WEEK 1 - crazinessss/ transitioning

Hello everyone, We have officially been in Zambia for a week!!! Its been a challenging, eye-opening, humbling, adventurous week. I am so glad to be here and the team is amazing. The first few days were spent in Lusaka, which is the capital of Zambia. We attended our first church service, visited various hospitals and NGOs (non-governmental organizations), and had time to just explore/transition. Each of the meetings that we had with the hospitals helped us see into the structure of how the hospitals are run here in Zambia. It was an eye-opening experience each day. Out of all the visits we had during our days in Lusaka one made a larger impact than any of them. The hospital was called Beit Cure Hospital, it is a Christian mission hospital. They treat mainly neuro and orthopedic pediatric patients. A few of the conditions that are most commonly treated at Cure Hospital are hydrocephalus, spina bifida, club foot, and myelfmenigenocele. As we toured we saw the colorfully painted walls, we noticed the loving and positive work environment, we saw hope through this place. At one point the nurse supervisor giving us the tour, stopped and started explaining that they did not just treat the patients physically but also spiritually. She explained that they wanted to make sure that the patient’s felt loved. That the world gets so caught up in appearances of people that they are often overlooked or seen as “not safe to touch”. She stated that they wanted to get down and love on those who the world seems to ignore or push to the side. This is the type of environment I am called to, this is the type of hospital I want to work in. I have been praying for God to show me an example of where I am called to work and I have not been so excited about a hospital than I was about this one. After many meetings in Lusaka, on Thursday the 6th we were on our way to our next destination which was Zimba!! We left after breakfast Thursday morning embarking on what was said to be a 5 hour drive, but little did we know that it would be a little bit longer. During the drive we had two hours of Leadership class on the bus. Shortly after we ended class we were making our way up a hill and the bus broke down. While our bus driver, Potifer worked on cooling the engine down we sang songs, played some games, and had our first experiences using the “restroom” in the bush :) A short 60 minutes later we continued our journey to Zimba, we stopped for lunch at a bus station on the way and had some “fast food”. It was quite the experience, when one of my teammates, ordered fish and got a whole fish including, scales and fins. Our bus continued to struggle the rest of the journey and after 9 short hours (the trip normally takes 5 hours), literally rolled into Zimba, 50 feet from where we were staying. We were all very thankful that God had protected us and allowed us to get to our destination before our bus broke down. Zimba is a small little town along a road. Its quiet, its peaceful, it allows you to reflect on alot. We had a tour of the hospital on Friday and we start clinical Monday! We are all excited but a little anxious as well. Please continue to keep our team in your prayers. Sorry this is such a rambling blog. We are all still transitioning and settling into life here in Africa. Pray for team unity, pray for protection against sickness, pray for God to work through us and for the people we come into contact will feel His love. Till next time. :)