A phrase we so often read on applications       submitted to Nurses for Africa is:  “I have always wanted to go on a mission to Africa” or ” I have wanted to do something like this forever”.

Remarkably, we hear that same statement from 22 year olds all the way up to 62 year olds.  There are so many nurses who have a huge desire in their heart to use their nursing skills to help people who have little access to medical care.

Is that you?  Have you “always wanted to do go to Africa on a nursing mission” ?  But perhaps the time has never been quite right.  Or perhaps you just weren’t sure how to make it happen…

Nurses for Africa provides a way for nurses to turn those dreams into reality.  The 2013 mission to Zambia is the opportunity you have been waiting for!

If you want to finally  do what you have “always wanted to do”,  check out our website, see what our missions are about and then apply on line or by email for one of our upcoming missions in the summer of 2013.  If you participate in a Nurses for Africa mission, we guarantee there will be lots of hard work, laughter, tears, fun, and you will make friends and memories that will last a life time.

The time to apply is now!  We are already beginning to review applications that have been submitted, so don’t delay.

(If 2013 won’t work for you, then plan ahead for 2014–just submit your application now and let us know that you want to be considered for 2014.)

We welcome questions via our email nursesforafrica@tentalent-inc.com and we look forward to receiving your application!  If you “have always wanted to do this”…take the first step-APPLY!

There are 120 kids that come for the day.  The Care Workers told the team that the children have been so excited about returning to the pool that they have been preparing for the trip for weeks.  They have been bathing, washing their clothes and finding swim wear.  Last year, they loved the pool so we are sure that this year will be successful as well.

When all the children arrive, everyone gathers at one end of the park to play games like “Duck, Duck, Goose”, a snake game that the Zambian kids like and for showing off their acrobatic agility!  They are doing cart wheels, flips and somersaults – they are SO excited.  Finally, its time to go into the pools!  The kids get into their bathing suits and run, jump, skip into the pool!   They laugh, yell and splash around!  It is so wonderful to see them experience such happiness.  This is one day that they do not have to work, be afraid of someone or worry about when or if they would get a meal.  It is pure, unadulterated joy for every single one of them!!!

The water is cold and many of the kids are shivering, but that doesn’t stop them from playing in the water.  Several of the smaller kids get out and perch on a wooden fence.  They are cold, but laughing and talking.  Several of the nurses join the children in the water too – which the kids LOVE.  Some of the kids cling to the nurses while the others stay as close as they can get.  We throw in some beach balls and they are grabbed up immediately by the older kids.  It is amazing to see these kids laughing, swimming, throwing the balls and just playing!

The nurses set up several small white plastic tables a little way from the pool.  We have brought face paints and temporary tattoos for the kids. The line starts out slowly, but before long, the word has spread and the nurses are surrounded by kids wanting their faces painted.  They ask for all sorts of things to be painted ont their cheeks – flowers, the Zambian flag, “Love”,  “Jesus Loves” etc.  Some of the older kids start to do their own face painting – while the younger ones wait for the nurses to help.  Everyone loves the face painting and before too long, nearly every child has a painted face, chest or arms.

Lunch is “chicken and chips” from a restaurant called “The Hungry Lion”.  Each child gets two pieces of chicken, fries or chips, a small cup of slaw and a bottle of Coca Cola or Fanta Orange soda.  The park quiets down while everyone eats their lunch.  Nearly every child eats a portion of their food, but saves some to take home to their parents, grannies or siblings.  It is amazing and heart wrenching to watch.

Next, the nurses set up assessment stations under a pavilion near one of the pools.  We set up four stations with a nurse and a Care Worker at each station.  We also set up two tables with the pillowcase dresses and Britches for Boys that have been donated to us.  After each child is examined, the girls each receive a new dress and each boy receives a pair of shorts, a shirt or a ball cap.   It is so exciting to have each child come to the tables and “shop” for their new clothes.  It is so cute to see the girls and boys look through the clothing and choose the items they want.  They leave the pavilion with huge smiles on their face.  The pillow case dresses are made from pillowcases and are adorable.  Most of the dresses have a pair of panties and two bracelets attached to the dress.  The girls and boys don’t smile very much at the tables, but as soon as they leave the area, they get together and look over their new clothes, with smiles and giggles!  Can you imagine how it feels to receive brand new clothes for the first time in your life?

