First Day

We were greeted this morning by the cool, crisp air of the Zambian winter morning. “Cool” was the low 50’s. It warmed to the low 80’s, but the sky was cloudless and bright all day with a light breeze that refreshed. We thought it to be nearly ideal weather. The locals thought it was too cold.

Nearly everyone slept well and certainly looked better today after showering and resting than we did when we arrived after the long flights.

As always, the day started with a chapel service at the hospital. Wedon, the Zimba anesthetist spoke on fellowship and relationships. The message was foundational and articulate. We’re almost always impressed with the depth of Biblical understanding and insightfulness of the Zambian hospital staff asked to present at morning chapel. The administrator, Mr. Khondowe, welcomed us warmly as did the other staff, many of whom recognized most of us from earlier trips.

Nurse Ann went off to shadow one of the local nurses for the day. Anesthetist Barb assisted another nurse part of the day and then assess things in the operating room to prepare for surgeries that will begin tomorrow. Dr. Kari met up with Anna, a now retired local nurse who has translated for Dr. Kari each of the past two trips. Together they settled in to see the dozens of patients that showed up for care, several of which had been told a week or two ago to come back today when Dr. Kari would be available for a possible surgery. By noon, they had scheduled at least three surgeries – possibly four -- for the next three days. By 7 this evening when Dr. Kari and Nurse Ann finally called it a day, several more surgeries had been scheduled.

The construction team had a mixed day. Early in the day, we toured the hospital grounds to orient Diane and Mark as well as to assess progress on the new operating theater and the new nurses’ quarters. The walls of the new operating theater have been painted and, somewhat to our surprise, the window panes have been installed in the window frames. The new nurses’ quarters are getting close to being ready for people to move in. Janet will be going home for a short visit at the end of July and really wants people to be living in the apartments by the time she has to leave. There has been a lot of progress since October but not quite as much as she’d hoped.

Bud and Mark put some finishing touches on the wiring and adjustments to the overhead lights in the new operating room. Diane worked with one of the nurses for awhile and then worked with one of the guys in pharmacy to refine a couple of excel spreadsheets they use to keep track of inventory that Andy had helped them build last October. In the afternoon, Bud, Mark and Larry continued work on some of the electrical in the new operating room and began preparing to knock out a brick wall separating the old and new O.R.s that will be a hallway between the two.

The big news of the day was that the airline located our missing luggage and had it for us in Livingstone. Missionary Joan, Diane and Glen braved the pothole and crater filled road back to Livingstone to retrieve all ten bags. They arrived about 7:30 this evening with a car full of luggage and it was like arriving anew for the second night in a row.

Ann led the devotional this evening. Today was her son’s 18th birthday. She led us through scripture and prayer about sons. We could all relate.