Medical Stories

Handing Things Off

2008-08-30T02:04:00.000-07:00

As the time draws near for Stephanie and I to get on the airplane for our home assignment we have become quite busy. I never realized how much we actually did until we had to write it all down to hand it off. We are busy writing up schedules and procedures for our health workers, nutrition workers, and midwifes. Writing protocols for medicines, and diet plans. Packing the clinic away, buying enough supplies for 5 months, finishing administrative things. The biggest job has been getting all the charts together for our review patients that our health workers and midwifes will be checking on. Getting their medications laid out and writing instructions for when they are to be checked on and what is to be done etc. We are trying to plan a mini graduation for all our workers to acknowledge how far they have come in these past 6 months and reward them for all their hard work and commitment to us and to their communities. It’s great and exciting to give them this chance to show us what they can do on their own, but also a little scary to leave the program in their hands for so long. Please pray as we feverishly work to get everything handed off in time and laid out clearly. Also that all our workers would have strength and wisdom with all their patients over these next 5 months, that they would apply all that they have learned and that the light of Christ would shine through them as they work.

Fight with the System

2008-08-22T02:03:00.000-07:00

There are a few small health posts in our area that carry basic medicine and a nurse and we even have a “hospital” that is more like a clinic. It has basic medications and one nurse for all 5 wards. We are the closest thing to a hospital having the most resources for a quite a distance. Maamba Hospital which is about 90 minutes has an operating room but doesn’t even stock oxygen on a regular on a regular basis. We have made it a priority to have 2 tanks of medical oxygen in our clinic because we have some many asthma patients and little grandmas with congestive heart failure. However there is only one company in the entire country that supplies oxygen and they are less than reliable.
Stephanie and I make a great team. She is the bad guy and I am the good guy. We are constantly having to argue with them to get our oxygen. The arrangement is that they will deliver two tanks to Choma, which is 2 hours away from us and we will pick them up from there. However every time we make the trip they have sold our tanks to someone else, or they forgot to order them etc. The manager at the Lusaka branch as become quite familiar with us. We are constantly calling him, being very nice at first, explaining that our tanks are not there. Then yelling when he says it is not his fault for forgetting to order them. Responsibility in this country is not in their vocabulary.
We have even gotten Theuns involved thinking that getting a man to fight our battle (women our not respected here) would help us. He ran into the same problem...it’s not their fault for not ordering the tanks. So we called the manager in South Africa. We are not trying to cause problems or get people in trouble, we just want to be able to give our patients oxygen so they can breath. Theuns threatened to place a story in the newspaper about our patient dying because they didn’t have the oxygen they needed, didn’t you know those tanks were here 3 hours later. Our patient didn’t die, we ended up transferring him to the hospital in severe respiratory distress. I wish that this company would understand how valuable their product is and take some pride in the service they offer instead of just seeing it as a job. People depend on them and they are letting us down.

Akim's Smile and My Nutrition Kids

2008-08-21T01:53:00.000-07:00

Akim

When I first came to the Longezia Mission Base I had no idea that one of my jobs would be to run a malnutrition program. I am not qualified to head a program like this, but it has quickly become one of my favorite things to do. I spend many hours doing research on diets, malnutrition, vitamin supplements, and nutrition related diseases. More than just the physical side of things and I am extremely attached to the children. Due to their weakened state these kids are brought faithfully every two weeks by their caregivers, some as far as 15 miles by foot. I have watched expressionless 2 year olds weighing only 8 pounds blossom into bouncing fat little toddlers. It is a tedious job that brings me so much joy, I always look forward to Thursdays when I get to see them.
One of my favorite kids is Akim. He is a street kid that was taken in by a local pastor when he was one year old. From the time he was taken in till about 8 months ago he never smiled or said a worse. He is extremely shy and timid. I have been seeing him for about 7 months now and from the first day I was drawn to him. He has never said a word to me and I have tried so desperately to get him to smile with no success. Over the past few weeks he has started to come to me and give me hugs and hang out with me while I work, but he still never said anything nor smiled. Until last week. I saw him walking down the hill with his brother and mom so I ran out to meet them. When he saw me he started walking a little faster to come and greet me and came to give me a hug. When I pulled back a looked at him he smiled and said “I am fine”. I had not even said a word to him but here he was talking to me with a big smile on his face. Of course I cried, I had been waiting 7 months for this. Luckily he kept smiling that day so I was able to get a picture of him. I saw him two weeks later and now he won’t stop smiling and talking. I guess its true when they say that all good things are worth the wait!

Other kids I have fallen in LOVE with!

Little Grandma

2008-08-18T01:19:00.000-07:00

We go to the “hospital” that is near the base fairly often because we admit patients there. We use there beds but we assume care of the patient. It is a great arrangement because we are not legally registered to have people sleep overnight in our clinic and we can provide better care in some instances, so we work together.
We were at the hospital one day showing Ann and Chris from the Care Now Foundation around when we saw a little old grandma we recognized. She had been there 5 weeks earlier when we hd a patient there. This was strange because the hospital never keeps anyone over 2 weeks. We inquired about her and they told us that the family refused to allow her to be transferred to Maamba hospital because no one wanted to go with her. her in Zambia when someone goes to the hospital, a family member has to go with them to make cook and take care of them. The nurses responsibility is only to give medication. The hospital in Sinazongwe had taken her as a charity case and kept her, but she was getting worse. She could not go home because she was to sick to take care of herself and there was no one to go with her to the big hospital so she was left there to die. Well I think you can guess what we did, we took over her care.
She had congestive heart failure and they had placed her on Lasix, Aspirin, and Proponol orally. They treated her for a respiratory infection (PCN injections) because she had a cough, and tapped her abdomen taking off 6L in 8 hours. She had been there for almost 6 weeks with no improvement.
Our assessment revealed minor respiratory distress, HTN, ST with a S3 and S4. I didn’t have a heart monitor but from her rhythm I would bet money that she was throwing PVC’s. She had 3+ pitting edema all the way to her hips bilaterally. Her lungs were crackly in all lobes with audible wheezing and sternal retractions. Her abdomen was hard and distended with a positive fluid wave and she had no urine output was drinking water like we were in a drought. Her capillary refill was almost 5 seconds and her face was dark. I know that she is black, but her face was BLACK, I’m pretty sure that if she was white her face would have been a shade of blue from oxygen deprivation.
We tapped her abdomen, placed her on a bunch of meds, put her on the last O2 tank we had and left for the weekend. I fully expected her to be dead by the time we came back from Lusaka but when we walked in Monday morning (we had to go to Lusaka for the weekend) she was sitting up with all her tubes pulled out. She yanked out her urinary catheter and decided that her IV line was not necessary. I had taken some blood with me to Lusaka and ran some labs. i explained to her that her kidneys were fine and that the problem was with her heart. If she let me put the tubes back in and gave me 4 weeks she might be able to walk out of there. Up until this point she couldn’t even get herself into the wheelchair she had such a hard time breathing. She agreed and we started.

Stephanie and I went to the hospital 3 times a day checking vitals, abdominal girths, intake and output, and monitoring medications. She was a VERY hard stick and we couldn’t keep a line in her. We started with IV Digoxin but had to move to oral. We treated her with beta blockers, ACE inhibitors, diuretics, potassium, vitamins, antibiotics for a urinary tract infections, and tylenol for all the times we poked her. She was a super star and never complained once. Slowly slowly her edema started to decrease, her breathing got easier, and her color began to change. We brought her some new clothes and though she could barely stand she got up and did a little dance to show off her new digs.

After four weeks of medication and close monitoring of her ever changing erratic heart rate and unstable rhythm we discharged her home. Her edema is completely gone, she has been walking around the hospital on her own accord, and has no difficulty breathing. She has defied all odds and improved. With no oxygen, no heart monitor, and no IV but lots of prayer and determination this lady persevered and is now back home.

Can You Hear Me?

2008-08-02T08:10:00.000-07:00

We have been so busy lately and it is great that we have so many people coming to help. This past week Alfred Mwamba came down from Lusaka to treat some patients. He is an audiologist that was trained in the states and now works here in Lusaka. We have been communicating with him over the past few months about the possibility of him testing some people. Once we got a connection for hearing aids he jumped on board, left his 7 month pregnant wife at home and came to hang out with us for a week. We had a list going of patients that were hard of hearing or "deaf" and they all came together at 3 different clinics to be assessed by Alfred. We also went to the school for the disabled to see the kids there. Out of 21 students that they had written off as deaf we found 16 that will be able to hear will aids. Most of the deafness has been caused by cerebral malaria and meningitis. Some of them had been written off because they had a little trouble hearing and no one wanted to bother teaching them. It was so much fun to see peoples faces light up when they heard that little beep for the first time. As people get older and their hearing starts to go others just ignore them and they get ostracized from the community. We found many children we had recurrent ear infections that had never been treated who now can not hear. We can now help all of these people integrate back into the life they used to know. He even taught Stephanie and I how to conduct the hearing tests. Alfred will come back 2-3 more times to fit the ones selected for hearing aids and for fittings. We are so thankful that he took the time and effort to come and help us with this. If you would like to help us purchase hearing aids for the 38 people we have selected please email me ASAP.

VIsit from the Care Now Foundation

2008-07-25T22:19:00.000-07:00

We recently were able to host Anne and Chris from the Care Now Foundation. They came to visit for a few days to see what the ministry was doing and how their support has been able to help. They were troopers as they helped with clinics, passed out medication, ate traditional Zambian food, and loaded boxes for us. We had a great time and even though their visit was short I'm sure that hey got a pretty good idea of what happens in a typical day over here. We were so blessed to be able to spend some time with them and can't wait for them to come back next year!

