Kalene Mission Hospital

Hello hello hello,

I am finally taking some time to write a new blog post.  It's been quite a while and we do't even have much time left in Africa.

I've been very busy these past few weeks.  And Time is flying.

I received a request to go help out at the lab at Kalene (another village, about 20 km away).  The volunteer missionary that was there went back home and they were left short staffed.  I was very excited about this opportunity.  This is what I wanted to do in Zambia, but when I inquired about it back last summer, it just didn't work out at the time.

So since February 25th, I've been working at the hospital there from Monday to Thursdays every week.  Then I come back to Sakeji by bicycle and do my duties from Thursday evening to Sunday.  Then I bike back to Kalene on Sunday afternoon. (Weather permitting)

So it's been quite eye-opening at the lab there.  It's very different than in Canada.  I see about 50 cases of malaria everyday.  I'm getting quite good at doing malaria slides (I've only seen malaria in Canada once or twice).  So that experience is great! I've been doing a lot of blood draws and out-patient lab work.  It's so nice to be back in that atmosphere, helping people.  I love it.

I am also showing a few ladies how to collect and do malaria blood slides.  This is just to save time when there is a stat slide in the middle of the night.  Instead of calling someone in, who might need to be picked up at their house to come in.

It's so awesome to know I am doing what I am trained to do, and helping people in the middle of Africa.  I always hoped I could use my career to do something like this, even if it's only for a short while.

Here's some pictures.  Also, I posted pictures of the lab in a much earlier blog, but the lab is in a new location, so here are pictures f where I am working now.

The third picture is a little kid was my first patient one day and I gave him a little Hot Wheels car.  I could see him playing with it the whole time he was waiting for his results.  He was super cute :)

This last photo is a picture of the trail I take to walk to the hospital from where I am staying.  The building in the distance is the hospital.

P.S. I do miss everyone in Canada.  I counted the days and we will be back in Canada in 23 days.

Too much humidity....

The other day I looked in my smaller luggage for something, I think it was my other pair of sandals.  Anyways, I quickly realized something as very wrong.  I had 3 pairs of shoes/sandals just stored in my small luggage, just to keep them out of my way.

So I pulled out my white flip flops and they seemed a little dusty.  I thought that was strange, because they were inside the luggage and zipped up.  Then I took out my black sneakers and they were polka-dotted green.  I very quickly realized they had grown mold! Ewww.

Then, I pulled out my other sandals, which are Birks, so they have a leather sole.....and they were absolutely disgusting.  The soles are covered in mold.

Someone has lent me some shoe shampoo.  I will try it out today.  I'm not sure how it will turn out.  Apparently the humidity during the rainy season will do that.  Especially if you haven't worn your shoes for a while.

The only good part of this story is, I had a science class the next day and we just so happened to be learning about microorganisms including mold....so I brought in a shoe and we made a wet prep and looked at it under the microscope.

Here's what my shoes looked like when I pulled them out.

Half term Feb. 4-5, 2013

Hello all,

This Monday and Tuesday was our first half-term of the term.  It went pretty well. The weather was perfect on Monday, but Tuesday started with rain in the morning.

We had a lot of fun.  The day starts with free time at the playground and the kids all get some candies, then we head down to the river for swimming and more playground time.  Here's some pictures of some kids playing.

Then we had lunch at the river.  Nshima is always a treat for the kids.  Not so much for me, I skip the nshima and get rice instead.  For dessert we had guava, mango, and bananas. Here's some pictures of the food.

And we rinse our dishes in the river:

Tuesday was rainy in the morning so I think the kids just played in the dorm. Some were rollerblading in the hall.  Then I played soccer-baseball with the senior kids (Grade 5-9).  It was good fun.

In the evening after supper the ids watch a movie for about 1 hour.  They've been loving the new Tom & Jerry episodes we have. It's also funny to watch them watch it :)

Well that's all for now.  Cya!

School: Term 1, Jan. 2013

Happy Groundhog Day everyone! It's technically Feb. 2 here in Zambia, but not yet in Canada. So I'm waiting to check the news about the groundhog. I need to know what I'm coming back to!

