So, its has been a long time since I have updated this and I apologize! We have been have some internet problems and I was not able to get on the net for almost a week! TIA! (This is Africa). That has become our slogan for a lot of things. "Our night guard, Webster, just killed a black mamba...TIA." "Webster just killed a cobra outside our house...TIA."

So I'm going to try to give a brief description of what my life has been this past week.
On Monday (September 6th), we started classes...at 6:30 am! Haha. It is already light when we leave for our 2 minute walk from our house to the Hamby House for class. We sit outside on the covered porch and start off the day with Chitonga class. At 7 am, we have our humanities course and the professor changes everyday. At 8 am, we eat breakfast which is prepared by our fabulous cook, Ba Leonard! All of the food he prepares is so wonderful! At 9, we have chapel. On Mondays, we have family chapel where we meet behind the sheds (one of the houses where 3 of our boys stay) and have a brief lesson and worship together. At 10, we have another class which is my nursing class! 11 o'clock is yet another class and is missionary anthropology! It is a really interesting class and we are studying world view right now and what defines a persons world view. I have a break from noon to 1 so I usually try to read a little for my classes (or I come back and plead with my internet to work...it usually doesn’t listen to me.). At 1, we have lunch and then I am free for the rest of the day until dinner and family meeting at 7! In our family meetings, we just talk about our struggles and what we have felt blessed by that week. We also give hugs since we are behind closed doors where Zambians cannot see us. Male-female interaction is frowned upon here. Even hugs mean something very different to them. When shaking a mans hand, I have to be very careful and make sure that my hand shake is limp and I don’t maintain eye contact with the opposite gender.
I went to the Havens for a couple of hours on Monday and played with the kids. We have "adopted" children while we are here and we are responsible for noticing any changes in them health wise and for making sure they are loved on! I have adopted a little boy in haven one named Tanner who is actually named after Tanner Nichols in our group! Tanner is a twin and his twin is named Quintyn after Quintyn Bolay in our group! They were 8 days old when they came to the havens and their mom had died after giving birth to them. That is another thing that I'm learning how to deal with. Giving birth is not as safe as it is in America. There are so many babies that come to the havens because their mom died during childbirth and the dad cannot afford the milk to feed them so the babies are given to the havens. The Havens try to place the children into their original village after 2 years or so but sometimes it doesn’t happen. The other two little boys that I have are Bright in haven 2 and Sam in haven 3. Sam is my man! He is such a little shupa (trouble maker) but he just melts my heart every time I hold him! When he sees me walk in the door, he will run to me and just look at me. And boy, if any other child tries to sit on my lap while he is, he just pushes that child off! I have tried to explain to him that other children can sit with us too but he just doesn’t like that idea one bit! I just repeatedly tell him that there is enough love to go around. Sam is HIV+ and was orphaned when he was a couple of months old. His mom dies of AIDS and his dad has it. I was talking with Dr. Black today on the way to church and we were saying how HIV/AIDS is such a hush-hush topic in the USA but here there are so many man made signs that are helping raise awareness about the disease. It is hard to get used to the fact that HIV/AIDS is so common here and is spoken about frequently. Actually, we went to the graduation for George Benson Christian College on Friday and they mentioned AIDS about 4 times during the ceremony! That is definitely something that would not happen back home! The graduation was so much fun. Some of us got to sing in the choir with the Zambians! A man from the University of Zambia came and spoke and he mentioned how great he thought is was that mukuas (whites) were singing with Zambians.
On Wednesday, we had class and then we walked to a soccer game! Our guys played on the Namwianga team and actually wore jerseys. Namwianga was playing another team from a couple of kilometers away. It was so exciting to watch our boys out there with the other boys playing some "football". Our group is really becoming a family! My roommate, Emily, and I just lay in our beds at night and talk about how God really could not have placed a better group together. We all fit together, work well together and love each other. I know that I will have a special bond with each and every person on my group forever! I was actually speaking with Emily today about how cool it would be if people from our group actually became missionaries and they started that journey here! I, personally, would love that. I don’t know how my parents would feel about that though. Actually, I know my mom would not be thrilled for me to live anywhere besides Nashville for more than 3 months! Hah. I will just keep listening for Gods voice and His direction on that. I know that I am supposed to do some type of mission work but God has just not made it clear to me yet the time and place! Wednesday night, we had Bible Study as a HIZ family along with some of the Eric's House boys. After that devo, some of us went to the clinic for that devo at 8:15. I helped with the children and immediately made friends with the children. The women there wanted us to give a lesson (we did a lesson on creation) and sing sings with the children. We quickly learned that we need to sit down and have several things prepared by this Wednesday!
On Thursday, I went on mobile outreach. We took a ride in the back of the pick up truck to a village about 30 minutes away. When we got there, a line had already formed and we weighed the babies and administered shots to them. By the end of the day, I got to give 5 shots! So my running total so far is 6!
Friday was graduation and the campus was the busiest that I have ever seen it! The graduates danced in and danced out of the ceremony! I think we are going to suggest that Dr Burks for Harding's graduations! hah. Some prizes were given out and the best student got a new mattress! We were all very surprised that it was a gift! It is a wiser gift since it is actually something that they will use instead of a plaque that hangs on the wall. We learned first hand on this day how to use "Africa Time". We were told to be at graduation no later than 1 pm and it would start at 1:30. It actually did not start until 2:44 and went until 5! I felt so honored to be invited to the ceremony! Everybody was so full of joy!
Saturday morning we woke up and walked into town. It is about an hour and a half to walk there. Once we got there, we went to this little place called El Panteno and got a coke for K3500 which is less than $1. We then walked to the market which was less busy since it was Saturday. At the market, we bought citenges and some other little things. I spent 41,000 on citenges so under $10 and I got 5 of them! I'm getting several things made out of them by a lady here on the mission! We then went back to El Panteno for lunch. We all had a grilled chicken wrap and fries and got an ice cream cone for the walk back! All in all, we estimated that we walked a little over 11 miles! I didn’t feel guilty at all for not working out that night! And later that night, we had everyone over to our house for a movie night and watched "She's The Man." The guys left early because they didn’t find it amusing but us girls loved it, of course!
Sunday, we went to a little village church about 3 miles away in Mutala. Every church we go to, they want our guys to deliver the message, present the Lords Supper and pray. And we always are invited to get up front and sing a couple of songs and they are just so taken back when we sing in Tonga! Most of the time, they laugh but its not because we say it wrong but because they are so pleased that we would take the time to learn a song in their language.
We are slowly learning the different sounds that happen at night. For example, we have a tin roof that makes noises all night and the wind can be quiet strong during the day. Well, Sunday night Emily and I were getting ready for bed and heard something. I thought it was her stomach rumbling. Turns out it wasn’t. It was coming from outside and it banged on our window. Well, we run into Elisabeth and Taylors room across the hall and are freaking out and hiding in their closet. If you know me, you know that I don’t like the dark and I don’t like being scarred at all. I freak out when I hear a squeak in my own house so of course I'm going to freak out when I'm in a new surrounding. Well, we look out our front window for Webster and do not see him. That does not ease our fears at all. Webster carries a big gun on his back and we were hoping he was out there so he could easily shoot whatever was banging on our window. We end up texting our guys from our African cell phone (none of our phones work here) but no one answers our text messages. Our last resort was to crack open the front door and yell out for Webster. I open the door and scream for him a couple of times. Less than 30 seconds later, he comes running up. He has this horrified look on his face and asks us if we are okay. We tell him the whole story and he goes around to check it out. It was Makua, the cat. Needless to say, I'm not very fond of that cat anymore! We now feel so horrible for making Webster so alarmed but we were so afraid! But everything is okay! It was just us being silly girls and over-reacting to a sound that ended up being the cat.