Omp's Foot

2008-07-25T07:53:00.000-07:00

When we first arrived in SInazongwe 1 year ago, Karin immediatly told us about a young women who had stepped on a thorn and it had been left untreated. Over several months it had turned into a massive open festering wound contracting her tendons and deforming her foot. She wanted me to go and see if there was anything else that could be done for her. Over the past year she has gone back and forth between treatments usually taking steps backword. Her husband does not approve of her recieving care so everythime she stars getting better he makes her stop treatment and then sinks back to where she started.
A few months ago I sent her to Lusaka for a tissue biopsy to rule out cancer. After 4 months of waiting for the results, they proved to be negative. This ruled out amputation which other doctors had suggested if the results were positive. SO now we had a choice to make. If we send her home with this information she will never get better and we knew that we had to do something. So we went a little radical and admited her to Sinazongwe Hospital.
Admitting her to the hospital simply means using one of their beds. All of her care, vital signs, feedings we placed in our lap and we only had 1 weeks to "fix" her foot. The hospital would only aggree to keep her for 7 days so we had to work fast. We prayed hard and got started. I won't go into details but she was on around the clock IV antibiotics, dressing changes every 4 hours, and we even performed minor surgery on the foot. We kept our regular program of teaching and clinics but also traveled to the hospital every 3 1/2 hours to attend to her. We lost a lot of sleep but it was worth it. At the end of the week the wound had healed 1cm in all directions. It is no where close to being healed but she is well on her way. The infection is gone and she is now pain free. WIth visits twice a week from our health care workers and a lot of education about dressing changes, we pray that her wound would be healed pretty soon.

Medical Team

2008-06-28T07:36:00.000-07:00

We now in full swing of our team season and our most recent was a medical team from the UK and Canada. It was made up of 2 doctors, 3 nurses, and a one women prayer team. We held 5 massive clinics and saw over 1,300 people in less than a week. Stephanie and I ran around for weeks before hand trying to get schedules together, medication bought, and plans organized. Once the team arrived everything went extremely smoothly and we had a great team. Many people were reached and the team brought a level of expertise that we don't have. Many of our recurrent patients we able to be treated by the MD's, minor surgical procedures were performed, and we went through lots of medication. It was a very fast paced week and it took us awhile to recover but it was worth it.

To see more pictures please click here to be redirected.

UK Medical Team Pictures

It's a Girl....and a Girl!

2008-06-25T05:59:00.000-07:00

The word has spread that we are available for births and now that the women in the area are beginning to trust us more Stephanie's ministry has begun to pick up. Not only has she broken off from the medical side of things a little bit and begun to work more in the homes of her trainees, but we had our second birth a few days ago.
We got the phone call on our day off (its always on our day off) that they were on their way. We quickly moved everything out of the clinic because we had not yet cleaned up from the medical team that was visiting. Just as we had finished and gotten changed into scrubs one of my health care workers came walking down the road saying that she needed to be picked up that she was not going to make it. We threw some gloves on, grabbed our birth kit and jumped in the car. As we tore up the road we found Sandra, Stephanie's trainee slowly walking with our lady in labor. Her water had broken and they got scarred. So much for the adrenaline rush, we got in the car and drove back to the base at a much slower speed since the baby wasn't coming.
Stephanie immediately recognized the patient and had remembered seeing her before on a pre natal visit but couldn't find her chart. This was a little disconcerting because we didn't know if there were any prior complications during the pregnancy that we should be aware of. As Stephanie did her exam she got this big smile on her face and said I can feel a hand...wait a foot. It was an extremity of some sort and signaled that this baby was not necessarily in the right position. But everything else checked out so Steph decided to keep her. We quickly reviewed all the different positions and maneuvers for a breech birth and tried to prepare ourselves for anything.
Since her water had already broken before she got to us we didn't have long to wait. About two hours after she arrived she began pushing. We had her stand in a modified squat in case the baby was breech. Her contractions were so tight that it was virtually impossible to feel the baby's position so we were going off of the extremity that Steph felt during the internal exam. She did a fabulous job and in no time a absolutely beautiful tiny 1.5kg (3.3lbs) little girl was born with no problems or complications. The mother was utterly exhausted so she asked to lay down for the birth of the placenta. We quickly obliged as we proceeded to exam her and take care of the baby. Just as I clamped the umbilical cord and got the baby wrapped up for her mom Stephanie mentioned that the placenta was not coming as it should. Our mom was pushing awfully hard for an afterbirth and then we were surprised with a huge splash of water spewing all over our table. Stephanie said it jokingly but I didn't believe her and the next thing we knew a tiny little bottom began to emerge! By now the mom was laying down, not a good position for a breech birth, and she was too tired to push. Stephanie did a GREAT job and didn't touch the baby, letting her come out on her own. Touching a breech baby can cause them to try and breath but all they have to breath is meconium and fluid leading to aspiration. Knowing that only one baby had been monitored during labor and not knowing which one we had been watched was not a good feeling. Yet as she came out about up to her umbilicus she began to wiggle her little behind and we knew she was alive. It was an amazing feeling to know that at least she had a chance. Now we had to get our mom to push, she was so tired and had no interest in sitting up. We got her up and made her push for fear that the head would get stuck. As soon as she pushed out popped the second breech baby girl weigh exactly double at 3kg (6.6lbs). Baby girl #2 needed some help at first but soon livened up and is definitely the feister of the two.

The placenta fused together to create this really cool picture

Stephanie went the following day to visit the new family at home. They are all doing great and are healthy. The main focus know is to get Baby girl#1 enough food so she can grow and catch up with her sister. Know the only question is...when is the next one?!

It's a Boy

2008-06-02T02:21:00.000-07:00

This is the story of our very first birth here in Zambia as told by Stephanie.

We were having a going away lunch for Michelle Engelbrecht on the 1st of June, at the base with some of the South Africans we know who have been friends of the family for years. It was about 2:30 when Susan heard my phone going off in the house and went to answer it. She came back with a funny look on her face. She told me one of my midwives-in-training, Sandra, had called and there was a client in labor at her house, did I want her to bring her over to the clinic? I paused in shock for a second and asked, “Do we want her to come? Should she come? Yes? Yes. I mean, yes, she should come!” Susan agreed so we asked Sandra to bring her over.

It took about 35 minutes for them to walk what is normally a 20 minute walk. We were nervous. Everything was all set up and we had found the chart. Dales had some for two prenatals, both of which were normal, except for slight anemia. I was glad to find that there were no warning signs at the start as this would be my first labor in two years and seven months, not to mention my first birth absolutely on my own without anyone more experienced to back me up.

Susan and I talked through a few preparation items—it was Dales’ 8th pregnancy which could mean some special complications on its own and we wanted to be prepared for the worst while hoping for the best.

Dales and Sandra finally arrived. Sandra was completely pale and said she had been so nervous and prayed a lot as they walked, hoping that Dales would not deliver. I hadn’t really thought about it, but it was Sandra’s first birth ever and I had just assumed she would have said they couldn’t walk if she was really that nervous! In the end, Dales was only 3cm.

It didn’t take us long to notice that Dales had not brought a thing with her. In most countries outside the Western world there is a list of obligatory things that must be brought to a hospital or clinic. You need: a person to take care of you (because there are not enough nurses), food, gloves, cord clamps, stuff for the baby, stuff for you, medications the medical staff might need to use on you, etc. In fact, many of the clinics require even the baby blanket and clothes to be all new and can refuse to deliver your baby if they are not. We had never set up any requirements, but had assumed that some of these things would be brought along.

As we talked with her, Dales revealed that her husband has abandoned her and their children, as well as his other two wives and their children. Dales would be taking home a new baby into a home situation where she was the only provider and where this child might be seen as the latest trial. As I prayed with Dales and for Dales this made me think of so many patients we have that bear a name or have named a child something equivalent to a curse. Karin Engelbrecht and I had talked a few times about how people use English words as names without always knowing the meaning, but we had a teen mother who had named her child ‘Malice’ because the father hadn’t owned up to his role. And another whose child was called ‘Killer.’ I really felt that God was calling me to help Dales to remember who He was and not how difficult her situation was.

The hours drug on and Sandra, Susan, Michelle, and I sat in the med room reading textbooks while Dales rested. She had been in labor since 5 am, but everything was going normally and it seemed she just needed a breather. Susan took a break and had a quick nap. We hired our neighbor’s wife to make food for Sandra and Dales to eat and we had some dinner as well. At 8pm Dales was still 3cm, but there was some progress noted and the baby was fine. At 10pm Sus switched with me and I crawled into bed, anticipating a long night. I tried to persuade Sandra to rest in the corner, but she was too excited. Michelle also went to rest.

Just past 11pm I got a call. Susan was practically yelling into the phone, “Baby coming!” It was a good thing I had much experience with sleeping on a top bunk while on call for births, because I was able to carefully get myself down and run into the clinic just after the baby’s head came out. Sandra was in a support hold from behind, Dales was in a beautiful squat, and Susan was moving from in front of the patient as I entered.

I wasn’t sure the exact seconds on ‘head out,’ so I checked if there was a cord around the neck, but everything was fine. In a few seconds the new life slithered out and I held the baby up so Dales could identify him. 11:07pm. She wasn’t in a position to hold him just yet, so she acknowledged that he was a boy and Susan toweled him off before giving him to her.

