8:45 pm, May 10, Marlborough, Harare

Today was a good day. I'm so tired, I hardly remember any of it. Cold shower this morning, breakfast at the guest house, orientation this morning at the town office. We had a "proper" cup of tea at the orientation, where we learned about the history of Rhodesia/Zimbabwe, the Shona culture, finances, bartering, religion, and language mistakes. We also had sadza and muriwo (meat) for lunch. It was delicious! And filling. We tried the cherry plum soda, which was yummy. And fried caterpillars. Gross.

Sadza, muriwo, and rape (a kale-like vegetable)

Madora, fried caterpillars, a cheap source of protein

This afternoon, we went to Billy's for a month's worth of meat (30 kgs!!!) Dinner was at an American Style dinner, with pictures of Elvis and Marilyn Monroe on the walls. I had a Deano's Cheeseburger, which was a 200g (~1/2 lb) cheeseburger with cheese cooked into the middle. I even managed to eat it after picking off onions and tomatoes.

Deano's Diner

When we returned, we saw the Southern Cross. After a long ended sessions, during which we all almost fell asleep, its time for bed.

Hmmm...

This semester, I am taking African, Asian and Latin American Literature online as my literature elective and last gen ed. Its been a great experience, both because I've been able to read some African books that told stories of a people near and dear to my heart, and because of the unique insights of my fellow classmates.

In this module, we are reading Paulo Coelho's Veronika Decides to Die. Its been a thought-inspiring read so far, exploring the meaning of sanity from the inside perspective of a mental hospital patient admitted for a suicide attempt.

Author Paulo Coelho, from his website:
 www.paulocoelho.com

While this is a serious subject which I appreciate the gravity of, especially after my psychiatric nursing clinical rotation last year, I need to take a moment to appreciate the humor of the picture on the left.

This picture is on the opening page of the current module, with a caption notifying students of the class that this image is "available as a free wallpaper download" from the author's website.

Am I the only one that: A-is not sure why the author created a wallpaper image of himself, B-would find it creepy if someone actually had this picture on their laptop? People these days...

8 pm, May 9, Harare, Zimbabwe

We made it. =) After a bit of nerve-wracking time getting through immigration/customs (questions asked like such as "are you leaving anything in Zimbabwe?"), we met Nancy Everswick, our ministry supervisor, Dave Jereb, one of the new missionaries in Harare, and John Christiansen, whose daughter graduated from Cedarville this year. We packed our belongings into the cars and headed out. We saw some giraffes along the way. Nancy explained a lot of things.

The name Zimbabwe is derived from the Shona word "dzimba-dza-mabwe", which means "large houses of stone." This term is in reference to Great Zimbabwe, an ancient city whose ruins are now a protected site. This tower at the Harare airport is a modern structure built in a style reminiscent of the structures once found in the city.

We got to the mission house alright. Its a lovely place. Roomy and welcoming. We met Baba and Amai Perfect, who work at the house. Shared our testimonies, expectations, and fears. Unpacked and reorganized. Ate Zim pizza (peri peri chicken!). Experienced our first power outage, and got to use our headlamps. =) We just wrapped up our food planning. Now I'm wiped out. Orientation tomorrow!

Scenery on the road from the airport into Harare.

9:30 am, May 9, Ethiopian Airspace

We're on our way! Its crazy to think...we're in Africa! Slept in Ethiopia last night. Got up this AM for breakfast (with Ethiopian coffee and mango juice to drink) and headed off to the airport with few problems. Those few problems being: A-Steph and Sarah blew the fuse in their hall last night. B-returning to the hotel twice. The first time for a man who missed the bus. The second was for a man's wallet, but really, we think he was feeling bad for the first man's companion, who also missed the bus, and wanted to help him out. :P The second missing man turned out to be my "seat buddy" from the flight before, aka the guy who had his seat wayyy far back and didn't put it up when we landed. :P

Ethiopian coffee is da bomb.

 The bus ride was fun. We were able to hear from a recent speech therapy grad who is going to work with kids in Cameroon. We also talked to a woman who is returning to Zimbabwe after 20 years in the US. After one month there, she started on the path from CNA to LPN to RN. She now runs her own personal care home in the US, but is returning home to Zimbabwe to start a clinic.

Sudoku-one way I pass the time during flights

I'm enjoying this plane. Its a Boeing 787 Dreamliner (?). More leg room, a USB charger for my itouch, and touchscreen tvs. Woah. =) Oh, and an Ethiopian country music mix? Win.

Our touchscreen computer/tvs that welcomed us in multiple languages!

Father, thank you for all you are showing me in your Word. I don't want this to be merely a mountaintop experience. 

