Day 6 at Namwianga. None of us expected that we would be eating as well as we have been here. Leonard, a Zambian brother, works as the cook for guests that come and stay here and he is a skilled chef. Every meal has been spectacular and we always finish with a delicious dessert. Today we had our first taste of an authentic Zambian meal. It consisted of shima, a cornmeal mush that is thick enough to eat like bread; chicken cooked in a delicious tomato-based sauce and a dish made from turnip greens. And the best part is that you’re supposed to eat it with your hands, which makes any meal better in my opinion.

The Namwianga Mission houses a medical clinic at the front of the property. People come from all around to receive free services and medication from the friendly staff. On Tuesdays, they have an ART clinic for HIV patients to come receive special care and medication. Laura, our host and a nurse here at the mission, suggested that we go see if we might be able to offer any services as swallowing disorders are not uncommon in HIV patients. So Tuesday morning, Becca and I were dropped off at the clinic. People were straggling in from all directions to get in line to be seen. Cars and trucks full of patients drove up periodically, unloading more people than you would expect to fit in a vehicle. We walked along the covered walkway until we found an open office where a nurse greeted us and called Laura to show us around. We walked around the inside courtyard stopping at each door to see the different rooms: labour and delivery, HIV clinic, soon-to-be inpatient ward, pharmacy, x-ray, and other offices. We were then passed off to observe patients being seen. We weren’t able to offer too much help but we did learn more about HIV and other diseases as we sat in on some of the general patients being seen as well. The doctor seeing the HIV patients was a Congolese man. Each patient came in, he asked them a list of questions (to which we added a question about swallowing), and, if eligible, he renewed their prescription. For some he listened to their breathing and looked in their mouths. All ages were seen, from infants to adults. HIV is much more common here than we like to think it is in the States. After seeing a good handful of patients, Becca and I left the clinic to join the rest of our group for lunch. We had hoped to be of more help, but we were grateful to the staff for allowing us to follow them around and learn about their patients. Our funniest incident at the clinic was when one of the doctors was plugging his phone in to charge. The plug was two-pronged and the outlets here are three-pronged. The doctor asked me to hand him a metel pair of scissors which he handed to Becca and asked her to stick in the third hole of the outlet. Apparently it works as some sort of release in order to plug a two-proged device into it, but Becca, knowing better than to stick metal objects into an outlet, respectfully refused and allowed him to do it himself. We both laughed about it afterwards realizing that we are raised with a few more precautions than the Zambians are taught.

Our afternoons are spent back at the Haven, feeding and playing with the babies and toddlers. They are so sweet and we are seeing some progress with the language development of the toddlers. They are beginning to use words that have been introduced in the morning lessons. It is so exiting to see progress!

One of our goals for this trip is to collect data and set the groundwork for future intervention, in the process we are giving the local school system useful information and education. Each morning half of the group goes to the Haven to work with the little ones and half of the group goes to the Namwianga school to do language and hearing screenings. Today Becca and I joined the group at the school. We performed hearing screenings on about 40 kids and language screenings on nearly 100. As a part of the hearing screenings, we also used an otoscope to look in their ears. Besides a lot of nasty earwax build up in most ears, we found a bug in one, a piece of straw in another and some unusual growths in others. If you know any ENTs that would like to come to Zambia, I’m sure there would be plenty of work here.
Tomorrow we will be joined by two other mission groups who are coming to serve in various ways. We have been spoiled by having the guest houses to ourselves, so we’re going to have to make some changes to share the space, but there is plenty of space. Thank you for your prayers. Please continue to pray for the work we are doing and that we will be a light and an encouragement to the workers at the orphanage and the schools.
Pictures from top to bottom: going through the line to get our Zambian meal, conducting a hearing screening at the school, children outside the school during a break.