Moonbow

After finishing at the Haven around lunch time we packed up the Khaki Jackie for an interesting drive to Livingstone. The roads are very nice for about half the drive, but they haven’t finished the entire road project so 15 kilometer “detours” down dirt roads are common. So our 120 kilometer drive took close to 3 hours. I can’t begin to tell you how cramped we were with all our overnight bags and how asleep our rear ends were after the bumpy ride but we arrived at the Protea Hotel in one piece. We checked in then had a little down time before dinner. We were free to choose from several places in the little shopping center down the street from our hotel. Jaime, Lacey, Kaylee and I decided the burger joing “Steers” looked ok. Even though I wasn’t super hungry I managed to eat most of my fries and half my burger. (This should have been a sign to me about things to come) After dinner we went to explore the grocery store in the shopping center, you’d have thought we’d never seen one the way we all went up and down the aisles, I bought a water and a Sprite for later. I also purchased some baby wipes for the Haven, they ran out this week so a few packages will be needed until the giant shipping container that Harding sent over gets here in a week or so. After leaving the grocery store we had about an hour to hang out before leaving to go to the falls around 8:30. During this time I noted to my roommate, Jaime, that I wasn’t feeling great and I thought the greasy hamburger was not being kind to me but I pulled it together because I had to go see the “moonbow”.
Livingstone is the tourist capital for Zambia because it is home to Victoria Falls, one of the “7 Natural Wonders of the World” and rightly so. There are only a few places in the world where one can witness a “moonbow” and Victoria Falls is one of them. During a few select times a year here in Zambia, when the skies are clear and there’s a full moon a moonbow is formed above the falls (Seeing one was our main purpose for the trip to Livingstone). Now one may say, what does a moonbow look like? Well like a rainbow, but in shades of gray mainly. It is one of the most spectacular things I’ve ever seen. How awesome is our God to create such amazing wonders. I got some really great pictures of it thanks to my nice camera, I wish I could post them for you tonight but alas here at Namwianga picture uploading is not possible.
Well there are several trails all around the Falls that lead to different views, at our third stop to take pictures etc. I began to feel very very sick and I said goodbye to my supper. I felt much better after that and assumed all was well. But I would be sick again before the end of the night. Since no one else seemed ill I thought it was just me reacting to more grease then I’ve had in a few weeks. As soon as we got back to the hotel I got ready for bed, took a Pepcid and proceeded to enjoy the nice bed at the Protea.
The next morning Meaghann said that she got sick during the night too, I was automatically afraid that we might have picked up some food poisoning but I was feeling fine. Next Marja, Jaime, and Ian all complained of upset stomachs…uhoh…we didn’t all eat at the same restaurant so we’ve come to the conclusion that our little projectile vomiter at the Haven must have passed her virus on to us because all of us had been around her for significant amounts of time. Our drive back from Livingstone was not the most pleasant ever even though only Ian was truly ill during the drive. Stomach virus+ Africa= no fun. We are all mostly recovered tonight although I have not attempted anything stronger than plain rice on my tummy. Hopefully all are well enough to spend time at the Haven tomorrow; mainly we do not want to spread anything we have especially to Haven 3.

"The Lost Boys"

First I will fill you in on what happened on Wednesday. We started off at The Haven; Caroline (a feeding specialist from Nashville, TN) is working with several of the infants that are struggling with eating. This tends to be common among babies that are medically fragile and even more so among those in orphanages. Her work is tedious but it's rewarding to see these little guys eating well and looking alert. So she and the other students immediately head to that room in the Haven and I go across the hall to the boys’ room, I lovingly refer to them as, "The Lost Boys". There are four precious little ones in this room, Peter, Jack, Shawn, and Ross. Ross always wears a grin and he's the only one of the 4 that can walk although they are all old enough to at least be pulling up. Shawn wears a constant face of worry unless he is in his bed, where he seems the most content. Peter is a chunky little dude who has an easy smile and a full set of teeth. Jack is the one that concerns me most, he will barely even roll over, something a baby half his age is generally capable of (he can sit up unsupported which gives me hope). So my first chore of the morning was to get them all in dry diapers and out of their cribs and in the floor to play. Ross was out of the room like a shot, headed to the common area for toys. He's a scavenger and always comes back with a toy in one hand and something he's not supposed to have in the other, like...4 pieces of broom straw. He's wearing a grin like he's the greatest hunter around. The weather is beautiful here so I decided we should go out and swing on the back porch. After securing each in a swing we probably ended up swinging for close to an hour. Ross and Peter being the only two that truly seemed to enjoy our outside adventure.
Next I took the boys into another room, it's the home of Bester and Elias (twins), Jana, Courtney, Elaine and Miller. These guys are all just barely old enough to sit up so I put them in bouncy seats and arranged "The Lost Boys" on the floor so we could do some singing. Thank you Mrs. Donna for preparing me thru helping with cradle roll class. We sang, God Made the Big Round Sun, Jesus Loves Me, If You're Happy and You Know It and I asked each little one several times, Who made you? and then told them GOD DID!! Jana was sooo cute imitating all the hand motions and even attempting to say GOD DID!
Throughout the morning I had seen several unfamiliar ladies talking with the Aunties, and then Dr.Weaver said that she thought one of the babies mothers had died in the night and Dr.Tullos had taken one of the men at the mission in to town to make some arrangements and sign some papers. Well actually it wasn't one of the current Haven resident’s mothers that died. It was a mother that died in childbirth and her little one is the newest member of Haven 1. He's tiny and precious. I asked the Aunties what his name was, which they told me...in Tongan so I asked what it meant. Beatrice said, "It means, Problem". I looked at her in shock and said, "No Ma'am! We are not calling him Problem, I think he looks like... Joe. Yes, Joe!" Beatrice agreed that we could call him Joe. I hope the name sticks; no way can this sweet little one be a problem.
We didn't go back to the Haven Wednesday afternoon because we had a half day planned to drive down to Livingstone and see the moonbow at Victoria Falls. I'll write about that adventure in a separate post.

