November 2009
17 posts
“Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not men,”
– Ephesians 6:7
Can I tell you?
I feel like I just stepped off the plane, like I just walked into town for the first time. I feel like I just heard my first Tonga song, like I just had my first taste of nshima. I feel like I just witnessed a birth, like I just met my first orphan. I feel like I’m losing something. I feel like I’m leaving something a part of me behind.
In all actuality, I don’t know how to write what...
“With my great power and outstretched arm I made the earth and its people and the...”
– Jeremiah 27:5
Safari and Vic Falls
Right now I am sitting in the ZigZag bed and breakfast coffee shop. It is almost 10pm and I am one of the last customers of the night. I’m so content, listening to the rain pouring down on the tin roof above me, feeling the cool breeze blow in gently from the open brick archways across the room. What a perfect ending to an amazing day!
This morning I climbed into a large open truck (just like you...
“Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead...”
– Isaiah 1:17
No words
The past two days we have been out in the villages doing OVC (orphan vulnerable children) and HBC (home based care visits). An Orphan Community Trusts is a project that addresses the needs of orphaned and vulnerable children and the people who care for them who are suffering under the burden of poverty and the HIV/AIDS pandemic (https://adelphe.worldhope.net/). World Hope distributes food,...
“I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have...”
– Philippians 4:12-13
Kumbaya
I was told we were going to another community school. I didn’t really stop to think about what all we would find there. We had been traveling around Lusaka all morning, stopped by the Zambian police and escorted to the American Embassy by guards with loaded weapons (story for another time). I was tired, and quite frankly not that excited about touring another school…proof of how God laughs at our...
Lovely
It’s six o’clock and I’m looking out at the smoky Africa sky from the mosaic guest house patio. I can smell Audrisco baking peanut butter cookies and something else that smells like onion for dinner. It’s not like every other night here. There is no fiery sunset. It’s overcast and breezy, cool and grey. It looks like it could rain at any moment…In a word
it’s lovely
I love where I am right...
October 2009
35 posts
B-A-N-A-N-A-S
We spent the day yesterday at Chapaboma banana plantation! Chapaboma is a huge plantation with over 1200 banana trees (producing over 20,000 bananas)! It is also located right on the banks of a 200 mile man made lake called Kariba. We arrived under an enormous shady tree and were immediately greeted by a group of women singing and dancing, welcoming us to the plantation. One of the Zambian workers...
“The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit”
– Psalms 34:18
John Walker
While I'm Waiting
I’m waiting I’m waiting on You,Lord And I am hopeful I’m waiting on You, Lord Though it is painful But patiently, I will wait
I will move ahead, bold and confident Takeing every step in obedience While I’m waiting, I will serve You While I’m waiting, I will worship While I’m waiting, I will not faint I’ll be running the race Even while I wait I’m...
Zambian Independence
Independence Day morning we drove into town for the day’s festivities. We arrived at a large opening with hundreds of people crowding around the perimeter. Inside the opening was a small shaded tent for the District Commissioner and his counselors to watch the events in a cooler area. I was in the second group to arrive and was shocked when instead of finding a place to watch along the perimeter...
Miss Independent!
Yesterday was Zambia’s Independence Day…and it was SO much fun!! We started celebrating Friday night when we were invited to the Choma Rotary Club’s Miss Independent pageant by Mrs. Phiri. She is the amazing woman who runs our guest house and is also the president of the Rotary Club. We had VIP seats and were placed right at the front of the room by the catwalk. As we waited for the pageant to...
“For I will restore health to you and heal you of your wounds,” says the...”
– Jeremiah 30:17
The True Healer
Today we ventured out to a village two hours away to visit a Traditional Zambian Healer. I am all about natural remedies. Yes, I know I will be handing out meds on a regular basis as a nurse, but personally try to I avoid them at all cost and love it when I can find a natural way to cure what ails me, even if that means waiting it out with a cool washcloth and some vitamin C. It seemed like it...
Japan In Choma
Wednesday morning we visited St Mulumba school for special needs children. St Mulumba is a school for children who are hearing impaired, visually impaired, and mentally handicapped. It was an incredible place. We were given a tour were able to go into each class to visit and see how their classroom was being run. I cannot even explain to you how unbelievable this place was. All of the children...
“For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb....”
– Psalm 139:13-14
I know it. And I love it.
Our second day there was incredible. I requested to go to the maternity ward for the morning shift. We walked into the ward at 8am and didn’t see anyone there. We ventured back to the delivery room and pulled back the curtain to reveal a young woman on the table, 10cm dilated, and pushing. Yes! My heart jumped inside my chest. We stood at the food of the bed and waited. After about ten minutes of...
Chikankata Mission Hospital
We spent Thursday and Friday at the second most prestigious AIDS research hospital in Africa, Chikankata Mission Hospital. It was a beautiful area and we were all impressed by the facilities and staff. There is also a nursing school on campus that we were able to tour and even sit in on some of the classes. I spent my first day in the antenatal clinic with Emma and Veronica, two of the midwife...
“Doula: A non-medical assistant in childbirth. Usually a woman who is experienced...”
Doula For The Day
I walked into the delivery room and took in my surroundings. There wasn’t much to see. A tiny space the size of a small examining room, a little supply cabinet, incubator, a few buckets, and a flat bed with what looked like a black garbage bag being used as a sheet by the naked woman that lay there. I had been told a bit about deliveries at Zimba Mission Hospital, but nothing can prepare you for...
Before The Throne Of God
Before the throne of God above I have a strong, a perfect plea: A great High Priest, whose name is Love, Who ever lives and pleads for me. My name is graven on his hands, My name is written on his heart; I know that while in heaven he stands No tongue can bid me thence depart No tongue can bid me thence depart. When Satan tempts me to despair, And tells me of the guilt within, Upward I look,...
“Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their work; If one...”
– Ecclesiastes 4:9-10
