Karen Friesen, MCC Zambia

I arrived on assignment in mid-September and completed a week and a half orientation to a few different units at Macha Mission Hospital here in Southern Zambia. Now I have to figure out where I fit in as a nurse with a lot of education (comparatively) but no African nursing experience! It’s been great to be on the different units as I’ve got to do stuff that I NEVER would get to do back home. On another level it is
very challenging to see what resource-poor medical care is actually like (a baby died in front of me, and had she been in North
America she would have had a very different outcome). Ideally I’ll be able to split my time between two clinics that serve people living with HIV/AIDS: the ART (antiretro viral therapy) clinic and the Mother Child Health clinics, doing mobile clinic visits to the surrounding villages focusing on Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission (PMTCT).

At the ART clinic patients come in for their biweekly, monthly or every 3month check up. I've seen the healthiest looking people, to “walking skeletons”, and everything in between. The testing, drugs and medical advice are all free, so people are much more willing to disclose their status and seek help. One afternoon I sat in with the doctors for their assessments. The day was winding down and a few extra patients were straggling in. In walked a 10 year old by himself. We asked where his parents were and at first he said they were at home, but then after a bit I asked the translator to ask again. He said, his mom is in Lusaka and his Dad is dead. Apparently he stays with his Grandma. He lives in a village a ways away, and had decided to catch a ride with a pig truck that was going through. His Grandma had made him come and get tested awhile ago, and now here he was on his own for follow up. This little 10 year old living with HIV, covered in a rash, sitting at his doctors appointment. Does he realize what all these tests mean? What adherence is? What prophylaxis treatment is? How his life has been impacted by these 3 letters? Of course, there is no Child and Family Services to call. Instead we congratulated him on being such a "clever" boy for coming to his scheduled appointment, wrote a prescription for septra and pointed out where the pharmacy was on his way out. See you in 2 weeks (providing that pig truck is coming through again I suppose). ……..

• Pray for a spirit of graciousness when working with people who are vulnerable as a result of health issues.
• Pray that gender equality would continue to be discussed in the church as a response in action against HIV /AIDS.

 

For more information on Service Opportunities contact Sophie Tiessen-Eigbike at (604) 850-6639 in Abbotsford, 1-888-622-6337 from outside the Lower Mainland or e-mail: stiessen@mccbc.com