Ngiya Jabula = "I Am Happy"

This week has been a blur of classes, clinicals, music, tea, chapel, homework (not as prominent as it should have been), and finding God all around me. It all started Sunday, when I was able to attend one of the three churches we are provided rides to, and it was absolutely incredible. The church is called God’s Family Life Center, and from the second I walked in the door I could feel the Holy Spirit moving and felt so welcomed by everyone around me. The worship was amazing, passionate, gospel-ish, with dancing, clapping, and endless joy. I felt so comfortable worshipping, and it truly blessed me. The pastor was also incredible in His passion for the Lord, and his knowledge of scripture. He knew the Bible backward and forward, and he quoted different verses all throughout his message, even though it was based on one specific passage. It was so great to hear Truth spoken so plainly, and to be greeted by everyone so openly! Everyone gave hugs when greeting each other, and there’s nothing that helps you feel more like part of a family than by receiving a hug from someone you’ve just met. It actually turned out that there was an outreach service that same night, and I ended up going with a couple other students. If the first service I attended hadn’t made me fall completely in love with this body of believers, that night certainly did the trick. It was once again an amazing time of worship, testimonies, praise dance, prayer, anointing, and overall glorifying God through song, dance, and spoken word. Even though this is the first church I’ve attended, and they suggest maybe trying all three and then picking one that you want to consistently attend, I’m pretty sure I’m just going to stick with what I’ve got…because I already can’t wait to go back on Sunday!

Monday is a heavy class-load day, so it was basically filled with lectures, all of which are going very well so far, and then that night a bunch of us did a Turbo Jam kickboxing video, as well as a P90X Ab Ripper workout video, which almost killed me, while feeling great at the same time. Exercise will hopefully remain a consistent activity while staying here. Tuesday and Wednesday were long days because they were two back-to-back clinical days. Normally we go on Tuesdays and Thursdays, but Thursday was a national holiday this week (Heritage Day), so we switched it up. Tuesday I was in the Prevention of Mother To Child Transmission (PMTCT) clinic, and I definitely learned a lot about HIV/AIDS and the risks of pregnancy, available treatment, and prevention methods implemented in the clinic. There was not a whole lot I could do as far as interactive patient care, but I did some record keeping, history taking from a few patients, and got to learn many things from the nurses working there. Wednesday I went to the ARV (anti-retroviral) clinic, which is in charge of monitoring HIV/AIDS patients, keeping their blood tests up to date (which include CD4 count, viral load, full blood count, and liver function tests), as well as providing medications to those receiving treatment. Due to the holiday on Thursday, things were CRAZY in the clinic because everyone who would have come on Thursday was added to Wednesday. Because of this, there wasn’t much I could do to help besides simple record-keeping, as the patients were basically herded like cattle, as fast as they could go through the clinic. The second half of the day, in order to learn as much as possible from the experience rather than just doing paperwork the whole time, I sat in a room with a doctor and was able to observe her as she saw each patient individually and learn from her as she talked me through everything. It was truly helpful getting her perspective on the matter and learning from the experiences she’s had. One thing she told me that really stuck was that within the clinic where we were working, 90-95% of the people have HIV/AIDS. Now, they don’t necessarily know this, since many people haven’t been tested, but she was confident that this statistic was correct. Well, regardless of the exact percentage, the point is that HIV/AIDS is extremely prevalent here. In fact, the doctor also told me that KwaZulu-Natal (the province we’re staying in right now) has a higher rate of HIV/AIDS than any other province in South Africa. I know I am going to learn so much, but most of all I know I’m going to be broken down by the devastation and suffering around me caused by this horrible disease.

After those two clinical days, Thurday was a day off from classes, which was much needed. I basically slept in, played guitar for quite a while, did absolutely no homework, a group of us went out to dinner at a pizza place (because some of us were craving pizza - and I ended up ordering one with bananas on it...it was amazing!), and then I had chapel worship practice, followed by an awesome gospel jam session…which consisted of blasting gospel music in the chapel room, while we danced around, singing and clapping our little hearts out…it was fabulous. Friday, just like Monday, is a heavier class-load day, so I was busy with that most of the day. However, tonight a bunch of us went out to a youth outreach to support Fox Fire, a ministry associated with African Enterprise (the facility where we’re living). Fox Fire is composed of college-aged students who dance and sing, and in their performance present the gospel. Well, we didn’t really know what we were getting into, but it turned out to be a bunch of different groups singing, dancing, and doing drama, but there was one choir in particular which sang at the end, and it basically blew my mind. Some of the most incredible singing I’ve ever heard, and it truly brought joy to my soul and put the biggest smile on my face for the longest time. Right after the performance I asked Phillip, our wonderful driver, how to say, “I am happy” in Zulu, and he told me it is Ngiya Jabula. I kept repeating that phrase all the way home. Music continues to be a central and powerful force in this trip, and I wouldn’t want it any other way.

Today was “Durban Day,” so we all loaded into cars and went to Durban to shop and enjoy the beautiful beach! We all loaded up on souvenirs for family, friends, and ourselves, and then headed over to the water. It was a wonderfully sunny day, and I think we all enjoyed being introduced to the Indian Ocean…it was quite crowded, and there is only a small portion of water that people are allowed to swim in, so it was ridiculously crowded...also, we always seem to stand out when all of us travel as a group, but it was a very relaxing day none the less. Anyway, homework awaits! So until next time, I hope and pray God blesses you and fills you with His endless joy!

