Did you know… that we have
discovered every possible way that cabbage can be prepared? During our
adventures in Macha, we consumed cabbage raw with lots of mayo, cabbage cooked
in oil, boiled with TONS of pepper, raw and plain, raw with mystery vinegar
sauce, or raw with pepper… everyday. : )
Now, whenever anyone mentions
cabbage, we all laugh and groan simultaneously……
Though exhausting, the end
of our 3 weeks in Macha was really positive. 9 of us had the opportunity to
teach at the local all-girls boarding school on our final Tuesday there.
Hannah, Andie, and I (Elisabeth) decided to do a talk on purity, which is especially
applicable with the high prevalence of HIV/AIDS. However, purity is such a holistic topic, and
so I was thrilled that we had the freedom to talk about mental, emotional, and
spiritual purity as well as the physical aspect. We talked to about 100 tenth
graders (in groups of about 20 at a time) and had lots of questions and
interaction with the girls afterwards. I
was definitely blessed through our challenging experience at the school. I hate
speaking in front of people, but absolutely love one-one-one conversations.
Right after we finished teaching, the girls rushed up to all of us, requesting
to touch our hair! : ) after mingling in the excited chaos for awhile and
meeting, talking, and laughing with lots of the girls, a quiet girl in a grey,
knitted winter hat came up to me. She timidly asked if she could speak to me in
private. As we walked towards the corner, she said “you remind me so much of my
mother—she had the same name as you, but she died two years ago.” We talked for
quite some time, and I am really thankful for the opportunity to connect with
and encourage her. Most of us came away from this neat experience with several
pen-pals : )
There is a Malaria
institute in Macha that was set up through John Hopkins doing groundbreaking
research in Malaria, and we had the opportunity participate in some of their
initiatives. Hannah, Mim, and I went out on a longitudinal study with 3 research
staff, visiting 3 households and taking 9 people’s blood samples… and it took
us a whopping 5 hours to drive through the bumpy, bumpy trails (sometimes just
walking paths) way way out into the bush. In true African fashion, we drove
about almost an hour out before we received a phone call saying that the staff had
forgotten some equipment back in Macha… so we had to turn around and drive back
again. I was pretty car sick for 2 hours, but had a fun time after that. We had
some amusing conversations with the 3 Zambian staff members while we bumped
along the trails, and enjoyed interacting with the people we tested for malaria.
One lady spoke no English but was SO thrilled to have us come to her home (even
though we were there just poke her and get blood samples…) She gave us a bag of
groundnuts (peanuts) that she had grown and shelled and told us (through
translation) that she wished she had known we were coming because she would
have made us N’Shima (a starchy cornmeal dish that is a Zambian staple). Over
and over on this trip we have been so humbled and touched by the extreme joy
and utter graciousness of the friendly Zambian people—they are so quick to
extend love, generosity, and hospitality, even if they are very poor.
Our final morning in Macha
was spent out in a nearby village getting a small, small taste of “African
village life.” Ms Mukonde (a retired Zambian nurse who has traveled with us and
helped with clinicals and lots of other things) set up a village that we could
visit for a few hours. We took gifts of cooking oil, kapenta (teeny fish), and
BOOM (soap) to give to the village chief and several other families. We had a
small village tour and then split up to try our hands at different tasks.
Ashley and Abby went to pump water and carried several gallons of water back on
their heads! They said that pumping the water was really hard work, and Ashley
had a humorous experience where she almost lost her chitenge and Ms Mukonde
came to the rescue and walked alongside her holding it up. Several of us
plucked dried corn kernels off the cob (it was hard!) and then Andie
single-handedly used a mill to grind all of the corn. Hannah and Marguax washed
pots with clay and soap – the Zambian women told us several times that we had
“soft hands” – meaning we didn’t do a lot of hard work. After finishing the
corn, the rest of us cracked open groundnuts (mini peanuts) and learned how to
pound them with a big mortar and pestle and sift the fine protein powder. We
laughed with and were laughed at by the Zambian ladies for most of the
morning as we experienced a tiny piece of their daily lives. I absolutely love
how smiles and laughter cross all linguistic and cultural barriers.
One night in Macha after
coming back from an evening shift at the hospital, Abby randomly suggested that
we go surprise Christmas caroling. So we all grabbed some little Tonga hymnals
(simulating caroling books), used our chitenges as scarves (it was only about
90 F outside….) and I grabbed the bells that hung on our entrance door. We
piled out of our hostel and snuck through the darkness to the Bence’s house. We
burst out into “silent night,” followed by “jingle bells” and “we wish you a
merry Christmas.” Unfortunately our hosts did not have any cookies or hot cocoa
ready for our arrival, and I’m sure that our Zambian neighbors thought that we
were totally crazy. Grabbing Dr Bee’s new African drum, a few new carolers, and
a bunch candles, we headed over to Aunt Judy and Uncle Bud’s house and caroled
for them. Sometimes the most fun times happen in those random spontaneous
moments :) We had a total blast that night.
To catch you a bit
up-to-date on our lives, the last 10 days back here at our home base in Zimba
have been absolutely packed as we wrap up our classes, prepare for finals (this
coming Monday and Tuesday!), and finish up papers and projects. We had the joy
of spending all day last Monday out in a rural village doing home-based care
with some Zambian ladies from the church here – I believe Ashley will be
writing an update for that, and yesterday (Nov 1) we put on a conference for
midwives and Traditional Birth Attendants – stay tuned for and update from
Andie : )
IWU’s very own President
Henry Smith and his wife Theresa arrived on Wednesday to visit us for a few
days, along with Dr. Rob Dawson and Shelli Rawleigh from the nursing division.
We have enjoyed interacting with them. Last night we walked out to our favorite
sun-set viewing spot, and Dr. Dawson joined in a game of football (soccer!)
with some of our team and a TON of little Zambian boys who were absolutely
thrilled to play with a bunch of Muzungus (white people.) It’s been fun to
interact with our American visitors and exchange stories.
We were absolutely
delighted to discover that SANTA himself had also come all the way from America,
wearing red scrubs and a white-towel beard, and bringing gifts and cards from
our families and TONS of candy from home! A HUGE “twalumba” (thank-you!) to all
of you who sent us stuff – we feel so cared for and special.
Today (Friday) we spent several
hours doing presentations to our profs and the President & company,
recapping our 2 leadership projects and all of our community health
initiatives. We had some teary moments as a team (with several tears from the
audience) as we recounted our many memories of the joys and difficulties that
we have encountered this semester – even though we were doing “academic”
presentations, I felt like our team was further able to grow and process
through some of the hard things as we shared our experiences. This coming week
(Wednesday onwards) we will begin the long process of debriefing and processing
through our time in Zambia, and we will also talk about how to transition back
to the USA. We would LOVE your prayers that we would process through these
things in a healthy way.
Tonight we will have a “kick-back”
evening of fun just hanging out with President Henry, having a traditional
Zambian meal for dinner, making homemade pretzels, and having him taste Maui
fruit!
Happy Friday from Zimba,
Zambia!
~ Elisabeth / Lily (aka
Lil, Lils, Lilith, Lillian, or Lithotripsy as the team calls me…)
p.s. many of the Zambians
have awesome names that are much more
fun than the many nicknames names I have accumulated on the trip. Some of our
new friends include Office, Fax, Pelvis, Happy and Happiness (husband and
wife!), Rocket, a little boy literally named Trouble, Severe, Moderate, Family,
Hitler, Clever, Fridge (short for Refrigerator), Family, Memory, Fortune,
Hipower, Elite, Progress…. I could go on and on. :)
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