Viva Mongu!

Jessica, Bill, and Lianne at World of Hearts Charity Dinner

Since our return to Canada we have constantly been thinking about Zambia. How do we get back? What can be doing from here to help over there? How can we raise awareness within our own community? ANSWER: OkaZHI (Okanagan Zambia Health Initiative). This is a group creating an action plan with strategies for improving the health of Zambians. Our founding member Dr. Bill Nelems has truly been an inspiration to us, and has pulled together an amazing team of people.

OkaZHI Foundation Advisory and Management Committee:
• Nicole Arnt, President-Global Nursing Citizens
• Jessica Barker, RN
• Joan Bassett- Smith, PhD, RN, Associate Professor UBC-O
• Felour Behrouzi, RN
• Prof. Joan Bottorff, PhD, RN, FCAHS
• Dr. Linda Hawker, Family Practice
• Dr. Glynn Jones, Family Practice
• Lianne Jones, RN
• Fay Karp, RN, Associate Professor UBC-O
• Dr. Tom Kinahan, Urology
• Muriel Kranabetter, RN, Associate Professor UBC-O
• Gene Krupa, PhD
• Dr. Kim Lefevre, Neurosurgery
• Dr. Tim Murphy, Family Practice
• Dr. Bill Nelems, General and Thoracic Surgery
• Rebeccah Nelems, Chair
• Dr. Gary O’Connor, Orthopaedic Surgery
• Carole Robinson, RN, PhD, Associate Professor UBC-O

Ok looking at this …we often wonder how did we make the cut? That is quite the impressive list! We are a dynamic group that is dedicated and passionate about improving the health of the people of Western Province, Zambia.
It is funny to look back on our blog entries…and realize how much we have grown since last year. Our last entry even says ‘Don’t worry Mongu, We’ll be back.’ It turns out we really are!!! Never in a million years would we have guess that we would be back in Mongu in 9 short months!

The up coming journey starts on October 18th as we fly to Zambia with Joan and Bill. We will be meeting Glynn and his son Cameron in Lusaka prior to our departure to Mongu. Joining us at a later date will be Gary and Dr. Bob Taylor from the Canadian Network for International Surgery (www.cnis.ca). Together we will run the Essential Surgical Skills (ESS) course for our Zambian colleagues at Lewanika General Hospital in Mongu! This is a week long course designed for clinicians in low-income regions of the world and teaches a standard set of life saving surgical skills for medical urgencies that such clinicians face on a frequent basis. This course has been taught in Ethiopia, Uganda, Malawi, Mozambique, Mali, Rwanda…and now Zambia!


Lozi girls in the traditional outfit for Western Province

Words can’t even describe how exciting it is for us to return to a place where we once called home. We get to see our Mongu family once again! The most amazing thing is that we are going back to help build and empower the health care professionals at Lewanika General Hospital. It is a way to give back to the people of Mongu and Western Province for taking such good care of us for those 6 months we lived there.

Mongu get ready, Lianne and Jessica are back!