Health and Hope

Today's blog is a bit heavy.  It deals with life and death.  If these issues were not so prevalent in the Western Provence of Zambia, Hands of Hope would be in a different country.  There are many countries that need help.  Hands of Hope cannot be everywhere but since we are here we strive to make a difference in the lives of a few. Not just a difference today or this year but help these people become independent and move from their abject poverty.

This week marks the 8th anniversary of my daughter dying.  She was a beautiful 25 year old, who fought to live.  She was a diabetic that had issues many of which the top doctors in the US could not fix in the long run.  She had incredible medical care, state of the art hospitals, an incredible family support system and a strong faith in Jesus Christ.  She still died, as we all will some day.  Though I miss her so very much, I want to share the message of hope in helping those who have no one to care for them as Kara did. 

What Kara experienced is so far removed from the people in the Western Provence of Zambia.    Had she lived in Zambia she would have died by the age of 10. Hospitals as we know them do not exist.  Medical care as we know it, is impossible to access if you live in Zambia.  Even the poorest American has hope and access to medical help.  Of course there is no perfect system and nothing is free, someone is paying for care, here it is the tax system and government but here in the US help can be obtained.  You as an ordinary American are in a very, very good place. 

I am going to write two, maybe three blogs this week about health care, Kara, death and Zambia.  My purpose will not be to have you feel sorry for me, or our family.  My post today may help you embrace the hope and the help that can come by just a few people desiring to make a difference in another persons life. 

This young mother has Aids and her little baby is quite ill.

Zambia's Aids epidemic is at 27%.  If you are from a family of 4, someone you love would be taken from you because of Aids. Besides Aids, these people just like you and me get sick.  Malaria, typhoid fever, parasites, are rampant because their water is dirty!  Women have trouble delivering babies with no one to help them, their babies will die and if they live they are messed up inside.  Children fall and break bones with no one to set them.  The list of problems continues, the need remains the same, no medical help.  Today I want to share what medical facilities look like in the Western Provence in the villages.

This little boy and little girl are orphans.  They live at an orphanage.  A pastor who shares in this problem of orphans shared that he has a church numbering 600.  500 are children.  He does not know what to do.

 I will be honest and admit I did not get to see a hospital, though there is one in Mongu.  I do know that like all 3rd world countries it is one we would not want to be sent to.  The patients bring their own bedding and food, just for starters, there are no subsidies.  With this system you get bugs, germs and more problems.

Below is a 'clinic' built by one of the villages that a well through Hands of Hope had been placed in.  These people were so excited to show us this 'clinic'.  When a medical person comes to this clinic, people are examined, babies are born here and for these people it is a place of help.  You decide how you would react needing to come here.

The outside of the hut looks like every other hut.  Mud bricks, straw, sand is the floor, dirty sand.  However this hut is located near the street and the well.   Below is the inside of the 'clinic'.  I am not certain why there are clothes strewn around for as I 'peeked' into other huts as I could with each village visit,  this was not typical even in a 'home'. Perhaps it is clothing for someone who may need it.

Notice the openings.  Can you imagine this during the rainy season?

The  next photos show the new clinic built by Hands of Hope!  http://www.handsofhopeonline.org/ This clinic is also in a very remote area and will be accessible to those who could not get to Mongu! The sick have to walk 10+ miles to get to Mongu!  Can you place yourself with a sick child or being in labor, or having a broken limb walking to your doctor or clinic? This new clinic is such a gift of hope and encouragement to people who have none. 

I will be eager to see it in action when I go back next time.  The government will provide medical people to the villagers.  One very exciting component that sprang from this building, a 'market' opened across the street.  The 'market' consists of just straw kiosks but sellers will provide goods and villagers will have goods a bit closer to home.   

Below is a 'new' squatty potty.  I am so not a fan of these 'out houses'.  However, this too is a gift to both the individual needing it and the community to keep human waste away from their huts.  (Doors will be added!)

Both of these 'clinics' leave a lot to be desired by our standards.  However, they each represent hope and the prospect of health coming to their village. 

As I close this simple blog, I am humbled again by the hope that these simple buildings bring to these people.  I am grateful that my daughter Kara was not born into this country. Though she died because of her issues, she was cared for on a grand scale, given a fighting chance and an extended life.  She lived many years longer because of where she was born.   I do not believe for one moment that I am superior because of the blessing of being born in the US.  However, because of where I live and the knowledge I have of others needing help, I am responsible to help the poor, the widows and the orphans.

^"If anyone among you thinks he is religious, and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this one’s religion is useless.  Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself un-spotted from the world."  James, Chapter 1: 26-27 (The Bible)