Time here continues to fly by! We spent a little over a week traveling in northern Zambia; the trip was characterized by our two flat tires, ongoing problems with the bus, visiting a refugee camp, swimming in an African creek, learning from some awesome missionary families, sleeping on concrete floors, taking bucket baths, using bat-infested latrines, playing with vervet monkeys, trick-or-treating with missionary kids, and eating lots and lots of peanut butter! We had a lot of fun and had so many amazing and unique experiences, but we were all glad to be back “home” and are looking forward to our last 3 and ½ weeks here at Namwianga.
I spent the weekend after we got back in bed with another fever. I was SO grateful to be back here, though, and not on the concrete floor! Everyone else spent the weekend catching up on lost time with their haven babies and studying for a missionary anthropology exam we had on Tuesday.
I spent Monday at the clinic, working with the clinical officer (a mid-level healthcare provider; equivalent of a Physician’s Assistant or Nurse Practitioner in the US). The most unusual thing we saw was a case of ingrown sutures-- a woman hadn’t come in to have them removed on time. The clinical officer let me take the histories of and attempt to diagnose the patients who could speak English. It wasn’t too difficult, as we see a lot of the same cases over and over again: TB, asthma, urinary tract infections, malaria, fungal infections, and skin rashes.
Unfortunately, we had some sad news this week. About a month ago, 19-month-old Grant was brought to Haven 1, malnourished and fighting TB. He was brought here because his mother is blind and epileptic and was unable to care for him; she was a victim of rape, so Grant’s father is not in the picture. Initially, Grant was given medication and tried to get him to eat. While we were on our trip, his condition worsened. He developed a fever, was extremely dehydrated, and was refusing food and drink altogether. His muscles were just wasting away; he was limp and was whimpering constantly. Eventually, Ms. Bingham (a member of Harding’s nursing faculty who is with us) brought Grant here to stay with her, and we all took turns holding him and trying to get him to take a bottle. On Monday, after no improvement, Ms. Bingham decided it would be best to transport Grant to Macha, a hospital 3 hours from here that is one of the best medical facilities in Zambia. They did so, but it was too late; on Tuesday Grant died. The more I learn about his situation the more I am convinced God knew what he was doing in taking baby Grant. He was suffering so much, and would have had a difficult life had he made it. Now he’s in heaven and is, I’m sure, happy and healthy!
The heavy rains haven’t come yet (we've had just a few showers here and there), but we are anxiously awaiting them! The jacaranda trees are purple, the flamboyant trees are orange, and the rest of the plants are bright green…. And in Africa this means rain is coming! Meanwhile we are trying to survive suicide month; the hottest month of the year here! I think most of us are really looking forward to the cold weather that will greet us in Searcy!
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