Meds, Mamba, & Me

It has been a full month here in Zambia. Early September found me partnering with Nurse Mpongo to give medicine to hundreds of students at Chifusa Basic School to treat worms and bilharzia. I would try to make them laugh while they were swallowing and then have them stick out their tongues to verify the medicine had really been consumed. This event further confirmed the fact that I never want to be a nurse. Mid September, on a walk to a neighboring village school, Rocky (my dog) and I came across a 5 foot green mamba laying across the path. Let me rephrase that. Rocky daintily stepped over the snake and it was me that stopped and notified everyone else that the snake was there. That dog is cute and great company but as for a fearless guard dog he is not making the grade! Girls’ Club continues to meet on Thursday afternoons, the past weeks focusing on early marriages and pregnancies. Club Mweka is going strong on Sunday evenings and the kids are eagerly waiting responses to their pen friend letters. We’ve been able to use financial support from CCR families and the youth group to pay for school supplies for this term and that was a huge help to the kids. Much of my time the past month has been focused on organizing for an Independence Day festival and HIV testing event for the 24th of October (Zambian Independence Day). This has meant a lot of coordinating between District officials, NGOs and my community.

I’ve also had the joy of meeting up with other Peace Corps volunteers. Julie, who I went to Tanzania with last December, planned on staying a day at my site and ended up staying a week. It was so fun to have someone to watch the sunset with at the dam and to play cards with late into the night. I’m not sure that she’ll be coming back since she also had the joy of her first snake exposure at my site and the fact that I am no competition to her amazing Rummy playing abilities. The past week I have been in Lusaka for mid term medical examinations and was given a clean bill of health and the ecstasy of sitting in an air-conditioned movie theatre!

To wrap it up, I just want to ask for prayer from all of you. I have definitely been experiencing a season of discouragement since coming back from the United States. Ironically, the programs and activities I am involved with here are going the best they have since my arrival to Zambia in 2006, but I can’t seem to get past this feeling of none of it being ‘enough’. Please ask God to show me Himself and to reveal where it is He wants me to be focusing my efforts. I am also asking that you be in prayer for a very special girl, Alyssa Geske (16). Her family has been a part of my home church for 12 years, and I have had the joy of leading her as a middle schooler at CCR. This girl is so full of life and a love for the Lord and others. I received news this week from my mom that Alyssa has been diagnosed with inoperable brain cancer. Pray that God will perform a miracle – He is who He says He is and He can do what He says He can do.

Thanks for reading and for your prayers!