The Beginning
A parishioner found my blog on our parish website and reminded me
that it is time to post again.
My blog online goes back to 2007, but doesn't cover the first years,
so I thought that it might be good idea to reflect on where my life
in Zambia began.
In 2003 I set out with a team of 8 or 9 volunteers to travel to
Zambia. The theory was that we were going there to build an ICU at
Monze Mission Hospital.
Hands Around the World is a small charity which had been running for
about 10 years. It was established by David Steiner after he spent a
year with his family in Zambia. During the malaria season lots of
children came to the hospital where he was working, and many died. He
decided to set up the charity to do something to support children in
the poorest areas of the world and try to make a difference.
Previously teams had been to Monze Mission Hospital and did some work
to improve the laboratory and pharmacy buildings. Now you might
wonder why a team of 8 or 9 people, often without any building
experience, would be sent 5,000 miles to construct a building! This
was my first thought when I first made contact with Hands Around the
World. My next thought was there must be another reason for us to
make the trip. I should point out that before going out the teams
were given the task of raising sufficient funds to cover the cost of
the trip.
So apart from building work – which in our case amounted to
knocking down the wall of an existing building and collecting rubble
to help form a base for the foundations! No we didn't get as far as
seeing a concrete base laid! - our hosts were asked to give us the
opportunity to experience a little of the daily life round us.
In 2003 even making a call to Zambia was very difficult. From what I
recall, our visit was planned almost entirely using the postal
system. If we were lucky we would get a reply to our letters within
about 3 weeks!
We arrived At Lusaka airport in July and it was my first time on
African soil. Even now when I arrive back in Zambia I am surprised.
It is very familiar, but so much I have forgotten. Yes, the pleasant
warmth is there, but there is so much more that it difficult to
describe. The character of bird is sometimes referred too as it's
zizz. Zambia has zizz! The colour, the sound and the smell is
different and for me that has now become so welcoming.
I can't remember my first impressions. An international airport where
our plane is bigger than all others and one of only a few without
propellers, where you descend from the plane and wander across the
tarmac to the arrivals building.
We were lucky – our last letter must have arrived, because there
was a minibus to take us to our destination in Monze. For the next 3
– 4 weeks our home was to be a new guest house Nampeyo (now renamed
moonlite because of a conflict of names!)– so new that some
construction was still being undertaken. There were a couple of
showers – though only one provided hot water. I got used to cold
showers! It was quite basic, but sufficient.
Each day we work walk the kilometre or so to the hospital, returning
to the guest house for lunch. One of the main jobs was helping to
make concrete blocks for the foundations. I spent a lot of time with
a young man called Obie. I remember he told me that the work was
really too hard for him. He said that the calories he needed to make
the blocks was more than those he obtained from the food he ate. I
have no idea what that must be like. This was the first time I
realised what poverty really meant – there would be many times in
future years when I would be confronted with the reality of poverty
in Zambia. I once read something written by Mother (now Saint)
Theresa of Calcutta. She said “some people say that you should give
people a fishing rod so they can catch fish, my God some people
haven't enough energy even to lift the rod!” I know that this is
literally true.
Working with Obie I began to realise why we were in Zambia. Spending
my days chatting to Obie – telling him a bit about my life and
learning about his set the pattern for the many future visits I would
have. There is nothing better than sitting down with someone over a
cup of tea or coffee and sharing stories. In fact I always say this
is by far the most valuable thing I do on my trips.
I met a number of people on the building site and in the guest house
and had a chance to build a relationship. Captain was the guy in
charge of making the blocks – he is still around in Monze
continuing this work. Lashford was in charge of the building of the
ICU. He was lso involved in establishing and building an Evangelical
church in Monze. Tragically a child of his was killed while very
young in an accident. Chris was a general worker at the Guest House
and is still there. Suki – another worker at the guest house –
obtained a licence to drive lorries and travels the country as lorry
driver. There are others from that period who I still meet from time
to time when I visit. Obie has had various jobs selling mobile phones
and accessories among other things.
The ICU was completed by local builders in 2006 and I was fortunate
to be in Monze for the official opening. It is not a high tech unit
as we would have in the UK, but there is a nurse on constant duty
looking after no more than half a dozen patients. It will have saved
lives.
One day we were asked to provide a volunteer. Somehow that turned out
to be me! I was togged up in a gown and taken to the operating
theatre where I was to witness a hysterectomy! I had never been
present at an operation before and was surprised that a general
anaesthetic was not administered – instead the operation was
performed using an epidural. The surgeon was Irish and we had met
previously. He gave me something of a commentary as he did his
surgery!
The other time I volunteered had a more significant impact on me and
I like to think it was the key factor which made me return to Zambia
and get to know the people better. There was nurse working at the
hospital in home-based care. Put simply her role was to visit the
many people dying of AIDS and try to bring them a little comfort. She
had no drugs other than a few paracetamol tablets.
So one afternoon I was asked to accompany Mrs. Sianga on her rounds.
Firstly this took me away from the centre of town into the compounds
where most of the local people live. A mixture of (burnt) brick and
mud brick houses with either corrugated iron or grass thatched roofs.
Generally very simple houses – many just a single room. I think
that all the people I saw that afternoon were women and all were
close to death – some had a week or two to live - others less. What
astounded me was the way I was welcomed into their homes. It was a
real privilege to share that time in what was a very personal and
private space. I will always remember a lady who was waiting for her
daughter to return with a little sugar she was going to beg from a
neighbour to go with the nshima porridge (the staple food made from
maize meal) she had cooked. The child – perhaps 9 years old, or
younger was her mother's main carer.
Since that time I have made other visits with Mrs. Sianga and those
working with her – fortunately the antiretroviral drugs mean that
AIDS is no longer the death sentence it was in 2003. Each visit has
taught me a little more.
Before we said goodbye to Zambia on that first trip, we spent couple
of days in Livingstone and visited the Victoria Falls. I have never
felt comfortable being a tourist in Zambia because most of my friends
in Monze will never get to enjoy the beauty their Country has to
offer.
I will end here because I want to devote my next blog to Mrs. Sianga
and the work she has been doing since we first met.
Chris
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