Zimba Mission Hospital Day 1

We awoke this morning, still fighting the jetlag, and excited about the day ahead. Every morning, we start with a chapel service of worship in Tonga (the local language) and a short message. I hope that heaven sounds like that. There is truly nothing like acapella African worship.  

After chapel, I began rounds with Dr. Dan in the maternity ward and let me start by saying, I knew these 6 weeks were not going to be easy. I just could not have imagined the reality of how hard it would be. It was a hard day. One hopeful pregnant woman tells me her story through a translator. Pregnant for the 6th time and she has no children. 2 late term stillbirths, 1 miscarriage, 2 newborns dead from malaria and pneumonia. Many women had similar stories. While not completely uncommon in her culture, her pain and tears were as real as any American woman hoping to be a mom. Heartbreaking. 

Next, we made our way across to the pediatrics ward. The first bed we walked up to there was a small child who looked to be about 8 or 9, curled up beneath a blanket hooked up to IV and oxygen. She was brought in last night after being sick many weeks and was thought to have pneumonia. The child's family sat anxiously by her bedside. As Dr. Dan pulled back the blanket to examine her, it was clear she had died several hours before. My first pediatric case here in Zambia. Heartbroken.

The remainder of the day I worked in the outpatient and the HIV clinic as a steady stream of sick patients filed in. It was not an easy day. 

But there were also moments of joy today. Children with giant smiles making faces at me and giggling as I treated patients in clinic. Watching the expansive Zambian sky turn 15 shades of red and orange as the sun went down. There will be more moments of joy here, there will be moments of dancing and singing and healing. His mercies are new every morning. 

Today was a reminder that God is God, I am not. Today was a reminder that this life is a gift that will fade like the dust. Today was a reminder that this world is not our home. God is still good all the time, on the best days and on the most heartbreaking days. Come, Lord Jesus, come.

Tomorrow I will be rounding on patients and working in outpatient clinic on my own. Prayers appreciated. 

Today's the day

Today we will be traveling to Zimba, entering the rural African life and beautiful people that I fell in love with 3 years ago. Outside of the big cities, in the tiny villages, in the mud made churches, with those voices singing praise and those precious babies' big brown eyes staring back at me. That is where my heart awakens. That is where my soul is overwhelmed with joy. These are the people who impacted me so much before and I know they will do the same again. "I need Africa more than Africa needs me." You can't understand it until you've been, then it all makes sense. 

Many people have asked how they can pray for us. It is so greatly appreciated!

Pray that we are given enlightened eyes to see each of our patients as our Abba does. Ps 68:5-6 "A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling. God sets the lonely in families, he leads out the prisoners with singing." 

Pray for miracles, healings, revivals, and giftings that the Spirit would rush like a mighty wind and the King of Glory would be renowned. 

Pray for words of compassion, hands of gentleness and love, and boldness to speak the truth of the gospel. Ps 147:3 - "He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds." 

Pray for daily revelation of the power we have in Christ, that we are more than conquerors when we feel defeated, and humble spirits that we are capable of nothing in our own strength. 

Pray for physical and mental endurance, focused minds, and good health that we may serve well. The jet lag has definitely set in. Thank you, thank you, thank you! 

You can also follow Tanner's photojournal here: http://tannercale.com/photojournal 

Nashville -> Johannesburg

At 5:40pm yesterday, after a last American meal of chipotle (thank you Dulles), Tanner and I settled in for the long 17 hour flight to South Africa. I have this issue where I revert to a newborn baby on international flights, only waking to eat and use the bathroom and then turning back over to sleep. I did, however, manage to watch Silver Linings Playbook, Date Night, & about 17 minutes of Les Mis. 

We stopped for an hour to refuel in Dakar, Senegal and then flew 8 more hours to arrive here in Johannesburg, South Africa. We took a bus to our hotel and got to see a quick glimpse of this bustling city. It reminds me of the old school section of the Vegas strip. Tons of neon lighting. 

