Day at the Clinic

Throughout the past year and a half I’ve heard a lot about Caitlin’s experience partnering with Zambia’s Ministry of Health. After spending just one short week here, I have a new respect for what she is doing here. It is difficult to find words to describe the conditions of healthcare in the village. I will do my best by sharing about one of our days last week. I had the opportunity to get a little taste of what it’s like for Cait to work at Chifusa Rural Health Center for “antenatals” (pre-natal care for expecting mothers). Here’s a quick run-down of the day:

-The day begins with about 8 hands touching the tattoo on my neck, and everyone asking Caitlin, “Why did you write this on your cousin?”
-Cait starts to give a lesson to the pregnant mothers who have come to the clinic for antenatals (and in typical Zamfashion, we have started about an hour and a half late, allowing plenty of time for everyone to arrive).
-About two minutes into her lesson on nutrition, we are interrupted by a dog that most certainly has rabies – which in turn causes all of the women to start yelling and jumping onto benches until someone finally manages to make the dog leave.
-After our nutrition discussion, the women then wait in line for their monthly check-up.
-Come to find out, this so-called “check-up” (aka “prenatal care”) consists of a midwife pressing on the mother’s belly and then listening to the baby’s heartbeat through a little metal cylinder (I tried this method out and for the life of me, could not tell whether I was hearing the heartbeat or just my own breathing).
-After this check-up is completed, the women then receive medication and supplements thanks to the acting pharmacist of the day – (Hey Caitlin, I never knew you went to pharmacy school...?)
-Finally, at the end of the check-ups, we are informed that the clinic door has broken and we would therefore need to climb through a window to get out. And keep in mind, this is not just for Caitlin and myself, but also the remaining pregnant women. The only thought that entered my mind was: “seriously?”

In fact, that thought was in my mind through most of the day at the clinic. I have heard the stories about the healthcare in Caitlin’s village, but it is absolutely crazy to actually see these things first-hand, and I kept asking myself, “is this seriously how it is?” Take, for example, the fact that this clinic has no running water. They have no doctors. There hasn’t been a nurse here since Caitlin’s good friend Mrs. Mpongo passed away last year. The government keeps promising that they will send a new nurse here, but so far these promises have been empty. So here is a rural clinic with no running water, no electricity, and no trained medical staff... and this clinic is supposed to be providing healthcare for 8,877 people in the surrounding areas.

After seeing my nephew's birth in the US, I'm amazed at the difference in health care standards in the US and developing countries like Zambia.

Hungry Hungry Hippos

The Jungle Cruise was everything we imagined and more and then some more! What I was really imagining was a nice canoe trip down the Zambezi with the majority of time spent bird watching and improving my farmer's tan.

The more and then some more consisted of:
1)Not dangling our hands in the water to avoid attracting crocodiles
2)Being advised if our canoe was punctured by a croc we should swim to shore immediately
3)Having to pound on our boat numerous times to alert nearby hippos
4)Paddling fiercely to avoid the hippos
5)Constantly fearing we would be eaten by hippos
6)Being advised what to do if our canoe capsized while going through the rapids
7)Wondering if we maybe had signed up for the rafting trip on accident
8)Realizing throughout this entire process no one asked us if we knew how to swim
9)Never being more happy to get out of a river in my life
10)Changing from a full day canoe trip to a half day canoe trip at the first chance we had!

Ok, I know you probably think I didn't have any fun. It was terrifyingly thrilling. We asked for the second half of our day to be spent in the safari truck driving around the Mosi-Ou-Tunya National Park. It was awesome to see elephants, giraffe, zebra, baboons, and impala from the vehicle. Then the guide tells us that it is prohibited, but he can do us a favor and walk us over to where the white rhino is sleeping. This is the only white rhino in Zambia. So of course, like any normal people that have already been in danger for the first half of the day, we got out of our safe seats and walked in the bush to see this sleeping rhino. It was huge and beautiful and then it started to wake up and we basically ran like the wind back to the car. But quietly.

I think we are going to take it easy tonight. Maybe bungee jump or skydive. No really, we are just going out to dinner.

The K is on the Way

My dear friend and cousin is flying out and will be here on Thursday! I absolutely cannot wait to see her face and spend time with her. We have had plenty of adventures, from AMAZING dance/cheerleading/rollerblading routines in the garage, to road trips from Southern California all the way to Colorado without a roof on the car. I can only imagine what the 20 days in Africa will hold! Pray for her safety as she travels on British Airways and for our time together! She is a brilliant photographer and I am sure will have some amazing snaps from the trip. We will be sure to post for your viewing pleasure.

And if the "A" of "ACK Cheerleaders" is reading this, well, we wish you were going to be here for a perfect trio of cheer.