Pray for Rain

Zambia has two seasons: rainy season (October-April) and dry season (April -October). This past year, the rainy season did not bring sufficient rain to last through the dry season. While I was there in June, they warned us to use the water sparingly because they expected to be out of water by July. While I was there, I watched them dig trenches in the dry ground to funnel water from one area to another when it ran out. While I was there, I stepped into the tub and pulled the curtain around for my every-other-day shower, just to realize the water had been shut off for x-hours in attempt to preserve the little water that was left. Now, 3 months later, there is no water.

Last week, the nursing and communication sciences and disorders programs came together at Harding University to raise awareness and funds in order to help those we came to love in Zambia. The lack of water has created a rippling effect of devastating consequences. Their livestock are dying because they have nothing to drink, the price of food has skyrocketed, and families are unable to afford the mealy meal used to make nshima. This has been going on for so long that people now are literally starving TO DEATH. Without their crops, the price of mealy meal to make nshima has increased so much that many are left unable to afford food for their families. I've heard that this is the worst drought they have seen in 4 decades.

The corruption in Zambia's government system is also playing a role in the current famine. I learned a week ago that the government is selling their own food to Zimbabwe. I'm assuming that those in Zimbabwe are able to pay more for the mealy meal and the government is taking advantage of it, abandoning its own people. 

There was one day towards the end of our time in Zambia where my group was invited to the village of Kasibi. Families traveled by foot, for who knows how long, to where we helped to hand out bags of mealy meal to families. It was a hot day, despite it being their "winter", but everyone waited their turn in the sun for food. After all of the mealy meal was dispersed, groups sang for us in appreciation.

Again, this was months ago. I've reached out to a few of the aunties at the Haven this past week to check in on them.They tell me there is no food and they worry about the babies who have left the Haven to go home to be with their families. At the Haven, they have additional help that allows them to provide formula and nutrition for the babies. Once they leave, they don't know if their families have access to food.

My heart breaks. 

To us, $12 doesn't seem like much. For those in Zambia, $12 will feed a family of 4 for a month!!! I wish I had this blog ready to post earlier in the week, but I am inviting anyone who feels they can give $12 to consider donating via Cash App to $KSwenson2 by tomorrow (9/16/19). All of the donations will be personally placed into the hands of the right people this coming week.

Above all, please pray for rain.

Running with the Sun

Each morning, Carrie, Kacie and I woke up with the sun at 6:30 am to run 2.5 loops around the mission's grounds (2 miles). The mornings were brisk there with temperatures in the 50s. We were allowed to wear scrub pants instead of our long skirts when we ran. We ran pass gardens of cabbage, a basketball court, the girls' dorms, and beautiful homes along the way. Most days, a small terrior pup named Max ran with us.

                         
 
                         

                         

(*I realized later that they do have another court that is better kept-up. Some guys were playing one day at 6:30am). 

Every day except Sunday, we passed a woman who is out sweeping the dirt ground with a straw broom. Before the heat of the sun appears, she dusts away every leaf that falls from her trees, keeping her yard so tidy and neat. The brooms here aren't like the ones we are accustomed to. They stand about 2 feet tall and have no handle; it's basically straw bundled together and tied around the top. The lady has to bend at a 90 degree angle for the 30 minutes it take to push away the leaves. We ran through a small dust cloud each time we pass her house, but she is so sweet and always stopped to wave and greet us saying, "mwabukabuti".

The house right after hers is home for two little girls. It was the second week of us being here that we first crossed paths with them. They were headed our way when we waved to greet them from a distance. They stopped for a minute and then took off running toward us in their matching pink winter coats and backpacks (they think its freezing here right now - apparently June is the coldest month of the year). I had never met them before, I don't think Carrie or Kacie had at that point, either, but they ran right up to us and gave us each a big hug. It has become a morning ritual since then and I looked forward to it each day.

