Hi
Greetings from Namwianga, Zambia , Africa. This new year started with a young bull in our yard staring at me and ignoring the barking dog. After much envcouragement from me and the dog he left. At least he didn't get into the garden or try to run us over. I am not sure he understood English but the frantic hand motions seemed universally understood.
We have started this year as we ended the last one, with a deluge of rain. As of today we have only had 2 days that it didn't rain. Some days it is all day long. The Zambians say this type of rain is unusual here for this time of the year. There has been flooding a few hours north of us. Our roads are a mess. They weren't very good to begin with and now it is like driving a bombed out path. Potholes are more like pot canyons and require much thought as to how you will proceed. Outreaches to the villages are on hold as the roads are totally impassable and under water. Even the hospital number has been down. The nurses tell me its because they are all busy planting maize or are unable to get here or both. I have been very busy with the hospital.We are busy building a sluice room( dirty utility room/laundry) in each of the existing ward rooms. Also doing some electrical work on lighting and call lights. We still have the nurse's station to finish and we have built shelves in the supply rooms behind the nurse station. I have been meeting with officials locally and will go to Lusaka next week to meet with some other ones. Many of the difficulties here originate from the fact that all hospitals are government staffed. that means they have to send the person you want to your facility. It takes a lot of time and paperwork to get that done. Because our working staff here at the mission is limited in number we get delayed in finishing work on the clinic because they get pulled to help out with emergencies re: water or damage to the homes or buildings from the rain.
We have been catching rain in buckets for 11 days now because the well caved in.... from all the rain. So I feel like a pioneer because we haul our water from a container they brought over to the clinic and then boil it for cooking and drinking and doing dishes. It is astounding how much water you use in a day. This isn't including water for bathing and washing clothes and flushing the toilet. But we are very grateful we have clean water. So when you are praying today or whenever, remeber for the fixin' of our well and for the new Bible class we start tonight.
We work in Him
Don and Laura
Greetings from Namwianga, Zambia , Africa. This new year started with a young bull in our yard staring at me and ignoring the barking dog. After much envcouragement from me and the dog he left. At least he didn't get into the garden or try to run us over. I am not sure he understood English but the frantic hand motions seemed universally understood.
We have started this year as we ended the last one, with a deluge of rain. As of today we have only had 2 days that it didn't rain. Some days it is all day long. The Zambians say this type of rain is unusual here for this time of the year. There has been flooding a few hours north of us. Our roads are a mess. They weren't very good to begin with and now it is like driving a bombed out path. Potholes are more like pot canyons and require much thought as to how you will proceed. Outreaches to the villages are on hold as the roads are totally impassable and under water. Even the hospital number has been down. The nurses tell me its because they are all busy planting maize or are unable to get here or both. I have been very busy with the hospital.We are busy building a sluice room( dirty utility room/laundry) in each of the existing ward rooms. Also doing some electrical work on lighting and call lights. We still have the nurse's station to finish and we have built shelves in the supply rooms behind the nurse station. I have been meeting with officials locally and will go to Lusaka next week to meet with some other ones. Many of the difficulties here originate from the fact that all hospitals are government staffed. that means they have to send the person you want to your facility. It takes a lot of time and paperwork to get that done. Because our working staff here at the mission is limited in number we get delayed in finishing work on the clinic because they get pulled to help out with emergencies re: water or damage to the homes or buildings from the rain.
We have been catching rain in buckets for 11 days now because the well caved in.... from all the rain. So I feel like a pioneer because we haul our water from a container they brought over to the clinic and then boil it for cooking and drinking and doing dishes. It is astounding how much water you use in a day. This isn't including water for bathing and washing clothes and flushing the toilet. But we are very grateful we have clean water. So when you are praying today or whenever, remeber for the fixin' of our well and for the new Bible class we start tonight.
We work in Him
Don and Laura