It was one of the cleanest births I have ever attended. We had prepared in case Dales’ hemorrhaged, but she didn’t. Dales pushed once for the placenta and it came, but trailed membranes for a long time. Then it was over. My first Zambian birth.

Once Dales and her son were settled back in bed, we looked over a very unhealthy, malnourished placenta. It looked intact, but with the long membranes it was hard to tell if there might be a small piece missing. It was so wonderful to be able to teach and explain everything I knew as we went along. Sandra just soaked it up.

Dales’ body normalized quickly after the birth and, after 45 minutes, I took her to wash up while Susan and Michelle washed and examined the perfectly normal baby boy.
Susan drove Sandra home because the water from the lake has risen so high that the hippos (known for being one of the most deadly animals in Africa) would walk onto the road. Dales stayed the night with her baby. In the morning we put together some clothes for her and her son. I sat with her a while and conversed through a translator. I told her how we had prepared, in case there were any problems, but how God had intervened and not allowed any to come. I encouraged her to think about how the Lord has been gracious to her in this time and to name her child something that will be a reminder. That speaking his name will be like speaking a blessing over his life each day instead of speaking a curse. Dales agreed that she wanted to bless her child.

Karin noted later that it was interesting. After having seven unattended (or attended by untrained birth attendants) home births, Dales had walked all the way to our clinic to find help for her eighth delivery. Perhaps it was because she was feeling alone or because she enjoyed our care in prenatals. But, whatever the reason, I believe that God sent her. Not so much for me, but for herself and for that little boy. God has a plan for his life and I pray that the name Dales gives him will reflect the blessings that God has already been faithful with and will continue in that child’s life.

Monday morning Susan and I ran clinic as normal, but it seemed everyone already knew we had our first birth the night before. The community was so excited for us and thankful to us for a healthy baby. It was an interesting response. Glory to God, but also thankful that we were here and glad that we were helping. Sometimes it’s nice to have someone say, “Thank you.”

New Press Release

2008-05-30T03:01:00.000-07:00

This is the most recent press release reporting on the Care Now fundraising gala that was held on May 4th to raise money for the clinics here in Zambia. You can visit the original site by clicking below.

Visit the Newspapers Website

Local couple work to provide health care in rural Africa

Wendy Bjurstrom had never wanted to go to Africa but once she did, the experience changed the Westlake Village resident's life.

She and her husband, Ed, a former Amgen vice president, were so deeply touched by the people they met on their first trip in 2002 that they formed an organization to help improve the health of Africans.

"We had done a lot of travelling but Africa sounded so primitive, like a scary place," Bjurstrom said. "But the people were so joyful, so giving, even though they had nothing. They are so poor and underserved. Our hearts were broken."

The couple returned in 2004, traveling to five countries to research how they could help. The following year Ed Bjurstrom left Amgen after 18 years to establish the nonprofit CareNow Foundation. The organization develops and supports community clinics in areas of Africa where healthcare is unavailable.

Among CareNow's projects is a mobile clinic staffed by two Americans, a nurse and a midwife, serving thousands of Africans in rural areas of Zambia.

Patients often walk for hours to get help at the clinic, which travels to various sites. So many people require care, and the nurses cannot see everyone although they try, Bjurstrom said.

In March alone 800 patients were treated. The nurses are training area residents in first aid so they can help care for their communities.

Last year CareNow shipped $700,000 in supplies and equipment to a medical center in South Africa and provided funding to another South African facility that treats HIV/AIDS victims, including AIDS-infected children at an orphanage.

To raise funds for their cause, CareNow organizers and volunteers are sponsoring a Walk for Africa on Sat., May 17 in Santa Monica. Proceeds will be used to purchase another mobile clinic to serve a remote Zambian area.

Band-Aids needed

Bjurstrom explained that many Africans die from medical problems that could easily have been healed by basic first aid.

"When people get sick they visit the witch doctor, who advises such remedies as putting rabbit hair on a wound that may simply need a Band-Aid and antibiotic cream," Bjurstrom said. "So many of them die from these types of things."

She described other health issues common in rural Africa. Many people don't have shoes, and if a bare foot gets a cut that becomes infected, the simple injury can threaten their lives.

Eye disorders are often seen in people who cook over a fire. Poisonous snake and scorpion bites are also common.

Women carry 5-gallon jugs of water on their heads, resulting in neck problems, and their drinking water is shared by animals who bathe in it.

Children having children

It's common for girls to have babies every year beginning at age 14, with no prenatal care. By the time they reach 25 their bodies are ruined.

"In Zambia the average age is 15. People don't live to their 40s and 50s because of health issues. There is so much that needs to be done," said Agoura Hills resident Chris Flaherty, a CareNow volunteer who will visit Zambia this summer to investigate other possible ways the foundation can help.

A former nurse, Flaherty will also provide healthcare during her two weeks in Africa.

Corruption obstruction

The Bjurstroms originally wanted to build drug manufacturing plants to help treat victims of the AIDS epidemic- AIDS is a huge problem but "nobody wants to talk about it or admit it," Bjurstrom said. "It's difficult to get anyone tested. They say they don't have it even though they have symptoms."

The couple tried to work with African officials on the drug production concept but quickly realized that the government was too corrupt.

"We had to find people on the ground dedicated to not taking bribes, but just to taking care of people," Bjurstrom said.

How to help

The two nurses who staff the mobile clinic flew to the U.S. to be honored at a fundraising dinner earlier this month at Moorpark Country Club.

Guests shopped for authentic crafts at a Zambian marketplace and helped pack BandAids, antibiotic ointment, alcohol swabs, Pepto-Bismol, latex gloves and gauze into basic first aid kits to send to Africa.

The foundation's goals include continuing the shipment of medical supplies and equipment to Africa, expanding the mobile clinic to new locations in Zambia and bringing additional healthcare providers to Zambia and South Africa. Bjurstrom hopes to bring in new staffers for at least a year to support the two nurses currently working in Zambia.

"What these two young women put up with is amazing- snakes, scorpions, miserable weather, no TV, no luxuries," Bjurstrom said. "They stay because they love the people."

To volunteer or donate, call (818) 597-2451 or visit www.carenowfoundation.org.

Care Now Donation

2008-05-30T02:57:00.000-07:00

The Care Now Foundation, who have been huge supporters of ours for some time now, teamed up with Giving Children Hope and procured a shipment of medication for us. We were able to pick it up from the customs office yesterday. It is loaded with much needed antibiotics, tablets to de-worm, pain killers, and antiseptic cream. We are very thankful for this shipment, it will give us more resources to better care for the people in the Tonga Valley. Thank You Care Now!!

Hat Donation

2008-05-20T02:50:00.000-07:00

We received a donation of hats, socks, and some clothes for babies and children. We were able to give them out to the children on our nutrition and malnourished programs. They were so excited to get these presents and they looked adorable in their big hats.

The Care Now Foundation Fundraiser

2008-05-05T01:56:00.000-07:00

The Care Now Foundation has been supporting the medical work here in Zambia for the past year and a half. This May at their yearly fundraiser gala they choose to spotlight Zambia. Stephanie and I were thrilled to be able to fly out to Southern California to attend this event and meet many of the people that support us in ministry.
We worked feverishly for the weeks leading up to our departure getting stories prepared, props packed, and ourselves organized for what we were going to present. When we landed in LAX it was a whirlwind of activity. We had many family and friends that came over to help us prepare for the event and we could not have gotten it all done without them.
On the day of the event, Sunday May 4th, Stephanie and I spent the morning at Conjeo Valley Community Church speaking and meeting with people there. We then rushed over to the country club where the event was to be held that evening. The layout was absolutely beautiful and we were very impressed with the volunteers that we there helping.
The theme for the event was A Passport to Hope. As people arrived there were given a passport and needed to go to various centers to get their stamps. Each of their stops was representative of the work that occurs here in Zambia. We had a church, a medical clinic, a midwifery clinic, a malnourished hut, a first aid station, and a market place. The two clinics and malnourished huts had stories of people that Stephanie and I have treated. Their plight and suffering and how through medical care and love they were able to find hope. We had many props from our cl incs that showed how we work big cases with very little in primitive conditions. At the first aid station people were able to pick up supplies and medications that were donated by Giving Children Hope, and place them into a kit that will be used here in Zambia. There was a silent auction, a live auction, and a market place where people were able to bid a buy things from Africa. The guest speaker for the evening was Nick Vujicic, an amazing man with an inspirational message of hope and faith. Please take a look at his website www.lifewithoutlimbs.com
As a sup rise Care Now presented Stephanie and I with awards for National Nurses week. It was a fabulous evening! I have placed a few pictures here but there are many more under the my pictures link. Click below to be directed there.

View More Pictures

The Malnourished Hut that displayed the story of Luwettu and how our nutrition program works.
The Midwifery clinic complete with dirt floors and props with a story of a typical mother with 5 children.
Stepahnie and I with Wendy, the co-director of the Care Now Foundation
Stephanie and I were asked to speak when we were presented with our awards for heroine in nursing
Ed Bjurstrom, the director of the Care Now Foundation, addressing the audience.

News Press Release

2008-04-15T01:51:00.000-07:00

There has been a lot of publicity about the work that God is doing over here in Zambia. Thanks to the Care Now Foundation, magazine articles, radio interviews, and newspapers clips have been run about the clinics here and the people being reached. I placed them here so you would be able to read them.