We also crossed paths with the secondary school girls walking in their uniforms from the dorms to their class. At first I don't think they knew what to make of us, but they did start waving, greeting, and giggling when they passed us as the days went on. Some of would even run little spurts when passing us...they might have been making fun of us but we didn't mind. We would try to always greet them using Tonga, so it would catch us off guard when they would look at us and say "hi" with blunt English. We try to fit in, but for the teenage girls I think they thought we were just trying to be cool. I felt like I failed at being a grown-up trying to fit-in with the young kids, HAH! It's fine.

Then there was sweet Pinky. She is the very first kid we met at Namwianga mission. She has such a spunk about her that she wiggled her way into our hearts from the start. At only 8 years old, she was striking up conversations with everyone in our group and coming around just to hang out. The first Saturday we were there, she randomly appeared on our run. I don't know how long she had been trying to catch up with us before she actually did. We asked her how she knew we were running and she replied saying, "I saw your footprints". It was easy to see our tennis shoe prints in the sand. She kept up for a while, asking "how many times" to which we responded "2 miles", to which she then responded, "what's that?"... it's about time the US jumps aboard the metric train like the rest of the world.

In addition to the runs, I tried to do a mini workout routine on the yoga mat I brought. I  would only do the 30 min routine on my shower days to avoid becoming too smelly, but was much more successfully at sticking to the runs than the routine. Brett sent me daily workout motivation memes to which I also shared with Carrie and Kacie. To all of our surprise, we kept up with the runs every day we were at the mission until our very last day there on June 18th! Go team!

Home Visits

Yesterday, June 10th,  was an exciting day for Ashley and me. It all started bright and early at 7am when we met at Janna's to tag along as she completed a home visit.

Every day, Janna travels to meet the families of the babies at The Haven for one of two reasons: 1) she is bringing the baby to visit with his/her family so that there is a smooth transition when he/she is able to go back home or 2) she is going to visit the baby after he/she has returned home to ensure that everything is still going well.

She drove us in her truck to The Haven where we collected a sweet baby girl who is just 3 months old. Let's call her "Muyanda", it means "sweetheart" in Tonga. Ba Michael, our driver, drove us 2 hours until we came to a market where a man came up to the window. Janna talked to him for a few minutes before saying, "did you see your daughter?" and gestured to her in my arms in the back seat. It caught me off guard for a moment. I almost felt guilty for holding her while he looked in from outside. Her dad stood so patiently, smiling at his little girl, until I passed her forward.

As soon as she was in his arms, people, who I assume were related, flocked around him. They just stared and smiled at their precious baby. I believe it was the first time they had seen her since she went to live at The Haven. Gah, my heart. Just like the majority of babies at The Haven, her mom passed away shortly after childbirth. To literally save Muyanda's life, a baby who did not have any way of getting the milk she needed, her family agreed to let the aunties take care of her until she grows big and strong and can eat what her family eats at home.

Everyone who was around piled into the bed of the truck and we drove another 5 minutes down the road until we came to someone's house. More family members were waiting there when we pulled up to the door. Ashley and I were immediately invited into their living room where colorful drapes hung from the ceiling, separating one room from another. We sat on the couches as everyone filed in behind us, passing Muyanda from one person to the next.

Multiple people looked us straight in the eyes and started asking questions in Tonga. We smiled politely with blank stares as they laughed and asked Jenna and Ba Michael if we spoke Tonga. This is the first time I have ever been in a country where I do not speak the language and I had to quickly become comfortable with smiling and making eye contact in silence without any words to communicate. Thankfully, the grandmother took special interest in the way my head bobbed to the music playing in the background. Her smile grew two sizes as she sat in the chair across from me and began to move her hands from one side to the other. I copied her movements and soon she stood up and danced her way to the center of the living room. Still smiling and waving back and forth, Ashley and I stood up to join her. The rest of the family got a kick out of the whole ordeal and said, "she could dance forever". I have no doubt in my mind that she could. We sat down three different times, just to have her invite us back to our feet.

