Looking forward to an African 2011

We've had a busy few weeks in the run up to Christmas submitting essays, visiting friends and family, applying for visas, booking flights etc. We had a fab time with Tess and Phil who will be joining us at Kalene in August. It was great to meet Colin Breeze who has been visiting Kalene and Zambia for over 20 years with Brass Tacks. He gave us an insight into life at Kalene and even offered to send us a key for the hospital as he said they were short and getting one cut over there would be tricky! You know you're going for real when someone is giving you a key to the place! Thanks to Phil's parents who have very kindly purchased our supply of anti-malarials. They came in 16 tubs but I have managed to cram them into 4 pots so there will be room in my luggage for real essentials such as my new game called Bananagrams (hours of fun!) and my next cross stitch project!

On Boxing Day, we shared about our work in Zambia at  Newtown Evangelical Church and were very much encouraged by the fellowship there. There are many faithful in prayer there and we know that we wouldn't be able to do this without this support. We have also received some financial gifts from people wishing to help and we are truly thankful for such generosity.

The red tape and paperwork is both confusing and time consuming. It has involved preparing documents, obtaining signatures certifying that we are who we say we are! We are currently trying to sort paperwork for registering as doctor and nurse/midwife in Zambia. They even want our GCSE certificates - several degrees and professional qualifications between us are not adequate proof of our education by Zambian standards apparently! This would be fine except Chris can't find his anywhere! I, of course, could put my hand on mine straightaway! This has all been delayed due to Christmas and solicitors not operating from Christmas Eve till this Tuesday so please pray that we can send the documents on Wednesday morning and that they will arrive safely.

I did my last shift at Ysbyty Glan Clwyd on Friday and delivered my 40th baby! It was a great way to finish up. I have been blessed with a great bunch of people to work with during my training. The staff there really have been so supportive and interested in what we are going to do. I am also most grateful for their enthusiasm in sharing their skills and knowledge and I hope I will do them proud as I put all I've learnt into practice.

We have booked our flight and depart London on 16th February. We will be staying at the CMML guesthouse in Lusaka for about a week, allowing us to have our respective interviews for registering as doctor/midwife. We are hoping to get a flight with CMML on 23rd Feb but are awaiting confirmation of this.

We wish you all a peaceful and blessed New Year.

Love from Emma and Christopher xxx

Just a little update

We've been really encouraged these past couple of weeks by people asking us about our plans for Zambia. It was fantastic to share with Hope Church, Bangor about what we will be doing and to receive prayer - thank you guys.  We've also heard from people working at Kalene which has been very helpful. I had an email today from Becs, one of the nurses there, giving me loads of information about all the paperwork and documentation I will need to prepare in order to register with the Zambian Nursing Council! It will cost a mere 1 million kwacha (about US$200)! I will also have to sit an exam in June and also one for midwifery - just when I thought I was done with exams!

I have two more days on the post/antenatal ward this week and then will have a week or so off which will see me writing my final essay (supposedly!) I'll then be back on delivery suite till the end of December, trying to learn as much as I can in my last stint there.

Thanks for reading this. Don't have much else to report at present but it's good for me to get into the habit of updating this - I wasn't sure I could remember the password!

Love Emma (and Christopher) x

A few preparations!

Welcome to our blog! We really hope you will enjoy reading our posts and we are looking forward to sharing our experiences in Zambia with you.

Preparations are well under way. I (Emma) have had my first three injections - only three more to go! Christopher is yet to have had any of his (I think he is scared of going to see the nurse!) Hilary has been fab at organising all our vaccines and we are very grateful to Bron Derw for letting us have them at cost price. We will book our flights to Lusaka at the end of the month.

Last weekend we travelled down to Dorchester to clear out our garage there ready to store everything while we are away. This was a big and exhausting job so we were really pleased to get this done.

While down south, we had the privilege of speaking at Street Baptist Church about what we will be doing in Zambia. It is so important to us for friends and family at home to be involved in what we are doing - thank you all for your support and interest.

We hope to be able to post photos and videos later on so you can see what we're up to.

In the meantime, I have a degree to complete so I better get off to the library!!

Love Emma and Christopher x