We have one more thing to hand out – a goodie bag full of fun toys – silly animal print sunglasses, candy, Mardi-gras beads, whistles, crayons, notebooks, etc.  The kids immediately pop the suckers into their mouths as they examine all the other items in their bag.  Most of them put on their sunglasses, some of the lenses fall out, but they leave them on, uncaring if there are lenses or not!

All too soon its time for the kids to return to Malenga.  The kids pile into the bus, waving and telling us goodbye.  Its hard to see their smiles and clean faces leaving the park to head back to the dusty, poor slum where they live.

On Saturday, after we have said our goodbyes to the kids of Malenga the previous day, we board the bus and head to Aqua Park again.  Today we are going to be having fun with the Care Workers.  The Care Workers live in the communities that they serve and are not paid for their service.  They visit the ill, vulnerable children and orphans and other families that need assistance.  They also were by our sides the entire time we have been in Malenga – serving as interpreters, assistants and guides.  They never tired and were always ready and willing to help us!  We could not have accomplished all that we did without the care workers. We gather under the trees in the park and thank them for everything they have helped the team with.  Then the fun begins!!

We play a game called “Fruit Salad” – something like Musical Chairs.  It involves finding a chair when there is one less than the number of people!  We fill the park with laughs and cheers as we  play.

Next is Bingo!!  Emmanuel has been asking us all week if we are going to play to Bingo and if we would have Bibles as prizes.  He helped us last year and tried to win a Bible with no luck.  We begin playing Bingo and Emmanuel wins a Bible!!  He is so excited, he kisses the Bible over and over !  We play until all the prizes are gone – everyone gets at least one prize, if not two or three.  What a wonderful time we had!!

Lunch is “Chicken and Chips” from the Hungry Lion.  The Care Workers also save part of their food to take home for their families.  After lunch, the care workers want to show us some of their games!  Most of their games include a song or dance. Before long, the nurses are singing along and having a great time.  To show their appreciation to us and to God, they ask us to dance!  And dance, we did!!! It may not have been as beautiful as theirs, but it was fun and happy! It was wonderful to be able to provide some relief and relaxation for them.   We gathered in a circle to talk about the week, one last time, and then prayed for Malenga, the careworkers, the kids and for safe travels for the nursing team.

At the end of the day, as the sun set behind us, we gathered in a circle and prayed.  It had been another wonderful day with the people of Malenga…..

Distrubuting these items gave us the perfect opportunity to include some education when  had clinic in Malenga.  My team had a Labor and Delivery Nurse and a Certified Nurse’s Aide instrutor.  They were the perfect teachers for our Feminine Hygeine Class and the Pre-Natal class.  The first class was held the morning of  our first clinic.  The class consisited of young girls and women over the age of 10.  In the afternoon, the Prenatal classes were held for pregnant and new moms.   The first day we held 2 classes.  By  the third day of classes-there were 6 classes being held because of the demand.  We ran out of “new baby bags”, but the pregnant moms came anyway.

The  girls and women were so thankful for the education about their own bodies.  Even ladies that had had children were thilled to learn!  There were giggles and laughs about the mensrtrual kits, but the ladies were so interested in learning.

On the last day of clinic, at our meeting before clinic, three of the femaile care workers asked to speak.  There were wo older ladies and one young teacher that spoke.  Dorothy spoke first, thanking us for teaching her daughter’s about their bodies and providing theem with the kits.  Beatrice thankd us as well – saying that she was so grateful for teaching her daughters something that she could not teach them.  She said that her girls spread out the contents of their kits and explained every item to her.  They also told her about what happned to them when they had their periods.  Orlanta thanked us too, for helpinig her educate the girls/women of Malenga on such important subjects.  All three of the ladies cried as they thanked us.