5:16 pm, May 8, Addis Ababa

Well, we are stranded in Ethiopia for a night. Our flight unexpectedly rerouted to Rome, where our 2 hour delay made us miss our connecting flight from Addis to Harare. Only one flight per day, so they paid our bus fare and put us up in a hotel for the night. We have beds, three meals from the restaurant, and a shower. We had to check our carry-ons at Washington when we switched airlines (and the weight limit dropped from 40 to 15 lbs) so no extra change of clothes, among other things. But honestly, after brushing my teeth and taking a shower, I feel like a new person.

Ethiopian Airlines

The flight honestly did not seem as long as it was. We spent 15-16 hours on the plane, including the 2 hours stop in Rome, but it wasn't too bad. God definitely blessed me with the ability to sleep. I alternated between sleep and waking about every hour. The meals were pretty good, but those grape things in the crepes were rather sketchy. I surgically removed them and soldiered on. I didn't even finish my Ted Dekker book (Thr3e) or kill my itouch, so there is hope for tomorrow, as well as the flight home.

Tri-lingual Bible found in my room. The Gideons are everywhere!

The airport felt pretty crazy. After flying over the plateaus and scrubby farmland of Sudan, and then the mountains, canyons, and patchwork farmland of North Ethiopia, it was fascinating to see the city. The construction projects are a mixture of concrete and wooden poles. The streets are filled with buses and their ceaseless honking. The colorful signs are written in both English and Ethiopian Arabic. We saw an outside winding staircase with no railing leading up to "Kitchen World".  But before we saw all these things, we had to get new boarding passes. We had to go through immigration individually, and I had no idea what the agent was asking me. I just handed him all of my papers. He started asking "hotel voucher?" which I did not have (since there was one voucher for the five of us) and I did not know how to explain why. He saw Kristy with the voucher and said "friend?" "Yes, friend!" I exclaimed gratefully. We got the voucher from her, and with some work, he explained that I needed to stand and look at a camera. "Finished." he stated finally. Then I was free. The next adventure was the bus.

We all piled into this little bus and drove through Addis' crowded streets to our hotel. We passed people selling shoes while sitting on mats and donkeys being led on the sidewalk.
The hotel is nice. We have two people per room, a bed each, and a decent shower. The food here is good too. The meat was very tasty, although some of the vegetables were unrecognizable.

Zimbabwe Diary, May 7

Since many of my emails were lost due to the uncertainty of the internet in Zimbabwe, much of my records of my trip are gone. However, I do have my notes from my journal, which I will be typing out here for the enjoyment of the general public. ;)

On the place to Ethiopia. It seems unreal to say that. I remember filling out that application last semester. So much has happened since then. Getting to know the girls in my group, reading about Zimbabwe, packing supplies of the hospital, learning the meds, and everything related to those giving support. I feel like so much has happened in the past two weeks, and even two days.

Steph, Kristy, Me, and Sarah-shot at the Bean in Chicago

TEAM Orientation in Chicago, February 2013

Thank you Father for for allowing us to gather practically everything on the last minute list of needs that we were emailed. Thank you for the random steak dinner with the Maytermers at Dr. Hartman's. Thank you for Steph's good humor and Campus Safety's willingness to let me into the BTS to rescue my passport. Thank you for Amy's group and Steph's brother Tim, who were willing to let us crash at their places.

The supplies I had packed in my suitcase-everything from stuffed bears to bandages to gloves to coffee.

Its been such a blessing to meet new people, and a big adventure. I can already cross DC off of my list of places visited. Now I'm crossing the Atlantic Ocean. Soon I'll be landing in Europe. Then to Africa. Craziness! The thirteen hours on the plane aren't too unbearable yet. We've made some good progress. Not halfway though. Its 5 pm? Not sure what time zone... Honestly, I'm not too nervous except for getting through customs.

Diagnosis Delirium

Its been a while since I've written. I've got a lot of new thoughts in my mind, and with those new thoughts come a new name for the blog. Why "Diagnosis Delirium"? Well, according to Merriam-Webster, delirium is "an acute mental disturbance characterized by confused thinking and disrupted attention usually accompanied by disordered speech and hallucinations" or "frenzied excitement". I laughed when I read these definitions recently, and thought of how they both apply to nursing. The life of a nursing student is full of its ups and downs.
There are those times that we've spent more hours in class than we have sleeping, when we talk about disturbing things we've seen at clinicals over the dinner table, when we're up late at night memorizing the signs and symptoms of acute coronary syndrome. During those times, we become strangers to any friends outside of the nursing program. We drink copious amounts of coffee and other caffeinated beverages. We ignore everything we ever learned about good sleep habits, healthy eating, and exercising regularly. We carry textbooks that weigh more that dictionaries. We use silly phrases like "King K lives in the castle of the cell while Sir Sodium circulates outside" to remember electrolyte concentrations.
These things we do in order to pass our tests, to avoid failing out of the nursing program, and to one day graduate with our Bachelor of Science in Nursing. But behind all those things, what truly drives us is a desire to help others. In the end, a diploma is just a piece of paper, but the satisfaction one gets from serving someone in need is what makes all the work and the late nights worth it. However, when I do receive that piece of paper one day, less than I year from now, I expect that I shall experience the second definition of delirium. :)

