Wednesday, December 5, 2012

Tuesday, July 17, 2012

The Multitudes Came

Our 18th Zambia Medical Mission has come to a close and with six days of clinics we saw a record breaking 20,220 people. They came in droves by walking, crawling, being carried on someone's back, bicycles, oxcarts, donkey carts and some in the back of large trucks. The needs are tremendous as the people we have ministered to have little access to medical care. For many it was the first time to be treated by a doctor. The pharmacy was extremely busy with the over 6000 prescriptions filled each day. On the first day at the Kasukwe Clinic we saw 3925 patients which was a record in the number of patients we have ever seen in one day. The team was exhausted by the time the day was over. We did have a few people out with stomach problems, but all have recovered and doing fine. Each day we either set records or were very close. It has been a challenge to the team, but we have an excellent group of workers, both Zambian and American, and they worked diligently to serve the vulnerable people of Southern Zambia. Everywhere we went the medical team was presented with gifts; which included 3 cows, 1 goat, and 10 chickens. Two of our truck drivers sold a cow and presented us with the funds to purchase food for the medical team. It is great to see every single person on the team whether they were a truck driver, kitchen worker, or a medical person working together to accomplish the one goal of sharing the love of Jesus with those in such need.

We were also able to send trucks back to Namwianga Zonal Health Center carrying patients for Cataract Surgery. Dr. Moonze, a Zambian Ophthalmologist, performed 83 surgeries in four days. In order to do this he had to operate some nights until 2:00 am. It is hard to put into words the joy that these people express in having their sight restored.

Praise God we had 70 baptisms and we know many other souls were touched and the church will grow and be strengthened. A big thanks to all who helped make Zambia Medical Mission 2012 a huge success.

In His Service,

Ellie Hamby
Zambia Medical Mission

Zambia Christian College Inc., dba Zambia Mission Fund
PO BOX 3393, Abilene, TX 79604-3393
www.ZambiaMission.org | wwwFacebook.com/ZambiaMission

Your privacy is important to us. You may view our complete privacy policy at www.ZambiaMission.org/privacy. Unsubscribe at any time by replying to this message and typing the word "unsubscribe" in the subject line.

Copyright 2012 Zambia Christian College Inc., All rights reserved.

Audio Post



Sunday, July 15, 2012

Monday Morning

This post is being done from Namwianga by KB who traveled back Sunday evening with a group of patients being brought to Namwianga Zonal Health Centre for cataract surgery.

The team set a record for patients seen in a single day by Zambia Medical Mission yesterday even though several of the team members had stomach issues and were unable to work.  At the end of the day, those suffering from the stomach bug were better and the team had seen 3925 patients in a single day which puts the total thus far at over 14.600.

The trip to Kasukwe was difficult, and lasted just under five hours on rut-roads and sand.  The area is remote, but one cell provider has limited service if you find exactly the right place to stand.  Even then it is most often just text messages and no voice service.  Many of us use AirTel and we got an occasional signal but it never lasted long.  As a result we use satellite phones when we really need to reach someone.

Dr. Monze, a Zambian eye surgeon has been doing cataract surgeries here at Namwianga, and the patients are screened and brought in on the back of trucks to the clinic.  Traveling on the back of a large lorry seems like a poor way to travel, but in many ways it is the most convenient and practical way to haul people in these difficult conditions.

A few new photos have been posted at facebook.com/zambiamission

We will post more as we have it.

Post will get fewer as the days go on and will potentially stop abrubtly after Tuesday.

Audio Post



Audio Post



Saturday, July 14, 2012

Friday, July 13, 2012

Wednesday, July 11, 2012

Njabalombe Day Two

Yesterday at Njabalombe we set a record for the  number (3500) of patients seen on day one of the clinics.   Today we set a record of 3890 patients seen in one day.  As you can imagine the lines have been staggering and the needs even more.  It has been hot and dusty and the team is exhausted from seeing that many patients.  Many of the patients walked 2 to 3 days just to come for medical help.
We had at least 5 patients that we had seen in the last two years and had provided transport and food for them to get to a hospital for care.  Here are a few of those stories.