We found out on Saturday that a little boy named Request passed away. He had just come to the havens at the begging of the month because his mom passed away and his dad couldn’t take care of him. He was 8 months old when we got him which is usually old in comparison to the others that come. He acted very lethargic from the beginning but we blamed it on all the stress that this boy had just gone through. He ended up getting really dehydrated and they had to start an IV on him. I'm not quite sure what was the cause of his death but ill try to post it as soon as I know. The death of a child never gets easy here. It is almost like they don’t have a chance simply because of where they live. Its hard to come to grips that if they had simply lived in the states, they would have had a significantly better chance of survival but here in rural Zambia, they simply don’t have the technology and medicine.
We just got word on Monday (13th) that two more babies passed away early in the morning. The little baby Ellie who was born at the end of August got so dehydrated and could not get any nutrients from the bottles we were giving her. We tried giving her ORS (Oral Rehydration Solution) but it did not help. She gave up her fight at 4 am on Monday. The other little baby that died is Luseko. He was 3 weeks old and was so under weight. He had gone to the clinic at the end of last week and got an IV. He was so small that they had to put the IV in through a vein in his head because the veins in his arms were so small. These deaths kind of hit us all in different ways. Some are confused as what to feel since they weren't extremely close but are still so sad. Some are mad because if these babies were in the states, they would've had a better chance. Some are heartbroken and aren't quite sure how to handle the situation. We had our family meeting on Monday night so we were able to express what we were feeling and realize that we are not alone in our confusion, heartache and anger. Ba Bingham has said that she hopes that we get angry and that we stay angry when it comes to the injustice of location in relation to healthcare. She told us that our anger will motivate us to make changes. The deaths don’t get any easier. We have already experienced 5 in less than 3 weeks. I just ask that you all pray for our hearts to be healed, for us to not blame God and to not let the chance of death hinder us from loving the babies the way that Jesus did.
On Monday, a little boy named Charles who I had gotten close with went back to his home village. It is so bittersweet. The fact that he went back to his home is so good and he gets to live with his daddy again but its hard to say goodbye when you know that at least at Eric's House they get 3 full meals a day and you aren't sure what his living conditions will be like back in the village.

