BYU Muzungus in Zambia

So here's the deal. I love Zambia. I never want to come home. I want to be African. I want to live the way they do and be who they are. It's kinda pathetic how obsessed I am with this place and these people. They are beautiful. So here's a little culture crash course for you so you can understand my infatuation. FOOD Here is what an authentic Zambian meal is like: Nshima is the staple, it's ground up corn that looks like mashed potatoes. They eat it with everything, meat, sauce, and vegetables. No utensils of course. They also eat capenta, which is little tiny super salty sardine-like fish. Eggplant apparently has some kind of relative called impwa which is more bitter. They have a dark leafy green vegetable called rape that they eat with most every meal. I was pretty lost when people would refer to it the first little while. The eat okra, sweet potato leaves, and meat on special occasions or whenever they have it. African bologna is quite th

Our involvement with the girl empowerment projects was one of the greatest draws for me when I was deciding which global health study program I wanted to do almost a year ago. I have always been passionate about women’s health issues and using gender empowerment to help close that gap. At African Impact they have a project whose single aim is to empower girls and young women to take more control of their lives by educating them on issues relating to health, decision making, secondary education, career training, and teaching marketable skills. Because we were on their medical team, most of my involvement with the Girl Impact program was relating to health education. One of the highlights has been being here for Zambia’s National Health Week. We were able to participate in a bike ride throughout Livingstone as well as give multiple menstruation seminars to the 5-12 graders. It was such a neat experience. We went to three different schools that week, two of them

Sharon Eubank, one of the women leaders of our church who does a lot with the humanitarian programs gave this amazing speech at BYU back in January. It was amazing then and I felt like I was absorbing a lot of what she was sharing. But, in preparation for this internship we were asked to reread this talk titled You are the Gift and strive to apply what is taught throughout our time here in Zambia. Here is the link to the talk if you would like to read it. I highly recommend it! It has changed the way I treat simple daily interactions with others--which changes everything! You are the Gift A few of the highlight reels that I pulled from this: - the gift that we give to others has little to do with what we give but how we give of ourselves - being willing to listen is one of the most impressionable things we can do - one-on-one ministering is how hearts are touched and connections forged - to be an eagle that soars rather than a hog that wallows I need to be the best version of

So many beauties here in Zambia (and Zimbabwe and Botswana) that I am just beyond myself. Over the last few weeks we have been able to see many of God's beautiful creations. They take the form of animals, natural wonders, people, and the gorgeous sunsets.  One of the things I love most, Moms. We visited Victoria Falls on Mother's Day so naturally... We were able to go to Victoria Falls our second week here. It was breathtaking. I was floored that this thing could naturally occur in our world. I was reminded of how great our Creator was and was overwhelmed with peace. That's something that I have really noticed here, there are far more moments of peace when I am separated from the busyness of my day to day life. There have been countless times during a sunset, sunrise, walk to the market, moment playing with the kids, minute listening to these beautiful people talk about their challenges, second when I meet eyes with a lion etc,. that time stands st

This internship has been absolutely incredible so far. I just love every minute. Not because its all glamorous but because for the most part it is so rewarding. I feel like the preparation, counseling, education, and supplies we provide is really helping these people. Here is what a typical day looks like working with African Impact. All the volunteers with African Impact stay at this backpacking lodge/hostel. There are 15 other volunteers that are staying in the house with us. There are 4-6 per room. When they get more volunteers, they stay in the other rooms that the backpackers normally stay in. The facilities are really nice here--better than I expected. There are ladies that clean for us and cook for all our meals. The food here is pretty good, lots of salad because vegetables are plentiful but most other food is fried. SO much salt on everything. This is our daily schedule: 6:30 wake up 6:40 breakfast with all the other volunteers. We eat mostly cereal or toa

We have seen some pretty incredible things with almost 2 full weeks of going out on home visits here in Livingstone. The way it is set up we split up into 3 groups and each visits a different village or township. Every day we go to a different village and so in one week African impact sends people to 15 different villages/clinics in this area. It's pretty incredible the reach that they are able to have. A typical morning in home based care starts with us getting picked up in the "Muzungu Bus" as it has been named which means "white man-bus" as the little kids shout it from the streets when we drive by their homes or schools. Then we drive anywhere from 5-30 minutes away where we meet out caregivers. The caregivers are people who are familiar with the village and the people who we need to visit. We have a record for each area but they are able to translate and make sure what we tell the patients gets communicated correctly. They are super helpful as their are n