As the visit continued, a young woman entered the room with a basin and pitcher of water. She knelt down in from of Jenna, Ashley, Ba Michael, and me before pouring water over our hands. I followed Janna's lead as she rubbed her hands together under the steady stream. Before she brought us on this trip, Janna told us that we would be expected to eat/drink what they provided for us. I was happy and honestly relieved to find that she brought out a bowl of ground nuts (peanuts). After we finished the entire bowl, the same young woman came around to rinse our hands again from the pitcher.

Roughly two hours passed and it was time for us to go. I didn't like how it felt telling them it was time to take Muyanda back to The Haven. After all, this is her family and it's so easy to tell how much they lover her. We all went outside where they took a beautiful group picture together, then they watched us load into the truck and drive away.

I've said it before, but The Haven is such a special and important place here in Zambia. Without it and all of the wonderful people who work there, I don't know that Muyanda would have made it. Actually, there is a good chance that she wouldn't have. Thankfully, she is healthy, happy, and surrounded by so many people who love her. I snuggled her the whole way home.

Open Market in Choma

As a follow-up to my last post, I wanted to share a little about the market in Choma. We rode the bus about an hour into town where Mr. Chance pretty much let us off the bus and pointed in a general direction where the open market was. "Meet over there at the lawn of the museum", he said. We filed off of the bus just to look at each other and wonder where to go. The paved street was lined with stores and filled with families shopping. I heard one little girl say to her mom, "look at all of the white people".  Our huge group excused our way through the crowds of people and ended up splitting into smaller groups after a quick stop at the grocery store.

My small group wondered in the direction Mr. Chance suggested to again, look lost. One gentleman came up to us and said, "are you looking for something?", to which we asked where we would find the open market. He said it was right behind the row of stores behind us, and offered to escort us through the bar instead of walking the whole way around. We all looked at each other, knowing it wasn't the best idea for a few reasons. Tori stepped up and stated that wouldn't be necessary and we continued on our way around. "Are you afraid?", he asked. We weren't necessarily afraid, but it's good we followed Tori's lead.

Behind the stores we found dirt roads decorated with the same tarp tents we saw in Kaloma. The road followed railroad tracks for miles. I'm assuming they are no longer in use based on how close the tents were to the tracks. Some tents had music blasting, numerous tents/stands had little speakers that shouted some type of announcement, everyone starred, many asked us to come to their tent, and some tried to walk with us. It was an unusual feeling being watched so closely from every direction. I'd be lying if I said it was not intimidating.

This market had more to offer than the previous. Here we saw everything from barber shops to stands selling car parts, live chickens to piles of minnows on the table in the sun. We even saw a guy drive by with a small goat in the front basket of his bike. I wanted to take so many pictures, but it made me nervous because we already had so much attention. We were friendly, though. I tend to greet people more than normal (I guess), so I would say "muabukabuti" which loosely translates to "good morning" in Tonga. They LOVED to hear us attempt to speak Tonga. Most of them laughed...I'm sure I'm pronouncing it wrong, but they seemed surprised by our efforts, replying "kabuti" (fine) and waved back with great big smiles.

We walked in one direction for a loooong time. Eventually we figured we should probably turn around. Instead of figuring out which little roads we took to get where we were, we found the railroad tracks and followed them to the lawn of the museum.

Although I didn't get many pictures myself, Dr. Meeker was brave and took pictures to share with us and now I'll share with you!

At the museum, we had a fresh chicken and fries picnic on a few bed sheets. When I Say fresh, I mean Mr. Chance said, "don't look out back behind the restaurant".

We did not go through the museum, but we did stop at the gift shop inside. They had beautiful woven baskets, hand-carved items, African masks, and countless other things. Our group spent hundreds of dollars in the gift shop. I think it was a little overwhelming for the lonely employee who calculated and wrote down each item by hand.