Right now, I'm sitting in my hotel room thinking that its actually almost 1pm and not quarter til 8pm as it is here, thankful for wifi, and excited for the adventure to come. Tomorrow we fly to Livingstone, Zambia around 11am before driving to our final destination, Zimba.

Thank you for your continued prayer and words of support! My sweet friends sent me off with a card to encourage me every single day and those words have already given life to my exhausted heart. Thank you! Miss you! Much love! 

And away we go

I'm not sure what the Internet situation will be once we get to Zambia but hopefully I'll be able to give updates as much as possible. Tanner and I are minutes away from take-off in DC and in 17 hours we will land in Johannesburg, South Africa. From there we fly to Livingstone, Zambia before traveling to Zimba.

This journey began last summer when I was told I'd been given one of the spots for Africa and I have been completely humbled and overwhelmed by the outpouring of prayer, finances, support, & encouragement by my friends and family. Thank you! Thank you for helping this dream become a reality and for pushing me to step outside of my box. 

God is good all the time! All the time God is good! Praise His name! Let's do this!!

Four Days, Four Years

Four days until we take off. 1:22pm on Sunday to be exact. 

Hopefully by this time next week I will be settled in Zimba. 

In the meantime, I am finishing my to do lists and attempting to get packed up. 

Fun fact: Did you know that you can be arrested for drug trafficking if you try to bring Benadryl (diphenhydramine) into Zambia?! It's considered a controlled substance there and since I'm not quite ready to tour the inside of a Zambian prison, I'll be leaving the Tylenol PM at home. Sheeeesh. I digress. 

I'm not sure I've ever felt more bipolar than I have this week. One minute I'm overwhelmed with excitement and ready to jump on the plane and the next I'm wondering what I've gotten myself into and why I would choose to leave my safe, sweet, comfortable life in Nashville. The past two weeks have been filled with coffee dates and parties and snuggles with my best friends' munchkins and naps in the sunshine in Sevier park - all of the people and places that make Nashville home. They've also been filled with prayers that have covered me and a church that stands beside me and hugs that I struggled to let go of and long, tearful goodbyes. I'm tasting the sweetness of my community & feeling how unbelievably blessed I am & part of me wants to stay right here to soak it up. 

But all week the Lord has been whispering to my fearful heart, "I was faithful once, I'll be faithful again." You see, this weekend marks my four year anniversary of moving to Nashville. I too often forget how terrified I was to take that leap of faith and move to such a scary and unfamiliar place. I almost let fear paralyze me then. I almost talked myself out of Nashville. I thought I had the best in SC. But God kept pushing. He knew what was ahead. He knew the sweetness of what was to come. He had gone before me and was planting seeds of community before I ever stepped foot in this city. He asked me to follow and He blew my expectations out of the water. 

And He'll be faithful to do it again because that is who He is. It is His character. The problem is most of us love to hold tight to the comfortable, the safe, the expectations because our human minds cannot imagine anything better. We are blinded by the illusion of security. We attempt to minimize risk at every corner. We let our fear of the unknown box us in. But Scripture clearly says God is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine (Eph 3:20). He is faithful. 

So here I am fighting fears and trembling hands, certain He has asked me to again take the leap of faith and follow Him to Zambia, believing He has gone before me and will once again do far more than I can imagine. Four years later, with the story still being written, Nashville reminds me every day that my God is trustworthy. 

Take a leap, choose the risky path, follow where He is leading. He is faithful. 

Zambia

A year ago, when I heard about the opportunity to work in Africa, I had to look up Zambia on a map. Hopefully your geography skills are better than mine, but if not, here are some things to know about my home for the next month and a half...

Zambia is a land locked country in southern Africa bordered by Democratic Republic of the Congo, Tanzania, Malawi, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Namibia, & Angola. 
It is the size of Texas with a total of 14 million people. 

Zambia is 7 hours ahead of Nashville so I'll basically be living in the future.

