Snakes! Ah! I really am in Africa...


I haven't seen many snakes since I've been here, and I'm not complaining! I don't like them at all... and will only touch them if they're dead. This stick snake we came across when out for a run one morning. One of the missionaries dogs attacked it and killed it. This worm snake was found near our house (it's also dead).

A short trip away


Life is a struggle! We saw many amusing slogans on vehicles during my 2-day break in Kitwe.


The evening sky on the way home, and 2 village kids come to say hello while we stopped to clean all the bugs off the windscreen.

Some interesting cases on mens ward


Makayi traveled 2 days on the back of a motorcyle with a compound fracture.


Ngozo has been on my ward 6 months now with osteomylitis of his knee. He's had several operations including this external fixation.


Ironically, this man came in with abdominal pain and was completely unconcerned that his face was peeling off! He had had a rash, and went to the village witchdoctor for some local medicine which he then poured on his head.


A bad bone cancer in one of my patients.

Childrens ward

Anna has taken over as charge of childrens ward and is doing a fantastic job.

Kasera is 7 and has heart failure. She has polycythemia and had to have a unit of blood drained. Jenovic is the son of Ngozo on my ward and keeps us company, here he and Anna have swapped shoes.


Maggie and Humphrey have blounts disease (bow legs) which a visiting orthopedic surgeon operated on.


Chrispin is 2 and a half years old and we are unsure of what his diagnosis is, but it could be congenital syphillis. He cannot walk or crawl and has severe developmental delay.


Cecilia's mother had 2 other children die before the age of 2 months with the same condition, a peculiar congenital flesh eating disease. Cecilia was discharged aged 3 and a half months.


This young boy had a bad lymphoma. Nothing could be done.

Theatre


Anna and David in theatre.


A young man on my ward had this bad osteomylitis. This is the operation to remove the piece of dead bone, known as a "sequestrian" to allow the infection to clear.


Learning by doing... this is me suturing a foot.

Kalene Hill under the stars

On the weekend a small group of us trekked up Kalene Hill for a night under the stars.


Watching the sun set from an overhanging rock, with a cup of tea of course. The sunset and sunrise weren't as spectacular as hoped due to all the smoke on the horizon, but still beautiful!


Setting up camp... collecting firewood, and dinner on the fire.


We enjoyed a delicious one pot meal "pokjiekos" out on sunrise rock.


An evening around the campfire... with damper! A little taste of home.


David and Suzie, both medical students from the UK. More cups of tea, and roasted marshmallows. What a treat!


Calling it a night and getting cozy with Anna, Charlie and Grace on sunrise rock (followed by 7 hours of attempting to sleep with the hard surface below and the wind howling all night long).

Girls camp 09

August 17-22 we joined 62 girls for girls camp at the nearby zambezi river.

They were a great bunch of girls, and we were often making comments as to how different they were from teenage campers at home! At 6am a whistle was blown and all the girls immediately started singing in their groups until the whistle was blown again.


After a few trips with a vehicle transporting gear, Anna and I biked to camp. Anna rode back to the mission station most days to run errands and collect supplies. One day she brought back a papaya but it was unfortunately more like pulp by the time she got there!


We slept in grass enclosures, the first night we stayed in one with a grass roof but opted to spend the rest of the week under the stars beneath a mosquito net. Very cool! Toilet facilities were of course the long drop variety.


The kitchen area and the girls eating their nshima.

Fun and games with the girls

One afternoon we crossed the river to the hydro, and the girls excitedly slid down the rock face on the zambezi river. It took quite a few shots to get an appropriate photo since they mostly swim topless!


I taught the girls to play capture the flag. To start with we thought it might be a bit too confusing, but they really got into it!


They loved to play netball, and I also got them playing blind soccer which was hilarious.


I joined in with the netball for one game but regretted not wearing shoes... my poor white feet got huge blood blisters and I was hobbling around in agony until I decided to pop them the next day.

Teaching and lots of singing

The girls had 2 or 3 sessions a day of teaching, on the topic "overcoming sin". I took a few of the sessions including one about HIV and sexual purity. Every session included singing of course. They also did some point-scoring activities like races to find bible verses and bible quiz questions.

Nights singing around the fire

Every night was spent around the fire with song after song. Some of the girls would do skits, mostly on the topic or related to the teaching that had happened that day. Although it was all in Lunda and I couldn't always understand, it was still very entertaining, some brilliant acting!