On our way home, the bus was packed with people and a plethora of souvenirs. As people made room on the seat to sit down, the souvenirs were PILED on top of laps and in the aisle way. Just when we were all comfortable with our seating, our bus was stopped by officials along the highway. They insisted that we all get off of the bus. For a few seconds, we were all confused about what was going on. We stood up, left our things behind, and followed the person in front of us to a basin of water with a small stream of water flowing out of it. They stopped our bus to make us "wash our hands" to prevent the spread of hand, foot and mouth disease that we could get from the animals...I don't know. We are still confused. We got on the bus and whipped out the hand sanitizer as cows crossed the path on our left. Good thing we washed our hands.

Saturday is for Shopping and Soccer

Our first Saturday, May 25th, started off with some shopping at the market! For as long as this group has been talking about this trip, we all knew that we were going to be buying a few chitenges (pronounced "shitangy") because they are so common and so versatile here. They can be worn as skirts, cut to make different bags or clothing items, used as a blanket to lay on the dusty ground, cut for drapes, or even wrapped around a baby to tie them to a momma's back.

The market in Kalomo was only about 20 minutes away from the campus. We piled into the bus and enjoyed the scenery as we passed people riding bikes, selling things on the side of the road, and walking miles to their destination. Everyone is so friendly here. When we pass by, they ALWAYS flash huge smiles and wave to us strangers.

When we arrived in Kalomo, we stopped at the ATM to withdraw some kwacha before shopping. The exchange rate here is about 10 kwacha for each U.S. dollar.

The market was not like I was expecting. I guess I was expecting it to be more touristy than it actually is. Small tents of tarp lined the dusty dirt roads with trash scattered all around. I asked one passerby where we could find the chitenges and he happily pointed us in a direction. We decided to wait for the rest of the group before continuing on our way. Mr. Chance led us to what seemed like a dead-end road, but we turned the corner and crossed a little ditch of trash to find rows and rows of tents.

Photo credit: Rachel Cannon

We passed tents selling vegetables, socks, toys, and some with a small selection of chigenges. After turning a few corners, we came upon one tent with walls full of bright colored patterns and customers in a long line ready to make a purchase - it was the rest of our group. We all piled in and bought multiple chitenges each. The other tents tried to get our business, but the selection at this tent was too good to pass up.

After we finished shopping at the market, we piled back in the bus and headed to Mrs. Moono's house. She use to live really close to where we are staying so Mr. Chance knows her from years passed. We brought her our chitenges and she wrote down our requests for quilts, clothing, and other customized items from the patterns we picked.

After our lunch back at the mission, we were invited to a 10th birthday party next door! We followed the music to the veranda (porch) where about 15 kids were dancing their hearts out to the upbeat music playing on the stereo. A few of us joined in for a few minutes before being asked to sit along the wall for a performance. Three of the kids had their own dance to show and danced in unison with quick and repetitive movements. The boy, who couldn't have been more than 10 himself, danced with a knife in hand. Not a butter knife, but one that would do some serious damage if you got to close. As much as it scared us to see him spinning around and moving his arms back and forth next to the two other girls, the adults at the party laughed and clapped and didn't see any need for concern. The knife was then used to cut the cake after singing the traditional "happy birthday" song we all know. The birthday girl fed the first bite to her little sister and then the little sister fed the next bite to the birthday girl. I don't know how much of this is tradition or just what happened this day, but it was neat to see.

The last event of the day was a soccer game (football) at the nearby field.There is some grass to play on, but much of the field is rough sand. Our group paraded in and sat on the ground along the sidelines. A dog ran on the field like a member of the team, causing no disruption to the play. I didn't see a score board, but I know our team in green (the teenage boys going to school here), scored at least twice. I'm pretty sure we were in the lead when we had to leave for dinner.

Chess game on the sidelines.

The whole day was very relaxing and so fun. I feel like we are doing so much every day, but it never feels rushed here. We just finished our first week of therapy at The Haven - it has been tiring and amazing (more on that later). To celebrate, we will be spending this Saturday with some more shopping at a market and soccer!

Orientation

After we arrived to our new home on Wednesday the 22nd, introductions were made between us and the many workers that keep this place in tip-top shape. Women were carrying our 50lb suitcases from the truck to the Hamby House, balancing the bags on the tops of their heads. The Hamby House is like the central meeting place where we eat every meal and play games at night.

