“Compliments of
the Season!” “Happy Christmas!” “Happy 2014!” These were the three most frequent comments heard during the
holiday season here in Zambia.
Even though I live in Zambia – officially an English speaking country – by
the twists on the English language, idioms, and slang I grew up with, I can say
that, “Toto, I’ve a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore.”
The holiday season was definitely packed with
excitement. We seem to have had a
nonstop stream of family and friends in Lusaka over the last few months!
1. Dr. Omar Hanuch, Dr. Andrea Sandoz, and their three
children (Manuel, Felipe, and Cecilia), from Rochester, NY, visited us in
Zambia for three weeks (December 15, 2013 – January 3, 2014).
Omar is an experienced ophthalmologist,
and it was great having him around to bounce ideas off.
Andrea is a Child and Adolescent
Psychiatrist, and she was able to give some lectures to the Psychiatry residents at
University Teaching Hospital.
Manuel and Felipe, both teenage boys, helped out doing visual acuities
and organizing things (like the big box of eyeglass frames that were donated by
one of Cornerstone Eye Associates’ frame vendors). They even spent a few days with PJ Minor helping build a
“One-Day School” and a “One-Day Church.”
Little 8-year-old Cecilia, a gymnast, artist, and pianist, helped
babysit Jaycee, keeping her entertained and giggling. Colored rubber bands are the "thing" these days, and Ceci was able to make some beautiful bracelets and works of art. Jaycee just liked to play with them and wear them.
By the end of the Hanuch family stay, Jaycee had learned how
to dribble a soccerball (thanks, Felipe) and do a headstand (with Ceclia’s
support). After so much play time, she certainly was a happy camper.
Many thanks to the Hanuch family, Cornerstone Eye
Associates, Genesse Park Blvd SDA Church, and Manuel’s high school (Harley
School) who were able to raise money for the purchase of much-needed surgical
microinstruments for Lusaka Eye Hospital!
2. Christmas
Day was celebrated in a special way with the Hanuch family and the Minor family
by going out to the local community to sing Christmas carols and give out
gifts.
Our keyboard in tow in the
bed of the truck, which we eventually plugged into our generator, played to the
tune of violin accompaniment by PJ and Manuel, we were able to recruit a small
audience. However, when the gifts
started to come out, it turned into a small mob, as everyone wanted a bar of
soap or pair of jeans.
The whole
ordeal frightened little Cecilia to tears, but everyone eventually calmed down
and seemed to appreciate the effort we had made to share Christ and some of the
gifts we had prepared. The
Christmas lunch, prepared lovingly by Carla Minor and Mom, was especially tasty
after that adventure under the hot sun.
3. Paul and Dr.
Matt Hayden from International Caring Hands were able to reconnect and serve
the people of Zambia using the mobile dental clinic once again. They were able to provide free dental care
to the people of Kafue.
4. My cousin-in-law, Dr. Tae-Woong Im, and his daughter, Taylin
Im, also had the opportunity to visit us in Zambia for a little over two weeks
(December 26, 2013 – January 10, 2014)! Although they arrived the day after Christmas, their arrival truly felt
like Santa bringing huge bags of presents to eager children on Christmas Day. The large bags were filled with exotic
tasting snacks (like Happy Cola candy or Wasabi flavored rice crackers),
presents for Jaycee (thanks, Helen, Jaycee LOVES the pink roller bag/backpack
and clothes you got her), presents for us (Bluetooth speaker), and goodies sent
from my parents.
My niece, Taylin, an accomplished pianist and bright college
student from Brown University, had a chance to shadow me in clinic and in the
operating theatre. Try as I might
to convince her that ophthalmology is the best.field.ever, I’m not so sure I
succeeded. =) I remember that tender age of 20 as if
it were just yesterday – having dreams and goals, but not sure any of them were
going to come to fruition.
Regardless of what field she ends up pursuing, I’m sure Taylin will be
amazing at whatever she does.
