April 13th, 2018 by jamiefelzer

The Orphanage was not what I expected, but in a good way! I truly had no idea what to expect going here for a few days, but it was a wonderful experience I will never forget! This place is really amazing! I was taken to the New Day Orphanage by the director of my hospital through the really bumpy road from Macha before we reached the blacktop and then went on another dirt road. And that was when we stopped because the bridge that was there is no longer a bridge. Apparently, about a year ago a large lorry went over the bridge (which is just a poorly built concrete slab) and half of it fell in. Ever since then it has not been able to be fixed despite numerous pleas to the Zambian government, and at this point it appears that it could be a few more years until it is fixed. I was met at the bridge by the co-founder of the orphanage, Wes, and some the older boys so that we could walk across and have fun driving through the back country mud road through the bush en route to the orphanage.

The bridge that is broken. And yes that is an ox cart that is crossing the bridge!

I was given a tour of the campus by their lovely new admin assistant who just moved here from Lusaka. On our walk around campus, I was greeted so warmly by all of the house mothers and the children, and instantly felt at home. Wes and Laurie started the orphanage many years ago, but have been at this site since 2011. Prior to them building here it was truly the middle of the bush with nothing around, and now they have completely transformed the area into a thriving community. There are currently 37 children at the orphanage, with the newest edition just a few weeks ago (She is absolutely adorable and I wanted to bring her back with me to friends with my baby cousin who is the same age). Up to eight children live in a house with a Zambian house mother who teaches them local traditions and looks after them. They all eat together in the mess hall where they have a combination of traditional foods as well as some other cultures of foods. Additionally, they have built a wonderful school on the campus, for which Laurie is the school principal and teaches some of the lower grades. The kids are currently on school break, as they are on a year round school schedule. They all seem to excel in their school and typically beat out other kids of their age, or even older ages. School is taught in English, but they also have a Tonga class, which is the local language here. Additionally, they have home-ec, physical education, art, theatre, in addition to all the regular subjects. The teachers are generally Zambian, and the goal is to keep them in their Zambian culture so that after their schooling is completed they can become a vital member of Zambian Society. I have no doubt that all of these children will do great things after being raised here!

The beautiful school library. Definitely one of my favorite places

One of the very neat rooms. I was impressed at generally how clean everything was!

I stayed in the facility called the Ark, which is a house all of their visitors, of which they have many visiting team members to help build parts of the Campus and conduct activities. The Ark was wonderful! There were many modern amenities in the kitchen and room was large, and I even had a full bed with a mosquito net and my own bathroom. In some of the other rooms there were multiple sets of bunk beds to house a larger number of people. There were comfortable sitting areas and multiple tables for eating. They even have Wi-Fi! So even though we were situated out in the bush, I certainly didn’t feel like I was out there! There were no stones left unturned as they even thought to have solar powered lights in every room and bathroom for power outages. They had arranged for someone to come cook some meals for me as I didn’t have any supplies of food that I could bring with me. The food was delicious and well balanced (I had been craving some veggies and they had them!). I was also quite excited about the real coffee that was available instead of instant which was what I’d been having (fine, call me a coffee snob). Wes and Laurie, and sometimes even others, joined for meals and conversation each day, which was so wonderful getting to know them and partaking in lively conversation.

A pano at sunset from the top of the water tower

My first healthcare task was organizing the medicine closet and working on the first aide kits in each house. Being a bit of a neat and preparedness freak, I enjoyed this part a lot. My big health interventions consisted of individual consultations with all of the adults that work there, including the house moms, many of whom had not been to the doctor for quite a while (mostly because they didn’t feel they needed to, not for a lack of access as transportation and some healthcare costs were covered for them). Although my supplies were limited, I was glad that I had a BP cuff, pulse-oximeter, otoscope and ophthalmoscope and limited over-the-counter meds. Many of their blood pressures were quite elevated either due to lack of medication or lack of awareness, or even because they didn’t want to believe that they had a problem despite being told they did in the past. I sat down with them each discussing the importance of dietary and lifestyle management issues, and that they needed to come to the outpatient clinic for repeat blood pressure check and most likely some new medications for many. Many of them had gained a significant amount of weight since nothing at the orphanage because now they had food provided for them (much of which was high in oil and salt), and they didn’t have to walk very far, whereas previously people would walk miles everyday just to get water, let alone go anywhere. After talking to and assessing each of the house parents, kitchen staff and other workers about improving their health, I then talked to the kitchen staff about making some significant changes in the way food is made by decreasing oil, salt and carbohydrates as well as increasing vegetables and whole grain intake. They had a brand new kitchen manager who was very excited about improving the quality of healthy food and was planning on going to the store the day after out talk in hopes of picking up some better options.

Love that all the kids were very excited about getting their check-ups

I also made each house mother/father a sheet to record how much they walked each day for the next 20 weeks, and encouraged them to increase their walking. Each day when I saw them, they were very excited to tell me that they have been working out that day and had already started to feel better. Those that had medications were compliant with their meds, and wanted to keep up the exercise. I’m so excited to see people start to take control of their health after just some good discussions. I’m not sure exactly how long it will last, but I am optimistic! I checked up on the health of all these people throughout my stay come and hope that some of the changes I helped encourage would be sustainable measures for long-lasting health. The kids, of course we super excited to have me listen to their hearts and take their blood pressure as well. I’m always glad when kids aren’t scared of the doctor, because in clinic a baby just looked at me and started crying! Another impressive healthcare they provide, is that they have teamed up with a prosthetic team from Texas, Prosthetic Promises, who comes a few times a year to build prosthetics for locals. New Day has built a gorgeous clinic right outside their property so that the entire community can come to have custom-made prosthetics, amazing!

My first group of kids doing gymnastics

the older boys at the end of their lesson

It also was so perfect that I got to combine my two loves, medicine and gymnastics! As soon as word got out that I was a gymnastics coach, all the kids were asking when they’d get their gymnastics lesson! They had a trampoline on the campus so I took the kids over in groups to teach them the basics. As I would with any classes, started with a good warm-up, teaching them all the positions and the importance of stretching. Then, we went right into the basic gymnastics skills starting with forward roles, handstands, cartwheels and leading into round-offs. I was so impressed that some of them picked it right up! We then moved to the trampoline where I taught different jumps and skills in a brief routine. The older ones even got to work on their flips, some of which were excellent. Seeing the huge grins on all their faces was so priceless.  I taught about four groups like this and the older girls begged me to come back for me, so we went back right as a downpour happened. Like most kids, they didn’t let swimming in the rain stop them and kept on doing all their new tricks together on the trampoline, singing and dancing the whole way through. One of the cutest parts of my gymnastics coaching was when I took the under 3s to a closer grassy area and sat them down to stretch them to my favorite warm-up song, “Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes” and all the older kids came over to help them. The big brothers and sisters continued to help as we transitioned into some forward rolls. The older children were a huge help and truly relished in helping to teach the little ones. This is what the orphanage was all about, helping one another in this big, happy family.

These adorable kids wanted to take a group picture after our gymnastics

It was incredibly hard to say good-bye to all these wonderful people and hope that someday I can make it back. We piled into the truck and made it over the bridge that collapsed thankfully, where I was met at the onset of yet another bumpy gravel road so I could make it back to Macha. I was just in time for rounds and a crazy day in outpatient clinic where I was the only doctor, so tried to help precept for the 4^th year med students. This was an especially crazy day as we had multiple people carried in by family members pretty much unconscious. All in a day’s work in Zambia!

The boys helping out with construction… or just playing in the dirt? 😉