Good things to know before setting out!
October 25th, 2011 Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »
I know this is a blog, and supposed to be about my experiences, but I thought what would be most helpful is a list of things to know/to bring etc. If you would like a good look at what our day to day experiences were like, look at Shannon Helster’s blog. She did a wonderful job of capturing what life was like:
Things to know if going to Mushili:
1. Ask Lorna before you come for Rose’s or Pule’s email address. The clinic is in desperate need of supplies and they would be better able to help direct your efforts should you wish to donate. Off the top of my head are scales, gloves, normal saline, gauze, cotton bolls, hand sanitizer, soap, baby blankets, burn creams, manual blood pressure cuffs, stethoscopes pretty much any basic supply.
2. Accommodations: You are staying in a full fledged 4 bedroom 2 bathroom house. It has 2 refrigerators, a microwave, an oven and a stove. It was not what I was expecting at all but was a welcomed surprise. There was only one mosquito net though, so if you really want a mosquito net I would bring your own.
3. Food: It is super Americanized, but not completely. When Lorna cooks it is absolutely delicious, enjoy those days, which are every Sunday. Other days you cook on your own, and bring a lunch with you to clinic. Shannon and I ate more peanut butter and jelly than I ever thought was possible for lunch. So I hope you like that 
Otherwise on the days we cooked we made spaghetti, grilled cheese, hamburgers, and chicken and vegetables. After church on Sundays sometimes the local community will cook the Zambian traditional meal of chicken and nishima. It is absolutely delicious and I would definitely recommend at least trying it. I think they would be offended if you did not, as most people in the community only eat chicken once a year, at Christmas.
4. Dress: Girls are supposed to wear skirts to the ankles and tops can be sleeveless but I would recommend that they have pretty good top coverage, and a couple fingers width straps. Shoes should be closed toe, just because the area is very sandy and your feet will get very dirty. Guys can wear pants and shirts. At the clinic we wore scrubs which worked out really well. Also if you are a runner you can totally bring your running shoes with you and run out there. I highly recommend it, it is a good way to see the area. Word of warning though, the people, especially the children in the village think you are crazy for running. It is foreign to them that someone would need to burn more calories for obvious reasons. While running I would wear scrub pants and a tank top. If you want to plan on donating clothes at the end of your stay, Mushili could use them or if you stay at Jollyboys in Livingstone (see below) they work with a local orphanage that you can donate to as well.
5. Language: While the official language is English, most people that you will be dealing with will not speak English, they will speak either Bimba or Lamba. I just was not mentally prepared to learn a new language. I would learn some key words and right them down and start from the very beginning trying to pick up as much as you can.
6. You have the internet and electricity most days unless it is raining and then they have to disconnect it. Thus make sure you have skype so you can keep in touch with friends and family back home.
7. You have a good amount of down time. We went on a lot of walks in the area which is beautiful, but I would recommend bringing a lot of books.
8. Since we had such convenient access to our computers Shannon and I really wished that we had downloaded a couple of movies, so we could watch them every once in a while for something new and different.
9. Do go on a trip to Victoria Falls in Livingstone. It is absolutely amazing and can be done relatively cheaply. I would recommend staying at Jollyboys, it was absolutely wonderful, and the Lodge had a lot of fun young people who were also traveling. It was only about $20 a night per person. We took a bus down there and I would recommend using Mazhandu bus service for this. It was about $30 a person. I would do the trip at the end of your stay and then try to arrange a flight out of Livingstone.
10. You can buy a cell phone there which I have heard is relatively cheap. Shannon and I did not do this but we really regretted it, because we had some minor trouble communicating with the person who was picking us up every day from clinic about what time we needed them to come, since most days we didn’t know until a couple hours before.
11. Do get a yellow fever vaccination. There is some controversy about if it is required and so we both got it, and we met a person in the airport who was denied access because he did not have it.
12. Make sure you get a visitor visa, and make sure that they give you enough days. Most of the time they give you 30 upfront. If you are going to be staying longer than that make sure that you let Lorna know early on so you can get it extended.
13. I would keep some suture material and gauze and such to wrap wounds at the house with you. We had a couple of people show up at our front door and we didn’t have anything laying around to help. Bring your stethoscope and your otoscope.
14. Besides that just get excited. Lorna and John are absolutely wonderful and it was an absolutely amazing experience. The people in the village are all so nice and excited to have you there. If you have any questions feel free to contact me at francesparis6@gmail.com and I would be happy to help you.