When the Lights are Out

It’s our first night with no electricity. We’ve been kept busy by going to the clinic, the Haven, with reading assignments, helping out in the kitchen, classes, and learning Tonga songs. Our days here feel so short because of everything we do. Since the last time I’ve written, I’ve gotten sick, been to Victoria Falls, gotten a truck out of a sand ditch, fell in love with babies, and worshiped with our brothers and sisters in an African village. 

Friday night was a very eventful one after I turned in for the night. Exactly one hour after going to sleep, I was rudely awakened by nauseousness in my belly. Considering it’s been years since I’ve throw up, I was extremely surprised to figure out that I was the first of our group to get sick. I stayed up until about 5am making friends with both the toilet and the trash can at the same time. Not the ideal way I wanted to spend the night before we would be traveling to Livingstone. Thank God I felt better in the morning. The only thing that was really wrong with me was that I was dehydrated and quite exhausted from the lack of sleep. 

Saturday we made our way to Livingstone to see the “7th Wonder of the World”. I must admit, even though they weren’t to their full potential, Victoria Falls were beautiful! I was absolutely amazed! I didn’t get to do as much as I wanted since I was still so tired and trying to get rehydrated, so after I walked around for about 20 minutes, I found a spot, sat, and marveled at the awesomeness of God’s creation. As soon as I saw someone from out group, I stood up to greet them, but as soon as I did, I was bombarded with Africans asking to get a picture with me! It was quite a hilarious incident. They lined up and one by one, they would put their arm around me an smile for the camera. They even handed me their babies! Once they were finished, as I was walking away I heard some of them say, “Hollywood! Hollywood!” I wonder who they thought I was.... 

Sunday was quite an eventful day. After breakfast, we loaded up to head out to the village church. Jeremy was driving the truck I was in and he kept mentioning things that were wrong with it as we drove away from the mission. About halfway through our drive, Phil says, “There is SO much sand!” and right after he finished his statement, our truck gets stuck. HA! Just our luck.  So, of course, we all unload and try to push the truck out of the sand. After about 3 attempts and no success, we were so fortunate when a woman came along on her way to church and without asking her, she just started helping us. The next thing we know, we’re out of the sand. Without her help, I’m sure we would have been there way longer than we wanted. Needless to say, we gave her a ride to church to thank her. 

Service was great! The Zambians’ voices are just beautiful and their songs aren’t missing a single part. Some of the guys had the opportunity to participate in leading the service. At the end, we all got to go up to the front and sing some songs we knew in Tonga. They were only expecting one, but we surprised them with 3 songs in our broken Tonga.

The rest of the week has just been filled with classes and going to the havens. Yesterday I was a part of the group that got oriented at the clinic and today I got to go to actually work. Since today wasn’t a busy day at the clinic, we headed to the Havens to check babies’ weights and give them immunizations. I actually got to give a baby a shot!! It was one of the most exhilarating feelings! I wasn’t really nervous to give it, but as soon as I pulled the needle out of that sweet baby’s leg, my hands were shaking so much I almost couldn’t get the Band-Aid on! I really hope I get to do more hands-on learning. 

Tomorrow we’ll get to go to the market to practice what we’ve been learning in our Tonga class. We’ll also have to buy some chitanges for the traditional Zambian wedding we’re getting to go to on Sunday! Can’t wait! Until next time guys. I’ll try to make it sooner than this last one. Sorry for the delay!

Peace and Love.