Everything Possible Happened this week!!!!

Hi Everyone!

So this week - all i can say is WOW! We have done so much and it has been so diverse each day. A group of us were laughing last night when we were talking about what we did each day, just seems kinda crazy some times but in such a good way!

Monday - I had a great opportunity to do some home visits on patients who were discharged from hospice. I went to the bush of Africa. It amazes me as we are driving because one of the women was yelling from the back to the driver to turn here - except there was no road to turn on. I have no idea how they keep things straight! We went to five different patients huts - 5 patients took us 9 hours that's how far away we were. Not to mention we had to hike to some of the villages because there was no road at all =) Anyway my favorite was a lady named Lizzy - she was in her upper 80's. All 8 of us crammed into her little hut, and she would not start until we were all sitting on blankets and stools. When we all got settled she sat in silence looking at us and then said, "look at all these beautiful children of god who have come to visit an old lady like me." She went on and on and I was seriously holding back tears. She was so grateful. She asked what she could give us to pay us for our trouble so we replied a song. She sang such a pretty song to repay us. Later she asked us to read her a passage from the bible. We read Matthew 5 the beatitudes and as we were leaving she said that the verse made her so much stronger already. She was so sweet and I can say I will always remember Lizzy.

On our way home we witnessed a bicycle accident. Our professor jumped out of the land cruiser and started assessing him. After a while she decided that he needed to go to the hospital. We loaded him in the car and then realized we all could not fit in there with him. Soooo we ended up staying there on the side of the road. That does not sound like a big deal but 5 white women sitting on the side of the road causes quite the scene. We got the funniest looks, stares, and laughs. It was so funny! They eventually came back for us and we headed home. We had no idea we were going to be gone for 9 hrs we thought it was 4 so we had 2 granola bars to ration out the whole day for 5 of us. It was pretty funny! Below is a picture of the 4 of us who got to go! This was at the beginning of the day when we were fed and awake =)

Tuesday - I went to Dr. Jains down town but only for a couple hours because I had so much homework to do.

Wednesday - Was filled all day with class. I actually had a really bad headache on Wednesday. Luckily I was only really dehydrated and just had to drink 8 water bottles to get rid of it. I was so happy it was not malaria. Side note - A total of 5 girls have had it now - Keep those prayers coming =)

Thursday - we traveled to Chikuli to visit an herbalist. It was an interesting experience. However within like 5 min of talking with him I very quickly realized he was a witch doctor and not an herbalist. When he started talking about his ancestors visiting him in his dreams to show him the "special plants" i was like ok........ So yeah most of that visit was spent in prayer to say the least. On Thursday we also went to a hospital in that area as well as a nursing school. i love going to the nursing schools here - Its neat to see what their schooling is like compared to mine.

Friday - Was the start of independence weekend!!!! Friday night we went to a beauty pageant put on by the rotary club. The lady who is in charge of our guest house is the president of rotary so we had front row seats. It was so funny! A lot of surprises, a lot of shocks, but I haven't laughed that hard since I have been here. A funny thing that happened though was we were told it started at 7 and it was a pretty large event. When we got there at 715 there were no cars there. We walked in and no one was there. At 830 the M.C. for the night gets up and tells everyone thank you for being on time. We were like ok.... Some things are still hard to adjust to around here and time is definitely the biggest one! The event also was soooo long =) We left at midnight and it still had another 2 or 3 hours. When they host an event they really host it!

Saturday - INDEPENDENCE DAY - I am so glad I was here to celebrate independence day. It was such a neat cultural experience. We went downtown and saw a ton of African dancing, singing, dramas, and speeches. When we came back to the house we had a HUGE feast waiting for us. Independence day around here is like 3 or our holidays in one. They count down and have a dancing celebration at midnight like new years, they have actual independence day, and finally its like a thanksgiving feast. It was pretty neat!!

This is a picture of all of our Zambian outfits for independence day! you can't really see mine but don't worry i prob wear it at home - its pretty comfy!!!

Later that night it was my turn with Keri and Lauren to do activity night. Every Saturday night some of us lead an activity so we can all relax, bond, and laugh! We did an award night and it was so funny! It turned out much better than i thought!

So yes as you can see SO BUSY today has been homework since the minute I got home from church. I have a lot due these next two weeks. Tomorrow I am off to Zimba for my last clinical rotation there. If you again could remember me in your prayers that would be great

Here are two pictures of the Zambian dancing at the independence day celebration! They are all school kids since each school did a dance for the event!

