Mukuni Clinic

Julie volunteers at Mukuni clinic on Monday and Wednesdays. She also holds a mobile clinic in the bush once a month, I believe. More on that later. Mukuni is a nice drive down the road. Even having driven several times (and grown up in the country) I don't think I could get us there if I had to. I did not have midwifery privliges here so I just sat in on visits, took pictures, charted, dispensed medications/vitamins, and prayed with some of the women. A line of women would wait in the hallways for a prenatal visit with the midwife (Julie). Some of them had walked hours and hours in the 120 degrees without water. Some of them were Christians, like, Helen who is a local pastor's wife. She is beautiful and filled with joy. Others have markings of the witch doctor. Regardless of their faith, we were allowed to pray with each one. After each thorough history and prenatal visit, Julie and I prayed with each woman. Many times Julie would pray what was in my heart and I hers. Many of the prayers included healing, protection, Life and against the enemy who steals, kills, and destroys. This clinic (as opposed to the water cooler at Nsongwe) had running water in the lab to wash our hands. It also had a toilet though I don't remember if it flushed? At both clinics you bring your own toilet paper. So, I would keep a pocket of tissues in my bag. And, of course we brought a large water bottle though we seldom drank because we stayed busy and many of the women did not have their own water. I enjoyed taking pictures of Julie being a midwife in Africa. I enjoyed watching her interact with joy and love towards these previous women who have so much less than we do here in America. I wish our women here could see that their pregnancy and birth is not all about them. There is a much bigger picture. LIFE. We would often work through lunch and then fix something light at the camp once we returned.

At the Camp

The camp dwindled to only a handful of us since the AMT teams left for expeditions. That means they went out into the bush to share the gospel and minister to the locals. The heat was starting to get to me and I felt very trapped that day. In America if you "don't have anything to do" you usually can find plenty of things to do. In Florida, I could drive to one of the trails near my house or the beach for a nice long walk. If I didn't have a car I could just walk around my beautiful large neighborhood. Go to the pool. Talk on the phone. Watch a movie. Kill time on the internet especially facebook. Write a letter. Read a book. Cook something. Even just lie down on the bed. Not so en Afrique. I didn't have a computer with me as mine was too large to bring. There is no t.v. Nothing to cook. Going on a walk takes about 5 minutes around the camp and then you are done. Not to mention people probably wonder what you are doing just walking around. It is way too hot to lie down though I did for a while in the main building. I wanted so badly to go somewhere or do something but that was not an option this day. I also wanted to hike the gorge but didn't want to do that alone and later would learn that it was too hot for such a thing.

I honestly can't remember how we killed the time. I was very grateful when one of the missionaries, Nick, started playing his guitar. I think he sensed my desperation. I imagine I spent some time writing in my journal and reading my bible. Sunday was also a quiet day but ended up having some activity. After breakfast we had worship on the base. Did some laundry. Served some of the children snacks and watched them sing and dance. That night Juie and I went over to her sister's house to watch a movie. According to my journal this is when things "must be getting hotter" cause I didn't need my covers for the first time. I also killed my first scorpion which I really would rather not have but knew it needed to be killed and I was the only one there. I was so glad for the new week to begin to get back into the action of things.

On the Road Again

The next day we were up at five to head to Botswana to visit a Chobe game park. A handful of us (Julie, Nick, Brandon, Desiree, Jamike, and I) crammed into Julie's jeep for the trip. Julie and the others had been working nonstop for weeks. It was her first day off. We listened to some fun music driving up and down bumps in the dirt road. We made it through Customs and took a ferry to the park. Breakfast was included. Boat ride on the river. So many elephants!! Lunch was delicious. Truck ride through the park. This is the first day if felt like 120 to me. I gladly downed some kind of fake carbonated drink they were giving out just cause it was nice and cold and liquid. It was a fun group of people. Seeing the animals and getting to travel was fun. On the way home, we stopped in Livingstone at a pizza place to eat. I had been craving pizza so that really hit the spot. We made it back to the camp and ready for bed. The next day would be Saturday.. a day to rest.

Making friends

After breakfast every morning is worship with the staff. The main building is open for the breeze to flow through which is nice. Usually mornings are cool and refreshing. By the time we leave the camp, it is getting hot. Julie and I head off in her jeep down the road to Nswonge clinic. It is a small clinic that could use a good cleaning. The right side of the clinic is for labor/delivery and mother/baby checks. The left side of the clinic is general nursing care for the sick, injured, etc. Julie volunteers at this clinic on Tuesday and Thursdays. I was given privlidges here from the Ministry of Health. Too bad they didn't have any babies while I was there! Well, they did, but the mothers were actually transferred to the hospital without a medical indication. The superviser simply didn't feel like laboring with the women. In fact, she didn't feel like showing up for work most of the time. And, she didn't. This is one example of the frustrations Julie puts up with.

