A Day at home in Lusaka

Some have asked us what a typical day would be like here on our mission.   No day is the same with our Public Affairs calling, but we do have a schedule we try to maintain as far as our mornings before we go out.  We wake up around 6:30 am.  We can hear the neighborhood rooster as well as other songbirds.  The sky is bright and the sun will certainly be shining into our windows soon.  We have personal study time, where we each read our scriptures.  We sometimes do our exercises...we have our favorite breakfast, pictured below, take our doxycycline to prevent malaria, and our vitamins.  We dress and have companionship study, schedule coordination, and prayer, before leaving for the day or working in our home office.   This is the end of summertime or the warm rainy season here in Zambia so everything is green.  You can grow gardens year round here but you don't have to hand water during the warm, rainy season so that is the preferred gardening season.  We live in a new triplex, with young sister missionaries on both sides of us.  We have planted a little garden since there seems to be no other landscaping as yet.  That gives Elder Louthan some exercise.....he also gathers rocks to maintain the dirt road leading to our flat.  People here maintain the road by filling in holes near their property with pieces of cement or blocks, used tiles, rocks etc.  It works pretty well. 

Our Breakfast, Elder Louthan likes the 2% milk, Sister likes the Long Life.

Our Washer and Dryer:)

Our Cold (or Hot) Water Supply

Sister Louthan's fun table...paper cutter...keyboard...sewing machine!

Our Living Room...exercise mat...and where we read our scriptures and have companion study.

Elder Louthan at work on an article!

The outlet situation...not enough.  Adapters everywhere!

The "Throne Room".  We bought the shelves at the side of the road.  There are temporary businesses along the roadside everywhere.  This is hand woven and very sturdy and it smells good...kind of like cedar!  The curtains were made from some fun fabric I bought at market before I got the sewing machine....we needed them right away!

Our new car...just passed 1000 kilometers.

Looking out the back door....we have hung some screening over the metal gate.

Our Gyser (pronounced geezer) thermostat does not work;  we just turn it on when we want hot water and then turn it off right afterwards.  We hope for a plumber to come again soon.  Other repairs have been made below the Gyser.  Now we have cold as well as hot water in the shower.  Plumbing problems are pretty common here. Plumbers don't have as much training as in the US.  Many of the poor are still without plumbing at all so we are glad our water system works as well as it does.

Our bed with mosquito netting. A nice place to settle in at the end of the day!

Helping Babies Breathe

Some of the awesome people who made this training happen!

The past week we have been involved with the wonderful humanitarian missionaries who live in DR Congo and cover Zambia, and some awesome specialists from America doing the "Helping Babies Breathe" program or Neonatal Resusitation Technique Training.  We just helped doing whatever they needed and learned a lot and had a lot of fun!  They worked with an Armenian Doctor here who is a program director for the Global Network for Women's and Children's Health Research.  The Doctor here works through the University Training Hospital here in Zambia so he did most of the setting up and inviting of participants etc.  They were able to train 94 Nurses, Doctors and Midwives or Birth Attendants  who then commit to training the people they work with in their hospitals or clinics.  There were over 60 hospitals or clinics represented from around Zambia and the Training took place with about 50 people here in Lusaka and then we traveled up to Kabwe to train the other 44.  It was fun to see the countryside as we traveled.  Here are some photos from an awesome week.

Nurse Practitioners from America demonstrate technique to Elder Louthan and our District President Lumbama

President Lumbama gave a speech at the opening ceremony of the training along with the Minister and the Secretary of the Ministry of Community Development, Mother and Child Health.  Since the Minister's were there, the press was also there.  A segment of Pres. Lumbama's speech was on National TV! 

This nurse had been working and came in uniform...I like the uniforms here.

Groups of 4 to 6 worked together to learn techniques with an inflatable baby that could simulate breathing and heart beat. There was even an umbilical cord to tie off.

After the training, 60 kits with resusitation equipment and training materials were donated to the hospitals and clinics where they can be used.  Worldwide, 1 in 10 babies born has breathing difficulties.  A midwife told me that where she works at the UTH, there are on an average over 60 babies born each day.  With the new procedure and more people trained, more babies lives will be saved.

