A Sobering Experience

Yesterday we had the opportunity to travel through some of the health clinics around Lusaka and it was quite a sobering experience. Beth and I went together in one truck, and were speechless with what we saw: The clinics were sparse and yet the staff welcomed us with open arms. At several of the clinics, patients were waiting outside or in the hallways, and they had been waiting all day to see a doctor for testing or their medicines. Oftentimes these clinics are 50km from their houses. Because it’s now rainy season, many of the villages were flooded and people were walking through the muddy streets with suitcases on their heads, attempting to escape from their homes. The dirt roads had “puddles” that were 3’ deep and there were several times that I wondered how we were ever going to get back if the truck got stuck in the mud.

Many of the compounds were so densely populated, and it was uncommon to see anyone over the age of 40. In Zambia the average life expectancy is less than 40 years, mainly due to the high incidence of HIV. Despite the occurrence of HIV in much of the population, there is still such a stigma with the disease here and one of the nurses explained to us that people are still dying at home because they (or their families) are too ashamed to go to the clinics to get the life-saving medicines. Many people miss appointments at the clinics because of funerals for loved ones. At one clinic, we met a kind doctor who said, “When are you returning? Then you can help us by working here.”

As we climbed a hill to get to one of the clinics Beth asked what the tents in the fields were for. Our driver explained that they are for the quarantined people who have cholera. And yet, the children were running in the streets, playing in the muddy water and oblivious of the hardships they face. I arrived home last night, overwhelmed by what I had seen, and yet hopeful knowing the spirit of the local people and the tenacity of the local organizations to improve life for the Zambian people.