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

Chubby Bunny

Hi everyone!

Sorry I have not written in a week - we had a lot of orientation still. We needed to learn all about the different programs that World Hope conducts before we could take part in them. So this week is when we are going to be doing food distribution. I am actually going tomorrow so I will be sure to write about that later on this week. I am really excited for this!!!

I am definitely getting much more confident in Zambia. I have been to the market a couple times. It is about a half hour walk one way and we can go anytime we are free in groups of 4 or more. I really enjoy going to the market - the first time I went everybody was shouting "Mugua" and I had no idea what that meant so I just kept walking and feeling a little embarrassed but NOW I know it means white person! So I just turn around smile and wave and they seem to enjoy that =) Sometimes I think I surprise them that I understand what they are saying =) I am getting much better at the language. I can say: how are you, good morning, good afternoon, good evening, thank you, no, and I can respond to all the greeting questions. Not too bad for a week!!

Last night though was an amazing experience! There is a couple that are missionaries here for World Hope and they have a house in our compound. Last night they invited some kids over from the near by village to have a bonfire. We roasted marshmallows and played chubby bunny. Sounds good right? Well the amazing part was that they had never had marshmallows. They were laughing so hard because they were so sticky and sweet. They couldn't figure out why we were telling them to say chubby bunny but they laughed any way. Then at the end of the night the missionaries had the glow in the dark wands that you can make into necklaces. Well they definitely had not seen them before. So we played Frisbee with the glow in the dark rings. I was laughing all night long! It has definitely been my favorite night since we have been here. Below are a couple of pictures from the night - Enjoy!!!

I'll try to post more pics of Africa in general but it takes about 20 min. per picture - You will def. see all of them when I get back =)

Welcome to Choma!

Hi everyone! So I finally made it here after 3 full days of travel. It took 3 flights and a 4 hour bus ride. Thank God that everyone including myself had all of their luggage arrive safe and sound. The 15 hour flight was great for me. I slept 10 hrs and watched 2 movies so I only had about an hour of down time which was spent eating dinner and waiting in line for the bathroom. Definitely can’t complain =) The bus ride however was a little well lets just say bumpy. We were on a nice road and then our Zambian leader Maureen said, “OK we are heading into the real Zambia.” This is the moment I truly realized I was in Africa. I began to see the huts made out of straw and the children running up and down the street and putting huge smiles on their face because we are white. Everyone here is so grateful that we are here in their country. The people keep saying, “out of all the places in the world, you chose to come to Zambia.” These people hardly have anything but they serve us with such passion. I feel bad because after a meal to tell them you enjoyed it you are supposed to leave food on your plate. The people barely have enough to eat but I am wasting food to say thank you. Their faces light up every time they collect the plates though.

The guest house that we are staying in is absolutely gorgeous. I mean yes it is Africa so there are a good amount of very very big bugs =) I showered for the first time with a spider but at night my mosquito net is keeping all of them out. I actually like sleeping in a mosquito net it makes it very dark and just feels like I am protected more. Even though it is just a net it feels like my own little room. I am in the super dorm so there are ten girls in my room. We each have a set of bunk buds so we are sleeping on the top with the mosquito net draped from the ceiling and then all of our clothes are on the bottom bunk.

When we arrived the World Hope Staff had made us an authentic Zambian meal. It was amazing chicken, green beans, and their staple food nshima. The best way to describe nshima is play-dough consistency made out of corn meal that does not have a taste. We use it to roll it into balls and then that is our silverware – I finding it really fun to eat with my hands =) After dinner we unpacked, showered, and went to bed. I slept so amazing. I didn’t wake up once – I actually haven’t slept that good in a while so I have adjusted to the time difference quite well but they say it might hit me tomorrow since I have had no complaints.

Finally this morning I went to church. In my group there is a total of 18 students. We were divided into 3 groups to attend one of the three churches here in Choma that we will attend the whole time so that we can become connected and serve in the church. Mine is called Shampande and it is in a compound. The building is pretty nice but the people are amazing. People in Zambia know how to do a couple things very well. The first one is singing. The singing in church this morning was absolutely beautiful and powerful all at the same time. I swear every person in church had an amazing voice. To hear it fill the church was an incredible sound. The second thing they know how to do is pray. Finally, they definitely know how to make you feel welcome. We had to go in front of the church and introduce our names and how excited we were to be there. There is definitely no blending in here =) They welcomed us and then at the end of the service every single person got in a line to greet us and welcome us. I am struggling with the greeting a little bit because I can’t look at men and older women in the eyes and then I have to do this curtsey thing while doing a fancy handshake and speaking in Tonga (native language, English is the main language though). They found it funny but they loved that I had no problem laughing at myself with them. So I’ll get it down eventually. Church though did last from 9 AM until 2 PM so lets just say I am glad I go to a church with backs to their pews.

Well that’s my update. I hope you are doing well. The plan is to start classes on Tuesday because on Monday we have more orientation with World Hope as well as going into town. The experience here has already been phenomenal and it has only been a day. Can’t wait to keep the updates coming =)

Love
janna

Orientation and Lift Off!

K guys this is it - I mean I am down to hours now! If this doesn't make sense I am apologizing now. I had meetings all day today and I am soooo tired. Tomorrow is even longer filled with many many many more meetings and we as a group are being prayed for in both chapel services.

I wanted to give you guys my flight itinerary so you could all be praying for me! On Thurs I leave Indy at 2:40 PM. Then I leave Atlanta at 8:25 PM. Not really how the time difference works but then I will be landing in Johannesburg, South Africa the next night at 5:30 PM. We will then be staying in a hotel until the next morning when our last flight leaves at 11:05 AM and will finally land in Livingstone at 12:50 PM on Saturday! It will be a very long trip but so worth it!

I hope you all are doing well I can't tell you enough how grateful I am for each and everyone of you! I couldn't be here with out you. Just continue to lift me up in your prayers, I can use every one of them.

Love
Janna

P.S. the next time I'll be writing I'll be there =)