Rocking Elaine

Day 2 of being at The Haven brought lots of baby rocking. When I first arrived the babies had just been given bottles so I just picked up one and headed to the rocking chair. Miller is a tiny little guy that has the face of a grown man. He's very rigid and is not used to being held much so it's sort of like holding a 2x4, but he will smile and respond if only given a little encouragment. The other members of our group at settling into a nice routine of language classes, enrichment, and dealing with feeding issues. I have been trying very hard to form a good raport with the Aunties because as Dr.Weaver warned us they are very standoffish at first and by no means do we want to overstep their regular routine. That's why today after lunch I was so excited to hear my name called by Beatrice. She's the Auntie that takes care of the room thats home to the youngest babies. She speaks English well and has a welcoming smile so I had talked with her and expressed my want to help. Well while I was rocking Elaine, a precious little doe-eyed baby girl, I hear "Sarah!, Come!" so I hopped out of the rocking chair and headed towards the bathroom, where it was time for Elaines bath and I was promptly handed Meagan wrapped in a towel post-bath. Beatrice instructed me on what clothes to put on here and told me that it was my job to lotion, powder, diaper, and clothe each little one as she got them out of the tub. YAY!!! Sweet clean happy babies! Even after the vigourous washing they get I'm pretty sure I managed a smile out of each one. I'm positive that I don't accomplish the task as quickly as one of the Aunties might but I got them all done and sitting up in their bouncy seats and was quite happy with the results :) I then proceeded to help Beatrice change the bed linens and do some straightening up. I think that good things will be happening now that I've proved that I can handle whatever Auntie Beatrice throws my way.

Progressive Dinner

The Haven is a beautiful place, not just because there are paintings of Curious George and Winnie the Pooh on the walls and not because the little playground in the courtyard is full of colorful swings but because the children there are beautiful souls who so badly need just that little extra touch of attention to be able to thrive. Again I will let it be known that the Aunties do a wonderful job with meeting the day to day needs of feeding, changing, and bathing the 60 or so little ones that occupy the 3 houses, but there simply are not enough hands or hours in the day to give each one the individual hugging, holding, and loving they so desperately need. So today I started at Haven 1, the house that has the smallest babies and those who are relatively “healthy”. Auntie Beatrice put me straight to work feeding some of the smallest ones, Hamilton is approximately 2 months old and weighs all of about 4 lbs. He’s tiny and we are all so scared for his well being. He doesn’t eat much and often can’t keep down what he does eat. In the states he would definitely still be in the NICU but here he’s in a room with 5 other tiny ones and he’s shown no special treatment. So my job, hold a baby, feed a baby, fresh diaper a baby, hold them some more and then move on to the next. I hate putting one down to pick up the next but I can’t stand to see the twins, Kelsey and Kelly laying there as I hold Hamilton knowing they need the attention just as badly.
So as I struggle to split my attention between so many I’ve learned a few things. I move pretty quickly when a baby projectile vomits, I do gag when changing stinky cloth diapers, you can pick up a Zambian child by 1 arm like the Aunties do and it won’t hurt them a bit, and even though I think its plenty warm its winter here and Zambian babies want to be bundled up like Eskimos.
After this long day at the Haven I got to come back to the B&E house and try for a shower. We have a pretty good schedule worked out so that all of us can get at least a lukewarm shower. After several days of either cold baths or “baby wipe” baths I can’t begin to tell you how amazing a lukewarm shower is. Leonard had a grilled cheese and fresh garden tomato dinner made for us, but little did we know we would eat 2 dinners tonight. The mission decided to have a welcoming party for us and they fixed a feast for us, sang to us in Tongan, and honored us with a “Nice Cake” (yup that was written on the top in icing a special trait of Leonard’s world famous cakes). It was a wonderful experience and gave many of us chill bumps and brought tears to our eyes as these lovely people showed us their appreciation.