In the future,the blog shall be a recording of the life of your average senior nursing student. I also hope to get some more of my notes from Zimbabwe up. Until then, cheerio!

Zim Update #4

Manheru! Good evening!

After a nice night out, having Chinese with the town missionaries (yes, they have Chinese restaurants in Zimbabwe!), I had some time and energy on my hands, so I thought I would tell you all some more about the people on my team here in Zim. I'm not sure when you will get this email, since the Internet is down (probably due to the three power outages we've had in the past two days), but I'll send it when I can.

The TEAM (The Evangelical Alliance Mission) 2013 Zimbabwe team consists of 6 people. This is one of the larger teams hosted at Karanda. Four of us are going into our senior year in the School of Nursing at Cedarville University. 

Kristy Rizzardi is from a small town near Lansing, Michigan. She has a passion for the hurting, which is seen through her work with the International Justice Misson chapter on campus. IJM helps fight against human trafficking, violence towards women and children, and poverty in other countries.

Sarah Pelletier is the only member of our group to actually live in Ohio. She and Kristy were both in the other junior nursing clinical rotation this past year, so I did not know them that well before we started preparing for this trip, but it has been a blessing to have them both as a part of my life. 

Stephanie Swanson is from Connecticut, so she lives even farther from school than I do. Steph has a vibrant and unpredictable personality. Time spent with her is never boring. Out of everyone in our group, she has the most desire and passion for learning about the culture. Steph is always practicing her Shona, and never shies away from a challenge. In fact, she was the one who convinced us all to try fried caterpillars and bought a tub of aloe vera flavored yogurt because it was the most popular flavor in the Zim grocery store. 

Jenny Webb is the only student in our group who is not from Cedarville. Jenny, who lives in a suburb of Chicago, graduated from a college in Illinois with a degree in Rehab Services. She now works as a rehab tech, and is wrapping up her year off before attending grad school in August to become an occupational therapist. Jenny's sister Katie came to Zim as a short termer 7 years ago, so many of the missionaries know her name. She will be working with the therapist in the hospital. I've really enjoyed getting to know Jenny and appreciated the flawless transition she made into the team.

Finally, Naomi Reddington is our team leader. She has been to Zimbabwe multiple times, first as a short termer through Cedarville nursing, and eventually came to stay long term for about eight years before returning to the states last year due to health issues. During her time at Karanda, Naomi not only worked as a nurse, but she also helped run some of the wards, managed Home Based Care (a program helping to care for HIV/AIDS orphans in the Karanda area), and taught some of the classes in the hospital's nursing school. We are all grateful to have such a knowledgeable and experienced person as our leader.

After telling you about my team, I would be remiss if I did not mention the town missionaries who ministered to us so much while we've been here. The Everswick family, Doug and Nancy, and their youngest daughter Rachelle, help to run the guest house and the town office, as well as provide orientation for short termers. Kirstin, Malita, and Judy have been instrumental in introducing us to Harare and Shona culture. The Jerubs are new missionaries to Zimbabwe, still taking their language classes in Harare. They plan to help with construction and nursing classes when they move out to Karanda. Please pray for these missionaries, who have such a heart for the people of Zimbabwe, and who do so much for so little.

I read a quote today, by Oswald Chambers from "My Utmost for His Highest" that seemed very pertinent. "The knowledge that God has loved me to the uttermost will send me forth into the world to love in the same way." This is certainly the attitude of the missionaries in Zim. I am humbled an blessed by my chance to work alongside them.

In His Service,

Mary

Zim Update #3

Hello friends!

I wanted to get another update to you all before I head out to Karanda tomorrow morning. The internet will be less reliable than it already is here in Harare, and I will be much busier once I am out at the hospital, so I'm not sure when you will hear from me next.  

The past few days have been spent in orientation and preparation for our stay at the hospital. We learned about the history of Rhodesia, and how it became the Zimbabwe it is today, as well as how TEAM became involved here originally. Interesting fact: the name Zimbabwe comes from a tribal word referring to large, conical stone structures built by an ancient civilization in the southwestern part of the country.

