Weather Is Not Cooperating

The unusual snowstorm in the UK is causing havoc at Heathrow airport. Over 400 flights were cancelled yesterday and unfortunately ours was one of them. Ours was one of the last to cancel so all hotel rooms were booked. We spent the night in the airport, but are now rebooked on the next flight to Lusaka which is tomorrow (Sunday night). The really good news is we have hotel rooms for tonight!! A shower and bed will feel extra good tonight.

Arrival In London

We all arrived early in London, thanks to 100 knot tailwinds on the way over! It is snowing here, so I hope our departure to Lusaka isn't delayed.

2013 Mission Team Schedule

Saturday 19th 
AM
-    Arrival at Kenneth Kaunda International Airport at 06:50 hours.   
-    Refreshing at Mission Guest house and viewing the improved national office
      buildings and mission guesthouse.
-    Brunch at M & G Restaurant (Levy Junction Mall). Will exchange money during the Brunch time.
        The Zambian kwacha has been rebased effective 1st January, 2013.  Now  K5,000  is K5 in the 
         rebased currency.  Please bring US dollar notes that are later than 2006.  Just a reminder that $50
         and $100 bills have a better exchange rate than smaller bills.

PM
-    Tour the Kanyama church clinic and school property and meeting with the local church and community
      leadership.
-    Supper and fellowship with the Council of Churches in Zambia Executive Board.
-    Brian and Janette; Brad and Diana; Cory and Matt will spend night at the Kalembos
-    Dave, Jim and Jane; Dana and Shirley will spend night at mission guesthouse.

Sunday 20th
-    Brad Preaching at Mazabuka Main PWC
-    Brian Preaching at Mazabuka Central PWC
-    Matt preaching at a Nazarene church in Lusaka (Matt will link up with the rest of the team either in 
     Mazabuka in the afternoon or Choma on Monday morning.)
-    Overnight in Choma.

Monday 21st
-    Choma farm project
-    Children’s Nest Orphanage (68 children)
-    Meeting with Mariet Nyoni (PWC -Hope for Children Coordinator)
-    Giving packs at Sibanyati School and Clinic  (Near Choma Farm Project)
-    Supper and overnight in Choma

Tuesday 22nd
-    Leave for Sinanjola School after breakfast
-    Supper and overnight in Choma -    This will be a great place for Kansas team hygiene packs 
      distribution.

Wednesday 23rd
-    Choma farm project
-    Visit Siachitema clinic and Basic School
-    Supper and overnight in Choma -    Ideal place for Kansas team hygiene packs distribution.

Thursday 24th
-    Travel to Livingstone and view Victoria Falls
-    Overnight in Livingstone - Some team members who may not want to view the falls could remain to 
      continue working on equipment at the Choma farm project

Friday 25th
-    Departure for Lusaka. The team Lusaka links up with those who may remain in Choma and proceed to
     Lusaka
-    Supper and overnight in Lusaka.  Sleeping arrangement the same as on the 19th night.
   
Saturday 26th
-    Brian’s team departs
-    Dave, Dana, Jim and Jane move to the Kalembos residence
-    Work on the clinic begins       

Sunday 27th
-    Dave, Dana, Jim and Jane attend Kanyama Church
-    Work on the clinic project or visiting OVCs homes.       

Monday 28 – Friday, Feb 1
-    Work on clinic project   

Saturday, Feb 2
-    Dave, Jim and Jane leave (?)   

Zambia Dental Mission 2012 Pictures

  London – Dr. Fricke and Judy

London – Brian, Sarah, Trevor

At the Lusaka Airport with Alfred

Lusaka –Outside the Dental Training School

Victoria Falls – Livingstone

Victoria Falls – Livingstone

Jembo Hospital 

Jembo Hospital 

Jembo Hospital 

Church in Livingstone

  Zimba Hospital

  Zimba Hospital

  Zimba Hospital

  Zimba Hospital

Zimba Hospital - Alick  

Zimba Hospital

Dinner in Zimba with Dr. Dan and Joan

Chobe Safari

                                               

Chobe Safari

Chobe Safari

                                                          

Zimba Hospital

Zimba Hospital

Zimba Hospital

Zimba Hospital

Sunset

Alick's Family: Idah, Caleb and Faith

Last night – Dinner at Mugg and Bean in Lusaka

Dropping us off at the airport –thank you for a FABULOUS week!

Our amazing support from the U.S. Thank you Maydew’s for making this week possible!

8/20/12-8/22/12

We worked in the Zimba Mission Hospital all day Monday, Tuesday and for a few hours Wednesday morning. Dr. Fricke, Alick, Brian and Trevor combined saw over 200 patients. Some of the patients took quite a while - the teeth would often break below the gum line as a result of being rotten and decayed, but the pros made it work.

We attended chapel every morning at 8 am before seeing patients. The service began with a song and then a brief sermon, which Alick preached on Tuesday and Wednesday. We sang "How Great Thou Art" Tuesday morning in Tonga (village language)....once again it was very powerful to hear the passion in their voices! It is unbelievable how just a few voices can fill the whole chapel praising God!
We stayed at the Zimba Mission House Sunday night through Wednesday. Dr. Dan Jones and his wife Dr. Joan made some wonderful meals in spite of their busy work schedules. We had a great time in fellowship with them as well as Alick, his wife Idah and children: Caleb and Faith. We gave Caleb a soccer ball and had a blast playing in the house with him. We were able to leave many dental instruments, medications and supplies with Alick.