CareNow Foundation Set to Host
Second Annual SafariNow Gala on May 4
Theme is SafariNow: A Passport To Hope

Westlake Village, CA (February 24, 2008) – CareNow Foundation is gearing up for its second annual SafariNow fundraising gala, which is scheduled for Sunday, May 4 at the Moorpark Country Club. “The theme for this year’s event is SafariNow: A Passport To Hope. Our focus for the evening will be centered on Zambia and their healthcare needs,” said Ed Bjurstrom, founder of CareNow Foundation.

SafariNow attendees will have the opportunity to participate in several interactive demonstrations, such as what a mobile clinic or prenatal clinic is like in the Zambia bush. “Our goal is to educate our guests about where the most help is needed, in terms of healthcare, in Zambia and how they can contribute to the cause,” said Wendy Bjurstrom, co-chair for the event. “We are especially excited to have Susan Hundshamer and Stephanie Brink with us from Zambia for this event. Firsthand knowledge of running a mobile clinic in rural Zambia will bring our interactive demonstrations to a new level and create a memorable experience for our guests.” The evening activities will also include a Zambian marketplace where guests can shop and purchase authentic items from Zambia.

The SafariNow Gala will begin at 5:00 p.m. with a reception, interactive demonstrations, and a silent auction. The dinner program will include a musical program directed by Tim Heitz, along with special speakers who are involved in Africa, and a live auction. Tickets are $125 each or $1,250 for a table of 10. Sponsorships are available at the following levels:
Ambassador - $20,000, Diplomat - $15,000, Delegate - $10,000, Commissioner - $5,000, Advocate - $2,500 and Agent of Hope - $1,000.

Volunteers are needed to help plan the event and on the evening of the gala, and auction items are needed as well. “We are excited to be hosting our second annual gala. This is a major milestone for CareNow and an opportunity for us to say thank you to our many supporters,” said Mr. Bjurstrom.

To sponsor or to volunteer for the SafariNow Gala, call 818-587-2451 or visit the Web site at www.carenowfoundation.org.

CareNow is committed to providing essential healthcare for the least served people in remote regions of the world, by providing funding for staff, equipment and supplies, and training of local healthcare providers. CareNow is about “doing.” “CareNow – DoNow.”

Baby Luwettu

2008-02-29T07:40:00.001-08:00

We get moms coming every week asking for us to put their babies on the nutrition program. Most of them get turned away with nutrition education and prayer because their children are not malnourished and we don't have enough food to feed those that aren't sick. However there are days when everyone that comes seems to be sick. It was one of those days when baby Luwettu arrived. Her aunt brought her in and just by looking at her you could tell she was sick. Her mom had been in the hospital for the past three months and had died the previous week. This meant that the baby was eating porridge for the past three months and she was only 9 months old. She was skin and bones, very lethargic, could barley hold her head up, and was the size of a 3 month old. These are pictures of her as she has gotten bigger. She has been on our malnourished program for the past 4 weeks and has gained almost 2kgs. Last time I saw her she was smiling and laughing. She even had enough energy to play with some of the toys we had. Her aunt that is caring for her is 8 months pregnant and will not be able to care for her after the birth of her own child. Please pray for this little one, her future is uncertain.

A Picture Tour of Our Base Clinic

2008-02-29T06:16:00.001-08:00

I couldn't get the video to post so I thought I would give you a tour of our base clinic with pictures. Here it goes:

Our clinic is a store room that we converted. It is divided into two parts, the pharmacy where all the medication is stored in an air conditioned room, and the patient care area where supplies are kept and patients are seen.

We keep our medications in cupboards and on shelves for easy access and inventory purposes. They are divided by physiological system.

As you pass through the pharmacy are and enter the other side this is what you see. They are shelves with supplies on them. They have material covering the front of the shelves to prevent dust from getting on everything.

This is the door that separates the two rooms. The red bucket is our only water source close to the clinic. This is where we wash our hands and get drinking water for patients. This is my space to assess patients.
As you turn to the right you see our work table. It holds our microscope, dirty instrument bin, and drying rack. We write our charts here and prepare specimens. It's a multi purpose table and at times becomes very crowded.

Keep turning left and you will see all our supplies stored in totes. We use these to stock the shelves. They go from ceiling to floor and are packed full. It is a lot of work to unload these but we are grateful for the donations. (yes, I'm standing on a stool)

Rotate some more and you'll see the door that leads to the outside. Patients enter from here when we have clinics. There are more supplies stored in the bookshelf that Mike made for us. The red and blue bags are what we use to carry supplies for mobile clinics in the bush. The green and blue totes on the bottom are all our charts of patients we have seen.

We have one bed that gets used quite often. Stephanie usually works in this space because it is easier to assess pregnant ladies while they are laying down.

Supply Donation

2008-01-08T01:18:00.000-08:00

Donated bag of supplies and medication from Care Now

Are fully stocked shelf ready to serve the Tonga Valley

A donation from Ed and Wendy Bjurstrom in Care Now's name

With my sisters recent arrival, she also came loaded up with supplies and medication donated by the Care Now Foundation. They have been our biggest supporters of the ministry here and we would not be able to function in the capacity we do without their help. They allow us to bring live saving treatment to hundreds of people in the Tonga valley through their financial and monetary donations. They support many other medical ministries in Africa and strive to provide essential health care to the worlds least served. Please check out their website www.carenowfoundation.org for more information on their efforts to bring health care to Africa. Their annual fundraiser is May 4, 2008 and highlights all of their current projects and future plans. I hope to see you there!

Highlands Community Church

2008-01-06T05:06:00.000-08:00

In September Stephanie went home to be with her sister when she had her first baby. While there she was able to speak at her church and share the needs of our medical ministry. The response there was unbelievable and they held a "Open Clinic" shower for us donating more then we could have imagined. Everything on our wish list was donated either directly or money was given to purchase it. Their generosity is amazing and has giving us the resources to serve better.

Stephanie's arrival back in Sinazongwe with four suitcases loaded to the brim with donations and a few other things!

Our students and their backpacks, watches, stethoscopes:

Me teaching with the whiteboard:

Steph blowing up the air mat (that we didn't even ask for!) for her patients to lay on for exams at the mobile clinics:

Our heating element is on the bottom- the sterilizer (on top) won't work without it- we also got plenty of gas to keep it going all year!:

Seriously, how cool is that?:

We were even able to have my sister bring stuff with her in January- including our stools with backs! What a wonderful change from what we've been sitting on all day!:

Me and Fanwell weighing a baby in the new scale:

They raised so much money that Steph and I were able to afford a new microscope that we are so excited to be using to find things like Malaria, Tuberculosis, and Giardia!:

New Nutrition Program

2007-12-05T04:33:00.000-08:00

When MVI first got established in the Sinazongwe valley it became very apparent to the Engelbrechts that the orphan problem was massive. Not only were families suffering from starvation and HIV, but children were being left behind with no one to care for them. A year ago Karin took on a feeding program for orphans whose mothers had died from HIV or were severely malnourished and were unable to provided for their children. This was a huge undertaking and the word rapidly spread that baby formula was being given out to vulnerable babies. The program grew rapidly and when Stephanie and I arrived there were over 50 babies registered!
It is a great program because the moms/caregivers are taught about nutrition, they are prayed with, and they are given emotional support when they come every month to pick up the formula. They are evaluated for their vulnerability status before admittance to the program and must meet a certain criteria before they are allowed to join. These moms and caretakers walk upwards of 9 hours one way every month to get food for these babies. Their growth is monitored very carefully and they are weaned onto protein supplements and eventually foods that are found in our area.
After a few months of being on the base and seeing many of these babies in clinic it became apparent that this was more than a feeding program. The word has spread so much that people are coming from extremely far distances for help. A lot of these babies need more than just baby formula. It’s not that they have no resources to get food, now we have babies coming who are malnourished. Because of this we have branched out and started a second program specifically for malnourished babies and children.
The babies have been divided into 2 groups. Those who are vulnerable and need baby formula or protein supplements, and those who are malnourished. The vulnerable babies come once a month and are on the same program that Karin started. The malnourished babies come every two weeks, some once a week and are followed a lot more closely. All measurements, vital signs, blood sugar, and diets are checked. We have 4 different diets that we make from scratch and the babies eat 7-12 times a day, some even through feeding tubes. They move through on a ladder system moving up depending on how their measurements do or do not increase. It takes a lot of education and patience between us and the caregivers but it has been going very well. For the most part the caregivers and parents that come to us really want to see the children get better and are willing to do the extra work it takes to make that happen. We spend a lot of time with them so it gives us the chance to build relationships with them and speak into their life’s.
Currently it costs quite a bit to support a malnourished child. If you would like to help feed a malnourished child in Sinazongwe please visit the donation page.