The seasons are opposite of the U.S. because Zambia is south of the Equator so I'll be there in the middle of winter with expected highs of 80 degrees. 

English is the official language though most of the locals only speak Chitonga, which unfortunately was not a foreign language choice in high school.  

Average life expectancy in Zambia is 40 years. 14% of adults are HIV positive. 

In Zambia, there is 1 doctor for 20,000 people. Compare to the U.S., which has 1 doctor for 400 people. 

I will definitely stay busy with that many patients to see.

60% of Zambians live on less than $1 per day. Can you imagine? 

Zambia is home to Victoria Falls, 1 of 7 natural wonders of the world 

(2 times higher than Niagara Falls and 3 times wider).

Nshima, the staple food, is prepared from mealie-meal, which is ground corn kernels. 

Peanut butter and granola bars are packed, do not worry. 

Home Sweet Home.

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One Month

One month. 30 days. That is all the time I have left before boarding the plane for Africa. 

I'm not sure where the time went but it went quickly. 

I am completely overwhelmed with excitement & anticipation. 

What will it look like? 

What will my eyes see?

How will it change me?

Surrendering my expectations, my need for control, my love for predictability. 

I am powerless but I rest in truth.

Psalm 18
I love you, Lord, my strength.
The Lord is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer;
my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge,
my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.

So let the battles come. We'll meet them with a song.
Our God will go before us. We will overcome.

I'm about $800 short of my fundraising goal so if you have an extra $10 or so lying around and want to help out, click here. I am so grateful for the support!

Light at the End of the Tunnel

In 2010, I boarded the long flight to Africa with naive expectations & an unending supply of granola bars. There in Gulu, the Lord began to stir up and unravel new parts of my heart and I fell completely head over heels in love with the people of Uganda. I can so vividly remember the children's laughter, the prisoners' singing, sweet baby Leah. 

Every community we visited was in desperate need for medical care yet I lacked the skills to help. I returned home to the States with a deep sense of responsibility to serve medically and began the application process for Physician Assistant school in Nashville. The last 3 years have been a blur but I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel. 

http://zimbamission.org

As part of this crazy journey, I’ll be heading back to Africa in 2 months, May 10 - June 19, 2013, to work at the Zimba Mission Hospital in southern Zambia. There are only 649 physicians in Zambia (1 for every 20,000 people). The need for medical care is staggering.

The 100 bed hospital in Zimba has 6 inpatient wards (adult male & female, pediatrics, maternity, male & female TB), a surgery department, and a large outpatient department. The maternity ward averages 50 deliveries per month, the outpatient department sees an average of 150 patients per day, & I am beyond excited!

And full of fears. Fear of the unknown, fear of my inabilities, and mostly fear for my health. Last year's lupus diagnosis definitely threw a curve ball in my plans & while I love to pretend I'm invincible, the humbling reality is I am much more vulnerable than most. Treatment includes a daily cocktail of immunosuppressant medications that work to slow my immune system from attacking my own cells. But these meds also keep my immune system from fighting off infection and sickness, which is obviously not ideal for working in a third world country. 

Needless to say, I greatly covet your prayers. I know there is immeasurable power in prayer and would love to know that my friends and family are interceding for me while I am serving. Please pray specifically for health and physical strength, a covering of peace and protection, & an abundance of love to pour out on the people we care for. I am certain the Lord has called me to go and trust He is a faithful, protective Father. He is good all the time.

Click here to join my prayer support team by making a faith promise. 

I have already been so humbled by the encouragement and generosity of my friends and family and look forward to sharing the experience with all of you. I cannot wait to be back in Africa and will be blogging updates as much as possible. I sincerely value your prayers and your support. What a privilege to serve such a mighty God!