The initial meeting held minutes after we arrived told us to be very conscious about how much water we used. We were asked to shower every other day and follow the "keep it mellow when it's yellow" rule. I also heard someone say that they expect to be out of water by July. What happens after that, I don't know, but we are definitely using a lot less water than we are used to.

Each of us were assigned our room keys and spent time moving in to our new bedrooms. I will be rooming with Tori, Rachel, and Delaney while we are here! Our room has two bunk beds and a bathroom. At first, our sink did not have running water and we had to resort to hand sanitizer until late afternoon the next day.

Dinner was prepared right at 5:30 pm. I'll talk more about the food and our incredible cook at a later time because he deserves his own post. But after dinner some took their showers (I was not one of them), we played spoons, and went to bed. It was really nice to have a chill day after however many hours of traveling we had to get there.

The next morning after our 8:00 am breakfast, we were on our way to The Haven to meet the babies and the aunties! Jenna is a young woman who lives and works here, checking in on the babies who are reunited with their families. She told us about what to expect and went over some of the rules. A new rule this year is that we cannot post pictures of the babies on social media to protect their privacy. As much as I would love to share their sweet faces with you all, I understand why that rule is in effect.

We walked about a mile from our place to where The Haven is located. The entire path is a dusty road, surrounded by tall, brown grass and some trees. Many of us got our first sunburn because we didn't realize how little shade there would be on our walk and how far we would be walking. My guess is that it took us about 25 minutes to get there. As we got closer to The Haven, there was a canopy of trees that bridged over the path. It is really pretty.

Jenna brought us to each of the three Haven Houses and introduced us to all who were there. Haven 1 was our very first stop which is where the youngest babies stay. We walked up to the house and 12 babies were outside either happily rolling around, being cradled by an auntie, or bouncing in their little seats. Haven 2 is where the toddlers stay. When we visited them, they were all sitting so attentively in their little circle of chairs, listening to the one auntie read a story. She stopped reading for Jenna to make the introductions. Here, the aunties go by  "bina" and then the name of their first born child. For example, my mom would be known as Bina Kara. There was one auntie introduced as Bina Pinchy because her oldest likes to pinch people. We all thought it was funny and super cute to hear that they give nicknames, too. Haven 3 is where the medically fragile children stay. Again, for their privacy, I don't think I am allowed to talk about their conditions, but Jenna did say that they were all doing pretty well right now.

We ended up back at Haven 1 after getting the grand tour and were able to play with and pass around all of the babies! Wow are they cute. One little guy has a single tooth popping out, one little girl had a full head of hair that was sectioned off into little bands, and one other little boy was so tiny but still trying to look around everywhere. The aunties so generously passed off the babies they love and care for everyday even though we are still strangers to them.

After some time, Mr. Chance announced that it was time for us to move on to see "the other side of things". We followed Jenna across the way to a cow field. She opened the gate and led us to an enclosed graveyard where they have buried the ones who did not make it. She explained that many of the families do decide to have the burial closer to home, but some are buried here. The perimeter of the yard had square memorial stones placed so carefully. Each stone included a child's name and the year in which he or she passed. A red stripe on the stone represented a little girl while a blue stripe represented a boy. I didn't count each stone but my guess is that there were close to 100 memorial stones and about 25 graves since 1989. Jenna said that a lot of the deaths were HIV related.

Picture taken from outside of the cow field.

It is so easy to get caught up in the excitement of being here and being able to interact with the people, but actually seeing the graves and the memorial stones really snaps my perspective back into place. I know there is a lot going on and there are always things to pray about, but when you think of it, pray for The Haven, those who work here, and those who have lost their babies.

The remainder of our day was again laid-back. After lunch, we unloaded a small shed to find materials we would be able to use for our therapy sessions that begin on Monday. There are more materials here than we were expecting, but it didn't take us too long to organize it on the table.