Sweet Rose

2007-12-02T02:47:00.000-08:00

It was abnormally busy clinic day with tons of patients and it was also baby milk day. This meant that not only did we have patients there for clinic but all the orphans on Karin's feeding program were at the base also. This added approximately 35 screaming toddlers and infants to our roster for the day and to top it all off it was hot. Now I love a challenge, but to be honest I was running short on grace that day. I specifically remember this because about lunch time Karin came up to me and said there was a little girl who was laying down outside and was really sick. Now that I have lived here awhile this description means nothing to me. It is normal for people to seek out the shade and lay down outside. They wait at our clinics for hours and often sleep to pass the time. My first reaction was that she had malaria so I sent one of our trainees outside to assess the situation but I really thought nothing of it.
At the very beginning of clinics our trainees hand out numbers to the "waiting room" and identifying the sick patients. The sick ones go first and then we continue in order of arrival. 90% of people arrive before 0600. If they didn't identify her as sick then she either was not that sick, she arrived after we started, or they misjudged the situation. I was seeing another patient and completely forgot about the little girl until the door flung open and Fanwell walked in carrying a completely limp emancipated 9 year old little girl who looked like she was dead. My immediate reaction was one of complete horror and some other things that I can't write in here.
My trainees were overwhelmed and had to serve as observers and translators only. Stephanie and I worked the patient up as best we could with very little information.We found out that family lived very far away and the mother had walked 9 hours with her little girl on her back to come see us. She had been to every hospital that Zambia has and they all sent them away, why she didn't know. It is very typical here to not explain anything. She had heard about us but didn't have any transport money so she walked all the way. 9 hours is a long way to walk with a child on your back. It's even worse when your carrying a 9 year old whose stomach is swollen to the size of a women who is 8 months pregnant with twins!
There was not much we could do for her. There was not much that anyone could do for her. Even if we were in a first world country she would not have survived. After caring for her night and day for 3 days and getting her pain under control, we drove her home. We felt it was better and more culturally appropriate for Rose to die at home with her family. There is a lot of death all around us here, it is something we deal with everyday. So and so's family member, someone we saw last month, or took care of a few weeks ago. But Rose was the first patient that we had invested so much of our hearts into. We stayed up all night, we prayed constantly, we shed tears, we hurt with her family. I know that this is just the beginning, but it is something that I will never get used to.

A Cluckin Present

2007-11-30T04:50:00.000-08:00

We have had some very funny incidents in our clinic but by far the funniest yet was receiving a chicken as payment. All of our services and medications are free to anyone who comes. We are supported and stocked by the Care Now Foundation and other donors from the states. However, some of the medications that we supply are extremely expensive. Some patients that need to be on long term therapy and incur big expenses are asked to make a small donation to help with costs. They come in and help clean one day a week, or bring something from their garden to donate to the feeding program. We don't put any stipulations on it, just whatever they can manage. If they can't offer anything then we write it off and treat them regardless of the cost.
We had one patient that needed to be on medication for high blood pressure. She needed a high dose so we asked for a small donation. She came the next week with a live chicken! We had to keep the chicken outside until clinic was over and then drive it to a friend’s house where we sold it and used to money to buy food for the nutrition program. It was a strange experience but a comical one. I've killed a chicken before, but I still don't like them. Their beady little eyes freak me out!

Does Anyone Have Gas?

2007-11-15T05:06:00.000-08:00

After evaluating the services offered and the equipment that the local hospital had, we decided to get an oxygen tank. It was the one of the BIGGEST hassles I have experienced in Africa to date. I have had a lot of challenges here, but this was one for the record books. Dealing with people who didn’t know what their product was, to people who filled in the forms wrong. Delivery trucks breaking down, orders not being completed, orders being forgotten, being overcharged, equipment breaking, etc. Everything that could have gone wrong did, and even more, twice over. Yet, when it was all said and done we have had multiple patients benefit from the oxygen tanks. So in the end it was well worth it. We will continue to go through the hassle of getting the oxygen because the people here need it regardless of what it costs us.

Another Burn Patient

2007-11-07T03:50:00.000-08:00

One thing that I have been very shocked at is the number of burn patients here. If you look at how people live it should not be surprising, but perhaps its the severity of the injuries that shock me. You would never see anything like this in the states. Children with horrific injuries walk around hiding because there is no one to help fix their appearance or their deformities. It is truly a heart breaking thing to see and yet every time you help one, the next day there is another.
The latest patient of ours is a 9 year old boy who was playing with his brother and fell face first into the cooing fire. He tried to catch himself with his hands, but that just added to his injuries. He went to the government hospital where they gave him an antibiotic cream and Tylenol (for full thickness 3rd degree burns) and sent him home. Now 1 year later, his hands have scared over and his fingers are gone, his ear is missing, he can not see out of his right eye, and he is afraid to leave the house.
Please pray with me that the visiting plastic surgeon will take his case free of charge and he can get the reconstructive surgery that he needs. That the fire did not damage his inner ear and the ENT surgeon can restore his hearing. That this little boy would feel loved and cared for thorough this whole process.
** I did not post the pictures because they are VERY graphic. You can find them on my fliker site under the pictures page.

Walking Miles

2007-10-20T04:58:00.000-07:00

When we started clinics at the base we never expected the turn out that we have been getting. Masses of people arrive usually before 6am and continue to trickle in well into the afternoon. It is a rare day when we don’t have to turn people away. I don’t find it odd that people are desperate for medical care when I look around and see the conditions that they are faced with. They have no where else to go so I can understand why they would wait 10 hours to come see us about a headache. Yet I am still stunned when I find a patient who has sat outside all day (9 hours) in the heat with no lunch because he has a headache. After talking with him a little and giving him Tylenol because there is nothing wrong with him, I find that he now has to walk home. This would usually be no big deal everyone here walks except its after 7pm, its dark, and he lives a good 40min drive away. Did I mention that he is 70 years, old walks hunched over with a cane and has no shoes. He was my last patient of the day and my heart just broke for him. Stephanie and I broke the rules and drove him home. He was the most grateful old man you have ever seen! I guess where there is pain people will always search for relief. I just pray that they search in the right place.

Charts!!

2007-10-10T09:16:00.000-07:00

Administration is a big part of running a clinic. Because Stephanie and I both hate paperwork we try to keep it to a minimum, but one thing we could not eliminate was the charting. We have a simplistic charting system that records that patient’s complaints, our assessment, the diagnosis, the treatment they get and any notes we make. It then gets filed according to the village they live in. Sounds simple right. We thought so to ☺ until we realized a few weeks into it when the charts started piling up that there are thousands of villages. After 4 months we have logged over 87 different villages and 3,800 patients! This has made for a tedious filing day and lots of paper. We can’t keep things on the computer because then our Zambian workers cannot assist us. In addition to filing all the charts we also keep statistics on each village to track trends in diseases such as tuberculosis and intestinal worms. Doing this takes a lot of time, but it reveals a lot of important information that helps us and the government in identifying outbreaks.

School for the Disabled

2007-09-28T15:06:00.000-07:00

In the midst of all the clinics and home visits, Fridays have been set aside to visit other medical institutions or volunteer at the hospital. Recently I was asked to go to a school for the disabled in Maamba, approximately one hour away. I was told that the school was very nice, the children well cared for, and the only one of its kind from here to Lusaka. A perception was formed in my mind of what it was like but when I arrived, that perception was shattered. It is true that it is a step above some other schools in the sense that it has a playground but that is all. There are 67 students all with at least one disability. 10 teachers tend to them, but none of them have had training in taking care of special needs children. It is only their compassion and servants hearts that keep them there and caring for those children.
The three main disabilities they house are deaf, physically handicapped, and mentally impaired. This makes for a wide range of learning styles and challenges. When I arrived they all sang me a song and then proceed to sit down and wait for me to speak. I had no idea that I was going to have to say anything and I stammered through some little speech. I didn’t understand why they were making a big deal about my visit. My purpose there was to evaluate the physically handicapped for an incoming physically therapist. It was not until I was leaving a few hours later that the headmaster explained why my arrival was so huge. In the 7 years since the school has been functioning, no medical person has ever come to evaluate the kids! The children get brought in from the community and the teachers guess as to what they have. Their hearing has never been tested, the learning abilities have never been evaluated, and their deformities have been left to deteriorate even further.
What is even more shocking than that is that I found many children whose disabilities were preventable and some even correctable. Yet with no resources available they have endured their lot in life. I am now on a quest to get a physically therapist, speech therapist, audiologist, plastic surgeon, and special education teachers to come and train/educated the teachers.
My visit there was an eye opener to the type of cases that I don’t see on a regular basis. I am excited to see how MVI and I can help these children and the teachers.

Needed:
* Special Education Teachers
* Audiologist
* Deaf Education
*Speech Therapists
* Physical Therapists

Night Calls

2007-09-20T15:05:00.000-07:00

Now that I have been here for a while, the nurses and clinical officers at the local hospital (I use that term loosely) have come to know me. Over the past month they have called me quite frequently asking for help. Either someone is in labor or there are no medical personnel, they need medicine, or they are stumped by a patient’s condition.
I have grown quite fond of their calls because I never know what is going to happen. Sometimes the message relayed sounds quite serious so I hurry to get there only to find the patient sitting up in bed smiling. Other times the nurses just have questions. As of yet there have been no major emergencies (sad for me) but I’m sure one will come along.
My favorite call was at 0400 to come at take a woman in labor to the hospital. To them it was an emergency and the baby was coming now, so that is what they relayed to me. I drove the 40 min to get to the house to find her talking and eating. The ride to the hospital was uneventful and once we got there we found that there was no medical personal because they all went to a conference in Livingstone. So I stayed with her coming home only to sleep a little and get some food. None of this was necessary because she wasn’t even in labor!! Yet, the hospital would not let her go home until the baby was born. I eventually gave up and told them to call me when she started labor. I got a call 3 days later at 0500 to tell me it was a boy. So much for delivering that baby.
It’s never boring here, whether it’s the cases or the events that surround them, you can’t help but laugh.

