We arrived home last night after spending four days out in the bush doing clinics. The trucks, buses, pickups, and trailers rolled out of Namwianga on Monday around noon. The Calders at Seven Fountains Farm fed us a wonderful lunch of poiki (stew) featuring reebok and leechwe (antelope) meat before we headed south on the dreaded Kabanga road. For the next six hours we moved at a snail’s pace over washboard roads, dodging potholes and breathing the red dust stirred up by the caravan of vehicles. Two flat tires had to be changed along the way, and one of the trucks had to make frequent stops to fill and check on a radiator, but we finally made it to Kanyanga just after dark. The advance team had gone ahead of us earlier in the day and set up the camp, so our tents were waiting and dinner was cooking over open fires when we arrived.
We held clinics at Kanyanga on Tuesday and Wednesday, seeing over 4,000 patients on those two days. David and I worked in the spiritual counseling area conducting Bible studies and praying with individuals and small groups. Sara worked in the “Pills on Wheels” pharmacy bus filling prescriptions.
We camped a total of three nights at Kanyanga, pulling out just before dawn on Thursday to go to Kapaulo. The plan called for a two-hour trip, but the road conditions and trailer breakdowns turned it into three and a half hours. We quickly set up at Kapaulo and saw as many patients as possible, but the crowds were huge and we were unable treat everyone. Our triage team assessed each person and was able to refer those who were sickest to our team of doctors and nurses. People who were not seen by the medical team received vitamins and painkillers. At 5:00 we closed down the clinic and loaded up, heading back to Namwianga just as the sun set.
I haven’t yet gotten the totals for the number of patients seen at Kapaulo, but I’m sure that in three days we treated well over 5500 in the medical, dental, wound care, and optometry clinics. We had 55 baptisms at Kanyanga and 16 (I think) at Kapaulo.
After four days with no running water, we were all thrilled to get hot showers or baths and to sleep in real beds. Today (Friday) is a rest and re-pack day. Some team members are repairing and refueling vehicles. Others are reorganizing and packing up the pharmacy, children’s ministry, and kitchen for our next set of clinics. At some point today everyone will have a chance to go to the Kalomo market and tour the campus. This afternoon I am hosting a reception for team members who participate in the needy student program so that they can meet and get to know the students they sponsor. Tonight the people who are staying in the homes of Zambians here at Namwianga will eat with their host families. The rest of us will head up to the Merritts to enjoy dinner with Roy and Kathi.
A stomach virus has been making several of our team members miserable. The only thing worse than having the stomach bug is suffering through all of that while you’re camping in a tent in the African bush! Thankfully our doctors and nurses try hard to keep everyone as comfortable as possible, and we are hoping that the virus has run its course.
Tomorrow morning we are off again for another set of clinics. This time we will be going north to Singwamba. Please keep us in your prayers.
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