Our experiences are shaped by our responses. The other night the power went out. We were told it might be out until morning, but it ended up coming back on a few hours later. It was after dark and most of us were in the house of Mono, a lady next door that makes beautiful purses out of traditional fabrics. A couple of girls had their flashlights and led us back to the main house for a candlelit dinner. Later that night some of us decided to take advantage of the power outage to view the magnificent stars. After checking the area for snakes and spiders, we laid down on a small patch of grass to get the full effect of the speckled sky. It was spectacular! The sky looks different in the southern hemisphere, something about it seemed much closer than it typically does. We were awed to say the least and we were thankful for the power outage that allowed us to appreciate the stars in the full darkness of the night. Later that evening the lights came back on and we had some good laughs around a game of Uno.

As I write, two of my roommates are napping after our first really busy morning. On Saturday and Sunday we went to the Haven, the Namwianga orphanage, to meet the toddlers and babies and to play with them. There are currently three houses that are a part of the Haven and one more is nearly completed. Of the two where we have spent most of our time one is primarily for healthy toddlers and the other is primarily for the infants and the medically fragile children. At the toddler house, we were swarmed with little ones, arms reaching up for anyone to hold them. We played with them and held them and loved on them, something they don’t get near enough of, simply because there aren’t enough caretakers for the number of children. In the other house there are 4 rooms: two with HIV negative children, or children who have not yet been tested and two with HIV positive children. On Sunday afternoon we went to the infant house and played with the children and helped feed and hold the little ones.

Today (Monday) we spent the first part of the morning doing some language stimulation with the toddlers. We played games and sang songs and observed their communication levels. Many of them are doing very well considering all the factors they have going against them, but there are some who we’re concerned about. They all seemed to enjoy the extra attention and the songs...as did the caretakers. After spending a couple of hours with them, we went to the other house to feed and play with the infants and the medically fragile.

A little known area of speech pathology is the assessment and treatment of feeding and swallowing disorders. Because of the experience that Rebecca, my fellow UTD graduate, and I have gained in that specialty (which is more than any of our Harding coworkers), we have been dubbed “the feeding specialists” for the purposes of this trip. Most of our time has been focused on the feeding methods at the Haven and what improvements we might suggest as well as looking for individual disorders and how they can be treated. In preparation for Zambia, I took a course that allowed me to focus a project on feeding disorders in children who are HIV positive, which has been very helpful in knowing what to look for. Thus far, most of our time has been spent in observation and brainstorming. This week we are going to try to start collecting data on the infants and making suggestions to the staff. We’re hoping to implement some changes by the end of the week that will hopefully reduce the occurrence of chronic ear infections and respiratory problems that many of the children suffer from. Please pray that we will find a realistic and effective solution and pray for the health of these children, so many odds are working against them.

We worshiped with the large Namwianga Church of Christ on Sunday, both morning and evening services were packed and we were warmly welcomed. At the morning service several of the children from the Haven had been placed in our care and we passed them around during the service.

Currently, I smell like baby spit-up and my feet are covered in dust. I would love to take a shower right now, but we’re going back to the Haven this afternoon and water is too precious to shower twice.

Thank you for your prayers and interest in our work. All of our team are healthy and doing well.

The pictures are from the Haven, from top to bottom: bath time in the toddler house, singing with the toddlers, and a crawler in the infant house