First Week in Samfya

“See this bicycle pump?  If you get sold any bad gasoline and the engine starts to die out in the truck, just disconnect the gas line in the hood and hook it up to this thing and pump it into the line until you get a feed.  Then you should be good.”  These are the words of my boss, Mark Brubacher, deputizing me as the official driver for Bright Hope and the Samfya Community Care Providers (SCCP).

Rachel and I have been in Zambia for just over a week now, and we are jumping right into our work.  While there is support all around us any time we need it, there is definitely no opportunity for hesitation.  Rachel has begun work in the SCCP clinic.  Even as an experienced medical professional, she feels like a rookie nurse.  There are so many new things she has never seen before: open wounds leaving large patches of exposed muscle, malnutrition, malaria, trachoma, and one vicious infection that has left the right side of the woman’s head deteriorated to the skull.  She is also figuring out how to navigate the challenges of translation in a culture where people do not communicate directly about such personal matters. 

While the clinic is often quite busy, there are quieter periods.  Rachel has taken advantage of these quiet moments by talking with her interpreter Christerbelle, getting to know her and learning more about Bemba culture.  In exchange, Rachel has been teaching Christerbelle some essential medical skills, such as how take patients’ blood pressure.  Christerbelle hopes to eventually become a nurse herself.  Prayers are definitely appreciated for continued wisdom, confidence, and hope for Rachel as she establishes her Zambian practice.

This first week, I was taken under the wing of Charles, one of two directors for SCCP’s Microloan Finance Program.  A native son of Samfya, Charles knows the community well and understands the challenges and rewards of developing the local economy.  I have much to learn from him.

I have also been driving, usually with Charles as my guide to the road.  We have visited a church for a quarterly loan audit, given a ride to a team of young men that build pump wells for communities that have difficult or no access to clean water, tracked down bags of seed, and visited an outlying village called Chipako, where I will probably be doing much of my field work.  I even had a chance to drive Rachel around for home healthcare visits; it makes me proud to see the good work she does.

It has been an exciting week, but it has also been difficult.  There are so many new things to process, and we miss our friends and the comforts of life in Chicago.  The pace of life is slow here, and we definitely notice it when we are not working.  Though this slowness will not doubt be restorative, it will take some getting used to.  Still, life in Samfya is not without its rewards.  The sun goes down before the moon comes up, and the sky in that space of time is absolutely glorious with stars.  Below, the inky lake is also covered by points of light.  These are not reflections of the stars, but kerosene lamps from the fishing boats that come out in the dark to ply their trade.  Sitting on the porch with a cup of tea, feeling the breeze coming off the lake and watching the still beauty of the night – not a bad way to end a day in Samfya.