Hello friends & family!
Well, no one has updated the blog since we’ve been in Macha, so I figured it was about time. I’ll give a brief review of some of what we’ve been
up to. It’s been a challenge processing
through some of the difficulties, so here are just some of the experiences of
daily life here.
Macha is a much more rural area than our previous locations.
We’ve been doing our clinicals at the Macha Mission Hospital, a teaching
hospital associated with a nursing school here. We’ve also had good learning experiences
from the Macha Malaria Institute, and many of us have been able to go on field
outings with the researchers. In 1998, malaria was the #1 admitting diagnosis
at the hospital, and the #1 cause of death in 2000. Through the Malaria
Institute’s work, malaria has been 97% reduced here. Pretty amazing!
The hospital is quite a bit larger than Zimba or Choma, so
we’ve had some more interesting clinical experiences. Many of us have gotten to
deliver babies! We have particularly enjoyed one of the midwives, Gladys, who
encourages us to jump right in. Whenever it’s time for a baby to come she asks,
“Who’s delivering this one?” and one of us enthusiastically (or maybe not so
enthusiastically if it’s 3 am) puts on an apron and mask and has the incredible
opportunity of assisting brand new life into the world.
One thing we will NOT miss about Macha are the creatures. Evenings
are often filled with the shrieks and screams of girls tormented by spiders. ENORMOUS
does not come close to describing these fuzzy, fanged devils. Abby, Hannah,
Jamie A. and Lily also saw the first snake of the trip (a spitting cobra) one
evening at the hospital, and they watched from a few feet away as a brave woman
hurled large rocks at its head.
Personally, one of my favorite things about Macha is being
able to walk through the rugged, African landscape and experience the beauty of
this country. I enjoy passing by the little villages and seeing the faces of
people who live so differently than me. A few of us climbed a nearby water
tower and soaked in the view as children below yelled repeatedly, "How are
you?! How are youuuuuuu?!" We stand out enough as it is, so I can only
imagine how humorous it looks for a group of “mzungus” (white people) to
congregate on top of a water tower!
One of our projects for our community health class is to do
a teaching initiative. On Tuesday, a group of us are going to a local girls school to teach the
tenth grade class (about 100 girls) various topics including nutrition,
hygiene, how to handle stress, and purity. We’re also planning a conference,
“Helping Babies Breathe,” coming up in several weeks for 12 traditional birth
attendants. HBB is a curriculum that teaches neonatal resuscitation. It will be
neat to educate the birth attendants, and we are even providing them with ambu
bags (bag-mask resuscitating equipment). We were trained in HBB back in the
states and have, ourselves, been able to use what we’ve learned in clinicals. Please
pray for both of these initiatives!
Tonight we are going to a nearby restaurant and a local band
is going to play for us. It will be a nice break from the rice, cabbage, and
mystery sausage that we frequently have here! (Who knew you could eat cabbage in so many
different forms?!)
We appreciate your continued prayers for our team, and we
are eager to see our friends and families in a few weeks!
-Lauren
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| Cute, isn't he?! |
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| Andie, Hannah, Lily, & Jamie enjoying the view from the water tower! |
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