"And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us."-Romans 5:5
"If God is for us, who can be against us?" - Romans 8:31
"Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins."- 1 peter 4:8
"Pray also for me, that whenever I open my mouth, words may be given me so that I fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel."- Ephesians 6:19
"The harvest is plenty but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field." -Matthew 9:37
"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old is gone and the new has come!"- 2 Corinthians 5:17
"Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love."- Ephesians 5:1
"I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of bring content in any and every situation." -Philippians 4:12
"Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace." -Colossians 3:15
"Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity."- 1 Timothy 4:12
"Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress." -James 1:27
"There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear."- 1 John 4:18
"My whole life is Yours, I give it all and surrender to Your ways. Forever I will pray, 'Have Your way. Have Your way.'"-Hillsong

"Therefore go and make disciples of every nation baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach them to observe all that I have commanded and I will be with you until the end of the age."- Matthew 28:19-20

9-8-2010: Havens and Black Mamba!!!

This is from last week, but I was just recently able to send it due to our internet/power being out:

So, Im writing this email by candle light. Our electricity just went out and we are thinking that it is the transmitter thingy since it flickered on and off for 5 minutes before it actually stopped.
Lets see, yesterday
I tried to get online all day yesterday so I could call kinsley but my internet is still not working...hopefully we can get someone to look at it tomorrow and fix it. All of the macs can sign on but the pcs cant (the reason why you got brief emails yesterday). I went up to the havens after class yesterday for a couple of hours. I am just loving those kids! They are so sweet and it always seems to be that the babies in haven 3 are the happiest despite that all of them either have HIV or TB. On tuesday and thursday, I have class from 6:30-9:30! its nice because the rest of the day is free for me to do whatever.
Today (Wednesday), I had class from 6:30-12 and then after lunch at like 3, we walked to a soccer game about 1.5-2 miles away! Our guys even played on the team from namwianga! It was a lot of fun! After dinner, we had devo and then about 12 of us went to the clinic for devo at 8:15. Some of us girls helped with the childrens class. It was a lot of fun to get to sit and sing with the kids.
Okay, we saw our first black mamba today. Well, I didn’t but our night guard killed it! And don’t worry Momma- it is only about 1-1 1/2 foot long so not big at all!
All of the students at the college started classes yesterday so the mission has been more busy which has been awesome! Its so much better than us just sitting around and it pretty much being us running around. We are getting to interact more with the students and pretty soon we will get our tutors!
Emily and I volunteered to get together the list of all the haven babies and assign the babies to the students. I ended up with Sam in Haven 3, Bright in Haven 2 and I just got Tanner in Haven 1 today!
Tanner is named after Tanner in our group! Yesterday, 2 baby twin boys came to the haven. Their mom died after giving birth. She had a c section and it obviously did not go well. The baby boys are 9 days old and so precious. Quintyn was there when they came in so he got to name them so he named the smaller one Quintyn and the bigger one, Tanner!
Well, tomorrow I get to go on outreach and give immunizations

