Reflecting on our time here, we both realize how much we have grown. This journey has been extremely challenging at times, but in the end has allowed us to encounter things we would have never otherwise had the chance to experience. From Ghana, to Nicaragua and now Zambia, every trip has had such a profound impact in our lives.
Staff from the School of Nursing all dressed up for the Thank-You dinner we hosted!
Now the challenging piece will be to reintegrate ourselves back home in Canada. Professionally we feel uncertain where our careers will take us, or where we even belong right now because we have grown so much. Here in Zambia we have been working way beyond the scope of practice for a Canadian nurse. This will make it hard to return to work at Kelowna General. But needless to say we certainly are looking forward to heading back to work with familiar faces!!
Jess and two students, Simon and Kamota, outside of Lewanika General Hospital
Personally, we look back at our photos from when we first arrived in June and we don’t recognise ourselves. How did we get to this point? Zambia already feels like such a dream. I think we need to give ourselves a pat on the back for not killing each other on this trip. So many other expat workers here go home early or end up hating their experience, we think it is because they don’t have anyone to relate to. It takes a special person to get through a trip like this and we are a nice couple (insert joke here). No seriously, we have decided we should probably just become business partners, because we got a good thing going here. What can we say, we both just want to change the world!!
Lianne and one of our very favorite teachers, Mr. Kazunga
So, farewell Mongu, Zambia, and our extended blogging family….We will be in need of some TLC when we get back. We love you and wish you a Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year!!
Ni itumezi Shangwe,
Lianne and Jessica
3 comments:
thank you guys for enriching our lives with what you have done, and also for the "telling" of it which was always so entertaining and heartwarming. Can't wait to have you home to hug. love mom and dad
Thank you Lianne and Jessica for your wonderful blog about your adventurous lives in Mongu. I will miss it. I loved learning about the Zambian people and their culture.
I wish you well wherever LIFE takes you next. (And wherever that is, please blog from there!)
A very Merry Christmas to you both. Have a blast in Namibia. Go well and safely.
Dear Jess and Lianne
Joy is a light that fills you with Hope, Faith and Love. It has been a joy to open up this Blog each day and be inspired by your thoughts and feelings, your adventures and experiences. Thank you for that. As this year and this journey comes to a close, I want to thank you for taking the time to write and for sharing. I know it will be both easy and hard for you to come back home; know you are loved and we have missed you and though you are not quite sure what tomorrow will bring, be assured that sometimes in the wind of change we find our real direction…it will all come together for you, just as it was meant to.
Know in very big and small ways you have made a positive difference to all whose paths you crossed. A kind word and a smile just at the right moment can change a life forever….I saw you do that …you changed lives. Mother Teresa said “Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless”… I know your echoes are still being heard.
You took time to put smiles in the hearts of your patients, your students and your colleagues; sometimes just when it was needed most…. they will all truly miss you, but it will be our blessing to have you back home, even if it is just for a little while…be safe in your travels homeward. Love Always, Mom ( Ma B) XOXO
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