October was quite a month for us! It seems to have been a time of mixed emotion. We’ve had the joy of welcoming family and the sadness of saying farewell to friends who have been very dear to us here. We’ve felt disappointment but have also seen God answer prayer in a powerful way. We’ve left our familiar surroundings at Kalene for pastures new at Chitokoloki for the next month.
The beginning of the month was a particularly low point. The visit of the provincial medical officer did not provide us with any hope that the situation with the nursing council could be resolved. In fact, it seemed quite hopeless. I found it difficult to envisage spending the next 3 months redundant when I could have been making myself useful at the hospital. I could not travel to Lusaka for the first part of the month due to the fact that the majority of Zambia’s nurses were at the nursing council for registration, leaving many hospitals, including Kalene, deplete of staff for up to four weeks! I was also waiting for an available flight and I was warned that the whole trip was probably futile as the council do not usually re-issue temporary registration. All in all, I was not feeling overly positive about the trip! However, I was very much encouraged through prayer and knew that I could do nothing else than trust God to take charge of the situation.
One thing that really helped me to have hope was when Pete Fisher, a well known and respected figure in Zambia, put me in touch with the local MP for our area. The minister agreed to meet me in Lusaka and help me in my mission. I had 2 days to get it sorted. When I arrived in Lusaka however, he was in another part of the country and would not be arriving until the following day. I felt I needed to get to the nursing council straightaway because in Africa, such business has a tendency to take an extremely convoluted path before it even nears execution: simply, I needed all the time available. So I made my way there and went to reception and asked to see one of the registrars. I was told that they were away until the following week. I explained my situation and that I would really like to see someone who could help. The receptionist sighed and directed me to see ‘Mrs Musamba.’ I was trembling as I went to find her office. I introduced myself and a lady greeted me, ‘I am Beatrice Musamba.’ I was ecstatic to hear this! We had specifically prayed that I would be able to see this lady as she is about the only helpful person at the nursing council. She couldn’t have been nicer. I was able to tell her everything with complete honesty and she carefully listened before saying, ‘Well, we will have to do something about that!’ She made some calls and eventually concluded that I could renew my registration (as long as I paid the fee of 1 million kwacha again, naturally) and that I would not need to re-sit the exam! I couldn’t believe how simple and stress-free the process was. The only issue then was that the template of the letter I needed was on a computer which was in a locked office and ‘the man with the key is not here.’ (if I had a thousand kwacha for every time I have heard that phrase, my registration fee would have been more than covered!) But never fear, Beatrice had a plan! She told me to get a photocopy of my receipt for the fee and that she would get the letter written which she would personally scan and email (?!) and at a later point, our pilot could pick up the hard copy. I was barely aware that the GNC even had a computer, let alone internet or the wherewithal to actually prepare a document and send it electronically. But lo and behold, two days ago, I received an email from Beatrice to tell me that my letter was ready and waiting at reception.
Although in many ways, this was a very testing performance, I have learnt a lot through it all. I was tempted to just try and ignore the rules or create my own justification for continuing to work or agree to resit the exam and then not turn up for it but in the end, I was able to act with integrity, speak truthfully and God did not let me down: ‘Those who honour me, I will honour.’ (1 Samuel 2:30).
We had a very special time with Christopher’s mum and dad during their month with us. We did all the usual Kalene tourist attractions (all 3 of them!!) which included a game drive at Hillwood Farm - a great experience which we all thoroughly enjoyed. It was really nice to be able to show them some of the work we’ve been involved with here. As usual, a lot of activities have revolved around food. We celebrated Canadian Thanksgiving, Jackie and Rachel’s birthday and Independence Day, which was a real highlight with a visit to the orphanage to see our dear Christine, followed by fireworks at Sakeji which were spectacular! We were sad to say goodbye after a wonderful month together.
We also said goodbye to some special friends. Becs has returned to New Zealand after nearly 3 years at Kalene. Then Rachel and Kirsty flew out on the same flight as Jackie and Richard. Living and working so closely with the same few people means that you become close very quickly. We’ve so appreciated these friendships – we will miss you girls very much!
We’ve also left Kalene for a brief time to visit another mission hospital called Chitokoloki. We have been here for a week already and are really enjoying our experience. So far, it’s feeling like a bit of a holiday compared to life at Kalene!! (I feel this statement may be controversial but it’s only right that people know the truth!!) It’s a beautiful area, our house is very smart and we have a lovely view of the river. The terrain is deep sand. It is much hotter here which is taking some adjusting to. We only have electricity for 3 hours a day between the hours of 6 and 9pm. On the up side, the pool here is great. Water volleyball is like a religion amongst the mission staff here so work at the hospital stops at 4 or 5pm for our daily game.
The hospital itself is in much better condition than Kalene with ceilings, tiled floors, sinks, decent beds and an amazing theatre complex. They also seem to have much more equipment and resources available. I used their ultrasound machine for some antenatal scanning and could not believe the quality of the picture. I managed to find TWO babies in one woman – just hope I haven’t missed any twins at Kalene!
We’ve been doing all sorts! This morning we did a caesarean section, a laparotomy (I assisted Mr H for the first time!!) and a big skin graft on a poor man who fell into a fire burning his whole abdomen. I also stitched a little boy’s ear back on – they have a very nice room for ‘procedures’ like suturing and dressings which is linked to the theatre complex.
The hospital routine is very different. We do a round of ALL the patients on every ward which sounds bad but there are much fewer inpatients. Then 10am is tea break with scones / cakes which is a definite plus! Then there is clinic or theatre. It is nice not to have the responsibility of running a ward or to have to be on call the whole time. We are told this ‘quiet spell’ is very unusual and we are expecting an orthopaedic team tomorrow and the eye team next week…
As always, photos to follow when I can find the bit of paper with instructions for uploading them again!!!
With our love,
Emma and Christopher x
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