6 Months In Zambia!

Six months! Six months is when you’re supposed to change the batteries in your smoke detectors. We don’t have any of those.  Six months is when you’re supposed to flip your mattress around so that it doesn’t sag. We do have one of those thankfully.  Six months is when you look back over the time you’ve spent in a new location and wonder how it went by so fast and yet so slowly!

Six months ago, Mark and I made a big move, leaving our friends and family in the US to come over to start a new life here in Zambia. As with any move, we had certain expectations and ideas of what living in Zambia might look like.  Overall though, we trusted God to lead and guide us each step of the way. Some things were known ahead of time and others weren’t.  We knew that Mark would be taking Dr Spurrier’s place at the hospital doing medicine and surgery.  We knew that at some point in the future he would also be taking over the medical director or CEO position (called the MS-Medical Superintendent here) as well: don’t ask me how he was to find time to do 2 very busy full-time jobs at the same time but that was his assignment. We also knew that we had no idea what I would be doing. That is not unusual when we go on mission trips. All I knew was that I only wanted to do things that Zambians couldn’t do so that I wouldn’t be taking anything away from them.

We knew that God had put everything in place for us to come here: most importantly our kids were supportive, our friends, family and churches had rallied around us offering both prayer and financial support, very quickly and efficiently getting us here within 6 months, my mom was happy in the personal care home she was now living in and had many people calling and visiting her, and through no plan of our own, God prompted us to make a lateral move selling our condo in NJ and buying a house in the OBX to help us pay for our 3 girls still in college and grad school. Our condo sold in 6 days cash! God is great! The one thing that we didn’t understand was why our big house, which had been purchased when 7 of us lived there, had not sold! But we trusted that God had a plan and was in control of all things working them all together for our good so off we went.

Life here in Zambia has had its share of struggles and joys over the past 6 months.  Mark, of course, hit the ground running, jumping into surgery and medical work right off the bat.  He enjoyed working with both Zambians and others from a variety of countries who came to help out.  We had nursing students from Canada and Messiah college (unfortunately the ones from Indiana Wesleyan had to cancel), medical students from Penn State University, and various residents and doctors from the Netherlands, Sweden and the US.  Each one was very helpful in their work at the hospital and Macha Research Trust. We truly enjoyed every moment we spent ministering to them through friendship, having them over for meals, encouraging them as they worked at the hospital and taking them to church with us. We miss them and hope that some at least will return in the future.  We also look forward to more coming here as soon as this pandemic is over and flights and visas resume.

For me it was a slow start to figuring out exactly what I was to get involved with here in Macha.  When we arrived, we landed in the very first rainstorm of the wet season. There are 3 seasons here: Wet/Hot and Humid (November-April), “Cold”/Dry (May-July), and Dry/Very Hot (August-October)–plan accordingly if you plan to come visit us. The country was trying to survive from having had a bad drought the year before and there was a famine.  My days were spent handing out roller meal (corn meal is their staple food which they eat as porridge for breakfast and as “nshima” for dinner) to people coming to the house for food.  I always tried to give them a little job (piece work) to do before I handed them the bag of food. At times, I got up in the morning to a dozen women sitting along the sidewalk in the back yard waiting for a job to do in order to receive food.  I got rather creative in the jobs that I gave out: weeding, sweeping, laundering, hoeing, picking up garbage around the community or going to the market to buy me some vegetables.  They were always very grateful for the food.  The problem though, was that it took a lot of time for each household giving out food to assign jobs, if that was their chosen protocol, and to manage the flow of people coming to all the houses.  Also, some people went to multiple houses while others got nothing.   There needed to be a central location from which people could get food in order to have a solution to this problem. By the end of December, a storage room was selected, and the Macha Feeding Program was organized.  This program ran from January through the end of March at which time it ended due to two factors: one, the Lord provided a great rainy season so people now at least had fresh maize (corn) to eat, and two, the Covid 19 restrictions no longer allowed for large gatherings. Needless to say God provided a job for me to do.

