Friday, May 29, 2015

Last Day in Macha!

Today was a good day! We started off getting to sleep in a little longer then usual, breakfast was not until 8:00. After breakfast the plan was to head to the hospital in Macha for a tour. This was a really neat experience and many of the nursing students in our group especially enjoyed the experience. A highlight for many was the maternity ward. We saw multiple mothers holding their new born babies. One of the babies was only one day old and the mother was already walking around, we couldn't believe it. The hospital in Macha has made huge health improvements within a 35 mile radius and one of the main leaders in this improvements is Phil Thuma, Eric Thuma's father. One of the many accomplishments is that they have almost entirely eliminated malaria in Macha.

After the hospital tour, another group of girls were given the opportunity to play with children in the hospital while the rest of us headed off to MICS one last time. Today was game day! It had been hyped up all week that we were going to play the MICS team of students on our last day so you can imagine their celebration when they scored on us in the first 30 seconds of the game (before we even touched the ball). But don't worry..we came back and were able to get the win 2-1. Although everyone on our team is super competitive and we don't like to get scored on, it was awesome to see the joy the early goal brought both the children playing and the children watching the game. After the game, Ally shared a little bit of encouragement and thanked the students and teachers for such a fun week. We sang songs with the kids and danced with the teachers before we said our goodbyes and headed back to the rec center for yet another wonderful lunch made by Corie. Today we had homemade french bread pizza with noodles and fresh veggies. It was amazing.

Ally entertaining MIC students during the halftime of our game

Dancing and singing before saying goodbye

After lunch, we had a few hours for free time which was for the most part used for napping. We all ended up hanging out at the rec center with some children before we left to either watch the sunset on top of a water tower or watch a local soccer game. I (Lydia) chose to do the sunset on the water tower. Chris, the administrator of the Malaria Research Organization took us there, which was about a 10 minute walk from Eric and Corie's house. The tower was about 100 feet tall and for all the moms reading this I want to start off saying that everyone made it up and down safe and sound. However, I think we all can agree that the climb was one of the most nerve wracking things we have ever done. The tower previously housed over 3 huge bee hives making the rungs of the narrow ladder sticky with honey. Even though the bees had been cleared out the honey, combined with the sweat on our hands made the journey up the dark inside of the water tower pretty scary. We were all shaking, out of breath, and pretty fatigued by the time we got to the top. We arrived at the top of the tower in plenty of time to see the sun set but were more than ready to take a breath, regroup, and enjoy the view. You could see for miles and miles. We got to see the beauty of the land and enjoy each other while watching the sun melt into the horizon. The trek down was much easier and quicker than the climb up (for all of us except Reese who may or may not of shed a tear or two once she made it to the bottom). After the water tower experience, we headed back to the dorm for showers before we met everyone for dinner at the rec center.

Proof of Reese's tears after the water tower climb

And I (Nikki) chose to go to the local soccer game with the rest of the bunch and Eric. A few highlights of the game were that we went to the local market and got some lollipops to have while we watched and we befriended a lizard that we named Lizzy. As for highlights of the actual soccer part of the game one team won 6-0, and we saw some exciting goals. Some girls only stayed until half time causing them to miss 5 of the 6 goals. It was an eventful second half. The field was backdropped by an amazing sunset towards the end of the second half. It was also cool to see a few young boys on the sideline who had made a soccer ball out of tied up grocery bags, playing a pickup game. It is great to see the game we all love being played and enjoyed so simply. You do not need fancy equipment to play the beautiful game just a ball and some friends. After the game was dinner and we got to eat with Eric's parents and learn more about the hospital and malaria research. Then following dinner local young adults came to the rec center for friday night game night. And during this time some us us ventured to Vera's house to pick up our costume made pants. She finished about 25 pairs in only a few days on top of full time nursing/teaching job at the hospital. What a woman, we are thankful and all love our new pants.

You can tell, I am sure, that it was a another great day in Macha and a great way to wrap up our time here as we will be heading to Livingston in the morning. We were sad to say bye to all of the friends we have made here but are thankful for the time we were given to be apart of the community this week. It is truly a welcoming and loving community of people. They always made us feel "most welcome" wherever we found ourselves. We just want to give Eric and Corie Thuma a shoutout because it was their five year anniversary today and they chose to spend it hosting all of us. They are seriously the best, we mean it! But no word we could write would accurately express all they have done for us and all the time they have sacrificed to let us experience Zambia with them.

Love,
MWS (Big Lyd and Nikki)