Lunda Lunda Lunda!

We’ve recently returned from two weeks language study. We stayed at Hillwood Farm and Sakeji School. We have discovered that Lunda is quite a tricky language to learn! It is mostly phoenetic with a few exceptions but it is a tonal language so the emphasis must be correct, otherwise you could be saying something you really did not intend! We felt very fortunate to have Paul Fisher as our teacher. He is the grandson of Walter Fisher, the first missionary to Kalene, who arrived in 1906. The Fisher family run Hillwood Farm which supplies us with meat and dairy. We were staying with Paul’s daughter, Melanie and her family. It was a really lovely time. Christopher enjoyed hanging out with 2 of Mel’s sons, playing with guns, motorbikes, computer games and the 2 dogs – what more could a boy want?! I loved hanging out with Mel in the kitchen, trying out new recipes and ideas with limited ingredients. We stayed at Sakeji School for the second week which was quite an experience! We were in a little rondavel (until we were plagued by hundreds of cockroaches – thankfully we were evacuated!) and had all our meals with the children. We had to eat ALL our food, including the gruel which was served up every morning for breakfast! Our day started with breakfast at 7am. We then went off to Hillwood Orphange to visit the children and the mamas who care for them. It was such a joy to see little Masaku. She is doing very well and has a lovely mama called Alice. We also tried to practice our language but the children are getting quite good at English, so when we asked, ‘Ichi chika?’ (‘What is this?’) and pointed to something, they would reply with glee, ‘Nose!’


Our lesson with Paul was at 10am. It usually took us a while to get down to some Lunda! It was fascinating to learn about the history, geography and culture of the area. Paul is known as Nkaka to the local people, which means grandpa – they say he can speak better Lunda than the Lunda themselves! As well as basic greetings and vocab, we wanted to learn phrases useful for our work in the hospital. This caused much hilarity at times! We are in the process of producing a little phrase book which we hope will be useful for others in due course.



We then ripped back to school on our bikes for lunch and a bit of consolidation of new vocab before setting off to one of the nearby villages called Mavunda. We would go to Anita’s house for a few hours to talk and play with the children of the village. Each day, a crowd of about 30 would join us on a mat for more, ‘Ichi chika?’ We would sing, tell stories from the Bible, read books, share sweets and play games. It was such fun. Anita (who works for Mel and helps at the orphanage) was a great help to us as we tried to use our new language skills.



We really enjoyed this 'village work' and even saw some patients. We knew a girl with sickle cell anaemia from Kalene called Florida (25). She also had a inoperable pelvic mass. But she was very anaemic when we saw her and we thought she should be transfused to make her feel a bit better. So we rang the hospital to see if there was any blood for her but of course there wasn't. So she arrived on Wednesday and Christopher was about to go to the lab to donate for her but it was too late – she died the same day.



It was wonderful to have some time away from the hospital – we have hardly left the compound since we arrived in February! It was back to work straightaway on our return. The hospital has been quite calm this week which has been good as the staffing is extrememly sparse (YGC crew – it’s a universal problem! Only we can’t get bank here!!!) Tomorrow morning, Sister Emma will single-handedly be looking after all 33 patients on Fisher Ward! I am hoping Orpheus (GREAT name – there are many wonderful names here) from Men’s will come and assist me. I actually had to do a drug round yesterday! I’ll be handing out inshima next!



We fly down to Lusaka on Wedneday on the old Vomit Comet (cessna) and my exam is on Thursday and home on Saturday!



With our love, Emma and Christopher xxx

 

Working hard with Nkaka!

Anita (and Grace) who was such a help to us. We enjoyed hanging out at her place in Mavunda.

Children at Mavunda.

Christoph with Masaku at Hillwood.

Masaku and her new mama, Alice.

Kids at Mavunda enjoying Curious George.

Rose, a beautiful and bright girl in the village.

Katalina, at Hillwood.

Story time with Dr Chris - Lucy chilling out!

Mama Mel and Kundezi.

How cheeky am I?!

Health and safety at the orphanage.

Muzulu! (nose)

Emma with some of the Hillwood poppets.

With the biggest poppet of all - Masaku growing up big and strong.

Christoph and Mahatma at Mel's.

View of the game park from Mel's.

Rachel, Katy and baby Stanley (orphaned when his mother died from DKA) watching the royal wedding - we had tea and scones to celebrate!

This was AGONY! I don't know how Africans sleep at night!

Easter Day - Peter Gill (orthopaedic surgeon), Paul and Katy Barker (doctors from the UK) and Rachel (nurse from Canada). Afterwards, we played with Peter's air rifle - the first time I have held a gun and I did quite well - shot 2 coke cans from the top of a container!

This is little Maria (9), who was very sick when she arrived from Congo with massive ascites and fevers. We started TB treatment and this is her the day she went home.

Katengo (5) arrived having had 8 months of ‘treatment’ in Congo. She has Burkitt’s lymphoema and had started chemotherapy but started spiking temps so we put it on hold. She had maggots coming from her mouth but a simple anti-septic mouthwash seems to have cleared them. Poor, dear poppet. The suffering and extent of disease here is sometimes beyond comprehension. We will transfuse her, re-start chemo and are praying for her healing.

This is Paul if you remember from the April blog? He is doing very well and his graft looks good, though he is developing a contracture of his neck and eyelid which will require further surgery at a later date.