I hope you all have a great week! Keep the updates coming - love to hear from all of you

love

janna

Japan In Zambia?!?!?!?

Hi Everyone!

I hope you all have had a great week! Thank you so much for all your prayers lately I have definitely been feeling them. This week we had two more girls get diagnosed with malaria but now knowing the symptoms a little bit better they caught it early and were just able to get some take home prescriptions. So that's an update on our "team health"

After getting back from Zimba we had a lot of class time to do - So Wednesday and Thursday was filled with lecture BUT Friday was absolutely amazing! We have a couple of miles down the road from us a school for the deaf, blind, and mentally challenged. It is the only school for these kinds of children in all of Zambia. We went on Friday for a tour and to set up some times for doing clinicals there during our last 5 weeks.

I was so impressed with it! The school has about 210 students. These kids are absolutely amazing! The head master was showing us medals that they won at the special Olympics and the awards their choirs have received. He showed us where they live and how there are staff that do checks on them 24 hours a day. I was so encouraged when I was there! To see that these children have such amazing opportunities was a huge blessing. Since it went so well on Friday we were invited back on Saturday!

Saturday they were having a huge program. One of the teachers who works with the deaf children is actually Japanese. She coordinated a group of Japanese from the Country's capital to come down and provide a culture day for the children. There was dancing, drum playing, fashion shows, they could get their name written in calligraphy, singing, and so much more. It was also neat because the teacher had certain groups of the children to sing and dance.

One of the highlights for me was to hear the blind sing a song while the deaf children danced to it. They coordinated it by having a child play the drum that way the blind could hear it but the deaf could watch when he was striking it. To see this up close was beyond amazing.

The best way to describe this is with pictures so I am going to post a couple for you =)

This was in in one of the blind classes - They were learning brail, it was really cool to watch!

These were the girls in one of the deaf class rooms - I just loved watching the teacher sign and having them sign back - They were all so precious!

This girl just kind of came up and started hugging me! She just wanted one I guess but she just stayed like that for like 3 minutes =) I was so glad one of my friends snapped these pictures! She was in the mentally challenged class but I definitely found her on Saturday as well!

This is an awful picture of me but the joy on her face is so priceless I thought I would share it with all of you! As you can see it was such an amazing and rewarding experience! I loved Saturday as well but you are going to have wait for those pictures - Its amazing I got this many =)

I will definitely be posting on later this week - There are a lot of exciting things going on this week. Today was yet another amazing day!!! Tommorow is going to be good as well as Wednesday =) So be ready for another post!

Thank you all for continuing to keep me in your prayers =) I am so thankful! I hope you all have a great couple days until I talk to you again!

love

janna

Half way

Hey guys

Well I am officially half way through my trip - honestly i don't know how i feel about. We were just talking about the other night how when we go on trips it feels so good to come home! The staff who works here has now become friends. I can't even explain it but its amazing!



Anyway UPDATE =)

Thank you so much to all of you who prayed for Alyssa who got malaria. She was admitted to the hospital for 3 nights but now she is doing pretty well. She is still really tired but she is keeping food down and is looking much better.



Monday and Tuesday it was my turn at Zimba mission hospital. Monday I was placed in the male/female ward which is equivalent to like a medical surgical unit. I really enjoyed it a lot! One reason why I enjoyed it was i got to start my first IV and i got it =) Yay for me - this is a pretty big deal in nursing school =)

I did have a rough case that morning. One of the patients had menningitis and ended up passing away that morning. Its hard to do much when the nearest venitlator is 5 hours away. Even though it was hard I was ok. I had so much fun with the ladies in the female ward. Every time I gave them anything they would say, "Thank You Janna Peterson!" Definitely warmed my heart the next day when I heard they were asking for me.

Tuesday I was able to see 2 minor surgeries. It was not anything major. I was able to watch the removal of some absesses. It was interesting though to see how they do surgery in other countries. Since I have seen surgery in the states it was good to compare and contrast the different environments.

Also on Tuesday I was in outpatient. I have talked about outpatient before where it is kind of like an emergency room situation. I loved it on Tuesday - I get to see so many interesting cases! There was one that was really hard but with God's help I was able to get through it. Overall I was much encouraged after this trip. So again thank you so much for your prayer.

