Will You Welcome Us With Open Arms???

Our time here in Zambia is slowly starting to come to an end. We only have 5 weeks left to wrap things up and say our good-byes. It was so nice to have the Barker crew, Fay, Bill, and Gary out to show them all what we have been up to. They prepped us for coming home, gave us a taste of North America, and really made us start to think about what to do next….

The reality is starting to sink in..we are leaving! That reality just got a bit of a turbo boost the other day.. We were outside doing yoga on the front porch of our little house in the convent. Sister Christina strolls by and we start chatting (Sister is a great little chatter, we have learned so much from her. Yesterday she even taught us how to make Mumbole Jam. Mumbole’s are little fruit here in Zambia that taste like plums) To make a long story short we discover that we are supposed to be out of our house at the end of this month! What! We start racking our brains of who we can stay with for the month of December…maybe our nursing students will let us stay with them in their hostels??? But all is well, we solved our little housing issue and are now going to live with another ‘Makuwa’ friend. His name is Tyler, he just so happens to have a huge house all to himself in Mongu, and doesn’t seem to mind two nurses shacking up with him for the next few weeks. Did we mention the house has AC and the security guard cleans and does laundry (Ok they have had a few break-ins, but don’t worry moms we will be safe!)…This will be very nice for the last few weeks. Plus it is closer to the school.

Now that everyone has left we have had the chance to think about what it will be like to come back home. To be honest: it scares us a bit! Ok, maybe a lot. In fact we have both been having nightmares about work…Remember when you were a new grad and had dreams about not knowing what to do on the ward…we are there…..again!! We can say that the first thing we are going to do when we get home is have sushi. We have been missing it... a lot. How will we reintegrate ourselves back into Canadian society? We are now Zambians after all! What will it be like to go back and work in the hospital again? Where will our career paths take us now? Ohhh so many questions. Good thing we have 2 more months to figure it all out. Society, be gentle on us….

Jess and Lianne

Thank-You! Thank-You!

Dear Friends and Family,
First off we want to say a HUGE thank-you to everyone (especially those who came to visit). We honestly would not be here without your guidance, support and generous gifts. We have recently started to disperse all those wonderful donations throughout the School of Nursing, the hospital and Mongu. It was so much fun to go to the orphanage. We had over 150 children show up! They are still talking about the ‘Makuwas’ who came! All the school supplies, stickers, paper, etc.. that were donated have been distributed with the help of Sister Christina. They know many schools in the area, and are supporting over 100 children to go to school. They will ensure the supplies go to good use. We will be distributing all the donated medical supplies on Friday, it will be like Christmas at Lewanika General Hospital that day! All the donated textbooks are now in the library at the school. The students and tutors were so excited to receive them. Again, we keep hearing how we are ‘like angels’ because of all the things that are being donated, but really it is all of you that are the angels!

Little Guys with pipe cleaner glasses from Mama Barker

Thank-You!

Jessica and Lianne

Bill's Journey

Bill, Gary, Jessica, Lianne, Fay, Dr. Sitali, and other health officials in Mongu

Hello, this is Bill Nelems reporting live from Mongu, Zambia.

It’s November 9, 2008, and I’m here with Fay Karp, Gary O’Connor, Diana and Mike Barker. We have come here to offer support to Lianne, Jessica and Cameron for their outstanding contributions to Western Province, and, in particular to the students who are enrolled in the Lewanika Nursing School. We have also come to evaluate their contributions, to meet with senior Ministry of Health officials and with the Deputy Permanent Secretary to evaluate and plan our next steps.

Let me start by telling you what you already know from following their blogs – Lianne, Jess and Cameron are magnificent human beings. They bring with them their inherent humanity and their intense compassion. They have changed forever the life of faculty and students here in rural Mongu, because with them they bring hope and courage to a part of the world ravaged by a disease pandemic not seen since the great plague of the middle ages. They bring with them their communication skills, their ability to understand and to teach their own nursing students how to care for their people.

As Fay Karp told Lianne and Jessica’s students; “You are most important resource that Zambia has to keep your families healthy. You are it! What you need to know is that we are here to support you.” I completely agree with Fay.

Thanks to an invaluable letter written by Dr Linda Hawker, Family Physician in Kelowna to Dr Andrew Silumesii, Executive Director of the Lewanika Hospital in Mongu, we will make a multi year commitment to support a Clinical Teaching Unit here. We received major support for this concept from every level within Western Province. This will be lead by Nursing and Family Medicine. This unit will support not only the hospital but also the nursing education initiated by Lianne, Jessica and Cameron. Through this unit will flow surgical teams, specialists in Ophthalmology, Obstetrics, Paediatrics, male circumcision programs and whatever else this community directs as core needs. It is through this unit that Gene Krupa could develop his community health workers, his e-learning programs and telehealth. Of course, it will take time and it will be directed through our Zambia working committee in Kelowna. It will take time to line up funders, support persons, and the like.

Bill's new career as the official camera man!

One very senior medical administrator, paraphrasing and adapting a biblical parable, said that living in Western Province is like the old woman who was barren. But then, an angel appeared and she bore children. He went on to say that Lianne, Jessica and Cameron are the angels who have arrived in Mongu!