Mylon and I have been keeping very busy this term. It's been very fun and I can't believe it's already February. Where did January go? Time goes by so fast here at Sakeji. Only about two months left and the term will be over.

This term I've been busy teaching grade 8-9 science classes. It's quite fun. We've been learning about cells, all the parts of the cells, and functions and all that jazz. It's fun to teach. The kids are so smart! We've been doing a lot of experiments too. The microscopes and scales ore so ancient, it's kind of funny. They still work for our purposes though!

I'm also doing a bit of work with the Grade 1's. They are just starting to learn how to read. So I've been teaching them syllables and sounds. They are so cute. They have the cutest giggles! I will definitely miss them when I leave.

I'm also doing a computer class with the grade 2's, reading groups with grade 2-3 and 4-5, phys.ed with grades 7-8, and after school games, crafts, piano lessons, swimming lessons and Sunday school lessons. This must be why time goes by so fast. I'm nice and busy!

Mylon is also teaching a lot more classes this term. He has picked up Grades 8-9 History. He's made up his own course on the 20^th century. The kids seem to really enjoy it and are really doing well. And obviously he loves it too. He also teaches Grade 3 computers, Social Studies with grades 2-3 and 4-5, and a few phys.ed classes.

Last week for Social Studies with grades 4-5 Mylon and a local worker from Sakeji went on a field trip. To learn about the agriculture in Zambia . So they went to a pineapple field. The women gardening and the local worker showed the kids (and Mylon) how to plant pineapples and they also picked fresh pineapples and cut them up and ate it. Mylon said it was the most amazing pineapple he's ever had. The locals claim to have the best pineapple in the world. I believe it, because it's by far the best pineapple I've ever had.

They also went to a casava field. The woman also showed them how this was planted and grown. It's quite interesting. And hard work it seems. Casava is used to make nshima, which is a Zambia staple. (You get it with your meals at KFC). It's like grey dough-y stuff they eat with different relishes. It's pretty weird, but it sometimes tastes o.k.

So from the casava plant, they use the roots. They cut off the root and soak it in the river for about 4 days, let it dry, then they mash it all up and soak it some more x2, then it's ready to make nshima with.

So here are some pictures of the field trip. It looked very interesting but I couldn't go because I had another class. But Mylon brought home 3 pineapples to share with me. Yummy!

South African Christmas

WELL Well well. Time to start blogging again!

There's just so much to talk about and so little time to type it! We had about 4 weeks off for the Christmas holidays. So I will tell you what we did.

The first week isn't very exciting. We stuck around the school. There was a huge tiling job for the kitchen and dining hall. We stayed to help with that, which took the entire week. I helped here and there, but it was mostly a few men working on it. I also was feeling pretty sick the last few days, so that was ok. As long I got better for my actual vacation. And I did.

We started by driving down to Lusaka. We sis that in two days. The roads are terrible here, but it's very interesting to see. There's a lot of goats on the road to avoid. We also drive by some towns and they are just totally caotic. I felt like just staying in the vehicle with the doors locked. But I don't think it's very dangerous. We were just excited to get to South Africa.

Finally the day came. We flew in to Johannesburg (about a 2-hour flight) and we were driven to the Lion Park. This is where we pet baby lions :) We stayed in big luxury tents. It was really nice. There was also a giraffe that had stepped over the fence, so it was walking around our tent. We also went on a night drive in the park. There we got to see a lion feed. Also a bunch of animals like jackals, cheetahs, leopards, white lions, zebra, ostrich, and a few other types. It's very cool. We woke up quite early, I think about 5 am. Probably because we were excited and not used to sleeping in a tent. But in the morning you can hear all the lions roaring. It's really something to hear. I loved it.