Teaching

2007-09-15T15:04:00.000-07:00

One of the goals of the medical ministry is to train up local people to be able to provide medical care to those in their community. For the past few weeks I (in Stephanie’s absence) have been training 6 people from the community. They are very bright and have a heart for medicine. They are very committed and are excelling rapidly. I have been extremely impressed with their work and their desire to learn.
We have classroom study once a week where we go over systems of the body, diseases, and treatment. It has been slow moving, having to dispel the myths of this culture and give them truth with how God has made our bodies to work, but we are moving along. On top of classroom training they assist me at a clinic once a week. Taking vitals, assessing patients, and cleaning wounds. At first it was difficult to try and see patients and train at the same time, but now that they have a basis of knowledge and how procedures go they are a big help. Twice a month they are required to volunteer in the hospital to see medicine from a different capacity. This has been a big eye opener for them to know how things should work and then see it done incorrectly in the hospital.
They are learning lots and within a few months Sinazongwe will have 6 new health workers trained to handle what this bush can through at them. Please continue to pray for them as they endure intensive training.

We Passed!!

2007-08-30T02:48:00.000-07:00

After a lot of waiting and praying Stephanie and I have finally passed our nursing and midwifery exams. We were in Sinazongwe when the results came out so Shannon went to get them for us. She called to tell us that we had passed and we both screamed and cried. It has been a huge struggle for us to be here and know that we were called but not be allowed to work. Now all of that is behind us and we can move forward with clinics in Sinazongwe. We had to come into Lusaka to pick up our papers of registration. The secretary of the nursing council wanted to take a picture with us and the result sheet:) I'm glad that this ordeal is finally over, and I can now work legally in the country.

Clinic Patients

2007-08-09T02:09:00.000-07:00

Each person that comes to see us has an illness, but they also have a story. The life's that they live and the hardship they go through are unfathomable. They put up with so much pain and suffering that it amazes me the smiles on their faces. Here are some of those beautiful faces.

Painting the Clinic

2007-08-09T01:52:00.000-07:00

It was necessary to paint the clinic so we could clean the walls, and avoid germs from being absorbed into the cement. Painting in itself is a pretty innocent thing, but when you ask Stephanie and I to paint porous cement your asking for trouble. Everything started out fine and we got the primer on with no problem. We decided to add a second coat of primer because the first one didn't look like it covered very well, that was mistake one. We were not supposed to use 2 coats because the paint that was purchased for the top coat was super thick. You might not think its a big deal to just another coat, except here paint costs 4x as much as in the states. In order to make up for our mistake, we decided to forgo the top coat and just leave the walls with 2 coats of primer.
Mistake number 2 was allowing Stephanie to climb a ladder with a full paint tray resting on the top of it. She slipped off and spilled the paint all over floor and wall. It was funny at the time until we realized that the special paint we were going to seal the floor with required the floor to be spotless. We spent the next 2 and a half hours scrubbing paint off of the floor.
Mistake 3, painting the floor without looking where your going. It was done on purpose, but Stephanie painted me into a cor nor and I had to jump to get out of it.
All in all we had a lot of fun doing it, just don't ask me to do it again!

Clinic Set-Up

2007-08-08T01:36:00.000-07:00

After we got all our things settled in our new house, it was time to tackle to clinic. We have converted a store room into a workable clinic and hold clinics once a week out of it. It's located on the Longezia Mission Base and the area is well know by the locals.
It took a few days and a lot of work, but we have most of it done. We had to take inventory of all the supplies and medication which took the better part of 4 days. We put in shelves and got everything organized and set up. The air conditioner (the only one on the entire base) had to be installed to keep the medications cool, and refrigerator had to be moved in, and our mini lab set up. A few more additions and we will be finished. It's not much compared to an American cl inc but we like it. We write on clipboards, sit on folding chairs, and clean and reuse everything possible. For us it's perfect!

**Make sure you look at the post about our adventure of painting the clinic :)

Nursing Test Results?

2007-07-27T08:10:00.001-07:00

So I thought I would share a funny story with you. Stephanie and I have been waiting patiently since June to get the results of our nursing and midwifery test back. Our ability to work legally here in Zambia rests on the results of this test. We have both taken it before and know that it is not our answers that are the problem, but the politics of the Nursing Council. We have resigned to the fact that we cannot bribe them to pass us, but we must simply wait until they find favor on us. With all that said we were very nervous walking into the office to receive our results. Upon entering I immediately saw the sheets of paper with the results on them posted on the wall. Stephanie and I turned around took a deep breadth and prepared ourselves to look for our names. As we scanned the papers Stephanie announced that she had failed and then found my name and saw that I had failed as well. Our hearts sank and I felt a lump rise in my throat at the thought that I had failed again. Stephanie then started laughing as she pointed to the paper. I followed her finger and noticed that the results we were looking at were from November 2006. They had not taken down the old results and we were looking at the wrong ones. We thought it was so funny that we took pictures next to our papers. The results for this test are not yet out, but I will let you know as soon as we find out.

Dental Clinic

2007-07-21T08:43:00.000-07:00

Some of the members on the West Hills team were able to hold some dental clinics while they were here. We set everything up in the insaka (thatched hut) and were able to serve a lot of people. One of the churches from the area came and spoke with those who were waiting, handing out Gospel tracts and praying with them. There were also dental hygiene classes in the middle of the day to educate people on the importance of brushing their teeth properly. Each person that was seen got to take home a toothbrush and some toothpaste, which was provided, by churches in Washington. It was a great ministry and showed that treating physical needs earns us the right to present the Gospel.

Health Classes

2007-07-20T07:49:00.000-07:00

Stephanie and I have been teaching at Living Waters School for the past 7 months. It started out very slow and we were not sure they were understanding. As time passed though they got more comfortable with us and really started showing their talent. We teach them health lessons with a Biblical principle weaved into it. They then turn around and teach it to their students. For the first 3 months we put together everything, the lessons, the activities, and the spiritual analogy. We gave them all the resources they needed and they just had to copy us. For the second set of three months we gave them fact sheets on the lesson. They had to create their own lesson complete with activity and spiritual analogy. They took turns teaching their lesson to the other teachers while we helped critique. It took them awhile to get the hang of it but now after 12 weeks they are starting to shine. Their lessons are better than anything we could have put together on our own. For the next three months, we printed out fact sheets for them and they will be responsible for carrying on the teaching in our absence. I am confident that they will do a great job. They have such a huge heart for those children and God has blessed them with a talent for teaching. Please pray for them as they continue to work so hard with so little.

Care Now Foundation

2007-06-27T07:58:00.000-07:00

Recently we were able to have the Bjurstrom family come visit us. As some of you may know Ed Bjurstrom is the director and founder of the Care Now Foundation who supports the medical ministry here in Zambia. Recently he was able to come and visit with his family. It was perfect timing, as we are getting ready to change locations and leadership within the medical ministry. We were able to take a quick trip down to Sinazongwe to show them the area that we will be working in a meet a few of the people that have been helped so far. Because of the funds donated by Care Now, Stephanie and I have been able to reach out to many people providing them with medications, supplies, and love. Please pray with us as we continue this partnership and strive to reach the Zambian people with the Gospel through healthcare.

Sinazongwe Clinics

2007-06-22T01:54:00.000-07:00

During our trip to Sinazongwe, we were very busy and learned a lot about life and the culture there. Compared to the city it is very different and the mentality of people and their views on health care differed drastically. There was more of a sense of community and need. In the city there is a need for health care and there are defiantly a lot of people that lie day to day, but there always seems to be a way that things work out. Out in the bush though all of those things are multiplied by 100. People there live day to day without a lot of solutions on how to make things work. They depend solely on crops and livestock making their food scarce and their income even less. There is no such thing as savings or thinking of the future, they are concerned with surviving the day. Their education is minimal, but their hearts and joy is abounding.
In the 2 weeks that we were there, Stephanie and I held seven clinics and saw over 100 people. We partnered with some of the churches in the area that MVI has worked with before to provide prayer, evangelism, and the Jesus film to people that came for health care. It was a humbling experience to see how far people would come for care even if there was nothing we could do. They were so grateful just for someone to hear their concerns and answer their questions.
We got a pretty good idea of how to make a medical ministry work in Sinazongwe and we are very excited to move down there in a few weeks. It seems that the Lord is opening the doors wide open for us to come and offer healthcare while at the same time earning the right to present the Gospel to them.

Sinazongwe

2007-06-19T05:58:00.000-07:00

WOW!! Who knew that the bush could be so beautiful? So where do I start, there is so much to tell.
It was a four and half hour drive on the main road that is paved to get to the turnoff. As we drove along the road we came upon a HUGE hole in the road. Apparently it has been there for a while. The locals need the gravel and sand to build their houses so they started digging under the road. All that digging has created a ten-foot deep hole. The government won't fix it and rumor is that a bus full of people would have to be sucked in by it and die before someone pays to get it fixed. Only in Africa right! It was another hour and ten minutes on a dirt road driving back into the bush and towards the lake. It is a total of 325K from Lusaka to the Sinazongwe base and can take anywhere from 5-7 hours depending on the condition of the roads.
Once we got there we got a tour of the Longezia mission base. It consists of 5 buildings for housing 1 office/store room and 2 big storerooms. The director Theuns with the help of some Zambian workers built it all. It is an amazing picturesque place, and I can’t wait to move there. The house Stephanie and I will be staying in has a lake front view from the covered porch. It has a little kitchen, a huge bathroom, and is absolutely beautiful.
Stephanie and I will nearly double their current team bringing the grand total of missionaries to 5. Theuns and his wife Karin have been in Zambia for the past 7 years. They have two of their three children with them as they finish up school. The other member of their team, Mike, is here for two years as a mechanic and maintence worker. Stephanie and I will be focusing on medical clinics and training community health workers.
It is a captivating, frustrating, and sorrowful place to work, and I can’t wait!!

Getting Ready for Sinazongwe

2007-06-18T02:38:00.000-07:00

The MVI and AZ farm team

At the pharmacy getting ready to leave with all the supplies

Shannon squished with all our stuff

Stephanie trying to hold it all in the car!

