When in Africa or Saka Saka

We decided this morning as we were being driven through the back country to the Munkolo Rural Hospital that ‘when in Africa’ is always best to be the lead vehicle! You want to be the head car, so you are not eating mouthfuls of the orange dust being left in your wake. Munkolo hospital is located 65 kms from Kalomo, most of it nice smooth highway (traveling at speeds of 140 - 160 km per hr you know your life is in the hands of fate), but once you reach the town of Zimba, you turn off onto a dirt road, which as we traveled along became worse and worse, navigating around deep gullies where vehicles had stuck during rainy seasons, a small river, which must be quite a feat during the rains. We felt like we were all riding the same bucking bronco, and today my thigh muscles (not to mention the posterior) are stiff and sore from bracing myself during the trek.
Everyday there could be so many titles for that days blog, so much happens, so much is learned, so many experiences shared, that it’s quite hard to come up with just one.

It’s always frustrating on these trips because there are so many pictures you want to take as you pass by, with never the chance to stop and take them, as your not the one driving, there’s never time, or by the time you scream STOP, Utant and or Eustance are already well passed the desired photo op. I only went off on the tangent there, to say we passed, in the middle or nowhere, this little group of buildings, that were actually the village shopping area. Luckily we were able to walk back to it after our visit and get pictures. I think you’ll appreciate why it caught my eye. You may not be able to tell, but the first building is the Financial Centre. Below is a shot of two young men running one of the shops.

Kingston an ADP worker and Crispin, the ADP manager for the Munkolo district, with a population of approx. 4,000, greeted us in the outdoor waiting area of the hospital to explain World Visions role in the area, and also by Eunace the one and only nurse, running the hospital. The hospital was built in 2007 by World Vision to make life easier for the people of this rural area. It had the feel of been there since about the 1950’s, with it’s peeling paint and worn look, but the people this area are so proud of of the hospital and the help it brings them, I’m sure they would be devastated to know our thoughts about having to attend such a place ourselves. The next time I think about complaining about our medical system, I’ll need to think twice, we have nothing to complain about, believe me! Pictures tell a hundred words and you can see what I mean. This is the maternity ward and her stethoscope and suture kit.

Eunace lives and works at the hospital by herself, which must be a hard and lonely existence. She explained she sees between 700 - 800 patients a month on average with the focus on preventive medicine. Mostly the patients she sees have complaints ranging from malaria, diarrhea, scabies, eye infections (we saw one little fellow with a most horrid looking eye problem), infections to pregnant moms. She told us that before the hospital was built the locals had to walk the 15 or so km’s to Zimba (the drive took us about 20 minutes, figure out the walking time) to attend a clinic, along the track we just came over. Mom’s in labour would have to be taken by bicycle or ox cart and a lot of deaths to moms and babies occurred. Since the hospitals opening they have had no casualties, although most moms never even make to the hospital, they are still delivering in the village by a local midwife. Even still the pre and post care is a necessity in prevention. Here is a picture of the medical supply room.

There is even an ambulance stationed in Zimba, which comes to get emergency patients, if Helen calls, but imagine how that would be, to travel back to Zimba, even in an ambulance (not by ox-cart) if you were injured, over the rough terrain. There are not many HIV/AIDS patients in the local area, which was a boon to hear. She has 1 exam room, where she also assess patients for orthopedic and plastic surgery, in the event wonderful people, like Doctors Without Borders will arrive and perform the surgeries, in the nearest equipped hospital. A local Doctor attends the hospital only once every 6 months. She has some medicines in stock, provided by the government, Eunace provides this care with the most basic of equipment, which is rustic and limited, equipment that our culture would have on display in a museum. Her wish is to have more rooms, beds and especially more help. Easier access to medicine would also be a bonus, as at present there is no kerosene for the fridge (plus it is not working at present) and any medicines that need to be refrigerated have to be kept in Zimba, which necessitates walking there to pick them up.

photo by Colin & Christy Zacharias
And yet a gracious local lady named Mary, came to tell us how much the hospital has made life easier for thee locals and how thankful they were to World Vision for providing the facility. Mary said that they now received proper medicines for their ailments, and their health is better than when they would visit the local traditional healers. Before if they wanted to visit a clinic they had to walk to Zimba, but now they have access to the hospital and are benefiting.
Crispin has a small office in one of the side buildings, of which he is very proud. He has made charts of everything that is done by WV in the area, with numbers and statistics, pictures of every child that has received a goat, calf or special gift from their sponsor. A very organized man who you can tell cares deeply about the community he works in. He told us that he volunteered for years and years with World Vision, never getting paid, until he could make them see that they needed someone like him to run a project and eventually was hired. Persistence and determination, seems to be a trait for all the people we meet.
I had noticed many children about, during our visit and discovered that just past the long grass and brush, there was a local school. This really was the centre of a rural African village. The Zambian people are resilient and hard working, making the most of what little they have and thankful for that!
We spent longer than anticipated with the visit, but still took the time to walk back to the village shopping area to photograph the buildings and feel the real experience of life here in the rural outback of Zambia.

