Updates from Mukinge

Hello everyone!  Thursday marks my four month anniversary here in Zambia, and although it doesn't seem like it, I guess I'm as settled in as I'm going to be.  People say that once you go overseas you shouldn't expect to hear from anyone other than your mother after a month: but I have been overwhelmed by the continued support, encouragement, emails, packages, and phone calls that I get from home.  People are still organizing dinners and fund-raisers and meetings to help me support and care for the needs of the people around me here.  I wanted to say thank you to all of you who have been so willing to help.

I don't really know how to sum up life over the past few months here; it's been challenging, and funny, and confusing, and hard, sometimes all within the space of one hour.  I've been stretched to carry the administrative burden of the manager of all the clinical services at the hospital, a job which has required me to become familiar with things like autoclaves, pharmacy orders, and generators.  I'm slowly learning as I go.  It's been a little frustrating at times, because it has taken away time from clinical duties and teaching, which is the part of being here that I enjoy the most.  But you also feel that you are able to make positive change on a bigger level, and it's been a pleasure to get to know the Zambians who are on the administration team.

We've also had a lot of transitions here, which is the norm for Africa, as we've had two doctors join the staff and three doctors leave over the past two months.  The current physician staff will be here for quite some time, though, so it's good to be settling in with the people that I'll be working with for the next year.  I've been working with the clinical officers to improve their clinical acumen and skills, and we currently have a Zambian medical student that will be here for three weeks, so it's an opportunity to re-invent medical school the way you'd hoped it would be.

I've managed to get out and visit my family out in the bush since I got back, and it's fun to see the corn that I helped weed now be higher than my head.  The rainy season is still here, but the weather is a bit cooler and we're transitioning to the cold season, although it won't be here for a few months yet.  My garden has suffered from water overload, something I thought I'd never have to worry about after living in Denver for 6 years.  I think I will have to try again next year or after the rainy season ends.

Thanks to all of you who've stayed in touch, and for those who have fallen through the cracks of my spotty emailing, I'm sorry.  I hope you're checking out my blog from time to time at mattcotham.blogspot.com.  The funding has all come through for our satellite email setup, so now it's just a matter of getting the equipment here and setting it up; hopefully by the end of next month I'll be able to send you pictures and such on the blog as well.

Keep in touch, and God bless. 

Matt

P.S. -- if you reply to this letter, please, please delete my text and pictures or you will keep me on the internet for 2 hours downloading your emails!!!