Stepahnie and I are about to take our first trip to our new home and ministry area. August first we will be officialy moving down SOuth, but for now we are going to go for a 2 week trip to see things. While there we will be holding medical clinics, working with churches, and meeting people interested in medical missions. We will be staying at the MVI base called Longezia.
In order to get ready we had a bit of planning to do. Luckily we got it all done in time and are ready to set out tommorrow. I'm sure we will take tons of pictures and I will post them when we get back.

Nursing Test

2007-06-02T09:51:00.000-07:00

For the third time I am going to attempt to pass the nursing exam here in Zambia. There are numerous opinions as to why Stephanie and I have failed to register, but regardless of the reason we still are unable to practice here. We have recently met with many high ranking officials that are trying to help us push through all the red tape. We take the test on June 7th at 0900. Stephanie and I have spent many hours studying and are doing our best to prepare for a test as unpredictable as this one.

Prenatal Exams

2007-04-10T07:49:00.000-07:00

Now that Stephanie is here we are able to take care of a wider range of patients, she is a midwife. Even though we don't have licenses we have been seeing and treating our employees and their families. Currently their are 3 of them who are pregnant. Stephanie takes care of them and I get to learn more about pregnancy and birth. We haven't delivered any babies because we are not willing to go that far without licenses, but at least we can take care of them during their pregnancy. As soon as we move down South Stephanie will be able to deliver babies and hopefully I can learn from her.

Health Classes

2007-04-09T07:31:00.000-07:00

Since January Stephanie and I have been teaching at three sites. We teach health topics and integrate them with biblical principles. It has been a challenge crossing all the cultural barriers to health care and the sheer lack of communication has been enough to frustrate anyone, but we have had fun.
At Kanyama Emmanuel Family Home we have been teaching the house moms about basic childcare and firstaid. They are really smart and have caught on very quickly. Most of the time our lessons are to simple for them. It's fun be able to teach them and play with the kids at the same time :)

At Living Water School we train the teachers and they then teach the lesson to their classes. They have been our biggest success. They have such a heart for the children in their school and it shows in the way they teach. Even though they met in a straw building that is falling apart, they are always there with smiles ready to learn. We will be doing another 12 week session with them expanding on more health topics.

Venter Baptist church was an interesting challenge. This is one fo the poorest areas in Lusaka and a large majority of the community is HIV positive. They gave us a run for our money but in the end it was worth it. If nothing else we learned some valuable cultural lessons.

We will start training again May-July. Hopefully we have learned a little from last time and we can bring more to the table. If all else fails at least were having fun.

Stork Visit

2007-04-08T07:24:00.000-07:00

In the span of 2 weeks Kanyama Emmanuel Family Home received 5 new children. 4 year old twins William and Mary, a 3 day old little girl, and a 7 day old set of twins Paul and Peter. This is one of the churches that we are heavily involved in with many ministries. Stephanie and I went over to assess the new kids and make sure they were healthy. It was a lot of fun playing with such tiny babies, and their hair was as soft as lambs wool. The little 3 day old girl has since been adopted, but the others are still there and doing well.

Peter 4 pounds 3 ounces

Paul 4 pounds 2 ounces

Missionary Ventures International

2007-03-27T07:31:00.000-07:00

Missionary Ventures International is the missions organization that Stephanie and I will partnering with this coming August. There US office is based out of Orlando Florida, but they have headquarters all over the world including South Africa. Their philosophy of ministry and goals are closely aligned with Action Zambia’s which makes this an easy switch for us. Currently there are 3 missionaries in country serving with MVI who we will be joining. Thuens and Karin are the Zambian directors and have been here for over 7 years. They were recently joined by Mike who is here for 2 years doing automotive repair and maintence. Our coming on board will almost doubles their team! It will be interesting because we are used to a large team and will be downsizing significantly. Their main ministries are carried out through the local church and indigenous personnel. They do feeding programs, pastor training, sewing classes, and orphan care. If you want more information about their organization please visit their website at www.missionaryventures.org or www.mvsouthafrica.org.

Dental Clinic

2007-01-13T12:26:00.000-08:00

Dr. John Cubol, who is part of the Crossroads team, was very interested in using his talents as a dentist during his time here in Zambia. Stephanie and I were interested in learning a little bit about dentistry, so we arranged to have a few dental clinics during his 2 week stay. Wow, we had so much fun! Here are some snaps of the fun times that were had by all. To see more go to my pictures. There are no government dental clinics in Lusaka so there is a huge need for dentists. Because Dr. John is only one person and he was only here for 2 weeks, not technically for the purpose of dentistry ,he was limited on the amount of people he could see. We turned away a lot of people who were seeking care, but it gave us a new insight to how much need there really is, not only for dentistry but for medical in general. We had a lot of fun, built new relationships, and had a chance to minister to people through our skills as medical personal which is why we were called here in the first place. It was great to be able to finally feel like we (I) was acting in the path in which God has chosen for me. This clinic gave Stephanie and I new skills in the dentistry area, and renewed our drive to find the right path for where the AZ medical ministry is supposed to go.

AZ Dental Clinic Facts:

Hours Worked- 32
Patients Seen- 101
Teeth Pulled- 76
# of bathroom breaks by Dr. John- 4 (he's like a camal)
Cost of dental floss- 1/2 a days wage
What tarter looks like- the shell of a yellow M&M, yummy
The best part of the clinics- smiling faces
The worst part of the clinics- the rank smell of the spit buckets

Getting all the equipment ready.

Some of the extractions took all the strength we had. Without the proper chair and levarage, we had to be careful not to dislocate any jaws.

Here's Stephanie teaching John how to properly brush his teeth.

Steph and I with a happy patient.

The dental team from left to right; Dr. John, Ann, Cory, Me, and Stephanie; in the middle, our jar of pulled teeth.

Mini Surgery

2007-01-11T09:44:00.000-08:00

Megan, one of the missionaries here, had surgery right before coming to Zambia a year ago. She has a pretty big keloid scar that has formed. Because she is not due to return to the states for a few more months, we decided to take care of it here. These are some pictures. Since these were taken her scar has reduced a lot and the medicine seems to be working.

Zambian Nursing Test

2006-12-03T11:00:00.000-08:00

In order to practice here in Zambia as a nurse you have to take and pass the nursing boards just like you would in the states. However, if we were in the states you would study take the test and pass based on your competency as a nurse. It does not work that way here in Zambia. Their way of learning is rote memorization and all about obscure facts. The test asks nothing about your experience, thought process, or rational for your answer.
It is a 100 question test of multiple choice, fill in the blank, and matching. You are then given 4 essay questions in which you must pick 3 to write on. The essays are the easy part. Now I know your thinking, 100 questions, no problem. That's what we thought. They ask questions that have nothing to do with nursing, or give you 2 correct answers and you have to guess which one they want, or they don't even ask a question and you have to guess as to what they want. The fill in the blank questions are so ridiculous I don't even know how to begin to explain it to you. My favorite question was, "What do you call a man who has more than 1 wife?" Can anyone please tell me what that has to do with how I take care of patients?
If the test was not crazy enough then we get to the issue of passing. I was told by the examination officer that I passed last time, yet my file reflects that I failed. Why is this? We don't know and we don't want to speculate of accuse anyone but...?
We won't get any answers for about a month so we have a wait in front of us. Stephanie and I studied as hard as we could and gave it to the Lord. If we are supposed to pass this test then we will. If not then we will try again in July.

Stephanie and our "poop board" with all the info about infectious diarrhea

Hard at Work

Stephanie and I infront of the nursing school on our way to take the test

After the test Stephanie and I went to lunch to celebrate being done with the test and studying. My brain was so fried I locked the keys in the car. Oops!

The night after the test we made popcorn and watched a movie in our pj's to veg out and let our brains relax :)

Care Now

2006-12-03T09:54:00.000-08:00

An NGO from the USA, Care Now, who is helping to sponsor the medical ministry here in Zambia came for a brief visit. They were visiting another one of their projects in South Africa and had a chance to come see the work in Zambia. There vision is to support existing medical ministries in Africa and raise up national medical workers. Although they were only here for two and a half days, we saw a lot of things and had plenty of laughs. Hopefully next time they can come back for longer. For more information on their organization you can to their website at www.carnowfoundation.org

Medical Boxes

2006-11-10T11:53:00.000-08:00

After a long anticipated arrival ...the shipment of medical boxes has final arrived! It took them 2 weeks , and got stuck in London and Nairobi, but they have made their appearance. The process of customs and poison control was tedious and annoying at best, but it's over and only took 4 days compared to last time which took 3 weeks. Now we are blessed to have the task of organizing all of it into the medical store room. Here are some pictures of pick up day!They may not have come in the best condition, but they did come.
Me and Steph driving them home.
Their new home
Keith packing them in the cruisers

Missionary Medical Day

2006-11-10T09:53:00.000-08:00

Lately there have been a lot of cases where our missionaries have come in contact with sick patients and in some cases, some minor emergencies. To help alleviate some fears in how to handle these situations, we had a medical class to cover some of the most common senerios that they might come into contact with. Even the kids got involved, and we had games involving universal precautions, and got to dress up in gowns and gloves. Even though we covered some serious topics, it was a lot of fun and time full of laughs...mostly at me.