The next part of our day was a much anticipated group visit with some of the sponsor children and a quick lunch at Treckers, in Zimba. It was decided that as we were running behind we would all met at the resturant for lunch and then head back to the Munkolo ADP office for our visits. This lunch would give the children a chance to assess us and maybe feel a little more secure during the visit, as they had time to watch us and get over the shock of seeing these very white faces from Canada. I happened to be in the hallway when they started to arrive, with parents or a parent and some siblings in tow. I was warmly greeted, and it seemed with much excitement, by all the adults with a handshake and greeting of Muli Butti, the children were curious, but shy as they passed. We were all served a very delicious buffet lunch with the ever present at every meal, ½ a fried chicken and nshima as the main course. photo by Colin & Christy Zacharias
Nshima is the main staple of life here, served with every meal, a cooked paste like substance of mealie meal, which tastes rather like a fine ground rice paste, not at all unpleasant, but not something I personally would want to eat everyday. It is eaten by rolling it into a ball, in one hand, then dipping it into sauce (they call soup), and popped into the mouth. Every meal also seems to consist of either a stew type beef cooked in different ways, ½ fried chicken, or whole fried fish (head, tail fins still attached) along with either the rice or nshima and a vegetable. Today we were offered 2, one was like a lightly cooked coleslaw mix, the other was their local vegetable rape which is much like spinach. They steam it down, add a little oil, salt and ground peanuts, it was really delicious! They do know how to cook veggies here, always crisp and tasty, but I admit I am getting very tired of rice & veggies for every meal. The menus everywhere seem to be almost identical and have variations of the same basic items. I’m actually finishing writing this on the following Tuesday and have to say, it’s getting to the point I really never want to see another clump of rice, but for the children and families that joined us, it was probably the best meal they had experienced in many a long month. I noticed the children’s plates were piled high, probably more than most men back home could eat in one sitting!

This is Juston, is he not the cutest little boy ever?!
and he needs a sponsor.

With lunch out of the way we went a short distance to the community hall, where Kingston has his office for the Munkolo area. Our names were called out, then the sponsor child’s name was called and they were told to join us. I think some of the poor tykes thought we were here to swoop them away from their parents. The various groups retired to the outside and proceeded to get to know the children. Not all of the children we met have sponsors yet. I was given the joy of meeting Juston, the little boy who I thought I had found a sponsor for, but the person decided against it. I’m not sure he understood that I wasn’t his sponsor, so I didn’t go into any explanations, I will just work extra hard to find a sponsor for this very special little guy. He was sooo cute and shy. He is 8 years old, in Grade 2 and his favorite subject is Math. He has 2 brothers Joseph age 3 and Patson age 6 mths. I was told he had none, there has been a lot of confusion in that regard, as the families here are so community orientated they will take in orphan children of the village and from then on that child is considered a member of the family. Utant told me that it is considered very rude to call someone a ‘step-child’. They are either of your family, or not. Sorry, off on a little ramble there. Juston’s father Joseph, is a peasant farmer, which means that he only produces enough food for the family, there is nothing left to sell. His mother is Helen and a lovely hard working lady. The family has received 5 female goats but is in need of a ‘billy’ so the herd can reproduce and enlarge. Juston was enthralled with the small gifts I gave and Helen and baby were thrilled with their small tokens as well. His picture in the folder from World Vision just doesn’t do him justice. He is so cute, I just wanted to cuddle with him, but instead we played with the soccer ball I brought for him, kicking and bouncing it around on the small lawn. Over the last few days we have learned that when you want the children to smile for a picture you say ‘saka, saka’, meaning smile. It puts them into fits of giggles, which seem to come easy to children and adults alike. I asked his mother what the family hoped to gain by having their child sponsored and her wish was to be able to supply Juston with a school uniform and shoes. It was very hard to say good-bye.

Zambians are such a friendly and gracious people. The walk from the Guest House to the ADP office takes about 10 minutes down a dirt road and the short cut is through a small local market. As you walk along, everyone, and I mean everyone, young, old and in between say hello, good afternoon/morning/night, how are you. It reminds me so much of when I was a child and when you walked somewhere, people actually talked to each other and said hello. We as Canadians have a lost a lot of our humanity over time. The world may consider us a friendly nation, but we can learn a lot from people in the 3rd world countries that really do care about each other and not just pay lip service to the idea of it. There are perhaps a dozen stores in the market, each one not more than a couple of hundred square feet. We’ve gone in a couple and bought a few things and the owners/workers seem to find us quite comical. Everyone knows who World Vision is though, and you can see a new respect come into their eyes when you tell them you are working as a volunteer with them.

So remember today, to ‘saka,saka’ to everyone around you!