First Full Day in Zambia

Tuesday, October 09, 2007

Today was our first full day in Zimba. It was a good day.

The temperature at home when we left was about 88, in London it was about 60, when we landed in Livingstone, it was in the high 90’s. We awoke this morning to low 70’s but it was 100 by about noon. It is very, very dry. The dryness in the air made the 100 degrees pretty tolerable and the breeze this afternoon made it feel relatively comfortable. This is the end of their dry season. Rainy season (lots of rain) starts around the first of November. But it has been roughly 5 months of temperatures in the 80-100 degree range with no rain. Everything is dried up and parched.

We had a really stimulating chapel service this morning. It is always impressive to me how insightful and unabashedly passionate some of the lay staff here are in their preaching. Some of it is style, much of it is a genuine conviction.

Kari, Ann, Dianna, and Barb spent much of the day in surgery, minor procedures, re-stocking shelves and re-organizing materials in storage so they can be found when needed. I escorted Bud, Ray, Andy and Larry “the shorter” around the hospital grounds to get them oriented, to review draft plans for a new water system and a new sewage system, and to examine the electrical project sites. We planned to spend today giving Bud and Ray a close up look of the projects so they could determine what supplies are needed to move them forward. The plans are to install a portable backup generator sent on the shipping container from First Wes a year ago, to hookup outlets and lights in the operating rooms to make use of it when the power goes out (as it apparently does often during the rainy season), to install receptacles, switches and lights in the new operating theater (about eight rooms), a water heater, and outdoor security lights, fix a shorted outlet in the new addition on the lab where a CD-4 counter is to be installed soon, and try to figure out a way to arrange and water level sensing on/off switch for the pump to the water storage tanks. The shopping list is lengthy. The shopping trip to Livingstone is on the schedule for tomorrow. In the afternoon, we installed many of the receptacles in the new O.R.

We all got back to the mission house more or less on time for another wonderful meal – homemade tacos – Joan has given Edy a complete menu of American dishes (South Carolina style). We’re not suffering at all when it comes to food.

This evening, we reviewed the day. Those for whom this is their first trip to Zambia noted how much they thought the pictures and reports had failed to help them grasp what things are really like here. The poverty is more widespread, the struggle to make a living more persistent and intense, and the friendliness and hospitality more freely given.

A nine year old child died yesterday before we got here. A six year old died today. Tomorrow we move on trying to find a way to help where we can.

Monday, October 8, 2007:

The flight from Detroit to London was pretty uneventful – a real blessing since we were leaving at 10:30 PM. After a late meal on the plane, most of us were able to get a fair amount of sleep over the course of the 8 hour flight. Our layover in London was long enough (11 hours) to dare taking the train in to downtown for a quick sightseeing stroll and some fish and chips. Ann was tickled to visit her ancestral homeland.

After boarding our plane for Johannesburg, we sat on the tarmac for an extra hour just to warm up the plane thoroughly. That flight was overnight as well so, again, most of us got a fair amount of sleep before breakfast and our descent into Jo’burg. The pilot made up most of the hour we lost before take-off by the time we landed, but then we had to sit on the tarmac again waiting for a gate. That shortened our three hour layover to less than two with the whole length of the airport terminal to traverse to check-in for our flight to Livingstone. After rushing to get in line we received word that British Air determined that they needed to switch planes for us. The result was that we got the hour back we lost sitting on the tarmac. This time we got to stand in line waiting to board the next plane. Traveling is an adventure whether you want it to be or not.

We arrived in Livingstone, Zambia, about an hour later than planned. We cruised through passport control uneventfully and could see our missionary host, Joan Wallace waiting for us through the double doors by the customs desk. Customs, however, decided it was important for them to examine every medication we were carrying in our luggage. We’d faxed a complete listing of all the medications we would be bringing a couple of weeks ago along with quantities, lot numbers and expiration dates. The list had been approved by the Zambian government; nevertheless, another branch of government was concerned about one of the medications and they wanted to see it.

There are nine of us in the mission team. We were each allowed to bring 3 suitcases of checked luggage plus a carryon bag. They wanted to search through them all. It took a rather long time. Even though Kari had made lists of which particular medications we each were bringing and they found the one they were concerned about fairly quickly as a result, they still wanted to check all bags. About an hour later, they took Bud, Andy, Kari, and Barb to the office. We all prayed that the outcome would be better than that of the team from Tennessee a month ago (their leader’s passport was held for a couple of days and some of their medications confiscated). In the end, the customs officials explained why they wanted to confiscate a large bottle of benedryl and then let us all go. We were relieved on many counts.

We were finally able to join our host Joan. Kari and I saw her in February/March, but it had been 15 months since she had seen Ann, Dianna, and Barb. Joan, Ann and Dianna had developed a particularly strong bond when we were all here last so they were all excited to see each other again.

We loaded the 35-40 bags of luggage into the two vehicles and squeezed the nine of us plus Dr. Dan and a driver into one of the vehicles and Joan and the head nurse into the other.
The 40 mile drive to Zimba was quicker than usual. The areas where there had been numerous large potholes on our earlier trips have been filled in (mostly) . We arrived at the mission house in time to enjoy a terrific meal fixed by Edy, who does the cooking at the mission guest house.

We spent some of the evening just unpacking, re-gathering the medical supplies, re-gathering the construction materials, figuring out which room was whose. After quick showers and an evening devotional from Oswald Chambers, everyone was happy to turn in early for a good night’s rest.