a day! We were amazed at how big around the redwoods were. We went off-roading in her SUV on some of the park trails, which was a lot of fun! And really messy.... :) We are awaiting the arrival of their baby, Mckenna, this October!!! It was wonderful to get to spend some time with them before the new one arrives this fall!


The second half of August was spent preparing for Zambia! Today, we move back into school and Thursday we depart for Zambia, Africa! The excitement is almost too much to hold inside! There has been so much preparation, thought and Prayer put into this trip that I can not wait to leave! I hope that you will follow my adventure to Zambia this fall and learn a little bit more about Zambian healthcare as well as see what God has in store!

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I hope that you will enjoy following this blog and discovering what God has in store....