Greetings once again from Zambia! i hope this blog finds everyone happy and healthy! i hear its getting colder and wetter there in the States...but dont worry, today was our very first day of rain since we've been here (and our first day of 'cool' weather) apparently, now the 'rainy season' has begun! i'm just hoping that doesn't mean it will be raining all day, every day, for the next 7 weeks..haha. This week was full of new and exciting experiences (when isn't it?!) On monday and tuesday, my group (half the girls here) traveled to a city called Zimba, about 1 hour away, to work for two days at the Zimba Mission Hospital. I didn't take photos inside the hospital out of respect for the very sick and suffering patients, but if i could paint a mental picture for you, it would look something like this: paint peeling off the walls of cement floor rooms, lots of bugs and cobwebs on the walls, a few medical tools laying around on dirty, beat-up metal tables, beds with rotting foam mattresses and stained, holey mosquito nets hanging over them. all in all, not a hospital at all.
my first assignment was in the maternal child health area. this was not actually a ward for sick patients, but an educational room where i sat through a prenatal education class taught in Tonga (i had no idea what was going on..haha) then i was assigned to loads and loads of very confusing, very illegible paperwork- in a word, stressful! but, as the morning went on, it became easier as i realized that i wasn't under the liability pressure that i am in the states, and that the nurses i was working for appreciated any work i did, they were not their to critique me or tell me what i was doing wrong- what a relief! during my time there, i also got to take the weights and blood pressures of the women as they waited for their turn in the exam room. and the best part of it all? i gave my very first intramuscular shots! there was no nurse or teacher around...i did it all alone! that was scary! but after giving 3 in an hour, i felt very accomplished, like a true nurse!
Later that day, i was assigned to work in the lab with the 3 techs, Peter, Fred, and Watson. they do things like draw people's blood and test it for HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases, and collect sputum samples to test for TB. While there, i was able to make sputum slides and look under the microscope, learned to run the machines which test blood for HIV, protiens, and do Full Blood counts. The next morning, they even invited my parter Kara and i back so we could learn to draw blood..so, Tuesday morning, we returned and both drew our first blood ever! i was shaking so badly because i was so nervous..but by the 3rd time of doing that, i once again felt very accomplished...one step closer to being a real RN! Tuesday afternoon was a little lighter, we worked in the pharmacy, basically counting pills and putting them in little labeled baggies. but hey, somebody has to do it, right?! it was pretty shocking though the lack of meds they had in the pharmacy though, just one small wall of shelves..and those shelves were no where near full either!
Wednesday, my team spend 9 hours driving all over the Zambian countryside visiting 9 different villages/schools/etc to deliver mealy-meal (corn meal) and cabbage to those most in need of the food. At each stop, we got to get out and meet the women and children of those villages...it was really a neat time to learn about Zambian culture and see all the beauty of the Zambian landscape during the driving. i will say though, the Zambian dirt roads are not for the faint-hearted! :P
Thursday, our entire group traveled to another city called Siachetema (about 1.5 hour away) there is a very small health clinic there that we worked at. After a short tour, we headed into a room where we thought we'd be sitting through a prenatal class taught to more pregnant women. however, upon arrival, we learned from our tour guide that WE were supposed to be teaching the class instead! hahaha..that was quite a shock! soo...we all took turns giving bits of advice about nutrition, labor signs, complications, etc. After that piece-meal lesson (haha) we each took turns performing the prenatal exams on the women. This is something i LOVE doing! you are able to feel the baby's head and move it around inside the womb, feel the back and stomach of the baby to determine the way it's laying, and then you get to use this primitive cone-like thing to listen to the fetal heartbeat. SO cool! For the rest of the day there, we just shadowed the doctor, Dr. Joan Jones, and her PA student, Meredith as they did their exams on the myriad of people lined up outside to see a doctor. it was sad because they would prescribe these meds, knowing full well that the pharmacy there did not have them in stock, and the people did not have to money to go out and buy them. seems kinda pointless, right? but these doctors are so skilled, both in diagnosing and in working with the people of Zambia..i really have a lot of respect for them.
Friday was our only day of class this week...just 9-1 and then a take-home test in the afternoon- piece of yummy yummy cake! last night, we made some brownies and chocolate cookies (we are all starting to really crave the junk food of home...you can only eat so many meals of nshima before you start missing the sugar and sodium and trans fatty acids we get so abundantly at home..hahaha)
today has been a fantastic day! because our speaker for this morning had to cancel, we had our first day of complete 'free time' in who knows how long?! sooo...slept in (til 730 that is), did some workout videos (can't run around freely here in Zambia...too bad) showered, and headed to the market. we met our neighbor Cynthia just as we were heading out, and she was headed to the market too, so we walked there together, and spent 3 hours shopping together. the funny part was that it started pouring rain the minute we reached the market, so by the time we made it home, we were drenched and dripping..and very very muddy! my favorite part of the whole experience was that i got to carry a baby on my back in a chitenge for the first time! Cynthia is an 18 year old girl, she's not married, but she has a 1 year 4 month beautiful boy! and Cynthia's such a sweetheart..i'm praying that my relationship with her will continue to grow and flourish...she asked for my address to stay in touch..that's a good sign!
i'll be adding photos to this blog as soon as i'm able to upload them from my camera onto this computer...until then, let your imagination help you picture what i'm seeing! thanks so much for all your prayers! and, as an update, the GI sickness is just about over, praise God! :)
until next time,
Britt
Tuainga!