The next day we just stayed at a hotel in Joburg. Then headed for a 4-day camping trip to Kruger National Park. This was also very fun. This is where we saw the majority of animals. We have a lot of pictures, but I could never upload them all. I'll just put a few of the best ones. Here we went on Morning drives, afternoon drives, and night drives. We got to see lions feeding on a giraffe that they had taken down. Also, on one of our night drives, there was a male lion sleeping on the road, so we drove right up to it. We were standing in the open vehicle about a meter away from it and it was roaring right there. It was amazing. Lions are soooo cool.

Then we headed back to Joburg for another night and then we took an overnight bus to Cape Town. Long bus ride (about 18 hours) but we slept most of the way, so it went very well. The trains were all booked, so we got stuck with the bus. Apparently all of Joburg heads to Cape Town for the holidays.

Cape Town was BEAUTIFUL. What a great spot to vacation. Table mountain, the beach, the vineyards. It was awesome. We spent a lot of time at Clifton Beach and went to Camps Bay for Christmas. They are really nice beaches, with huge waves. We got some good tans and enjoyed picnics on the beach. At night we would go to the V&A Waterfront. There's always live music there, a lot of shopping and movie theaters and restaurants. We really enjoyed going to the movies. It's been so long and it was cheap!

We had perfect weather the whole time we were there. The only day it was a bit rainy was the day we did our Christmas shopping, so it turned out perfectly.

We also decided to try surfing. A few people have heard about this already. We took the local train to Muizenburg. It's a great place to learn how to surf. They also have shark-watchers so you don't have to be worried. It's a beautiful beach. Well the third time we went (surfing is very fun) the shark alarm actually sounded. There are a lot of penguins nearby, so the sharks like to visit to find some lunch. Well when we heard the alarm, just just looked at each other, got on our boards and paddled as fast as our arms could go, hoping a wave was coming that could push us to shore. It was very surreal.

When we got to the beach, and everyone was out of the water and looking for the shark, we could actually spot it. It was right in the area we were surfing! We watched it for about 5-10 minutes and finally I decided to run to our locker and get my camera. This is what I got. Also, we were done surfing for the day.

We also went up Table Mountain. We went after surfing (that's the day we saw the shark, also the last day in Cape Town). It was very awesome. We went for the sunset. Once the sun sets, it gets very very cold up there. It was just beautiful though.

Anyways. There's a lot more I could say, but this is long and I have to upload these pictures and then head down to watch the kids swim.

I hope everyone had a good Christmas. It really isn't the same without friends and family, so we were thinking of you and missed you all.

xoxo

Christmas Assembly

Wow! Two posts in one day!

This one will be short, but with a few pictures.  On the last day of school we had a Christmas assembly.  It was an awesome show.  It was sort of a musical about Sherlock Holmes.  The setting was in Bethlehem at the time that Jesus was born.  Sherlock is trying to figure out where and when Jesus is born.

After the play Mylon was Father Christmas and gave out gifts to the grades 1-2 and candy canes to other kids. Check it out.

Christmas Plans

I guess I should share a little about our plans for Christmas. We have about four weeks off. So obviously we have to get off the school property and visit stuff!

We are staying here for the first week. Mylon will be busy with others setting tiles in the main kitchen and dining hall. After that, we'll be heading to go to South Africa for about three weeks. This should turn out to be an awesome trip. We have a lot of things planned and a lot of days unplanned. So it will be fun and relaxing. We are going to the Lion Park in Johannesburg. That is where you go to pet baby lion and see other animals and go on game drives. We will be camping there for one night. We are also going on a 4-day camping trip to Kruger Park. It's the largest game reserve in Africa with many animals, including Africa's Big Five (lion, African elephant, Cape buffalo, leopard and rhinoceros).

After that, we are taking a very long bus ride to Cape Town. There we will spend about two weeks (in a nicer hotel for Christmas then a cheap hostel afterwards). Going to the beach, shopping, climb Table Mountain etc. There are a lot of things to do there. I can't wait. But at the same time, the school term is ending very quickly! I can't believe it is done this Wednesday.

I was busy reviewing all the report cards today before printing them. There are practises for the end of term show, lots of visitors to prepare for.

I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas and holiday season. I don't know how much blogging I will post while we are on vacation.

Take care.