Friday, July 4, 2008

Fourth of July

Sorry for the length of time between posts. Telecommunications in Zambia are not at their best at the moment. You may have seen news reports related to the death of Zambia’s president in a French hospital. It is still not clear whether the reports are true. If the president dies, there will be at least a four day mourning period in which there can be no public gatherings, but at the moment the news reports are saying that he is still alive. This is naturally a troubling time for Zambians.

We started our day with several rounds of discouragement. Construction on the radio tower came to a complete stand-still shortly after breakfast due to a broken rope, but we are hopeful the new rope and a new jacking device will be available first thing on Saturday.

Also we heard that a provincial government official had not yet approved our clinic sites for the second half of the medical mission. It is complex and unusual, but in short if we cannot get it resolved in the next three or four days, we will choose to go into another province with our clinics. While this is a minor inconvenience for us, it will be a great disappointment to those in the villages we had planned to visit. Many of those we treat are not able to have any formal health care during the year, and our visit provides them a significant opportunity.

Please pray for the health of Zambia's president, that the tower continues to grow skyward, and that we will be able to follow our original plan and serve a particularly underserved region with our medical mission. We will do our best to post more frequently in the coming days.

Those on our early-team are thriving. We did finish our work day off with a hot-dog roast in the back yard in celebration of the US independence day. It is just one more opportunity to share our culture.

Thanks for your interest.