Sadness and Chicken

Today we had another funeral. It was for a baby girl named Shelby. She actually died a MONTH ago but since she was orphaned, the haven had to get in touch with the relatives in her original village to get permission to bury her. Behind the havens sits a little grave yard for the haven babies. Im pretty sure its fairly new but there are already 5 little graves and in the next couple of days, another will be added. A baby boy named Delitso passed away this morning. They are not quite sure, last I had heard, what was the primary problem but at one point they were thinking that it was an infection in his blood. Its just so sad that to think that just because of where a person lives in the world could actually determine whether or not they live. I know that little baby Delitso is in Gods hands but its still hard to comprehend sometimes why a little innocent baby goes home so early.
I went to haven 3 today and to see Sam my man for a little bit. He was asleep so I watched him sleep a little and read up on his charts. His mother died from AIDS when he was a baby and Im not sure if his father is still alive or not but most times if the mother dies, the father will give the baby to the havens because they cannot afford the milk for the baby. Im pretty sure Sam is HIV+ which just absolutley breaks my heart because he has done nothing in his life to deserve this terrible disease. The thought that some of these babies that Im falling in love with may not be alive in a year just upsets me. I just want to bring all of them back to the USA and give all of them the best medical attention that there is.
After the funeral, we had an outing to the market to put into practice our tonga that we have been learning. We were put into teams and were given a list of items to buy and we had to use only tonga to purchase the items. One group can back with a CHICKEN which was not on the list but that’s my HIZ group for you! The chicken was actually killed a couple of hours later. It kept getting loose and Trey chased it and I think he just had enough of it getting loose so he just wrung its neck....I wont go into anymore details but lets just say it provided some entertainment for a couple of hours and we will be eating fresh chicken tomorrow! Yum! My mom is convinced that between HUT, where we HAD to kill our own food, and HIZ, where we do it because we can, that I will become a vegetarian but I think its just making me like meat more. Supposedly the boys are going "hunting" tomorrow (Saturday) and if they kill anything, they are going to bring it back and cook it!
Every other saturday, we get free. We can spend our time at the havens, at the clinic, Erics house or just sleeping or doing homework! I am hoping that I can go up to the clinics and observe some! I love it there and cannot wait to get my clinic schedule on monday!

I will write again soon!

"He must become greater; I must become less." -John 3:30

I went to the havens today and spent some time with the little babies. When I go to the havens, I usually spend all of my time in haven 3 which Emily and I have renamed the "under-the-weather" haven. Most of the babies either have HIV/AIDS or are thought to have it but their tests havent come back yet or they are too young to tell. Also, some of the babies have TB and are really sick. The little babies in this haven just have me wrapped around their little fingers and they literally run to you when you walk in the door and want to be held. I try not to think about the fact that these little babies are orphans. Some of the moms died in birth, some cannot afford another child and still some just do not want another baby. I just want to take them all home and give them a home where they will be loved on for their whole life. I know that the aunties love the babies so much and take great care of them, though. We have one little haven baby that is very sick right now and its not looking too good. He cannot eat, has a stiff neck and was seizing this morning. They have him at the clinic right now and are taking care of him until he gets better.
I love it here! I love the culture, the people and the babies. Our classes start Monday and that is also when all of the students will be arriving to start their school year. Im excited for them to get here and be able to get to know the girls!

9/1 - African Funeral

Today, I went to my first African funeral. All of us filed into the church and we shook hands with a man at the doors. We stood in the back of the church during the service. There was reading from the Bible and prayers were said. Some songs were sung in Tonga, also. I noticed that most of the men were standing outside of the church building so that the women could have a seat inside out of the sun. After the songs were sung and prayers were said inside, we lined up and looked inside the casket and then went outside. Once outside, some more songs were sung in Tonga and the casket was laid into the ground. The family shoveled or threw dirt into the grave and once all of the family had a chance to help put dirt in, some men shoveled the rest in. Then they laid some cement on top of the dirt and then put another layer of dirt down. After all of these layers, the men packed the dirt down. At this point, the family, friends, relatives, and anyone else who wanted to, came and put flowers over the grave. The whole grave was covered in flowers by the end. After the flowers were laid down, speeches about Mrs. Moonga were given. The speeches talked about how she was a very "clean" woman and very loving. She was very dedicated to God and was a member of the Kalamo Church of Christ. They spoke alot about her life and how influential she was. After the speeches were completed, a final prayer was said. The family then hosts everyone at their house, the "funeral house", and provides the guests with means and refreshments.

8/31/10 - I gave a shot!!!

GOT TO GIVE A SHOT TO A REAL PERSON TODAY!!!

The man has pneumonia and I had to give him a shot of antibiotics in his hip!! I am so proud of myself!

Today, I didn’t really do anything. I just had breakfast at 8, Tonga lessons from 9-12, lunch at 1 and then went to the clinic to organize some supplies. Kristin and I followed around Dr. Black when he was checking up on the patients. He realized that a patient hadnt been given his shot. Kristin and I played paper, rock, scissors for it and I won!! I was so excited to give a shot. I was afraid I would hurt him and I went in a little too slow but he didn’t wince in pain! Im still so excited that I actually administered a shot to someone.

