A Brush with Zambian Wildlife
The final day of the general clinic at Monkey Fountain saw a great diversity of complaints – everything from sickening burns to children (from open fires), septic shock, acute malaria though to more mundane general illness.
Earlier in the week, we saw a very noble Zambian woman names Maggie. She was clearly in severe pain, mainly from muscular pain. She was prescribed a course of pain relief, anti-inflammatories and physio-exercises. Today, she came back to the clinic with the broadest smile in Zambia. After touching her toes with a theatrical sweep (!!!), she said the following (paraphrased) “God bless you all for coming. Please tell everybody at home that Zambia needs help from people like you and that we really appreciate it. You have touched our hearts!” This was a great boost for the medical team, as a constancy and the extent of the medical problems is sapping for the team members. It also impressed upon us that we are recognised as only a part of a broader team, including all those at home that are praying for us and support us in tangible ways.
Later in the afternoon, the group travelled to Nsobe Park – a 1000Ha wilderness park, about 1 hour South of Ndola. We arrived just in time to see a magnificent sunset across an idyllic lake in the middle of the park. Seeing a lovely stretch of water was really satisfying to the team. Drs Becky and Narelle paddled into the lake and had a ball splashing around!
The wildlife was amazing! Whilst a couple of the team saw giraffes, the rest of us had to content ourselves with seeing guinea pigs and monkeys.
In the coming days, we will be moving the clinic to a location at a school on the southern side of Ndola.
