A Clinic in Zambia

OK everyone. The vacation is over, and it’s back to some real work. But before we talk about today, go back to yesterday's posts. I figured out how to post pictures, so there's a couple from Victoria Falls and the safari at the beginning of the post now. I'll try to do more later, but the internet is a bit slow for pictures here.

On to today's activities.....

We started with a 2-hour drive to an area of Zambia where our office has programs. Several months ago, we were able to provide many medical supplies and pharmaceuticals to a hospital that was about to be closed due to lack of adequate items to care for the community. This is the only hospital for about 200 kilometers, so it is very important to the community. That donation helped get them through, and the clinic has been able to stay open.

First, we met the District Commissioner. He is something like the Governor of the district, and reports directly to the President of Zambia. We talked about the partnership of his district with our organization. It is a very exciting opportunity for both, and he is very concerned with ensuring we start by working with communities in the poorest areas of his region. He gave his formal permission to visit the local hospital.

A hospital in Zambia is nothing like a hospital in the US. This one is made up of several buildings that were once a farmhouse and grounds buildings owned by a British farmer. The buildings were made to a clinic in the 1950’s. There are very few medical supplies, or pharmaceuticals. Here, a simple pair of latex gloves can mean the difference between further spreading disease, or helping someone recover. It is hard to describe the scene. The first thing that hits you when you enter is the smell. In a US hospital, that smell is frequently antiseptic. Here, the smell is old. Then you begin to walk through the wards. The dental ward consists of a chair, and some old instruments. They do both basic work, and dental “surgery” which is mainly pulling teeth. This room is actually fairly bright. The next area is the maternity ward. There are two wards, the basic ward, and the “high cost” ward. The basic ward consists of a small room with 3 beds that have what looks something like an old gym mat on them. There are no instruments, just a few buckets on the floor. The beds are separated by shower curtains. The “high cost” ward looks much the same, except there is a small mattress on the bed covered in a sheet, and fabric curtains separate the beds. Next to this room is a small neo-natal unit with two non-functional incubators, and an old metal crib. Then you have the recovery room. This consists of about 10 beds in a small room with several women who have just given birth. They will all be discharged within 6 hours and sent home with their newborns. From this room, you can see the morgue, and hear the wailing. Someone died today at this hospital.

From there go out and see what’s probably best described as the out-patient clinic. There are about 20 people waiting to see the doctor or nurse inside. We were not able to go into this area. We also saw the surgical wards for children, men, and women (separate wards). Each was packed with beds, and was very dark. Luckily today, many beds were empty. However, it’s rained a lot, so the malaria cases will fill them soon.

It’s not really possible to describe this hospital. As someone in my group put it today, you can see all the pictures, and hear all the stories, but you don’t really get the full impact until you get the sights, sounds, and smells all in one. And then you begin to wonder how the work we do can actually make an impact on something that seems so big. Remember, this is just one hospital, in one district, in one country, on one continent. In my job, my role is to serve similar communities in countries world-wide. It’s almost unfathomable. How do you allocate finite resources across so many countries, when the decision on that allocation can literally mean life or death? Then you meet the people on the ground, and realize that the only way to do this is to work with one person at a time. I think we all need to remember that when we think about change. We want to change the world single-handedly, but that’s not what we’ve been called to do. Our roles are to change the world, one neighbor at a time through whatever gifts, talents, abilities, and resources we’ve been given. I guess this doesn’t diminish the enormity of the problem, but it certainly puts it into a perspective that we humans can get our minds around.

So now that I’ve thoroughly depressed all of you, it’s time for me to go to bed. Tomorrow is another day of community visits, this time to visit Caregivers, schools, orphanages, and local clinics. I’m sure I’ll have more to give you to think about tomorrow. Guess the vacation is over for you readers as well!