Kruger, was one of the nurses at the clinic. I believe he was around 28 years old. His eyes lit up when I was introduced as a midwife. He treated me with more honor than I am used to or deserve. In fact, he might have thought a little too highly of me, because next thing I know I am assigned to all sorts of tasks in the clinic that I have no idea what to do. I may have done more damage than help with enterring in patient data for the Under 5 clinic. It was very hectic between working under a different system, not knowing the language, and simply being unfamiliar in general with the clinic. Many children were checked and received immunizations. But many also got hot and went home without care.

Each Tuesday and Thursday Julie and I accompanied Kruger and his friend Emmanuel, to their house in the back. We would cook together. I had my first Zambian meal that included nshima (like thickened grits) with our hands!! and "relish" which included vegetable. Julie made beans with veggies. I helped cut the veggies and garlic with a pocket knife. Once we had fish with bones. Rice and beans. Julie and I made fried chicken once. Always ate with our hands after passing around a bowl to wash and rinse our hands to get rid of the "microrganisms" as Kruger liked to remind us:)

Sometimes we would watch t.v. Our last day with them we watched the Zambia vs Brazil World Cup match if I remember correctly.

After clinic Julie and I made a couple of home visits. We walked to theh first home. We drove to theh second which was a mud hut! I couldn't believe that a) I was in Africa and b) I was in a mud hut charting Julie's postpartum visit. Not to mention, the woman and her mother I had recently read about in one of Julie's blog posts so that was neat as well. That night Julie and I (mostly Julie) taught a childbirth class for the Overland AMT students. We had a great group and enjoyed team teaching to prepare them for the event should they ever come upon a birth. The young single men did very well. I still remember Trey coming up to us after the class with excitement saying that what we do is really neat and how amazing God is to create all of this.

In Africa

My first several hours were amazing and worth the whole trip! Julie and I made a few stops in town (Livingstone), did a home visit for a missionary who had recently had a miscarriage, and then made our way to the base. The base was WONDERFUL! It was not at all what my imagination was telling me to dread. Our tent was a walk-in tent. There were clean paths that led to the main buildings and other tents. The main building was large and clean. We had two bathroom houses on site with showers!! And, to top it off, there was a beautiful overlook of the gorge. When you stand on the edge of the lookout, you look far below to the sun beating down on the beautiful Zambezi river that separates Zambia from Zimbabwe. There were Zambians, South Africans, and Americans living at the Camp. Many friendly, smiling faces greeted me that evening at "dinner" which my friends know I still call "supper." "Hi, Ashley!" with a smile came several friendly greetings from folks young and old who could just as well have been from Jacksonville or Charleston. I loved sitting outside on the porch with many others eating out in the open night and a nice cool breeze. Apparantly it was 110 degrees that day, but it didn't seem too bad to me since I had just been in the AC... in a few days I would begin to feel it. I remember sitting on the bench and the wind blew my below the knees Old Navy plaid skirt right above my knee. We were instructed to wear long skirts because showing your knees is not appropriate. It is the American version of showing your breasts. I reached down and fixed my skirt and continued conversation. Every night we would walk to the main building for supper carrying our head lamp because it would be dark on the walk back to the tent. And every night I brought my malaria medication. I had not slept much the two nights before so was glad to go to bed early. One thing I was NOT prepared for was that it gets cold at night! Sixties would feel nice in the U.S. but in dry Zambia, it was FREEZING!!! It was especially freezing when it had been 110 degrees during the day, you weren't expecting a drop, and only covered with a light sheet. I woke up during the night and put on my think fleece and a pair of socks. That really didn't do a whole lot. I had decided to tough it out until morning, then thought better of it since for all I knew it might be midnight. I could handle the cold for an hour but not several. I hated to wake Julie up, but had to. We got a good laugh about it on the way to the bathroom. Being pitch dark, I couldn't see very well and thought her head was at the foot of her bed. So, I was whispering to her feet, asking for a blanket. She JUMPED out of bed, saying, "oh my gosh, you must be so cold!" My response: "it's pretty cold." So got a sleeping bag out of the car and then we both walked down to the bathroom. It was 5 o'clock. There was a very large (size of my hand) black, fuzzy spider RIGHT next to me in the bathroom. I gave him an eye and silently made a pact that I wouldn't kill him if he didn't make a move." On our walk back to the tent I told Julie about the HUGE spider inches away from me. She asked if I killed it (they are all brave out there!). When I said "no" she asked why not. I told her he was too big. I have to say, I am glad I forgot how fast spiders can move or who knows what I would have done. Out of bed with the sunrise in the next hour or so to begin my first full day in Africa.