Saturday, April 29: Choma group patient fittings

On Saturday, again Protashow left first thing in the morning with the bus to go pick up patients. The patients who we told to come back for fittings from Choma would meet at the Disabilities Office again to be picked up in the bus. 

When we got up to the clinic Saturday morning, Juliety was already there waiting on us. This picture is the initial fitting process of getting the liner and socket fitting well and comfortable.

After making sure the prosthesis fit well, here's Juliety learning to walk with the prosthesis. She did well with getting the knee to bend and was anxious to walk without her crutches. I'm sure she'll be walking without crutches very soon.

Everyone waiting on the porch. There were 13 prosthetic patients and 7 eye patients for fittings on Saturday. 

Chris fitting Hamanyuma with his prosthesis. 

Patients watching the Jesus film on the porch. Instead of a projector on a sheet like on Friday, Saturday we had a TV screen which was much easier to see.

Traci fitting Maggie with Mulenga translating for them.

Adjusting Steven's prosthesis. He was so determined to learn how to walk with the prosthesis quickly. He was practicing up and down the sidewalk outside the clinic once we finished with the fitting. I was glad to see Steven this year since we didn't have materials to make him a prosthesis last year.

Traci fitting Triness with a partial foot prosthesis. The front part of her foot is amputated but she still has her heel.

This took a bit of creativity to make. I had to cut a prosthetic foot to get just the flat rigid carbon plate that acts as the full foot in the shoe. Triness walked really well with the prosthesis, and this will definitely be helpful in protecting her residual foot.

By Saturday we were running really low on shoes, especially larger sizes. Chris ended up giving her shoes to a patient and walked around the clinic in just her socks for the rest of the day.

Here's Cloudy learning how to walk with the prosthesis. Mulenga was translating and instructing him. 

John's patient before...

...and after. 

Before...

...and after.

                          

First look in the hand mirror. It's nice to see people's reactions when they see themselves in the mirror after fitting with their prosthetic eye. 

Waiting on the porch. Something I found really awesome was how the group on Saturday were so supportive of each other. After someone was finished with fitting of their prosthesis and walked back out on the porch, everyone clapped.

Cambree showing her fine assistant skills and organized notes on each of John's patients. She helped John again on Saturday by translating.

Misozi before...

...and after. Beautiful smile showing how happy she was!

Jorum learning to walk with his prosthesis.

This is Colence. He had a prosthesis that was many years old that we repaired and then also casted him for a new prosthesis. We told him we would make him a new one if we had enough materials and time....so he was obviously really excited that we were able to make him a new one. 

Another of John's patients before...

...and after.

I really love how intently he's looking at his new prosthetic eye.

After everyone was finished being fit, it was mid-afternoon. Here's everyone loaded back up on the bus for Protashow to take them back to Choma. 

After everyone left, we packed up the clinic supplies and equipment for storage until next year. We left hand tools and supplies that Protashow may need for repairs easily accessible. 

After finishing up at the clinic, we stopped by to see the kids at Kid's Club. Here's everyone lining up for food.

And then (shocking to us all) Chris actually climbed the water tower this year to see the sunset. So excited that she finally did it....such a beautiful view from the water tower.

After dinner, everyone was stopping in at the guesthouse to say goodbyes. Then someone in a car arrived at New Day's front gate after dark...after they went to see who it was, we found out it was someone who came for a prosthesis. Talk about really bad timing. We got his contact info and will see him next year. 

We would leave New Day on Sunday morning to head to Livingstone. This year, we took an extra day at the end of our trip as a "personal" day to go on a safari in Botswana. We've wanted to do this but have hesitated in the past, since our trip is for this mission work. We all decided with the same working days as past trips, we could just tack on an extra day at the end and each pay our own way for a safari. 

*Next post: Sunday, April 30-Wednesday, May 3: Victoria Falls, a safari and heading home

Sunday, April 30-Wednesday, May 3: Victoria Falls, a safari and heading home

Sunday morning we left for Livingstone...leaving for home with a lot less luggage than we came with. Once we got to Livingstone, we had time in the afternoon to go to Victoria Falls. Chris, John, Protashow and I have seen the Falls before but this was Traci and Rick's first time. 

There was so much mist, so you could only get glimpses of the falls. There was a really good rainy season in Zambia this year, which equals more water at the falls.

The bridge connecting Zambia and Zimbabwe.

There's just no way pictures can capture how awe inspiring it is to see Victoria Falls. God's majesty and power reflected in this natural setting. 

There's some baboons that hang out around the entrance to Victoria Falls.

And sit on people's cars. 

On Monday we got up early to do an all day safari. Protashow drove us to the border of Botswana where we would cross over on a ferry.

Everyone walking down to the ferry. They load cars and a large truck or two and then however many people will fit on around the vehicles.

View of the other ferry crossing as we were crossing over.

They are building this bridge connecting Zambia and Botswana, which will make it much easier and faster. Right now, trucks waiting to cross have to wait 1-2 weeks once they get in line to cross over on the ferry. 

Getting our passports stamped.

And then headed to the lodge before the safari. A man from the lodge picked us up once we got off the ferry.

We had coffee and sandwiches breakfast here before they drove us to the river for the morning portion of the safari, which was on a boat. This area around the lodges and national park is much more affluent...could definitely tell it's a tourist destination.

Loading up on the boat for the river portion of the safari. This is on the Chobe River.

Here's our guide for the morning, Innocent, giving us some general information before we headed out.

We had lunch at the Chobe Safari Lodge and then our next guide took us on the land portion of the safari for the afternoon.

These elephants came by SO CLOSE to the vehicle on their way to the river for water.

It was so awesome to be able to do this safari and see God's amazing animals in their natural setting! I took so many pictures but just shared a few here to show a glimpse of what we saw.

Tuesday morning Protashow dropped us off at the airport, where we met up with Teacher Carolyn from New Day who traveled home with us. We flew from Livingstone to Johannesburg, overnight to London and then back home to DFW on Wednesday. 

Until next time...

What an absolutely amazing trip for PPIHN!! This was trip #5...we are in awe of what all God has accomplished in just 5 years through Prosthetic Promises. And we're excited to see what's in store for the future. We are so thankful for all of your continued prayers and support for this mission. To God be the glory! 

It's 2017 and we're 3 months away from our trip!

First of all...happy new year! It's amazing to me that's it's 2017. Goodness time flies. 

We had intended to keep our trips every Spring, but last year we had to move our trip to September. (Reasoning in my blog post here.) So now the time from our 2016 trip in September to our 2017 trip in April seems very, very fast!

We have been basically in preparation mode since we returned in September. John made a trip to load supplies in the shipping container in Kansas in the first part of December. And we are gathering supplies that we will need to take as checked luggage on flights since the shipping container won't make it there before we do in April. 

This year's trip will be the last part of April...leaving around the 15th. So that means we're just 3 months away!! Our team this year will be Chris (prosthetist), John (ocularist), Traci (prosthetist, my sister) and me (prosthetist). I am so glad Chris is able to go this trip since she was unable to go last time, and I know she is beyond excited to be back in Zambia. And I'm so unbelievably excited that Traci gets to go this year. I find that many people are surprised that my sister and I are in the same profession...perhaps it's a bit unusual. But I think it's amazing for opportunities like this. Geographically we can't work together everyday with me in North Texas and she is in Houston, but we'll get to work side by side in Zambia. I'm thrilled to be able to share with her the wonderful experience it is to do the work God is calling us to by providing prosthetic services in Zambia. Getting so excited!!