Reflections

I am sitting on the corner of the kitchen counter because this is the only place I can get any internet. On a good day, the signal will last at least 10 minutes, so I am going to take advantage of this now! Here are some observations so far that I've made since we have arrived...

The power goes off once or twice a day here. Nobody really minds.

There are two gigantic flat spiders that live on the ceiling by the bathroom in our room...I'm okay with them as long as they stay in their same spot. If I don't see them on the wall, I'm actually more worried!

There are little lizards here that run on the outdoor paved walkways between all the hospital buildings--when we take children (often two or three at a time) on one stretcher between the children's ward and the OR, we have to be careful to not run them over. (STACIE: not sure what I'd rather--these or the bats!). On Sunday I saw one climbing on the ceiling at church!

Life here is funny. Like these billboard ads for a company called Harvey Tiles that we see everywhere:

They have these billboards all over the place: "A roof without Harveytiles is like a house without food - there might be starvation" or "A roof without Harveytiles is like a country with no infrastructure - there will be no economic improvement" or "A roof without Harveytiles is like SOS Village without community - and vice versa" . I don't really understand all their metaphors...but what I do know is if I'm building a roof, I sure want it to have Harveytiles on top! 

On the children's ward, there is no such thing as nurse-patient confidentiality. The ward has 31 official beds, but at one point last week our capacity was at 59 patients (and this does not include the patient's mother/father and sometimes also grandparent that travels with the patient from far-off towns...each family gets one bed), and all the beds are in one large connected room separated into a few sections. Everyone listens in on everyone's information and it would be very strange to suggest that someone might not want their neighbours to know about their health history. The nurses don't seem to have patient assignments or even assigned tasks on a given day, but amazingly it seems like all the nurses somehow know what they are supposed to be doing...this is a learning experience for me!

This is where the moms do their own laundry while staying on the ward with their children. The little building to the right is a tuck shop, and our guesthouse is the building cut off on the left edge of the photo. 

This is Thomas and he was the happiest kid I've ever seen taken to the OR. He had a burn scar contracture on the lower part of his leg, and he was so excited to get a "new leg". He shared a stretcher with a kid who was not as excited as he was to be going to the OR, and as we were pushing it along the long outdoor walkways to the OR he said loudly that he wanted a "FAST!" ride and was happy all the way into the theatre...(for those of you at all familiar with kids going for surgery you will know that this is not the norm!).

This is Thomas's funny face and him showing off his new leg! I found him sitting outside in this wheelchair just contentedly sitting and playing with his new splint. 

This is a view from the nurse's station looking to the neuro side of the ward (notice each bed has a mosquito net above it). This crowd gathered here to celebrate the end of last week. The white people you see are members of Surgicorps, a plastic surgical team from Pittsburgh that came to CURE to do over 70 burn scar contracture release surgeries last week (not including dressing change procedures done under sedation in the OR).

Last week was the busiest week of the year for CURE, and a chaotic week for us to start on. The nurses were all rewarded by the nurse matron with one day off this week for all their extra hard work last week. What followed this gathering at the nurses' station was an amazing song and dance display of the mothers' gratitude for Surgicorps and worship to God for the life-changing treatment of their kids. It was incredibly moving...see video below:

We were told this kind of celebration does not happen every Friday...but then even this morning we began the day with lively singing and dancing on the children's ward...parents and patients and hospital staff all gathered at 0730 to worship God together for giving us another day of life.

Nothing is taken for granted here, everything good is a gift from God, and everything is celebrated in community.

Singing and dancing in celebration and gratitude for the healing of their children. Imagine if we had this same genuine thankfulness for minor surgery at home!

The Jacaranda trees are in their prime now. These pictures don't need words:

In other news, Mason got a haircut. It was a combined effort of his three housemates: me, Amanda and Justin.

Before...looking a bit "domey" to use Andrew Ironside's term

During...the whole process was a group effort on the part of all 4 of us housemates, I'm sure to the amusement of the two Swedish ladies that just arrived that afternoon. 

During...a little too "One Direction" to stop here.

After...the guy lurking in the window is our housemate Justin and he's not actually as creepy as he looks in this picture. He is one of the three neurosurgeons in all of Zambia.

Gerald and Juanita, I'm posting these next photos with you in mind. The first time we visited this cafe-style church we thought of you and couldn't wait to share pictures with you. Juanita, you'd love the collection of cultures here. The pastor is South African and everyone you talk to is linked with a different NGO. It's really cool to have a glimpse into this network of expats doing really cool things in Zambia! Another blog post will have to be about some of these interesting people we've met. For now, take a look at South City Church:

On the other side of this wall is the church. The lady who owns the building runs a gift shop and cafe out of the church during the week. 

These canvas walls come off when it's not so windy and it's an open-air cafe-style church. Lizards on the ceiling and a tree trunk in the centre of the sanctuary.

Coffee bar

The "stage"

Outdoor seating

Kids' church

Hipster photo

The infamous minibus. Yesterday we rode one of these carrying 21 passengers. It filled up and then pulled into a gas station to fill up on gas with all the passengers on board and the engine still running.

Close quarters inside the minibus.

Goodnight from Zambia!