Day 1

Namwianga Mission, Kalomo, Zambia

Where to begin? After about 49 hours of travelling, we finally arrived to Africa! We left our families on Sunday, August 23 and went to camp to start our Mission Anthropology class. We had class all day Monday and then left for Africa on Tuesday. We left Arkansas at 10:30 and drove to Memphis. We flew from Memphis to Atlanta and then Atlanta to Johannesburg, South Africa. We then stayed the night in the Africa Center which is a hotel a couple of miles from the airport. We then left the next morning Joburg to Livingstone, Zambia. In Livingstone, we saw Victoria Falls which is so beautiful! And HUGE! We then rode a bus from Victoria Falls to Kalomo, Zambia! It was about a 3 hour bus ride on a very bumpy dirt road. We were welcomed by the people that live here on the mission. We then ate some delicious food prepared by Ba Leonard. Ba is used as we use Mr./Mrs. Ba Leonard made us some taco soup, salad, cornbread and cake. It all tasted so wonderful. Our internet was up in working so I got to call my mom via skype. We then unpacked our bags and settled into our new house for the next 3 months. I’m living with 7 other girls and our house is too cute. We have a living room, dining room, kitchen, 4 bedrooms and a study room. We also have 2 full baths which is so nice for 8 girls! Not that we are really worried about being clean but its nice to wash off our dusty feet. All of the roads here are just dirt roads with sand so when wearing chacos, our feet get really dirty but hey, its Africa! As we were unpacking last night, Kristin found a little lizard between her mattresses and box springs. We thought it would be a grand idea to set the little guy free and let him go forth into the world. Well here is the deal. As soon as the little guy took about two steps, our night guards cat (his name is Webster so we nicknamed his cat Dictionary) came and snatched the little guy up! It was absolutely hysterical. We all laughed so much! And we even got it on video! Today, we woke up and had breakfast at 8:30 am. After breakfast, we toured the mission. We got to spend 2 hours at the Havens. The Havens are the orphanages here at Namwianga. There are 3 different ones. The first one is for healthy babies. The second is for healthy walkers. The third is for very sick babies. Some of the babies in this third haven have HIV/AIDS or TB. Not all of them have AIDS or TB but all of them are very sick little babies. I spent about an hour at the second and the third havens. When I walked up to the first haven I was going to give this little boy, Timoth, a high five but he wanted a hug. Of course I just scooped up that precious little boy and played with him. Then 2 little girls became my friend and we went and played on the playground and drew pictures in the ground. PS little kids really like bubble gum (: They are so precious and so full of joy. I then went to the third haven which is also called the hospice. It just breaks my heart but I think I have found where I will be visiting a lot. I made friends with this little boy named Sam and he would just rest his head on my shoulder as I held him. I think I really want to take all of them home with me. Sam would make faces as I took pictures of him! He is such a jokester. After the havens, we made the 20 minute walk back to the hamby house through the African bush. The Hamby house is where we will have class (which starts at 6:30 am!) and where we will eat all our meals. After lunch, we went into town and went to the market. We were able to get money out. Their currency is called kwacha and 100,000 kwacha=about $20. Most of us girls all bought chitanges which are pieces of fabric wrapped into skirts. I bought 5 for 8,000 kwacha each so I got 5 skirts for less than $10 dollars! What a deal! Hah. The culture here is so different. Certain hand motions have VERY different meanings. Like when you wave your hand and you put your fingers to your palm it means, “come here” but if you palm is faced down, it means something very derogatory. After the market, we came back and ate dinner and then went to a church service about an hour away for singing and a devotional. Thankfully, the preacher translated the Tonga into English. The insisted that we get up and sing a couple of songs for them so we did and then they had their boys choir sing a couple for us! They have beautiful voices and they sing very loudly.

I absolutely love my HIZ group. We are already a family and have so much fun together. Before we even left the country, we were up late laughing and joking around. All of the guys in the group have been so great with the kids and have played soccer with them with their free time! Its so cool to see guys not flinch when the Zambian boys hold their hands which is a sign of friendship and is not viewed as strange one bit. All of us girls have just been loving on the babies so much in the havens. I cant wait to go work in the clinic in a couple of days! We went and toured it today and it is set up like a square with a courtyard in the center. They are hoping that in a couple of years it will be built up enough and have the right equipment to be considered a hospital.

“I want to leave a legacy. How will they remember me?”- Nichole Nordeman