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....