In the four years that I have been workin with Nurses for Africa, I have never seen one of the care workers cry – even when a beloved villager died.  They are very stoic.  It was extremely moving to see how the education of the girls affected the care workers.

The preparation for clinic began several days before the actual clinic.  In the evenings, after dinner at the farm, the team counts the medications and puts them in pill envelopes to give out to the villagers after they are examined.   The medications that we will be distributing are very basic, Panadol (Tylenol), Brufen (Ibruprofen), antibioitics, cough syrup, eye drops and ointments and ringworm ointments.

On clinic mornings, the church is seperated into three sections by blankets and curtains stretched across the rafters by the Care Workers.  There is a waiting area, an examination room and the “pharmacy”.   We will be working with two Zambian nurses – who will review the nurses’ assessments and suggestions for care and approve their recommendations. 

There are benches placed around the waiting area.  The care workers have placed two desks together in six areas for the examination room and the pharmacy has two benches for the medications.  The nurses that work in the pharmacy will also be distributing the de-worming medication to everyone that visits the clinic.  This year, we also have Rapid Test Kits for Malaria.  We are going to be completing the RPT kits on the villagers with malaria-like symptoms.  Because  the malaria has developed resistance to the old medications, we will be be checking that malaria is present before medicating for it.

Before the clinics begin, the nurses, Hands at Work staff and the care workers gather together.  We sing a song, say a prayer or share a thought with the group.  We are ready to begin!

When we arrived at the school, there is already a line running the whole length of the school, waiting for the clinic to begin.  The clinics start and for the rest of the day, we are busy.  Busy doing assessments and examinations, checking vital signs, asking the villagers about their ailments and symptoms.  Inside the church, you hear the murmur of conversations in Bemba and English.  Each nurse has a Care Worker at their station as an interpreter and there are two interpreters in the pharmacy area as well to help explain how to take the medications.   Near the pharmacy, we have a station set up where the malaria tests are administered.  Frequently a baby is crying when their finger is stuck for the test.  In the corner of the pharmacy area – there is a slit in the logs where children are constantly peeking in – hoping to be given a sweet(candy).

On clinic days, the nurses stay at their stations from 9am until 4pm examining, talking and giving out medications.   We see a variety of ailments from minor to major.  One lady is  carried into the clinic and laid on the concrete floor.  She is unresponsive, emaciated and perspiring.  Her sister accompanies her and tells us that she has these spells about once a month.  We check her blood sugar and find it to be very low.  We ask if anyone has sugar and one of the care workers runs to a neighboring house and returns with a bag of sugar.  We dip a sucker into the sugar and place it in her mouth and she begins to come around soon after that.  We find out from sister that she had not eaten in 20 hours.  One of our nurses accompanies her to the hospital via Pastor Blessings car,where she is admitted.

One of the saddest part of the clinic was seeing a 9 month old baby boy named James.  He was very, very ill, dehydrated and only weighed 9 pounds.  His mom had taken him to the village clinic a few days prior and he had tested positive for AIDS – as had his mom.  His father had passed away earlier in the year.  There were two other siblings that were doing well.  We found out on Saturday afternoon that James had passed away that morning. 

The team saw over 600 people in the three days of clinic.  We all wished that we would have had more  time so that more villagers could have been seen.  We also saw the careworkers and their families.  The Care Workers stayed by our side through the entire clinics, translating for us  and working as hard as each nurse.  We only stopped long enough to grab a sandwich and drink. 

One of the men that visited the clinic told us that he knew he was a real clinic because he was greeted with smiles, love and encouragement and he felt better before he received any medication.  The Zambian nurses told us that they were not sure why a team of nurses would come to Malenga for a medical clinic.  However, when the clinic was over, they said they knew that our only goal was to help the people of Malenga.  They were very  impressed by the throughness of the assessments by the team.