1.       Stanley and his wife brought their 8 year old son, Blessing, to us to show how he is now walking.  Two years ago Stanley carried his son, who had two club feet, on his back to our clinic.  Stanley had spent several years going from hospital to hospital with the son on his back, asking if they could help him.  Each time he was told there was nothing that could be done.   When we saw Blessing we told the father we would pay for him to take his son to the capital city of Lusaka to the Orthopedic Hospital for surgery.  The father did so and continued to take his son for further examinations and the second surgery.  The father worked diligently growing vegetables to sell so he would have money to pay for further transport for Blessing.  Some medical team members purchased a diesel engine to help Stanley to be able to pump water for his vegetables.  This year the wife made 60 Chitenge bags, to carry a Bible, to give to the medical team.  All of the 70 heads of cabbage the medical team were served  to eat came from Stanley.  This was just a small way they could say thank you for the ability to walk that their son, Blessing, received from the medical team.

2.      Tribush, a 5 year old boy, came walking in with his mother.  Last year she carried him as he had been bitten by a snake and the scar tissue constricted and caused his leg to be immobile.  We gave the mother funds to go to Lusaka for surgery and that is what she did.  Today Tribush, came running to us to show that he could walk and run.   His face was full of Joy.

3.      A lady came in to one of our team members today and fell to the ground expressing her appreciation for our part in her healing.  Last year she came to us and had been bleeding for several years.  We sent her to a nearby hospital with funds for her transport and food.  She underwent surgery and the bleeding was stopped.

These are just a sampling of the many stories we have heard over the last 2 days.
We had one emergency today where a lady was close to giving birth and it appeared there were going to be major complications.   KB took her into Kalomo and she was then rushed to another nearby hospital where they were going to have to do a C-Section.  They are hoping to save the mother’s life, but saving the life of the baby is doubtful.

We have all been saddened by the news that Marge Kagels, one of our long time team members, heard last night.  Her daughter was in a motorcycle accident and was not expected to survive.  Marge left today and  is on her way back to the states.  Please keep Marge in your prayers as this is very difficult time for her.

We will be heading to Chawila in the early morning and expect to find large crowds waiting for medical care.

Blessings,
Ellie Hamby

Audio Post



Tuesday, July 10, 2012

Monday, July 9, 2012

Audio Post



Audio Post



Bible study

Bible study

Cindy Robinson leads a morning devotional for Zambian nurses and volunteers.

Audio Post



Sunday, July 8, 2012

Email from Ellie

This Post is out of order - it is an email Eleanor sent to several people.

Today we start off for Njabalombe, our first clinic site. The A-Team (advance team) will start off at 8:00 am this morning so they can get there in plenty of time to get the 70 tents set up. The remaining team will stop at the home of Roy and Kathi Merritt for an early lunch and then travel about 3 to 4 hours to Njabalombe.

The 130 Zambian members of our team have arrived so our number is now approaching 250. All the trucks and coaster buses are here so we will have a convoy of over 15 vehicles moving down the dusty roads or paths.

The village of Njabalombe is called the village of the “strong boys”. When the Kariba Dam was built in the 1950’s it caused the flooding of a significant amount of fertile soil, displacing thousands of people. Many of the people were moved to the barren land of the Gwembe Valley. This displacement has been viewed as one of the worse displacement of humans in history. The old villagers met and decided that only the “strong boys” could survive in such a place so those were the ones chosen to go. Many of the elderly stayed on their land and lost their lives when the completion of the dam caused the valley to flood.

Please keep us in your prayers as we will strive to show the love of Jesus and give them a “Day of Dignity”.