Having visited Mongu twice, I can see why life in Mongu is like the old infertile woman. It is the poorest region in Zambia, and most likely the most challenged by illness. Because of its remoteness, no one, either internally or external to Zambia, makes this region a priority.
Our angels will return here some day, flanked by more nurses, physicians, therapists and technicians. This has become our passion and we will always remember that it was Lianne, Jessica and Cameron who began this journey.

Bill with the children at the orphanage

Thanks to the three of you for making this epic journey.

Bill

A snapshot of events

Lianne, Fay, and Jessica with Lewanika's new bus

I am a lucky woman. It is not often that teachers have the privilege of witnessing the goals of curriculum displayed in the work of former students. I’ve had the pleasure of being included in a trip to Zambia to visit Lianne Jones; Jessica Barker in Mongu, Western Province. All of our faculty would be so proud to see them living the concepts of humanism, community development, advocacy and caring. Their work with health care providers and nursing students will provide the grounding for future collaboration between UBCO students, faculty, Kelowna health care professionals, and Zambian health care professionals. They embody these concepts and in the doing, make us proud. They are true global citizens.

Fay giving out tattoos with a group of children at the orphanage

Our time in Zambia seems like a series of snapshots:

• Smiling faces and hugs at the airport
• A herd of zebras on the way to Mongu
• A hospital too full, too many sick, not enough staff, training or equipment
• Faces of Zambian nurses, tired, overworked, but smiling
• A baby with obvious signs of HIV smiling in a cot on the paediatric ward
• Playing games with a hundred smiles at the orphanage
• The “hair standing” singing from student nurses
• Two young white Canadian women surrounded by Zambian friends and students
• A small premature baby surviving against odds
• The face of HIV on co-workers and client
• The sound of the animals in the game park
• A beautiful carmine bee catcher flashing
• The brave faces, both black and white who deliver health care and hope
• All of us, Jessica’s family (Mike and Diana), Gary O’Connor, Cam O’Connor, Bill Nelems, Jessica, Lianne and myself – laughing as we watch a sunset, lightning and a hippo in a game park...toasting our work and the work to follow
  
  Zambia, you are beautiful and brave,
  
  Fay Karp

Lives Forever Changed…

the barker - Jones Family on the Sunset Cruise in Livingstone

It’s easy to understand why Jessica and Lianne’s hearts have been drawn back to Africa. The people we have met and observed, the cultural aspects we have experienced and the wilderness environments we have been able to be a part of during our short time here has truly been amazing. Our lives have been enriched by this incredible experience. I have witnessed and listened to how Jessica and Lianne have embraced the people and this country, but even more moving has been how the people and their country have embraced and accepted them… to each, lives have ever changed.

For me, this trip has been filled with emotion. I am humbled by the beautiful and proud Zambian people. I am fascinated by their culture, moved by their music, and I marvel at how they adapt to their environments.

The outlying villages are so simplistic in their living arrangements. Their life is hard and health care difficult to deliver. The villagers daily chores of survival are daunting, yet everyday the sun sets and a new dawn rises. The incredible pink, blue, and indigo colours of the sunrise can’t help but shout out a powerful sign of hope and a message that every day brings a chance to start over… and so they do.

For those back home, I know you too would be proud to see how Jessica and Lianne have been respectfully received and professionally advocating with government officials, heads of Universities, NGO’s and teaching schools. They have and are committed to continue to make a difference in the hospital and in the community settings of Mongu and Western Province. I can’t wait for them to come home and share their stories and experiences. You will be very very proud.

It has been a privilege to be accompanied on our trip by Bill, Fay and Gary. Their guidance and support to the girls has been unconditional. It is because of the dream and generosity of Dr. Bill Nelems that they have come here to help this country from whence he lived and loved as a young boy. It is through Fay, their much loved professor, now colleague, who has been an excellent role model of her work with students and colleagues in Ghana. She has proved that through commitment and caring you really can make a difference. You are both an inspiration to Jessica and Lianne (and to so many others), not only by so generously giving of yourselves and sharing your knowledge and passion, but by proving that ordinary people with the right combination of character and determination really can make positive change…no matter how big or small they might be. Even Mother Theresa would be proud!

Sunrise at the Safari Camp

Gary, your questions, answers and sincere sense of caring brings comfort to us all. Knowing your and Linda’s teams of professionals will soon be returning to Mongu and the surrounding villages. And that is through your work you will be helping to improve the health care of these incredible and deserving people of Zambia’s Western Province.

To the sisters in the convent, the students and staff at Lewanika School of Nursing and the hospital in Mongu and to the caring support given by their colleagues in Lusaka, we give thanks to you for embracing our children and for caring and loving them in our absence.

We will never forget shopping in the many markets, the majestic Victoria Falls, or the river rafting on the Zambezi. We are forever indebted to the village of Mongu and the Norman Carr safari staff for their incredible adventures and attention they provided to us.

As we bid farewell to Zambia, the real Africa, we give thanks for the blessings of this experience and for the opportunities you have bestowed upon us and our girls. Please continue to keep them safe and know all of our lives have been both touched and enriched by our being here. We pray you will have continued hope for a brighter future and remember what you believe has more power than what you dream or wish or hope for.
Our Lives are Forever Changed.

Thank-you,

Diana and Mike Barker