Today and tomorrow are filled with class time, but on Friday we are suppossed to go to a special needs school. It is the only school in the whole country geared towards these individuals. It is suppossed to be really good so I am praying that the schedule will go through.

Here is a picture of me and my clinical partner Keri. God placed the two of together from the begining. It has been so great to be able to witness and process everything with her. It has been so helpful with everything. We are both very grateful for eachother. This picture was right before we saw the couple of surgeries.

Well have a great week everyone

love janna

Chikankata

Hi!!!



I hope you are all doing well - I hear its starting to get a bit chilly. Well don't worry about me it is still over 100 here =) This week has been busy again! Monday I was able to go to a Doctors office in town here and be able to help out and shadow him. He is a brilliant Indian man who has been here for 33 years. He had everything in India and was wealthy but gave it all up to come to here and serve the Zambian people. He said I never had to work in India and had everything, I come here and work everyday and have nothing. I really learned a lot from him about nursing and about life in general.



On Tuesday I was able to go to a hospice here in Choma. I did not think I would like it because I was thinking of what a hospice would be like in the states. However, here it is not where people go because they are dying. It is mainly for people who are suffering from HIV/AIDS but they come so they can get back on their feet and learn to manage their disease. I really really enjoyed it. The people there just need someone to talk to. I was able to sit with two ladies for over an hour and was just able to sit and encourage them. People here have amazing stories and they open up so easy. It shocked me when I first got here but it is kinda nice how people trust you completely in ten minutes. Anyway we ended the conversation by talking about pizza. They wanted me to teach them how to make it. Even though I have never made a pizza from scratch I worked my way through it =)



Wednesday was a powerful time. As a group we did devotions for the staff here at World Hope. We talked about Romans 12, had a worship time, and did a skit. I was able to be a part of the skit. I did not think it would have the impact that it did. At the end though the lady that manages our guest house said she had leave quickly because she was so touched she was crying. To get a response like that was really moving. They were so grateful!



Thursday and Friday we were able to go to the Salvation army hospital in Chikankata. It was about a 4 hour drive away for us. I was so impressed with the facility and the staff. I spent one morning talk with the midwifery students. I was laughing all morning. Thursday I was in Maternal Child Health and was able to help out with some prenatal exams - I am getting pretty good at locating everything =) That afternoon I was able to help out with family planning, this was also very interesting for me to be apart of.



Friday was amazing! I was placed in outpatient which is kind of like an ER. I was helping out the nurse at first. All the patients come and line up and then the nurse takes all their vitals and writes in their charts what is wrong and determines where they need to go next to get the proper treatment. At first the nurse was translating and I was recording. Then all of the sudden we got SUPER busy so the nurse wrote out 2 pages of Tonga phrases since most of the patients there were from the villages and did not speak English. For the next 2 hours I spent completely butchering Tonga but I DID IT! i was able to converse with them and figure out what was wrong - It was a very stressful situation but so amazing. I loved it!



Today was filled with homework. I am going to the Mission Hospital again Monday and Tuesday so I have a lot to catch up on before I go. It definitely helps though living in a house with 15 other nursing majors who are all in the same boat. There are not as many temptations not to do homework like there are on campus at IWU.



Well I will let you know how it goes next week at the hospital. If you could pray for emotional protection that would be great. I learned a lot 2 weeks ago but it was still really hard to get through. I am hoping for a more of an uplifting time. However, God will have me where I need to be.



Thank you all so much!!!!!!

love janna

P.S. I changed my profile picture. This is Ivy she is a girl from a village behind our compound. She is very quiet but so full of love. I was sitting on the ground playing with some other children and she came running through the field and just fell on my lap. She always seems to find me - but i am definitely not complaining =) She has found a place in my heart!

What a week!

Hello from Zambia!