Pop Tarts

HI! Well today started with breakfast on our own here at the B&E house. Our cook, Leonard, has Sundays off so it was up to us to rustle up cereal, fruit, toast or whatever else we could find. Worship service here on the mission started at 9 am Zambian time...So that means it started when the majority of people got there and others continued to trail in for another 30 to 45 minutes. The service was mostly conducted in English with a few Tonga songs thrown in for good measure. They sing many songs that most of grew up singing in the church so we are able to sing along even without song books to such tunes as Joy to the World and What a friend we have in Jesus. Although the melodies of some are slightly altered from our versions we have really enjoyed learning them the Zambian way. Some of the kiddos from The Haven got to come to church so most of us had a baby in our lap for the entire 2 and a half hour service. Those kiddos can eat more goldfish and cheerios than any other toddlers I've ever seen. Most of them were very well behaved and entertained themselves well with the hair bands on our wrists and our bibles. Dr.Weaver had the most energetic little guy but she handled him like a champ. After service we headed back to the Hamby house to heat up leftovers for lunch, we're all so thankful for Leonard's wonderful cooking. After lunch we all decided a short rest was in order. We worshiped here on the mission again tonight at 7 and some special singing by the students here followed the service at the mission. All of the songs were in Tonga but we enjoyed listening to their beautiful harmonies. For the last hour or so we've been getting prepared for our busy week that starts tomorrow with language classes for the Haven kids, of course we did all of this by candle light because the electricity around here is just not reliable. A few other things that we’ve found to be unreliable include hot water and o yea just plain water. Apparently there is some sort of pump issue and although the water here is wonderful and totally safe to drink some days it just doesn’t want to make the long trip from the well into our faucets. Showers are coveted and warm showers even more so. We all try to go with the military style of water on water off in between soaping up and rinsing off so that everyone has a shot at lukewarm water at least. Let me just say… my hair looks lovely! Haha! Thank goodness it’s really quite cool here during this lovely Zambian winter.

The Haven

Sorry the posts are sort of few and far between. Our group is learning that the internet and electricity are no guarantee here at Namwianga. We have settled into our house here on the mission and it is really quite lovely by Zambian standards. There are some creepy crawly wall spiders and other strange bugs that we either steer clear of or find the closest flip flop to squish them. Our group is getting along very well and filling the lulls in our time at night with Zumba work outs and board games. So far the schedule for each day is breakfast at 8:30 followed by a trip to town or the George Benson college, lunch at 1, afternoons are spent at The Haven. This is 3 houses full of babies from newborn to toddling. One house is specifically for children that are AIDS/HIV exposed. The other house is for the younger babies and the final house is the toddler house. Starting Monday the rest of the group will be working on language enrichment classes and swallowing/feeding issues. Since I'm not taking the grad school hours I get to bounce from house to house helping the "Aunties" with whatever needs to be done. Today while at The Haven for the first extended period of time we learned that these kiddos just simply love to be held. The Aunties do a wonderful job taking care of so many little ones physical needs but there simply aren't enough hands for holding all these sweet little ones. At one point this afternoon all 7 of us had atleast 3 babies in our laps. They are quite content just to sit their resting their sweet little heads against our chests, but it is pretty funny to see the jealousy between them. I was holding a little boy named Sam, and a girl who's name i cant recall but they kept pushing each other away. Sharing a meal is fine, sharing some attention does not go over well. I took some beautiful pictures of them and as soon as there is more reliable internet I will do my best to upload some.

Insect Repellant

I guess I missed this little tid bit last night due to pure exhaustion but I'll share it now. Our hotel is very very nice. I have a feeling that these are the nicest accommodations we will be in the entire trip. It is so nice here at the Protea Hotel in Lusaka, Zambia that they offer every amenity a lovely breakfast, awesome restaurants where we ate last night, all the essentials in the bathroom such as soap, shampoo, lotion and INSECT REPELLANT!!!! You know you're in Africa when the hotel offers you insect repellant!!!