During the time they were here, Tae acted as my personal
business and management consultant.
He has built up two hospitals back in California, has had to deal with
all the administrative challenges that I am learning to face, and has had to
strategize on ways to improve efficiency or terminate doctors sensitively or
motivate slacking employees. He took
time to observe how things ran at my hospital, then offered feedback and
suggestions on how to make it work better. All at no charge!
=) Thanks, Tae, for the
long chats over the dinner table.
You have no idea how much verbalizing some of the problems and solutions
has helped me become a better leader.
5. No year is complete without finishing it off with a trip
to Victoria Falls! Paul, Paul’s
Mom, Tae, Taylin, Jaycee, and I spent some time down in Livingstone from December
30, 2013 – January 2, 2014. The
highlight of the trip definitely included our time whitewater rafting down the
Zambezi River.
Jaycee was a little
underage for the whitewater rafting, so she stayed back at the hotel with Mom.
She especially enjoyed the swimming
pool.
But, we thoroughly enjoyed an
experience that has been dubbed by both National Geographic and Frommers as one
of the top 10 whitewater rafting experiences in the world!
6. Immediately following our trip to Livingstone, we headed
out for a weekend getaway and Part 2 of our New Year Adventure, to a place we
had heard about but had never ventured before. The Lower Zambezi.
This is a National Park that is known for its wildlife and beauty. Unfortunately, since it is the rainy
season, we could not drive to the National Park. Thus, we were forced to charter a private plane, which
was to land on a short straight airstrip 5 minutes from the lodge.
The flight was supposed to last only
about 25 minutes, but as we arrived at the airstrip we ended up turning around
and going all the way back to Lusaka, as the pilot found the clouds too low for
us to land.
5 hours later, after a
significant clearing of the dense rain clouds, we finally tried again, this
time landing safely near the Royal Zambezi Lodge.
The game drives were different from others we had been on –
much more green and lush, much more rain and mud to slosh through.
One of the game drives turned into the
off-roading adventure of our lives, as the Range Rover worked its 4x4 to the
max, sloshing mud everywhere, driving through rivers, getting stuck a few
times, and finally breaking down (fortunately another safari vehicle was able
to pick us up).
It is always a
thrill to see the majestic and beautiful cats – leopard and lion – on any
safari trip.
The river safaris were great, with tons of crocs and hippos to view.
And the canoe trip
down one of the channels off the Zambezi River was serene and peaceful.
7. After that escapade and arriving home tired on Sunday
night, it was back to work on Monday! The trend is for January to be extremely
slow, but by God’s grace our clinics and theatre days have been filled and
busy. We are especially grateful
for the fact that we have a donation of 8-10 corneal tissues coming in this
week, brought by Midwest Eye Banks, and facilitated by the group of American
ophthalmologists that volunteer their services at the Zimba Eye Clinic. We are also very grateful to Loma Linda
University’s Global Outreach office (especially to you, Jerry Daly), for
sending us a huge air shipment filled with amazing things like a donated
operating chair, nasopharyngeal airways and trach tubes, ophthalmic suture,
gloves, ophthalmoscope/otoscope wall units, pulse oximeters, eye drops,
etc. This is such a generous
gesture on the part of Loma Linda University’s Global Health Initiative, and it
is certainly greatly appreciated.
8. Back at home, we continue
to attend the Lusaka Eye Hospital SDA Church. In the last few weeks, we have seen some progress when it
comes to installing benches at our church, and we hope that the benches will
finally be installed by June 2014.
It’s great to have a bit of back support during our long church services.
Jaycee is now able to participate in the children’s Sabbath
School. She enjoys listening and
clapping to the children’s songs, and she doesn’t seem to mind when others play
with her hair.
9. By the way,
we have recently gotten wind of a new little video clip that was made by the General Conference Office of Adventist Mission, featuring the work at Lusaka Adventist Dental Services and Lusaka Eye Hospital. Enjoy!
The End.