"Christ has no body on earth but yours, no hands but yours, no feet but yours. Yours are the eyes through which Christ's compassion for the world is to look out; yours are the feet with which He is to go about doing good; and yours are the hands with which He is to bless us now." - Saint Teresa of Avila

You can also donate financial support here

Doc

My heart has been so heavy today as I learned that the director of my PA program was diagnosed with a brain tumor over the weekend. He is one of the toughest teachers I've ever had and yet his heart for students is evident. He is hard on us because He is more concerned with our character than our comfort. He wanted to push us, challenge us, make us think on our feet. And though there were times when he made me want to pull my hair out, he has become like a respected, beloved father to me and my classmates. We adore him. 

I sat at work today praying & journaling and was reminded what a mighty God we serve. My prayer...

What is 4cm to You? What is a glioblastoma in Your eyes? Nothing. Not a challenge, not a struggle to overcome. An easy victory in Your hands... the hands that conjured up every cell of our being, that formed every hair on our heads, that knit together every inch of us. With a word You create, with a thought You give life. The God who named the stars, who formed the seas, who made beauty from the dust, this is nothing for You. 
A prognosis means nothing to You. 
You laugh at what man says is impossible, for with You ALL things are possible. 

You made the blind man see. You made the woman stop bleeding. You brought the dead to life. You parted the sea. You rescued from the lions den. You brought forth water from the rock. You fed thousands from seven loaves of bread. You brought Jericho's walls down. You opened the ears of the deaf. You walked on water. You gave my heart of stone new life. You defeated the grave.

King of glory, You are the same! You have not changed! The same healer that You were then, You are today! You still rescue, You still give life, Your power is unmatched, Your love is relentless! Miracles are not a challenge for You! There is no circumstance bigger than You! 

Still full of mercy, still abundant in grace, still singing over us, still delighting in Your children. 

You are always good, always just, always sovereign!

Awesome in power, who is like You? I know not one! 

Ps 91:11 "He will command His angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways." 

May Your peace overflow, Your presence be known, Your hand be evident, Your glory be revealed, Your name be exalted, Your will be done.

Not For Me

The perspective change. One of those moments where God takes the way you’re looking at a situation and tilts it on its side so nothing appears the same. For me, they can be sweet lightbulb moments or, most of the time, they are painful wrecking balls, revealing a selfishness or unwillingness in my heart. And that’s what this was.

Since May, I have often wondered why God has called me to Africa while, at the same time it seems, He is physically wrecking me… days when I’m exhausted, in pain, when the joints in my hands will just not cooperate and I am beyond frustrated. I know He is increasing my dependence on Him and breaking my need for control, I know He is good, I just fight to see the purpose in it. The equations don’t seem to work out for good.

Africa + a weakened immune system = not good

surgery needs + unable hands = what’s the point?

Here's the kicker...

What if it’s not about me at all? What if it’s about the people around me? What if it's about the people in Africa? 

Apparently I talk about Uganda a lot. And while I was oblivious to it, God was using my story to help others recognize His call for their lives... His call to Africa.

What if the Lord’s purpose was to use my journey for those people to know their calling?

What if the single reason God asked me to quit my job & go to PA school was to get them to Africa?  

Would all of the pain of the last year be worth it if God said "This is not for you, it’s for them"? 

What if you don't even get to go back to Africa but God used you so that those people would go? 

Could you say "nevertheless, Thy will be done"? 

Am I willing to be used, no matter what the cost, so that someone else may know Jesus or hear their calling? 

Honestly, it takes way too long to answer all of these questions. My selfish heart wants the comfortable, easy, pain free life. And I struggle to think outside of my own circumstances. I get so focused on what God is trying to teach ME in situations instead of looking for the bigger picture, that maybe this isn't about ME at all. Scripture is full of stories showing how one character's journey can affect people, sometimes even generations to come. And those journeys are sometimes painful and those characters sometimes don't have it easy, but in the end, God achieves His purposes and it is good because He is good. 

How faithful is the God we serve? A Father that will stop at nothing to pursue His children. A relentless love that is bigger than our finite minds can grasp. "Your ways, O God, are holy. What god is so great as our God? No one is like you, O Lord; You are great, and Your name is mighty in power." Ps 77:13, Jer 10:6