My job in the program was manyfold:

to write a proposal for funds from the Global Compassion Fund (please feel free to donate to this fund for ongoing projects like the Macha Feeding Program here and in other countries as well as emergency relief projects including COVID responses at    https://partnership.bicus.org/project/global-compassion-fund/ ).

to collect and keep track of donations and expenses.

to order and purchase roller meal at the best price each week.

to organize payment from various outside accounts.

to organize transportation and pick up in Choma.

to problem solve issues along with Vincent and Beenzu that came up every week. (see video)

insert video linkhttps://youtu.be/6FpiWeXW7r4

In addition, I also spent time learning Tonga and tutoring kids from MICS in reading. (Macha International Christian School).

However, at the end of March everything that I had been involved in came to a screeching HALT! The Macha Feeding Program ended, MICS closed, and many foreigners working here left for one reason or another.  The last week of March was VERY difficult.  Having to say goodbye to new friends (who really feel like family here because Macha is so small and we’re so far from our families), having both our eye doctors leave abruptly to return to the Netherlands and having our hospital Medical Superintendent go back to the US with less than 24 hour notice, left me cleaning up their houses and feeling the huge void.  It was much too reminiscent of when I was 12 years old and my brother and his fiancée returned to the US taking my 16 year old sister with them.  When my mom and I returned from the airport to the empty house, with unmade beds and dishes still on the table, we both burst into tears and left to go visit friends.  It was easier to face it all once more time had passed, knowing that their planes had left, and they wouldn’t return. This left 11 of us ex-pats still here working at the hospital, MRT (Macha Research Trust) and MICS (even though it is closed there are jobs to be done).

Although we knew that Mark would eventually be taking over the MS position, we didn’t have any idea on when this would occur. Dr Deboe was still happy to do the job, so Mark concentrated on his medical work.  Suddenly, on March 23 Mark was now acting MS. He now had to pick up all of the various projects, responsibilities, and accounts that James had been in charge, continue his medical work, as well as prepare the hospital for a pandemic!

Mark was put in charge of managing a 200 bed hospital, 400 employees, maintenance of 75 houses, continuing the reworking of the entire water distribution system,

finishing the construction of the new Operating Theater (OT),

 

overseeing the construction of 3 new buildings (pre and postpartum Mother’s Shelter),

the planting/harvesting of food in the fields and gardens for the patients in the hospital,

 

running a guesthouse, and all the accounts and purchases that go along with all of this.  Oh! And the minor detail of having to worry about and prep everyone and everything for a pandemic! (sarcasm I’m sorry)

To Give to these programs go online at General Hospital Support: https://partnership.bicus.org/project/general-support-macha-mission-hospital/

Prepping for Covid 19 has been an ongoing activity since the end of March.  Hand washing stations have been set up throughout the hospital, hand sanitizer dispensers

 

 

 

have been given to all departments, the flow of the hospital traffic has been reconfigured, patients can only have one visitor/person stay with them, all staff wear masks,

 

triage tents have been set up outside the hospital, and someone is now in charge of everything related to Covid 19. She has been a huge help in getting these preparedness needs ready and educating all staff in using PPE as well as running drills with planted “patients”.

Due to Covid 19 all schools closed on March 20^th.  Most, but not all, secondary school here are boarding schools. Macha Girls houses hundreds of teenaged girls and the Nurses Training School (NT) houses hundreds of nursing students.  With both these schools closing, the place got very quiet.  The 3^rd year nursing students (final year) were allowed to stay as they were almost finished with their program and could also be of help at the hospital should the caseload increase drastically.

My job with Covid 19 prep was to cut out mask and gown kits for the hospital staff, while local tailors sewed them together.  (600 masks and 50 gowns). Sometimes it meant taking a trip with Mark to Choma to buy various needs like gown material, oxygen tank valves, hand sanitizer, and a multitude of other things needed “just in case” Covid 19 came to Macha.

I am happy to say that as of this writing we have not had any positive cases here.  We’ve had a few questionable cases that ended up being other things such as malaria or TB. The hospital is as ready as possible should a positive case arrive.