To follow our progress you can find pictures on: www.Facebook.com/zambiamission or you can follow the blog and audio posts at www.zambiamedicalmission.com

Busy Morning

We will try to post some photos on facebook.com/zambiamission this morning.  It is hectic, and going as planned.  It is 8am and the advanced logistics team (a-team) is gathering on the big trucks (lorries) they will ride to begin setting up the tent city that we need to house us at Njabalombe.

We sent several nurses to Lusaka long before daylight today to sit for an interview with the nursing counsel.  They will ruturn lat in the day to our clinic site.

Everyone else had to have their luggage out by 7:30 so that it could be loaded, and once the a-team leaves, we will begin loading the dental, supplies, optical, children's ministry, etc.

After loading we purposely provide the main team some time to visit the Haven orphanages, in order to give the a-team a fair head-start at getting their job done before we arrive.

Our trip from Namwianga will be several hours mostly off of paved roads.

Our ability to post new info may be reduced over the next 48 hours, so don't worry if you are not hearing from us.

Thanks for your interest.

New images are posted on Facebook.com/zambiamission.

Sent from my iPhone

Preparation Day

Our team enjoyed worship this morning, and came back to the Hamby Guest House for lunch.  We had a lengthy meeting following lunch to walk through a thousand details that we all need to be aware of.

Our greatest hitch at the moment, is that due to a change at the Nursing Counsel all of our nurses must report to Lusaka (six hours away) for an interview before they can practice.  This means that a few of our nurses will get up VERY early tomorrow travel to Lusaka, be a part of an interview, and then make the eight hour trip back to our clinic site and arrive after dark.  It is difficult, but our only choice.  In the years past, nurses who had previously sat for the interview did not have to do it again every year, but a complete turn-over of personnel at the Nursing Counsel means changes in protocol.

You can see photos on facebook.com/zambiamission of our group practicing putting up King Canopies.  It is essential that we be able to do it quickly and effectively in order to ensure that we are able to move quickly when the time comes to start our clinics.

The weather last night was cold, but characteristically hot today in the sun.

We will be getting up early tomorrow to travel to our clinic site.

Keep us in your prayers.

Thanks for your interest.

Saturday, July 7, 2012

Sunday Prep Day

Good Morning to all

Our team is here, they have had a nights sleep and are preparing to go to one of three church services.  Some will go to the assembly that meets here on the Namwianga campus, but most will walk to two surrounding congregations and visit a more rural feeling church service.

Everyone arrived with their luggage, which I think may be a ZMM record.  Electricity came back on last night about an hour after dark, and has remained on until this morning.  While that is helpful in many ways, including the fact that I can send this blog posting, but it is most helpful in that it means we have water on campus.

More updates to come.

Thanks for your interest in Zambia Medical Mission.

Audio Post



Friday, July 6, 2012

Thursday, July 5, 2012

Tuesday, July 3, 2012

Thursday, June 21, 2012

KGNZ Christian Radio Interview ZMM 2012

KB, Jess and Logan visited with Gary Hill of KGNZ Radio. Kb and Jess couldn't get a word in edgewise because of Logan;-)

Thursday, June 14, 2012

KGNZ Christian Radio Interview ZMM 2012

KB, Jess and Logan visited with Gary Hill of KGNZ Radio. Kb and Jess couldn't get a word in edgewise because of Logan;-)

Wednesday, June 6, 2012

2012 Updates Begin

Zambia Medical Mission 2012 is just about one month away.  If you are interested in following the team this year, please check here on a routine basis.

If you want to ensure that you get our feeds in a timely way we would encourage you to take two steps:

1)  Go to  www.facebook.com/zambiamission and click the "Like" icon.  This should put our updates into your Facebook news feed. 

2)  Put your email address in the box to the right of this page under the title "FOLLOW BY EMAIL" and click the "Submit" icon.

We will often be in areas with no phone reception, no Internet, and no power, so it is possible that we will go several days without an update, however we attempt to post daily.

Thank you for your interest in Zambia Medical Mission, and may the Lord bless you.

KB (Milimo) Massingill