Village in the bush

A few weeks ago Corey and I were invited by Giveness, a Zambian woman that works at one of the missionary's houses, to come and have lunch at her home. It took us a while to work out our schedules, but we finally made it out there last Tuesday. One of her sons came to our house in the morning and led us to the village, about a 45 minute scenic walk from the mission. When we arrived at her house Giveness was already starting our lunch, so, after being introduced to another of her sons, we sat down and learned how to prepare sweet potato and cassava leaves. After that she walked us through her family's village, identifying different things in English and Kaonde, and introducing us to relatives along the way.


[Giveness, our lovely hostess]

Giveness has been a part of the missionary community for quite some time, but she only knows a little English, so it requires extra effort on both our parts to be able to communitcate. She will be talking about something in English, stop mid-sentence, mutter to herself in Kaonde as she tries to figure out what she wants to say, and then continue on in English. It's a long process, but we appreciate her efforts. After our tour we came back to the house to make lunch. We washed and pounded some kind of grain, I think she said it is sorghum, you can never be sure with Giveness, but we'll call it that anyway.


[Sorghum, being poured into the bucket for more pounding...]

After we finished pounding the sorghum we sifted the maize meal and started cooking the nshima....


[Corey, the nshima cooking boy, got a few good laughs out of the relatives that were hanging around.]

Cooking over the open fire was quite an experience. I did the stirring at the beginning, but the smoke made my eyes water so badly I couldn't see anything, that's when Corey took over. They thought that was pretty funny too :)

After we finished our nshima, beans, casava and sweet potato leaves (absolutely delicious) we sat down on her couch to wait out the midday sun, and she showed us her photo album and shared her life story with us. It was a bit of a challenge to understand her, but we got most of it. We sat outside for a bit with Giveness and her mother, finished sifting the sorghum, and then hoed the garden for them.


[Giveness' mother sifting the Sorghum. Somewhat of an art form that we couldn't really get the hang of...]

Then we gathered our things and got ready to say goodye, but Giveness and her mother insisted on carrying our bags and walking part of the way with us, a cultural tradition, apparently. We walked together for a while and then got our backpacks and learned how to give a proper farewell. The entire day was an incredible experience. Thank you Giveness!!!

-Jamie

MONKEYS

Special post for the Burns Family,
Bill, Michelle, Billy, Abby, Richard, Ella, Heather, and Rockford :)


Here is one of the promised monkey pictures!


This is one of the vervet monkeys that wandered around the
lodge we stayed at for our first nights in Zambia.
There were tons of them around the lodge, and they
were a mischievous bunch.
Anytime they saw humans with food they would come very
close and try to get it from you. One afternoon when we
were eating lunch we noticed an adorable little monkey
in the tree above us. He was sitting right over Corey's head,
and before anyone knew what was going on he had pooped
right on Corey's head and on the lemon garnish on his
plate. Corey jumped out of his chair right away, and
the monkey moved to a branch that was directly over my
head. I made it out of my chair just in time to avoid getting
pooped on, and he got my empty chair instead. The crafty monkey
continued to move to a different branch to get ready to drop
another present, but we scared him away before he got a chance.
The clever guy almost got a free lunch for himself and his buddies.
Almost... :)




I love you guys!

-Jamie

Finally Settled In

As of this past Sunday, Jamie and I have been temporary residents of Mukinge for two weeks. After getting over the initial culture shock, we discussed how our time here was more comparable to going away to college for a semester than a vacation or short trip. That being said, we have adjusted quite nicely to our Zambian life with the wonderful Tompkins family.

Jamie continues to act as "mommy's sidekick", busying herself with laundry, child care, clean-up, cooking and anything else she can do to help Elissa around the house. After discovering the great "appreciation" of quality baked goods in the household, she has also made it a point to provide a new dessert on an almost daily basis, utilizing the abundance of fresh bananas in a variety of ways. She has also managed to venture her way out to the Boma (the "bustling" central marketplace of Kasempa), which she accomplished with the help of Miranda, one of the missionary nurses from the hospital. She seems to have gotten into a groove and is thoroughly enjoying her time here.

I am nearly firing on all cylinders (thank you for the prayers) with my first run-in with some lovely African microbes that likely entered my system after my partaking in some local cuisine during my first trip to the Boma. I am now back in the kitchen, trying to relieve Elissa of a meal or two a day, and my culinary skills are once again being challenged by the limited resources we have out here.

Since getting back on my feet, I have resumed shadowing Daren at the hospital, which has been a truly eye-opening experience. My exposure to medicine and healthcare in the states consisted primarily of minor ailments and most of the patients I saw were generally treated for minor symptoms (coughing, headaches, runny nose, etc.). Mukinge Hospital is an entirely different animal. At any given time, there are multiple patients in any ward that likely have TB, and HIV is so prevalent that the fact that someone is on medication for it is generally just a side note when you look at a patient's chart. In addition, because Mukinge is one of the best hospitals in the country, many people travel from hours away or walk for hours in their terrible conditions just to be treated by this handful of doctors.

One case that really has stuck with me was the father of a boy and girl in the class that Jamie and I have been helping teach. He was diagnosed with HIV a year ago and had refused treatment with ARVs(not uncommon due to certain social stigmas that I still don't understand), even though he was actually pretty well off financially. As he is in Daren's ward, I was able to see the tail end of his decline in health and he passed away several mornings ago. It is sobering to see the harsh reality of life here, and knowing his beautiful children and seeing his wife on rounds each day made really made it hit home for me.

On a positive note, thanks to some favor with some of the Hospital management I have also been cleared to observe and assist in Theater (O.R.), which I did for the first time yesterday. David, the New Zealander surgeon, is somewhat of a "bush surgery" specialist, and has had a lot of experience performing procedures without the luxuries of surgeons back home. In fact, during my previous trips to Sierra Leone, he was stationed with a medical mission group in one of the cities nearby to where I was staying. It really is great experience working with him, as he has to work with his limited surroundings. He says I am getting to see how some of these procedures were done 50 years ago in the States.

As I mentioned, both Jamie and I have begun to volunteer at the local school on alternating days, teaching children eight to twelve. The children have already taken quite a liking to us and we are very fond of them. As with the other teachers, we are affectionately addressed as "Uncle Corey" and "Auntie Jamie", and the two of us share stories about our favorite pupils when we get back home.

I had intended for this post to be a bit more insightful, but there is a lot to catch up on, and now that I see it typed out I realize we have been very busy. The experience has been incredible for both of us, in different ways and we still have almost eight weeks to go. Please continue to pray for our time here, and we will try to keep everyone caught up on any exciting occurrences.
Corey

P.S. GO PHILLIES!