Mark’s job is stressful, to say the least, but he is enjoying it as well.  The most difficult aspect is adjusting to the protocols that the government uses for everything and the constant lack of funding to move forward with all of the needs.  The blessing is that due to Covid 19 and the fact that everyone is in their fields harvesting the wonderful crop that God provided for them this year, the hospital is a lot quieter, allowing Mark the time to adjust to his new job.

An aspect of his job that I don’t enjoy is that now I am the boss’s wife.  Here in Macha, there is already a longstanding status divide between missionaries and Zambians. This makes it very difficult to get to know people (and Covid 19 social distancing doesn’t help) especially because we are looked at as a financial or job resource rather than people to befriend.  We are constantly being asked for money for school or exam fees, funerals, travel cost, food, etc…  The best one was when someone wanted k40 to pay for his police report paperwork.

The social distancing protocol has been difficult for everyone globally.  However, it is one thing when you have long established friendships and family around the corner.  It’s very different when you’ve only just arrived in a new country and don’t know people nor the culture yet and they are all being asked to social distance.  As Mark works 50+ hour weeks, 6 days/week, I spend a lot of time by myself.  That’s nothing new for me because I’m married to a surgeon.  What is different now is that I don’t have my kids and mother around like I have over the past 26 years (even though they’re in college they still come home and are home now which makes being here more difficult). I hadn’t even had a chance to go through “empty nesting” in the US but now am going through it here without my friends to go on walks with or chat with.  Dealing with Covid 19 at home would mean hanging out with my kids, playing games, doing puzzles, rollerblading, going on walks with the dog, playing tennis, and cooking yummy things together.  That sounds like bliss in my book! BUT more importantly it would also mean being there to help them get through this Covid 19 pandemic as they struggle with various aspects of it. However, it is a blessing that our house did not sell because our kids now have somewhere to be together and it’s their home.

My mother lived with me from 2006-2019.  When she moved out last March to be closer to my brother, we felt that being in a personal care facility would be beneficial so that she could both be taken care of and socialize with people. At my house she was no longer going out except for church and prayer meetings.  After 13 years together it’s hard not to just be able to stop in her room for a little chat.  But now she is isolated to her room.  That is a very difficult thing for me because if I hadn’t come here she would still have been at home with us and interacting with the kids.  We couldn’t have predicted this I realize but this has been very difficult on her mental state.  She is very much ready to go to heaven and can’t wait to go. (that’s nothing new) But being here and knowing that now she can’t have visitors nor even leave her room just saddens me. A lot has changed in 6 months!

Others things that have kept me “busy” during this time is that I have been tutoring 2 people in English, which I enjoy very much, and occasionally have gotten to see children with speech issues. The latest was an 11-year-old who didn’t speak. I suspected a hearing impairment and was excited to find out that MRT had an audiometer, as well as someone to do the testing (it’s been a long time since grad school when i did it once or twice!).

The screening showed a moderate hearing loss in both ears.  So, now he will have to go to Lusaka to an ENT office to be tested and fitted with hearing aids if possible. I would be happy to do some aural rehab with him afterwards.  He is the nicest boy and is very eager to learn.

The past 6 months have been a roller coaster ride to say the least.  But, through it all God has been faithful and given us what we have needed to get through and do the work that He has called us to do here. Through the ups and downs He has helped Mark and I work as a team and support each other. Even though Mark works a lot we have never spent this much time alone together without running to Youth Group or other church activities, doing some sort of sport (tennis, rollerblading, waterskiing etc…) or umpteen other tasks.  You have to be a lot more creative here to find things to do.  So the past 6 months have been a learning experience in many ways but we are grateful for  the growth that we have experienced and thankful for God’s faithfulness through it all.

 

 

We serve with Brethren in Christ US World Mission.  Contributions preferenced for our ministry may be sent to BIC US at:

431 Grantham Rd, Mechanicsburg, Pa 17055-5812

or donated on line at https://bicus.org/missionaries/mark-and-maggie-roth/