It was satisfying to know that we had made a small difference in the lives of the people of Malenga for that day!

We traveled back to the farm on clinic days, exhausted but fulfilled!

I have been the team leader to Malenga for the past two years and would like to tell a little about it.  Malenga is along the highway to Kitwe – about 25 minutes from the ” Kachele farm”.  (The “farm” is owned by Hands at Work.  It is a lovely home that was once owned by a copper mine owner in the heyday of the Copper Belt.  The original owner is 95 and lives in South Africa.  The farm has several bedrooms and two bathrooms inside the main structure.  There are several chateaus that were originally chicken coops!  The chateaus have been remodeled and now house visitors to the farm.  There are several other buildings, including a round building with a thatched roof for meetings.  There is a large soccer field and a lovely path down to the river.  When you take the path there are huge bamboo plants, tomato fields and the gigantic Kachele tree for which the farm is named.  On the other side of the farm are gardens with tomatoes, avocado trees and Japanese Lantern trees.  It is a wonderful, peaceful place for the teams to stay. Liz and Weston are the hosts – Liz is a wonderful cook who prepares meals worthy of a five star restaurant! )

Every morning we loaded the bus with supplies and headed out to Malenga.  Malenga is an urban slum of about 30,000 people.  75% of that number is children with none or one parent.  HIV/AIDS is rampant there along with prostitution and alcoholism.  Despite these problems, the people are kind and friendly.

The road to Malenga is nothing like the bumpy dusty roads to Susu or Malkota.  The road is a paved four lane highway with one police stop.  About 10 minutes outside of Kitwe, the bus turns off the highway and enters Malenga.  It appears that Malenga just sprung up out of the dirt right off the side of the road.  The road is now a dirt one with ruts and is full  by people walking, waiting for a bus or buying items from the small stores along the road.  As we drive further into Malenga, there are wooden huts and buildings holding all number of things.  There is a barber shop, a place to charge cell phones, a market crowded with people and taverns.  Lots of taverns – with loud music pouring out of them and men looking out the doors.  We see women there too, selling all sorts of things – including themselves.

And there are children – EVERYWHERE!  They are running, standing in groups, or with older kids.  When they see our bus, they begin pointing at us and shouting, “Musungu, Musungu….”.  (White people)  They begin to follow the bus, shouting and waving!

We cannot take the bus to the church because the street has been washed out too badly during the rainy season.  We disembark with all of our suitcases and bags of supplies.  The kids help us carry everything to the church.  They do not allow us to carry anything except our own personal bags.  We walk past houses made of mud bricks and wood.  Some have doors, some of have pieces of cloth that serve as the doors.   Some of the homes have tomatoes spread out on a piece of cardboard in front of their doors.  They are selling the tomatoes.  They also sell small piles of burnt wood (charcoal) and beans.  Many of the houses have clothing spread out on bushes in the sun, drying them.  There are kids standing along the street or in the middle of the road.  There are dogs laying in the middle of the street – we almost step on one of them.  There is sewage running along the side of the road too.  And then there is the trash……everywhere on the street, in the yards and on the pathway to the church.   The houses are very close to each other – some do have small gardens.  There are chickens, hens with their chicks,  running along the street.

As we pass the homes, we greet the people with “Mulishawni”  or hello in Bemba.  They smile and answer, “Bweeno!”. (Which means good or fine)  The kids laugh at us trying to speak their language!

We reach the school/church and we can hear singing!  The kids and teachers are in the school waiting for us to enter.  Their singing is beautiful and joyous!!!  They are so excited that we are in Malenga.  Their joy and excitement makes us forget the horrible poverty that we saw on our way to the church.  The kids are surrounding us, wanting us to hold them and touch them.  They are so thirsty for love and affection – we want to hug everyone.