Music to My Ears

After going through the first week of life and classes here in Pietermaritzburg, there are already so many thoughts and incredible experiences to share. I am currently taking four classes, Community Health Nursing, Ethics (which is my senior seminar class), Nursing Research, and History and Culture of South Africa…as well as an Introductory Zulu course, which doesn’t count for any credit, but is just for our own personal benefit in order to understand and speak basic Zulu to the people here. Everything is pretty relaxed, and there are even two “tea time” breaks throughout the day, which is a wonderful time to get everyone together, drink tea (or juice in my case), take a break from class, and share in sweet fellowship. They feed us very well here at each meal, a little too well actually, which is why I have started taking up running as a hobby. I much prefer other forms of cardio, but running is what’s available, so I’m adjusting.

Tea Time!

Also on the topic of hobbies, music has been a big part of my week. I have been blessed enough to take the APU guitar captive, which has been brought along for chapel times and is technically available to anyone who might want to use it. Being able to play the guitar almost every day has blessed me so much, and even though having piano would be wonderful as well, once again I’ll take what’s available. Although I’ve always known it, I’m realizing all over again how much I adore music…it truly touches my soul. We even had one night when, while preparing for chapel, there were about six people crammed into my room, with different people switching off playing guitar and everyone singing different harmony parts for various worship songs. It was fabulous. There was also a group of us who sang all throughout our bus ride today, because there was no radio, so we made our own music! We’re learning Zulu songs as well, which I love so much! I just hope and pray that music continues to be a significant part of this trip as the weeks go on.

However, some of the “music to my ears” experienced this week was of a different nature completely. It was actually in the form of one word: cured. I started working at a community health center this Thursday, and I was placed in the TB clinic. It was a great start to my clinical experience, and I was able to learn a lot throughout the day, but there was one moment in particular which really touched me. As I learned from the nurse and worked along side her, we saw patient after patient, some waiting for results from TB screening, some starting their treatment, some part way through their treatment, and some finishing their treatment, and it was actually a patient being “discharged” from the program who opened my eyes to something very important. As the nurse was filling out his final papers, she got to the end and there was a section that had about five different boxes, and one of them needed to be filled regarding the effectiveness of the treatment. The box she checked off said “Cured.” As simple as that. This caught me off guard. Cured? Really? I couldn’t help but smiling and feeling this incredible sense of joy as I realized, although there is incredible disparity in this world, horrible sickness, and often times seemingly more bad than good, there are things which can be cured. There is healing. There is effective treatment. There is hope, and although ultimately it rests in the Lord and not in modern medicine, this experience made me realize how excited I am to be a part of providing that hope, not only though medicine, but through sharing the source of true Hope with those I serve.

Besides the start of clinical, there were actually other very exciting things that took place this weekend. Most weekends have some sort of “excursion” planned out, and today was pretty action packed! First, we all went to a Birds of Prey reserve where we were able to see all sorts of incredible birds and watch a show that taught us about the diverse population of birds here and their way of life. Next we went to a lion park, and although we didn’t actually get to drive into the enclosure where they were, we got to go right up to the fence and get a good look at them…they are gorgeous animals. And I got to pet one! We then went up to one of the highest points near where we’ve living and got to look out on the whole city. Next we went to the train station where in 1893 Gandhi was evicted from a first class compartment of a train. There is a monument in the train station that states, “This incident changed the course of his life. He took up the fight for racial oppression. His active non-violence started from that date.” This was quite a special visit, and I actually didn’t know about any of this before today, so I was very pleased to learn more about Gandhi and the inspiration for his work. The beauty and incredible history of this place continue to amaze me.

Up close and personal!

Quite possibly the ugliest bird I have ever seen in my entire life.

My wonderful roommate Teresa!

Well, that about sums up the significant incidences and topics of the week. Much more to come as the weeks go by I’m sure, but for now thank you so much for your support! And know that I love and appreciate you all so much, and you are in my thoughts and prayers!

And it begins...

After lots of prayer, long hours on multiple planes, a few bus rides, and some hauling of over-sized luggage across various terrain, I arrived in South Africa! Our team actually spent the first two days in Johannesburg, and were able during that time to go to a theme park (no...I'm not kidding), visit the Apartheid Museum, and take a tour of the township Soweto. These were all incredible experiences, but I would have to say the tour of Soweto was probably my favorite...I especially enjoyed being able to go to the only street in the world where two Nobel Peace Prize winners lived, Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu, and visit their former homes.

Although we loved spending that time in Johannesburg, I think our whole group was excited to finally make our way to Pietermeritzberg (PMB), which will be our home for the next eleven weeks. Despite the warnings of how gorgeous it is here, I was still in awe, and will continue to be in awe for quite some time, at the beauty that is surrounding me here. It is so green everywhere, and there is a waterfall and a bamboo forest right outside where we're staying. There are monkeys everywhere, and right next to us is a game reserve where we can walk around with zebras and wild buck right next to us...craziness. The place we are staying is called African Enterprises, and the twenty-nine of us on the trip (nine of which are nursing majors) are staying in chalets, which have four rooms each, one or two people per room.

After having orientation today and getting our schedules and an idea for what our weeks in PMB will look like, I am so excited for what's going to take place here and all the learning and growing that I know is bound to happen...and the beauty of studying in a different country is that I don't only get to learn what's taught to me in classes, I get to learn about a culture, people, and history different than my own. I get to interact not only with other students from APU, but with South Africans who will be teaching classes, serving as cultural mentors, and once I start clinical, with South Africans needing health care.

Entering into this adventure I have so many thoughts and feelings, but one thing I know for certain is that God will do incredible things, and I can't wait for it all to unfold. I have so much to learn, and I pray I will humbled daily.

Quote of the Day:

"To be free is not merely to cast off one's chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others."

Nelson Mandela