TENDON SURGERY

I've been staying in Lusaka for a number of days. I spent two days attending an HIV / AIDS workshop hat the diocese offered for the different congregations ministering in Zambia. It was great updated information on the current state of the disease in the country.

After the workshop I went in for surgery on two tendons in my thumb and wrist that had been causing a lot of pain. It was an interesting first hand experience of health care in the developing world. I was certainly feeling more vulnerable than I do in a hospital in the US! The surgery went well, but it was done under a local anesthesia and the wrist area still had quite a bit of feeling as the cutting was done. I felt a lot of pain and almost passed out on the table, but I survived and the healing seems to be coming along well.

A baby was going in for surgery after I finished and he had curled hands and feet, so he reminded me that I didn't have it so bad. I hope his surgery went as well as mine did!

PICTURES OF THE HARVESTED MAIZE ON BAKITA FARM FOR WIDOWS

Harvesting Maize on Bakita Farm

Bakita Farm is a farm that Sr. Numba helped to start for some of the widows around Kalomo. These are some pictures and video of them harvesting the maize. It was a great crop this year. They even had to used a room in the house to store some of the cobs!

The two Zambian Sisters I live with (Numba & Teresa) and I checking out the maize stored in the shed.

FISHING PICTURES AT BAKITA FARM DAM

We stopped and visited a family that was fishing for supper on the dam. Soon after we got word that their father died. The mother died earlier this year, so the children are now orphans.

THE ANIMALS ON BAKITA FARM

THE PATH WE TAKE FROM BAKITA FARM DOWN TO THE DAM

FISHING ON BAKITA FARM DAM

DOING ACTIVITIES WITH SOME OF THE YOUNG PEOPLE INVOLVED IN THE MENTORING PROGRAM

NEW MINISTRY IN KALOMO

Things in Kalomo seem to be falling into place for me!!!! I have begun to do some youth ministry and am doing a Christian Life Training course with the young adults. I found a wonderful resource that has a lot of practical life skills for African young people. I'm excited about the material and am greatful to have discovered such a valuable resource!!! I've started meeting with the youth executive committee so I can be in on the ground floor of planning youth programming.

I've also started a youth mentoring program to help some of the orphans that we sponsor (however, new students show up everyday who hear about the program...so it is already broadening...lol). This program will help with challenges that students have in school subjects. Students are only in school about three hours a day, there are so many students that they don't all fit in the school at the same time. Another issue is that schools have almost no books nor other resources to use which makes teaching more challenging! The mentoring program will also provide activities and accompaniment for students during out of school hours.

The third project that is underway is setting up a computer teaching lab. A very generous group from Ireland is sending some computers and when they arrive I will begin teaching computer classes.

There is a building on the parish grounds that has a room available for me to use. The parish counsel has been meeting to figure out what kind of security needs to be done to keep the computers secure and also the electrical work that needs to be done. The challenge is to figure out how to make the computer program self-sustainable. It will be a big challenge for the parish to figure out how to pay for the preparations that need to take place and the continued cost of electricity, etc.

We had visitors from Ireland in Kalomo this week: two sisters (who work for the Presentation Global Education project) and two teachers, who teach in one of the Presentation schools. The two teachers will be returning next year around this same time to bring 10 students to Kalomo for a service trip! The end of June we will have another group coming from Ireland to do numerous projects...busy, busy, busy!