Another, more continual aspect of our training, has been becoming more versed in the intricacies of showing respect in Zimbabwe. Respect and family are the two pillars of Shona culture. You are given respect based on your place in the family tree. The line of respect starts with Sekuru, or the grandfather, and then Ambuya, or grandmother. Respect is then extended to your Baba and Amai, or father and mother. At the end of the line of respect are married men, married women, single men, single women, and then children. All of Shona culture, from greetings and handshakes to posture and titles, are dictated by respect. Our team members' place in the line of respect is complicated because, while we re single women, we are also considered professionals, which affords us a higher level of respect.

Family is viewed very highly in Zimbabwe. Your aunts and uncles are considered mothers and fathers, while your cousins are siblings. Members of the family are expected to care for each other, without question. One part of the family that I found rather funny was the role of the "tetè", or the aunt (from the father's side) in choosing a husband for her nieces. The tetè is in charge of the entire process, while the father does not even learn anyone is interested in his daughter until the potential son-in-law shows up at his house to arrange the bride price. I'm not exactly sure that my dad would be pleased with such an arrangement but apparently it works in Zimbabwe.

Another interesting part of our training is trying to comprehend the dichotomy of Zimbabwe culture. One side of the culture is more Westernized. These Zimbabweans typically dress much like we do in the states, carry cell phones and other electronics, and are most likely employed and living in an urban setting. They are also almost exclusively from the Shona tribe, which makes up approximately 75% of the country's population. So far in our trip, we have mostly come into contact with this side of the culture. In fact, during our shopping trip today, we heard American music at both the grocery store and the craft fair. Everything from Taylor Swift to Michael Jackson was playing.

The great majority of people living in Zimbabwe are from the more traditional side of the culture. They live in rural areas and typically are subsistence farmers or peddlers. They live on a much less varied diet than their urban counterparts, eating sadza, a form of cornmeal, at every meal, with occasional vegetables, and meats, on special occasions. The traditional Shona also observe more conservative dress, which is why we are required to wear flowy skirts that extend beyond the knee.

Orientation has been fascinating. I have certainly learned a lot, about the Shona people, the country of Zimbabwe, and the hard working missionaries here at TEAM. Today was our last day of preparation in Harare. We bought a month's worth of food for six people without spending our entire food budget, which I found impressive. It was sometimes difficult to figure out amounts of food since they use the metric system, but we learned to rely on certain people in our group as mental calculators. We also learned that it is socially acceptable to openly laugh at people, even if you don't know them. I was on the receiving side of quite a bit of laughter as I pushed around my cart full of 8 KGs of milk, 8 KGs of juice, and 20 loaves of bread.

Tomorrow we leave for Karanda early in the morning. Prayers are appreciated for travel, as we need to transport 9 people and a month's worth of food and supplies out to rural northern Zimbabwe. I would also ask that you keep in mind our health. Most of the team is still feeling under the weather, due to allergies, remaining jet lag, and continued lack of sleep.

Thank you all for you prayers and support!

In His Service,

Mary

Zimbabwe Update #2 May 9

Hello friends!

Just wanted to send out a brief email letting you all know that my team and I are now in Zimbabwe. It took slightly longer to arrive here than we originally planned. Our flight from DC yesterday decided to refuel and change the crew while in Rome, which took hours longer than expected, causing us to miss our connecting flight to Zimbabwe. We stayed in Addis Ababa last night, where Ethiopian Airlines kindly put us up in a hotel, provided meals, and gave us transportation to and from the airport. Our delay was a blessing in disguise, allowing us to rest and adjust to the jet lag, even if we were forced to check our carry ons at the last airport, leaving us without a change of clothes for the night.

Our flight from Ethiopia to Zimbabwe today was largely uneventful, except for another unexpected detour-this time to Lusaka, Zambia, However, this stop only lasted an hour. We arrived in  Harare in the early afternoon, and made it through immigration and customs relatively quickly and without hassle.

The rest of the day has been spent moving into the guest house, sharing our testimonies with our fellow group members, learning how to make a "proper cup of tea" and being introduced to Zim pizza. We also experienced our first blackout, losing electricity after dinner. Thankfully, we all brought the headlamps our host missionaries suggested, and were able to carry on with our work during what is a normal life occurrence for Zimbabweans.

Tomorrow we start our orientation and will get a chance to travel around Harare before we start our work here. Prayers are appreciated for rest for the group. Most of us have slept very little, and poorly over the last few days, and we want to make the most of our orientation time.

Thank you again for all of your prayers already! They have been such an encouragement and a blessing.

In His Service,

Mary