The container arrives at Sons of Thunder Clinic
A lot has been happening!! I just returned to the farm from a workshop that the Kazungula District Health Ministry decided I should attend.
The workshop was PMTCT: Preventing Mother to Child Transmission of HIV. It was a two-week course sponsored by Boston University. Boston University is supplying HIV test kits, RPR test kits (for testing for syphilis) and Antiretroviral medications or ARVs for HIV treatment to Zambia and so they decided to also sponsor some of the training to the health centers. All in all a good class with updated national guidelines. The second exciting thing happened of course while I was in Choma… the container arrived on the farm! A call was sent out late at night to all the villages and at 8 a.m. the following morning, 30 or more volunteers came in force to unload the 40 foot truck loaded with medical goodies. All the contents were put into a large storage room adjacent to the church. Sal promised he wouldn't touch anything until I got home so we could go through it together. The first things we pulled out were IV poles so we don't have to move nails from place to place. Then we moved in the hospital beds…3 in the male ward and 4 in the female ward. We put two beds on one side of the Maternity Suite for those ladies in labor and the Delivery Bed on the other separated by a curtain |
We even plugged in some beds with transformers and demonstrated how the head and feet go up and down…our staff were amazed and took turns lying on the beds. I think today we are going to dig out the Ultrasound!
Photo: Willing volunteers unload and carry a portable x-ray machine weighing between 500 and 600 pounds! There is still so much to go through….it will take some time and perhaps some reorganization of rooms, but we have been blessed and we thank God for always providing what we need when we need it. Weekly outreach to Kasiya is going strong. People are waiting every Wednesday morning as we pull in with the Land Rover filled with packed supplies and medicines. We have been averaging over 100 regular patients every week and when we add Under 5 week or Child Health week, we cross over the 200 mark! A relationship is being built as we provide care. Please continue to pray for us here at the clinic…not just Sal and I, but all the staff as we are moving in unchartered waters! Thank you again for all your love and support. With our love and gratitude, Sal and Renee |