It’s Done… I Bought the Ticket!

12/13/2010

A glimpse of who I will see in Zambia... thanks Adam for the pic!

We are told from childhood onward that everything we want to do is impossible. We grow up with this idea, and as the years accumulate, so too do the layers of prejudice, fear and guilt. There comes a time when our personal calling is so deeply buried in our soul as to be invisible. But it’s still there.

 –The Alchemist

I bought the ticket! I’m fulfilling a dream I have been chasing after for years!

Almost a year ago I hosted a party at my house in Austin. 3 Birthdays, 3 themes… turned out to be a major success! Complete with crazy hats, mustaches and weird outfits. I almost didn’t have it though, and if I didn’t this story I am about to tell you never would have come into existence!

Driving to Telluride, CO to see my sister Anna before I
leave for Zambia!

During that party, I met a guy named Adam, who was about to go into the Peace Corps. Ironically we were leaving for Africa on the exact same day. I was going to Swaziland and he to Zambia. Fast forward to the middle of October. I wrote Adam telling him I had a potential opportunity to go work in a hospital in Tanzania and would love to come visit. In the end, the opportunity in Tanzania fell through, but Adam wrote me back immediately saying, “The greatest thing about Africa is there is very little holding you back from helping people. Your presence is all that is needed.” So I said, “Perfect! I’m in!!”

As time revealed itself, the omens piled on one after another. Adam went to the village clinic to tell them I was coming. The nurse jumped up and hugged Adam in excitement. Apparently, they were promised a nurse a year ago. The village even built a nice hut for the promised nurse, but the government did not fill the need. Now there is a brand new maternity area in the clinic and no one to work in it. I have been told they can train me to be a TBA (Traditional Birthing Assistant)! So I have been studying how to birth the babies! No doctor available or within miles means no c-sections or modern technology.  It will most definitely be hard at times if you know what I mean.

Once I get there, I have been told I can pretty much do anything I feel led to do. I will most likely be teaching on a number things… health, hygiene, sex, etc.

So my life in Zambia for probably 5 months will consist of no electricity, no running water, and most importantly from what I have been told, working on the front lines of something amazing!

Anna and I in the snow!

Since I am not currently working at a hospital and just going by myself with no organization, I am in need of a few vital items. If you are at all able to get your hands on any the items on the following list, I would greatly appreciate it!

• ·      Gloves (sterile size 8, and of course regular mediums!)
• ·      Gowns
• ·      Masks (regular, n95, mask with shield)
• ·      Band-Aids
• ·      Gauze
• ·      Sutures
• ·      Fetoscope
• ·      Metal Speculums
• ·      Hemostats
• ·      Sterile Gloves
• ·      Pregnancy Wheel
• ·      Infant Ambu Bag
• ·      Bulb Syringe



Anna, my sister, and I doing a dance for the dinner party talent show...
pretty much Epic!

• ·      Whatever else you have access to that might be helpful!

My mission statement has been the same since the beginning, “We are all the same and in the world together- Ubuntu!”

Ice hockey game in Telluride!

Chili night at Anna's apt! Great people!