Practicing IV's

2006-05-10T09:39:00.000-07:00

There are a lot of things that need to get down before I go. Handing off the work I have been doing to others to make sure balls don't get dropped has kept me busy. One of my tasks is to make sure Brenda feels equipped to take over the medical ministry. In New Zealand (where she's from) they don't do IV's. She wanted to learn and I thought it was important to know so we had an IV class. Of course the only people we had to practice on was Megan and I. Here are some pics of our great experience!

Medical Supplies

2006-04-06T09:32:00.000-07:00

Praise God!! After 10 months of being in country the medical boxes finally arrived. I spent 4 weeks before I left packing and taking inventory of all the supplies that were donated by local hospitals in So Cal. However, when I got here to Zambia we did not have the proper documentation that would allow us to ship the supplies tax free. This was a huge deal as the tax would have been upwards of $5,000.00! It took a lot of hardworking and even more patience to get this paperwork completed. Thank you to all the missionaries that put in multiple hours and countless gas mileage into helping me get these boxes here. Brenda and I spent a day going through everything and choosing what to keep and what to further donate. This past weekend we were able to donate 7 boxes of surgical instruments and supplies to a village hospital that has lost their government funding due to politics. We still have many boxes of supplies that we will be using here in our medical ministry and for the people of Lusaka. Please pray with us that we will soon have somewhere to put these supplies. We are still in desperate need of funding for the medical store room so it can be completed.

Busy Busy

2006-03-13T10:29:00.000-08:00

This past week I havehad some pretty interesting cases. The first was one of our missionary kids, Gift, decided it would be fun to put a crayon in his ear. We had a great time trying to get it out and a really long talk about why we dont put things in our ears. So here he is trying to stick a crayon in my ear :)
The second fun thing (at least fun for me) is that we have had a large infestation of putsi flies this season. These are really small flies that lay eggs on your clothes and linen, then the eggs burrow into your skin when you come into contact with it. The hatch under your skin and then the worm starts to grow. This is a picture of what I pulled out of Blake's leg the other day. You squeeze it like a pimple and out comes this gross huge wiggly worm. I can say it's fun because I haven't gotten one yet but many of our team mates have. Trust me if I get one I'll send pictures!

We Need a Medical Store Room

2006-03-12T09:27:00.000-08:00

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ:

What an exciting journey we are embarking upon here in Zambia with the continued growth and development of our Medical ministry. Over the past six months we have been able to begin the HIV ministry and cater to the basic needs of individuals involved with Action who live in poverty stricken communities.
With the admission of a new member and generous donations of medical supplies from the U.S. we find ourselves at the mercy of our God to lead and provide for us.
Leading us He certainly is- causing us to dream dreams that are beyond our earthly means, capabilities, and scope. We want it to be said that only through Gods grace and power are these thing possible. Our prayer is to glorify God and leave no room for doubt that we are merely vessels for an omnipotent and merciful God.
Currently we are in the planning stages to facilitate churches who are involved in HIV/ Medical ministry to begin much needed medical clinics. Many of the poor communities currently have little or no access to health care. When clinics are accessible often the families are unable to pay for the care their loved ones require.
Currently our medical supplies are being stored in a dusty, hot store room which has seen medications expire, equipment melt and dust leave supplies un-useable. The acquisition of a facility that is resistant to the climate and conditions here is vital. We are able to build such a facility on the ‘Action Farm’ but resources are short; we are trusting the Lord for $4,000 to build this store room. Once again we humble ourselves before God asking Him to display his benevolence through his faithful church in the U.S. We pray that His blessing may abound more and more in you and flow through you to your brothers and sisters who are so much in need. What a wonderful opportunity for you to bless, and be blessed.

For information on how to donate please email me at NurseQinZambia@yahoo.com

Baby Chileshe

2006-01-16T09:08:00.000-08:00

This past week the Kanyama orphanage got a new arrival. Chileshe is 2 months old and VERY sick. Part of my ministry is taking care of this children at this orphanage and keeping them healthy with regular check ups, proper nutrition, and providing the medications they need. I took Chileshe to the clinic because his condition was beyond my abilities. He has a right strangulated inguinal hernia, right hydrocele, and pneumonia. On top of that I suspected that he was HIV positive. The clinic confirmed my suspicions on all diagnoses and added that he has a bowel obstruction. I took him to the hospital where he had emergent surgery to repair the strangulated hernia. No one from the church was able to stay so I spent the night in the hospital, not a fun experience. In the 22 hours that we were there, a nurse came to check on us once. Nursing is very different here and their only duties are to give medication. When a person enters the hospital they are required to be accompanied by a family member that will care for them. They must bring their own food and supplies. The families are the ones who bathe, feed, and tend to the patient. Funny, I thought that's what nursing was.
Baby Chileshe is now home and recovering but is still very sick. He is not healing well because of his HIV status and still needs to return for further surgery for his bowel obstruction. Please pray for this little boy and that I may get the proper care that he needs and deserves.

HIV/AIDS Program Kickoff

2005-12-24T08:00:00.000-08:00

This past week we had the official kickoff party for the HIV/AIDS program. This is a unique program that as far as we know has not been implemented anywhere else in Zambia. Churches were selected based on their current involvement with HIV/AIDS work and then asked to develop their ideal HIV/AIDS ministry. ACTION is partnering with these churches to help them gain the resources such as training, education, skills, and motivation to run this type of ministry. The biggest focus of the program is spreading the Gospel to HIV positive people and their families. The kick off went very well and everyone is really excited to get going. It has been a lot of work but well worth it to see the eagerness in these people to take some action in their communities. Stay tuned for progress updates.

Community School Christmas Parties

2005-12-12T11:49:00.000-08:00

ACTION works with 2 community schools in the Lusaka area. This past week Mari, who works with training the teachers, arranged for both schools to have Christmas parties on the last day of school. Thanks to the Appleton team that came in October there were tons of crafts for the kids. Mari did an amazing job and all the kids had a great time. They did crafts, sang songs, received goodie bags, and were given a Gospel presentation. It's heart wretching to think that these kids will probably never be able to experience anything like this again and yet we in America come to expect it. What a blessing it is that we were able to be a part of placing smiles on these kids faces. Making bead necklaces
Scott, Steve, and I made over 220 PB & J sandwiches for the kids
The kids giving a presentation
Making felt dolls
Decorating picture frames with Bible Verses inside

Nursing Boards in Zambia

2005-12-01T11:40:00.000-08:00

This is me trying not to stress out about my test even though all I wanted to do was scream. I have had a provisional license which has allowed me to practice for the past 5 month. They give the nursing test twice a year in December and June and I was told that it was crazy. Everyone warned me that it asks nothing about nursing and that it was all focused on politics in Zambia and HIV/AIDS. I have been studying for the past month learning all the political figures and the health system here preparing for this test. Nursing here is very different and much more simplistic. With my encounters with medical personnel here and my conversations with Zambian nurses led me to believe (ok assume) that this test would be no problem. Last night I freaked out realizing that maybe I should study some medical stuff. I gave myself a migraine, didn't sleep, and ate a lot of chocolate.
I walked into the test ready to throw up and tried to focus. Everyone who told me this was a political test LIED! This was a hard complicated test, worse than the boards in the states. It asked question that no one in their right mind whole know, like "who invented bacilli?" yah right, I left that one blank. Hopefully I redeemed myself on the essays :) It was 150 fill in the blank and 3 essays. Thank you Katie Hill for making me right 50 page nursing care plans, it came in handy. After 3 hours of praying over each answer I gave I had to do my practical. Now in the states I would guess a practical to consist of placing an NG tube, giving an IM shot, or demonstrating CPR. In Zambia in order for me to be a nurse, I had to prove that I could make a bed. That's right folks for my practical exam I made a bed. You could bounce a quarter off my bed, it was beautiful, thank you nursing 105.
All in all it was a bad experience and hopefully I passed so I don't ever have to do it again. Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers today, it helped.

Malpractice

2005-09-02T18:42:00.000-07:00

I got this story from one of the other missionaries, but I felt it was important to relay the information because it shows what medical care is like here in Zambia. A good friend of the missions organization Mrs. Chunda took one of her neighbor's to a clinic because she was complaining of one of the worst headaches of her life (hint, hint) and was in tears for hours. They arrived at the clinic and waited for an hour and half and still hadn't seen a doctor. Mrs Chunda called attention to one of the nurses because her neighbor was not responding. She had died, sitting in the waiting room chair at age 23. This would never happen in the US. She would have seen a nurse within 10min and never would have been left in the waiting room. Here things are very different. Clinics are not busy, they are usually staffed with 1-2 doctors and 3-4 nurses. They only have blood tests for malaria and over the counter medicines. Unless you go to an upper class clinic, they might have basic lab capabilities and an x-ray machine. Regardless she never should have waited an hour and half even if it had been a mild headache. I just wanted to share that with you and ask you to pray for her husband and the Chunda family who tried so desperately to take care of her.

My First Medical Clinic

2005-08-03T08:19:00.000-07:00

For the past two weeks I have been going to Misis's school and holding a mini medical clinic for the children. Misis's is one of the poorest compounds in Lusaka and one of the few that doesn't have it's own medical clinic. I assessed and treated over 45 kids on the first day including stiching a leg wound on a 18 month old boy. The next week I arrived and half the compound was there waiting for me. They had heard that there was "a doctor" giving out free medical care, and they all came. To say it was overwhelming would be an understatement. Most of the time there is nothing I can do and I have to reefer them to a clinic which is a half a days walk away. Action Zambia has decided that we need to take a different approach to this medical ministry because at this rate I will run out of supplies, funding, and energy VERY quickly. Stay tuned for this new plan.

Note to the wise; never hold a baby, no matter how cute, before checking them for scabies. Oopps!