Mzungu

All of a sudden time is flying by... I cannot believe the week is half gone! I have been in full work mode this week- starting my shift at 0730 (for everyone at CURE the day starts with prayer/devotion either together in chapel or in groups by department- I love it!) and I get off at 1630. Miriam, my housemate, also works until 1630 so we have been spending some good quality time together in the evening. Monday night we watched a movie together but had to stop in the middle because of a bird-sized beast that flew into the house and most certainly was not welcomed! By the end of my time here I hope that I can peg an aunt from across the room with my shoe - I'm on my way! Last night we went into town and picked up some groceries because we have to fend for ourselves when it comes to breakfast and dinner. We are trying to eat healthy and cheap, always such a difficult combination, but we also cannot buy more than we can carry for we have to take a bus home from the store (2 actually). :) And tonight we played cards- she taught me a few common German games, as well as how to call the cards, numbers, suits, etc. I was also able to teach her a few games and we had a blast going back and forth winning at different games. It has been amazing having her to spend time with (and I know she feels the same because she has enlisted to volunteer here for 1 year, and only arrived a few weeks before me). I have also learned that she does not know Christ though she calls herself a Christian. It is a challenge each day to have this specific person in front of me to live my life out for. She is a new addition to my top 10 list. But we have had much fun hanging out, realizing as we talk through our day that we think the same things in situations throughout the day.

And then there are my sweet patients... Specifically, there are 3 girls who all have severe scoliosis and are here because CURE had spine surgeons visiting last week, so they are all now post-operative from rod placement. Each girl was at a different level of functioning before surgery, and still is after. But they have all bonded, the girls and their mothers together. They help each other get into and out of bed and changing sheets and whatever the others need. But that is also seen throughout the ward because we do not have private rooms in this ward. There are about 6 beds to a section, but no full walls separating them. (The nurses will call out from the middle when it is feeding time, or time to change the dressings and people come to them.) But the community seen here is wonderful. I was able to take all three of the spine patients, one by one, to radiology yesterday. I found that it was the perfect opportunity to talk to the girls and their mothers - all of whom spoke at least some English. In a quieter setting they all opened up more about their families and the difficulty being in the hospital. Because every girl comes from a small village, with no other person with their condition, they all mentioned that they are glad to have new friends who they can relate to and can understand them. I very much enjoy spending time in their section of the ward, sitting with them, bringing them sheets to color and draw all over, or just making them laugh at something silly the "mzungu" (white person) did. :)

Miriam has been in charge of creating a "play room" here at the hospital and set up an environment for the kids and parents to play for a couple hours each day. Obviously we have limited resources to toys, so she has become creative in making up games, drawing out Chutes and Ladders (or as they call it, around the world apparently, Snakes and Ladders)- and they don't have dice, so they pick up dominoes and move that number of spaces. One sweet 12 year old kiddo, who smiles and waves every time I walk by, Reagan, has been here for a while and most likely will not leave any time soon. He has torticollis that all surgical and treatments this far have failed to ultimately correct (which means he is with his chin to his chest, staring down at the ground permanently- though the docs are still brainstorming and trying new treatments hoping and praying to help him). Miriam and I were able to sit with him and his father today and play a game of Memory. We had so much fun flipping over cards of animals and really, I think he was just too excited to have a group to play with. So play room time will be a part of our day every day. It has opened up doors to talk with and share with the children and parents because we are all sitting on the floor of the hospital, mzungus and Zambians alike, laughing and momentarily forgetting why were are all there. Miriam said that if the only thing she accomplishes in the year is to show that not every mzungu who comes to CURE is a doctor/nurse/dignitary, that we can also sit on the dirty floor and laugh together, then she will consider the year a success. I also thought that same thing- I did not come thinking I was going to fix kids or make this hospital look more like those in the States. Instead, I want to make each day and each moment about serving and loving and sharing/showing Christ because in that I know that I will grow and be changed as I pray others will as well. It is funny, in talking about this hospital, I already call it my own, like I have stake in it here, that I want to see it succeed and grow and become more than it is now. I am thankful for the role I get to play here for my short visit.

Prayers: the list is long but based in the stories above. For the patients. For my attitude towards them and my co-workers to be that of serving and giving. For Miriam. For the work here. For the care of doctors and nurses and all health care workers.