"Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms. If anyone speaks, they should do so as one who speaks the very words of God. If anyone serves, they should do so with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen."
1 Peter 4:10-11 (NIV)

Thursday, April 27: 1st of patient fitting days

Thursday was the first of 3 patient fitting days in a row before we would leave. John had 2 patients on Thursday, and there were 6 prosthetic patients for fitting. 


First thing Thursday morning though, Ron drove John, Rick and Traci to the Macha hospital so that John could meet the new ophthalmologist there, and Rick and Traci could see areas out away from New Day. Dr. Verkerk and his family are missionaries to Zambia and have a non-profit, Eye for Zambia. John was able to discuss more with him about our yearly trips and providing ocular prostheses. 


Ron and Rick talking with Dr. Verkerk at the Macha clinic.


Dr. Verkerk showing some of the equipment he has.

On the drive back to New Day.

Back at the clinic, patients were starting to arrive for fittings.

This little boy, Kennedy, back for fitting of his eye. It's so hard to tell which eye is the prosthesis. John is so talented!

There's a little bit of a smile!

In addition to our patients coming for fitting, the porch of the clinic is where a monthly clinic for children under age 5 was set up. They were doing vaccinations so there were some upset little ones, but it's great to see the PPIHN clinic being used by another group. That was a goal when the clinic was built; it would be a multi-purpose clinic.

Here's Killion after fitting with his new prosthesis. You can see his old one on the floor that has the foot taped together. 

It was good to see Killion again this year since he did not come last year. 

Joel waiting while Chris did an adjustment to his prosthesis.

After making sure the socket fits well and is comfortable, we have this nice sidewalk in the front of the clinic for patients to walk so we can make alignment adjustments. Here's Chris making an alignment change to Joel's prosthesis.

John and Rick went down to give all the New Day kids wooden airplanes. Here's Rick instructing how to put them together.

Lots of little planes flying around.

Fun for everyone...kids and adults.

Luxon back for fitting of his new prosthesis.

Chris always loves seeing Luxon. She saw him on Prosthetic Promises' first trip in 2012.

Last adjustments before leaving. We brought Luxon a few toys and some clothes.

This is another patient that we knew about before our trip. Dave (mentioned in the last blog post) had told him about John's work doing prosthetic eyes. This man has a prosthetic eye, which he is wearing in this picture, but he's had it for many years and it is too small. 

John was able to fit him with an eye he had pre-made. This prosthetic eye is a much better size for him. John has a few pre-made eyes that he brings in case of a situation like this where someone comes just a few days before we leave and there is not time to make them a custom eye. He can do minor adjustments to the shape of the pre-made eye to fit the patient.

Here's Protashow translating for me with Osia. Osia got a new socket this year. Her foot, amazingly enough, was still in good condition. She walks a ton! She has broken feet in past years, so it was great to see a foot that held up for her.

Chris doing an adjustment on Hachoompwe's new prosthesis. We have seen him every year too since the first trip in 2012. He got a whole new prosthesis this year.

After we were finished with patients, we finished up the rest of the fabrication of the remaining prostheses and then started with organizing supplies before stopping for the evening.

Always love the skies in Zambia. Not cluttered with tall buildings...just the vast expanse of God's creation.

After dinner, John and Traci went down to the dining hall for praise and worship. Here's the "Who's Here" bulletin board where they have pictures of teams that come. All our tiny little pictures are up there to help the kids know our faces and names.


Standing to sing at praise and worship.

And that was it for Thursday. Friday would be more patient fittings with the group from Macha coming back. 

*Next post: Friday, April 28: Macha group patient fittings

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