Thursday, continued

After lunch, we gathered together, dividing up the thank you notes and small gifts we had for hospital and nursing school staff and walked together once more to the hospital. We didn’t get to see all the individuals we had spent time with over the past two weeks, but many of them. Gratitude and affection flowed both ways.

Some were worn out at this point and just needed a little extra rest, and some of us wanted exercise so we finally got to take our dam walk. There were clouds to shelter us from the hot, hot sun, and enough of a breeze that the hike was very pleasant. We saw a few wonders on our way—birds of beautiful colors, caterpillars descending on threads from their nest in a tree, some new plants we had not taken note of before.

We shared our last supper in the dining room and afterwards met at Gobela House to hear Dr. Phil Thuma (Wanda’s brother) give a talk on malaria. We learned the history of the disease, the efforts in treatment and reduction of transmission over the past 20 years in Zambia. It was encouraging to hear how much progress has been made in the area around Macha—a 97% reduction in cases in the past 10 years! MIAM will be initiating two projects in other areas that struggle a lot with malaria to try to prove Dr. Thuma’s hypothesis that the work done at Macha which has saved so many lives can be reproduced elsewhere.

Packing up. The bus comes at 9:00 in the morning.

Friday

The Dutch medical students joined us again for breakfast this morning. We will be remembering them as they continue their stay and strive to both serve and learn.

The pile of suitcases in the hall was a strange sight—it’s a little hard to believe we’re pulling out today.

Chris and Marlys came to see us off. They’ve been very good to us, and we hope that they have enjoyed our company too!

Once we arrive in Livingstone (pronounced Living Stone) I will be texting my friend Steven. He is an art teacher at a Catholic girls school there and he has made arrangements for me to speak to a gathering of all his art studnets—40-50 of them. I’ve don’t a few little drawings and paintings that I will leave behind for Steven which will hopefully encourage him and his students.