Our week begins with the kids singing us a song and prayer from one of the care workers.  The care workers are volunteers from the community that visit the sick and ailing.  They will accompany us on home visits and serve with us as interpreters during the medical clinics.

The first day in Malenga – we do home visits.  The team of nurses divides into smaller groups with several care workers in each group and head out into the village.  We are amazed how big the village is – it goes on for miles.  As we walk through the homes, we see a medicine man’s hut,  families sitting outside their homes, one family is butchering a cow in their front yard and kids!  The kids are everywhere!!  A group of about six little girls is following my group.  They call out, “Mulishawni!” and dissolve into giggles when we answer them with, ” Bweeno!”.  They run about a block ahead of us, sit down to wait until we catch up and then yell, “Mulishawni!”  This game continues the whole time we are doing home visits.

Home visits consist of going to someone’s home to provide support and encouragement.  It may include doing dishes, carrying water, doing laundry, listening to their ailments and praying.  My team sees a young man of about 25, who is ill with AIDS.  He is having difficulty breathing and is in pain.  We examine him and find that he also has some pressure areas on his bottom and hips because he cannot get around too well.  He is sleeping on a reed mat on the dirt floor.  Beatrice is one of the Care Workers that I was with last year on home visits.  She is taking us, next, to the home of a man that I saw last year.  Last year, he was very sick with AIDS, he had just gone to the clinic for his medication.  This year he looks WONDERFUL!  He is sitting outside on a bench when we get to his house and says he is feeling much better!  What an amazing experience to see how great he looks this year.   We pray for him and hand out “sweeties” to the adults and kids. (Sweeties are lollipops!!)  Next we visit William, an 84 year old man, who’s wife recently passed away.  He is blind, but other wise in good health.  He asks us into his home and entertains us with stories of his youth.  He is so proud that the American nurses came to his home.

We return to the church to meet the rest of the team.  One of the groups has returned early and are playing with the kids.  They have taught the kids the Hokey Pokey and London Bridges.  The kids love to sing and play!

(More to follow)

Success is not measured by the number of medical assessments completed or the number of miles walked on home visits.  It cannot be measured by how many children attended kid’s day activities or how many suitcases of supplies and donations were distributed.  It is not determined by the number of classes that were taught or how many women attended.   All of those things may be noteworthy, but they are not the gauge of true success.

The success of the mission depends on other less quantitative accomplishments.

• Did the team serve the people with caring hearts full of compassion as well as skillful hands?
• Did team members work as a unit and support each other through difficult or tiring times?
• Were there lives touched because nurses took time to listen and offer encouragement during home visits?
• Did a child have a few moments when they felt they were special and loved?
• Was there healing of both body and spirit from a nurse’s smile and hug as she handed them their packet of medication?
• Did a chronically ill villager leave the clinic feeling more hopeful than when they came in?
• Did the careworkers feel appreciated and respected for the vital role they are playing in their community, especially in the lives of the orphans, widows, vulnerable children, and the chronically ill?
• Did a team member come home with new perspectives on life and how we are all called to help our fellow human beings, whether it is in our own neighborhood or globally?

Those are examples of true success!  Indeed, so many of these things did occur as each team went about their daily activities!  Each mission had their share of success and achievements just as we each had our moments of frustration and difficulty.  2012 was absolutely a successful year!

Many thanks to all the team members of 2012 and the team leaders for your sacrifice and your hard work.   I would like to say thank you to everyone who made the 2012 missions possible. Whether it was a cash donation, helping a team member with a fundraiser, or collecting baby supplies.—everyone who contributed in any way played a part in the success of our mission.  And lastly, thanks so very much to our partners who sent pillowcase dresses, eyeglasses, feminine hygiene bags, LifeSaver kits, medical supplies and more!

We are already looking forward to the 2013 mission season!   It will soon be time to begin approving applicants and planning the details for next year –but for now…it’s nice to relax and reflect a bit ~Theresa