Ahh, the open road, the countryside, farms, and produce stands at a small village we passed through.  The following video was performed by the nurses, and midwife students in Kabwe, Zambia.  This is the song they have traditionally sung when babies are born and are not breathing.  It is a song encouraging the baby to breathe.

The Africa Cup and other fun!

Old car - New car, automatic transmission, steers straight, no wobbly wheel.....Yahoo, I can drive!

"Our" Sister's and some kids at Church!

People line up along the road to see Zambia's victorious Soccer Team Come into Town!

Many fans were draped in Zambian colors, lots had soccer shirts in bright green or gold.

Chipolopolo is the name of Zambia's Team....it means Copper Bullets!

I didn't get very good pictures but many cars were decorated like this one and people were honking, cheering, and blowing horns everywhere!  Kind of reminded me of a Grand County win, but this was the Soccer Championship of the African Continent....many countries!  So awesome...worthy of a two day celebration!

We had a District Conference with Elder and Sister Hartman, He wrote "The Color Code."  Elder and Sister Hartman are on a mental health mission.   They cover mental health services for all the missionaries in Africa.  They taught us about personality types and how to get along better.   It was Elder Louthan's first formal instruction on this subject and he loved it!  I've heard it before but enjoyed it again....good reminders....so appropriate for Valentines Day!   And by the way we love all of you!

 

Angola!

View of the ocean from the Mission Home balcony in Luanda, Angola.

President and Sister Walton in front of the place where Angola was dedicated for missionary work in 2010.  The work is going forth quickly, missionaries here just work from referrals no tracting necessary!

Baobab tree and boat in a bay....so beautiful here!

In the Slavery Museum.  As you can see my plan for weight loss in Africa is not working!  Food is good here!  Especially here in Angola where they have Portuguese food!

Three girls with things to sell...carrying the African way.

Hybiscus bush by the Mission Home in Angola!  Love it!

Lusaka Baja!

These kids always wave when we go by, they always look happy!

We are starting to realize what the rainy season is really like!  4 inches of water on the road, this one is paved.

The road leading to our house....where are our Grandsons?  I miss them today!   They would love to go "muddin" here!

Corner by our house...there is always a puddle but today...Baja! 

Elder Shields and Elder Louthan on a tour of the city's Branch Chapels

Looking across the street from the Chapel above.  Such a beautiful time as the storm clears away!

Near another chapel.  The youngster on the left saw me taking a picture and did a great dance! 

Notice the traditional baby carrier and in the background is a community water place.  There are several faucets and people came to fill up containers.

 

Amazing African Hairdos!

These girls are in their school uniforms waiting for a pizza.  They all had cute braids.

These were more of a spiral twist...very cute.  Notice her friend has more of a western hairstyle.  You can buy hair straightening irons here but hard to find a curler!

Cute little girl at church.

The girl checking us out at the grocery store.  She has thousands of tiny little braids!

She said it took 3 people 4 hours to do it.

This is another girl from church.  She has kind of short hair but the braids are amazing!

Everywhere I go I see amazing braided or as they say here, plaited hairdos that I love.  I've stopped complete strangers to ask if they mind if I put their picture on my blog.  They are usually pretty happy to comply. Wish I could show the cute babies that I've seen with cute little braids and colorful beads on the ends. 

The closest shopping center, pretty nice!

The ATM where you can get 1,000,000 Kwachas ($200.00) with a $5.00 transaction fee.  Elder Louthan waits patiently.  See the guard behind him?  There is always a guard at the ATM's.

 

Not such a good photo but you can see the shops at the side of the road and the Combes which are little busses that people crowd into....they go all over town but without schedules or timetables....sort of the luck of the draw.

For Chloe, I knew she would love these pink ties! The young elders are all great!

This is the dry cleaner, shoe repair, key making shop.  Had that great smell of a shoe repair shop!

 

 

You can't really tell from any pictures, but there are lots of people walking at the side of the road always, and the roads are narrow.  The truck in front of us had guys riding in the back which is not at all unusual. 

Sisters at church.  I like how they carry the babies in the scarf.  I don't see any falling out...it seems to work pretty well.