That night, we had a nice fire. Mr. Chance attempted to make popcorn on the stove but the bugs mixed among the kernels made it less appealing and we decided to wait and buy a new bag at a later date.

The days are already running together but I am so happy to be here with this group. I admit, I have been trying to catch up with my posts and have not proofread my writing. I am trying to include as much detail as I can so that I can remember as much as possible after these weeks are over.

Traveling Part 2: Zambia

Well guys, we made it to Zambia. Our looooong day of traveling started out on Wednesday, May 22nd at 7:45 am when we were to be packed and ready in the hotel lobby with everyone and everything we needed. This time, it only took about 10 minutes to drive to the airport.

Our flight left on time with EVERYONE on board. Woo! This trip was from New York to South Africa which was a 14 hour flight. Gah. The plane was HuMOnGoUs. I was able to sit next to Haley Rees and we snuggled into our seats for the long flight. Not long after we were in the air, our first meal was served. We had the option of chicken marsala with mashed potatoes or beef with rice. I went with the chicken. For airplane food, it wasn't too shabby. They also had sandwiches a while later and then breakfast (omlet or pancakes... I went with the omlet) towards the end of the trip.

After our dinner, we attempted to watch a movie. Haley's audio did not work; it sounded like there were little gremlins chatting in her headphones. After a few offers, she agreed to alternate seats with me during the flight. I was excited to find Bohemian Rhapsody and A Star Is Born to watch since I still hadn't seen them. After each movie, we would stand up, stretch out our legs, and I would fall asleep as she watched her movie. Unlike the majority of those in my group, I successfully managed to get about 6.5 hours of sleep. At one point, Haley and I both stood up and did a lap around the plane just to get the blood flowing. Apparently, the stretches and single lap was not enough. We landed and noticed that our ankles were SO swollen! For those wearing tennis shoes and sandals with straps, they had trouble getting their shoes back on their chubby feet. I know the picture below is kinda gross, but that's how I felt after the trip so it's fine.

Arriving in South Africa was super exciting because 1) the long trip was over and 2) we were finally in Africa!!!! After leaving all of our bags with some other group members, a few of us walked around in the airport admiring the different shops they had. Just like in the U.S., we found restaurants, jewelry stores, and souvenir shops, but we also found shops selling zebra skins beaded mugs and figurines, bracelets being sold as a fundraiser to fight malaria, and so many other things that could only be found in Africa. Kacie and Carrie found things they wanted to buy, but the cashier said they needed their boarding passes to make a purchase.

The 2 hour flight from Johannesburg, South Africa to Livingston, Zambia seemed like a piece of cake compared to the edema-inducing flight beforehand. This plane was also big, but not as big as the last one. As we were coming in to land, we could see Victoria Falls, one of the seven wonders of the world!!!! It looked so small from above, but it is a natural boarder that separates Zambia from Zimbabwe. Towards the end of our stay, it is in our plans to visit the falls and see it up close. 

Photo Credit: Ashley Taylor

In the airport, we grouped together and were told exactly what to say when going through customs. A man named Ba Simeon (Ba is a term of respect like calling someone Mr./Mrs./Miss) walked up to our group and gave Mr. Chance a big hug. He is well known around the surrounding areas for being associated with Namwianga Missions, the organization and campus at which we are staying for the next few weeks. From what I understand, he works for the Zambian government. Instead of us getting in the long line for customs, all we had to do was hand our passports to one lady and follow him right on through the gate. A bus picked us up right outside of the airport and a big, open truck was used to transport all of our bags. It's always surprising to see the driver on the right side of the vehicle, driving on the left side of the road, but it still felt safer than driving in New York. 

The entrance gate to the Namwianga Missions campus.

We rode the bus for about an hour until we finally arrived to the campus. It was now Thursday the 23rd around 4:00 pm. We are 6 hours ahead of Eastern time. The air was warm, it was super sunny, we had the windows wide open, and we accidentally slept most of the way there. It wasn't until the last 15 minutes or so that the dusty roads turned super bumpy and woke us all up. We were finally here.