I wrote on my team blog today...so I figured I might as well share it on mine as well. I'm all for killing two birds with one stone. I also have been wanting to share a bit more about the spider situation here....so here it is!
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Well, good morning everyone! This is Whitney here to give you a little update on our adventure!
It is so hard to believe we are already well into our last week here in Zambia. I think I can speak for everyone when I say that it is a very bittersweet feeling to be going home so soon. On one hand, we are all dying to see our loved ones and to sleep in spider-less rooms (and let's be honest...drinking Starbucks is pretty high on the list as well) but at the same time, we have grown to love this beautiful place and are not quite ready to say goodbye! Our relationships with the Zambians have formed easily and our experiences have been so rewarding. What a blessing this place has been!
My main goal for this blog post is to enlighten all of our wonderful readers about a little issue we have been having here in Macha...
Two Words: Spider Infestation.
Let me tell you a little story...
After living with 15 girls all in one room for about 4 weeks in Choma...it was so nice to be able to unpack our stuff and have rooms of just 3 here in Macha. Chrissy, Rachel and I were assigned to live in Room 1 of our little hostel. I was very happy with this rooming situation and we gleefully unpacked our belongings in the closet and quickly felt at home in our little room. Macha has had the reputation from previous teams for having lots of spiders and bad food, but we were pleasantly surprised to have two great meals on our first day and no major spider encounters.
That brings me to our first night staying here in Macha. Rachel and I had already gotten in bed with our mosquito nets tucked in tightly when Chrissy came in and began to climb up into the top bunk right above me. Our beds were covered with heavy fleece blankets (I'll never understand why) that were highly unnecessary so I hear her slowly roll the blanket to the end of the bed. All of a sudden I heard a quiet gasp and some shuffling in the bed above me. When I asked Chrissy what was wrong, all I could hear was something along the lines of "theresaspiderinmybed". (just like that too...so fast that I could barely understand her) Knowing the fear of spiders among us is a very legitimate fear, I quickly got out of bed to see if I could help.
What happened next is something I wish we could have captured on camera for you. Chrissy was standing in the ninja position on her bed, with a creepy black spider staring up at her with its beady little eyes. All of a sudden, the spider made its move...some would say it was preparing to attack. Chrissy lunged off the top bunk (backwards), ripping the mosquito net from the ceiling. Fortunately, she landed safely in my arms...I couldn't even think fast enough to move so it's a good thing I was already standing there!
It took us a good thirty minutes to actually kill the spider in her bed (plus another one that was mocking us from the corner of the room). Then another thirty minutes to calm Chrissy down and convince her that it would actually be safe to sleep in her bed. We removed all of our fleece blankets and did a thorough check before any of us actually made it back into bed. (plus a trip to the kitchen for some chocolate and water...that was tough work we had just done!) Then we all went into a sweaty, sleepless night due to having a broken fan and having been so worked up from the spider situation. (don't feel too bad...we now have the most amazing fan and our room is actually pretty cold at night!)
I wish I could tell you that was the end of our spider struggles, but it was only the beginning. The next day, a spider came scurrying out of Chrissy's ZIPPED backpack, causing another freak out moment. We then decided we needed to keep a tally of all the spiders we have experienced in just our room alone. I'll let the following picture speak for itself.
yep, that's right. 57 spiders killed in our room alone. (as of this morning) PLUS the three huge bugs. (shudder)
Late night spider killing...thank goodness for spider spray!
Kaitlin is the spider killing MASTER.
Not all of these pictures are from our room....there are also many, many spiders creeping around our hostel. This last picture is one of the "scorpion" spiders that frequent around here.
It has been slightly traumatizing but we have made it through! (hopefully...we still have a few more days here) The majority of our group member's are terrified of spiders, but we have all conquered our fears and killed at least a couple spiders. Usually we call Kaitlin or Alyssa to come do it for us...but there are those rare moments when you are forced to face those things alone.
Thank you for listening to my rant about spiders. Again, I think I speak for all of us when I say we will NOT be missing the constant fear of spiders crawling out of every crevice and having to check every corner of the bathroom stall before sitting down, etc.
Back to the update on our team:
We have had the awesome opportunity to join the Macha School of Nursing students in their assessment of a local community. We went to a nearby village with more than 70 homes and helped them do a community assessment. First we mapped the entire village and then went around to each individual home and interviewed the adults. What a humbling, once-in-a-lifetime experience. I think we all had our eyes opened through this. We also were able to form relationships with the nursing students and that has been so cool!
Most of us have also had the chance to do a night clinical at the hospital. Most of the wards are very slow at night, so we all have stayed in the OB ward. It has been such a rewarding time and many of us were able to actually deliver some babies! Several also utilized our Helping Babies Breathe teaching by doing neonatal resuscitation. It has been such a cool experience. (though I will say the bugs/spiders are almost worse at the hospital during the night!)
Today was our last day of classes and all that is left is Livingstone from Friday to Tuesday! What an amazing journey it has been. Sorry our blog posts have been infrequent, but if you check out any of our Facebooks, many of us have our own individual blogs you can check out as well!
Thank you for all the prayers and continual support of our team. We can never thank you all enough for everything you do for us! Right now I think we could use prayer the most for our goodbyes to Zambia, each other, and adjusting back to life in America.
Blessings!
Whitney
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And just a verse to leave you with...
He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadows of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, "He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust." Surely he will save you from the fowler's snare and from the deadly pestilence. He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.
Psalm 91:1-4