Muli buti everyone? That means how are you - Anyway this might get a little long so grab a cup of coffee. The Internet was down most of the week here and when it was working I was actually on a couple of trips so i have a lot of updates for you =)

Last semester at IWU i took a short term missions class and the professors that i took it with are actually here in Zambia about an hour away. So last Sunday they invited us all to their home and for a Youth Rally. This was a great day. First of all she was such a mom to us - she made us AMERICAN lasagna from scratch and chocolate cake and then had 16 beds made up for us so we could all enjoy a Sunday nap. It was truly a taste of home for me =) After spending time with them though we went to a youth rally which was so cool. In a one room church there were 500 youth and all 20 of us plus the pastors/leaders of the church. Needless to say it got a little warm but it was worth it. As in any African church they always want the visitors to go up on stage and introduce themselves and then sing. They love it when you sing - especially since that is so prevalent here. Well everyone was going down the line introducing themselves and they just kind of all were staring and then i said "Hello my name is Janna Peterson" and all 500 started screaming and clapping =) I was a little taken back but it was really nice - I was laughing pretty hard. I guess there is a famous musician in the country that is named Peterson so that gives me a pretty nice advantage =)

The Pastor who spoke at the youth rally talked about hidden sin and how it has a way of coming out. He had an altar call and there was a pretty good response - It was definitely a blessing to be apart of. After we shook every person's hand they wanted to give us a tour. This was at a boarding school so all the youth actually lived on a campus. So i was able to see all the dorms, school rooms, and the clinic. We are going back again soon so I am very excited.

This Monday and Tuesday i was able to go to Zimba Mission Hospital. Every other week i will be going there for some clinical time. This was a very hard experience for me actually. I learned a ton but I definitely need God's straight to get through it. On Monday I worked in ART which is anti retro viral therapy which is basically all AIDS patients. They came in and I gave them their monthly physical to see how the disease was progressing. It was very emotional to screen all these people who were dying. One of the patients that came in was very critical and actually ended up passing away that afternoon.

The next day my instructor decided I needed some uplifting patients so I was placed in peds and OB. Well then one of the girls died that morning so i was trying my best to comfort the mother as she was grieving. Then in the afternoon we had a lady who was pregnant get rushed in by ambulance who was in labor. We put her up on the table and started an assessment. Within 5 minutes we realized that there were no fetal heart tones. For the next hour I was helping the mother give birth to a child that would never take a breath. This was another extremely emotional experience. One of the parts I completely disagreed with was because the mother did not speak any English she did not know that her baby was already dead. They did not tell her till everything was over.

To get the full affect of this you have to understand that Zambian women do not show emotion. To see the mother who lost her daughter that morning sobbing was a huge deal and then to hear the mother who lost her baby sobbing was very rough. Even though this trip I did not advance too much on my nursing skills I definitely advanced on my comforting - to sit with the mourning and just pray with them. It took me about 2 days to recover emotionally from all this but I have processed, prayed, and had long conversations with God.

Today we went to another hospital clinic that was about 1 hr and a half away. I was again assigned to the prenatal area of maternity. The patient I was assigned to was a 16 year old girl named Florence who was having her 2nd baby. I was able to do a complete head to toe assessment on her and to check the fundus height, feel the head, and listen to the fetal heart tones was an encouraging thing after Tuesday. I also had to give her a tetanus injection since it was that time.

God works in mysterious ways in Africa but I am learning as I go. He is so faithful and ever present. I have been flooding my soul with worship music and giving my patients to Him as I go because the burden is too much for me and I am not meant to carry it. This is an amazing and straining experience but I am definitely falling in love with this country more and more each day. My theme song for this week is entitled I Need You - the lyrics are below and hope they speak to you the way they spoke through me!

I am frail, broken easily

Without fail, my strength keeps failing me

All alone, I'm powerless

To lift myself from the pit that I am in

I need You, Jesus
I need You,

Jesus From Your throne in heaven's light

Descended down into my broken life

To right the wrong, to make a way

To bear the load that I deserved to bear alone

I need You, Jesus

I need You, Jesus

I need clean hands I can't,

You can I need You, Jesus

On the cross on our behalf

The Son of God bore the Father's

wrath

And by His blood, the scars and pain

The perfect Son, took the fall and took our place

In His grace and unfailing love

The risen King gave His hand to us

To lift us up, from the pit

And set our feet upon a rock that ever stands

On my own I've tried and tried

To save myself, to fill my life

But the more I do the more I find

That I need You, I need You, I need You

FINALLY =) a couple of pictures for you

This is a picture of the Peds ward at Zimba Mission Hospital

This is a picture of one my patients for the day. She was full of joy - She didn't understand any English but we were laughing despite everything that was going on around us. She had a fractured leg that is in traction under the blanket.

Last but not least this is what I get to see every night to remind me that God is so present in even some of the toughest parts of Africa!

LOVE YOU ALL

- janna