My friends! It has been so long! The past few weeks have been so busy for us here and I haven't been able to find a good chunk of time long enough to blog!
Today marks 10 days until I am back home in Wheaton, Illinois. Crazy! I have so many conflicted feelings. The last 3 months have flown by! We have done so much and always managed to stay busy. Such a strong and unique bond has been formed between the girls here and I am so sad to leave them and this beautiful country.
But on the flip side, it seems like it has been ages since I've sat and talked with my fiancé Jeremy or hugged my family and friends. I miss them all so dearly. I cannot believe that I haven't even met my sweet nephew yet! I feel so much love for him already, I cannot even begin to imagine how much more of my heart he will have once I actually get to meet him face to face.
Speaking of Valor, isn't he the cutest bag of bones you've ever seen?! Happy Halloween!
Speaking of Valor, isn't he the cutest bag of bones you've ever seen?! Happy Halloween!
The Lord has so sweetly blessed me with a group of amazing girls on my team and with wonderful friends and family back home.
So the last few weeks have been great! We are in Macha now working at Macha Mission Hospital. It has been a little crazy because we haven't been the only group of students in the hospital. We have been working along side 3 groups of Zambian nursing students as well, most who are in their first or second year. It has been such a blast getting to know them and learning from them about what nursing school is like here and what life is like as a 20 something in Zambia. During our last clinical I taught all the students how to take manual blood pressure! So fun!
Our Macha home :)
Yesterday for my leadership project, I was able to lead a course for the freshmen students called Helping Babies Breathe with my sweet friend Shannon. This course teaches postnatal care for babies such as suction and ventilation.
Sadly, these skills are rarely utilized in Zambia for babies. Many believe that a baby is not really considered a life until the child reaches one year of age. We have been told that the reason behind this is because there’s not enough medical supplies or trained personnel to properly care for every infant or baby admitted so they came up a reason that they could cling to for not doing everything they can to save the lives of the babies.
For example, bulb suction devices are rarely, if ever, used here. The simple task of suctioning out a baby's mouth and nose, which allows breathing, can drastically increase the number of babies who survive the first few days of life. I was talking to my sister yesterday though Facebook about this and she told me that she owns three bulb suction devices for their 2 month old, yet in many Zambian hospitals there are no infant suction devices to be found.
While researching for this project I learned that there are 102 infant deaths per every 1,000 live births here in Zambia. That number is dramatically higher than the statistics in the United States. This is why I found it to be so important to teach the nursing students here how to preform these simple tasks in order to save lives. The presentation was super successful! We lectured and then broke up the students (all 61 on them) into four groups where they all got the opportunity to practice the skills on the interactive baby mannequins that we brought from the States. We are leaving the bulb suctions and ventilation masks here at the hospital so that they can use them and hopefully make a difference.
The teachers (us) and a few of our students
Another highlight of the last few weeks was that my amazing team planned and threw a surprise bachelorette party for me and one of the other girls who is getting married in May too! The girls made yummy snacks and all wrote sweet letters to us about why we are such a good friend, what qualities we have that will make us a good wife and then they drew pictures of what they thought our lives would look like in 10 years. So fun! After all the sappy goodness, the girls opened up a photo booth with tons of props (most of which has been bought at the Zambian markets since we've been here, ha!). We took fun photos and then danced the night away! I am seriously so blessed by each of these girl's sweet hearts!
So now we only have 9 days before we being our long journey home. On Thursday morning we are leaving Macha and heading to Livingstone - our last stop! We will be done with our classes and finals before we get to Livingstone so the last few days will just be one big party! We are going to markets, fun restaurants, swimming (yay!!) and traveling to Botswana for a real African safari! But I think the most exciting part is that we are visiting Victoria Falls (which is one of the seven wonders of the world) and I am getting baptized!
Baptism has been something that the Lord had laid on my heart since the start of this trip. I have given my life to the Lord but I have never gotten the opportunity to physically show my dedication to Christ and show my decision to turn my back on the things of this sinful world through baptism. I talked to one of the girls about it a few weeks ago and we had no idea to go about getting baptized in Africa. I should of known that the Lord would provide a way. A few days ago the leaders sat us down and told us that they really felt as if they needed to provide an opportunity to get baptized for anyone who feels called. The moment the option was opened up to us I began crying, realizing once again how faithful the Lord is to his children.
Galations 2:20
My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who life, but Christ who lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trussing the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
Matthew 28:18-20
Jesus came and told his disciples, "I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Matthew 3:16-17
After his (Jesus) baptism, as Jesus came out of the water, the heavens were opened and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove settling on him. And a voice from the heavens said "This is my dearly loved son, who brings me great joy"
Acts 2:38-40
Each of you must depend of your sins and turn to God, and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ of the forgiveness of your sins. They you will reticence the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Again, I’m sorry for the big delay in blog posts. Turns out it is pretty difficult to be consistent with the sketchy internet and busy schedules.
I am so excited to see many of you very soon!
Until then!