We arrived in Lusaka around 5 pm and met Alfred at Mugg and Bean restaurant for a great dinner. It was fun to catch up and tell him some of the stories from our week in the villages. He told us a few stories about the impact that the dental team had in the lives of some patients. One lady walked for 2 days to get to the Jembo Hospital to get a few bothersome teeth extracted. It is hard to fathom!

We took a tour of Alfred and Muumbe's beautiful home and packed our bags to head to the airport bright and early in the morning. The week flew by way too fast! We appreciate all that Alfred did to organize our week stay-everything was planned out and worked perfect! Alfred's son Lumba has been a fabulous chauffeur as well as dental assistant and interpreter-thank you for the great memories!

We also appreciate Brian and Janette Maydew for sending our team to Zambia to do dental mission work. Your faithfulness to God is evident in the way you live your life - thank you!


God bless,
Dr Fricke, Judy, Trevor, Brian and Sarah

8/19/12

Sunday
     What a fabulous Sunday we had! We started out attending an amazing church, Pilgrim Wesleyan in Livingstone.  There are no words to describe the love and passion for our Savior that is expressed within the walls of that church.  The walls were shaking from a small choir made up of about 20 men and women.  It was great to sing some of the same songs as we do in the states, but their voices and passion are indescribable.
     After church we went into town to have lunch at Hungary Lions.  It has been fun to try different Zambian restaurants throughout the week.  We packed our bags and took off for an afternoon at Victoria Falls.  The day was absolutely perfect! Since it is dry season, we heard that you are able to go to "Devils Pool."  It is found about a quarter mile from the bank at edge of the falls.  You can jump off a 20 foot ledge into a small area and swim within a few feet of a 300 foot drop...what a rush!! We jumped off the ledge, swam and took quite a few pictures.  Not thinking much of it, we began heading that way and were approached by a guide offering to lead us over.  Thank goodness he did.  We talked him down from $150 to $50  for Brian, Trevor, Lumba, Dalton and myself.  When we got back to the bank, we were approached by a very serious looking gentleman dressed in green with a rifle slung over his shoulder. We were informed that it was illegal to cross the river and asked him to follow him.   We had to walk to the office and instructed to cooperate. We were escorted to the office and handed over to a park official. After a good reprimanding and us saying sorry, we were set free. He warned us to stay on the marked trails the rest of our stay or we would end up in a Zambian jail. 
   We shopped in the village for a bit and took off for Zimba. We had an enjoyable dinner with Dr. Dan and his wife Joan and the Zimba Mission house.

8/18/12

This morning we left at 7a.m. to begin our journey to Botswana for the Chobe Safari. We arrived at the border and were picked up by a small boat to head across the border where we went through immigration. We were then picked up by a safari jeep. While in e immigration line, we met a girl from Kentucky that lives at the Zimba Mission House and is a med student.  Small world! We will be spending Sunday evening through Wednesday with her.  The first part of the tour was a boat cruise for 2.5 hours.  There was coffee, tea and cookies provided for us.  The morning was chilly and windy, but quickly warmed up.  We saw a lot of elephants, hippos, buffalo, native birds, ect.  The scenery was gorgeous! We feel very blessed to have had the opportunity to go on the safari.
     We had lunch at the Chobe Safari Buffet before the second part of the safari.  We had to learn patience today as we all experienced pushy and rude foreigners in the buffet line. After lunch we loaded the safari jeep and headed for the sand.  This part of the day was fun as well.  We saw many elephants again, hippos, giraffes, Kuku (African), monkeys, ect.  We were within feet of an elephant at one point. 
     Tomorrow we will head to church and then Victoria Falls for the afternoon!

2012 Dental Team

Dental Team

8/17/12

After 9 hours of much needed sleep we woke up to a hot cup of coffee bedside.   We stayed at Mike and Cindy's house-they were great hosts and served us delicious meals.  Alfred and Lumba picked us up at 7am to begin our morning at the Jembo Hospital.  We began the morning with a few patients and within an hour there were 20 to 30 village folks waiting for dental work. The line never slowed down!

Our dental team finally got our system down ... Dr. Fricke provided the treatment plan for all of the patients and if needed, administered anesthetic while Brian and Trevor were extracting multiple teeth for each patient.  Every once in a while Dr. Fricke would be extracting a tooth while the patient leaned back on a wooden bench. Judy and Sarah ran around cleaning utensils, assisting the men and handing out pain medications/bracelets and tooth brushes.  Under strict supervision, Sarah extracted her first tooth! We were supposed be done working at 11:30 for lunch, but we finished at 1:45. Unfortunately we were not able to serve all of the people that came for treatment, which some people walked a few hours to get to the clinic.  Dr. Fricke ended the day with the following quote, "well, you have accomplished half of a semester work in one morning!"  Lumba assisted our team with translating and handing the dentists the necessary tools, while Muumbe directed patients into the room and also translated for us.   Dr. Fricke, Trevor and Brian put in a lot of hard work today...there were some pretty sad cases that came through the door.  They definitely got in a good forearm workout cranking teeth all day.  Mike read a devotional to us this morning on the topic of being gentle, but I think Dr. Fricke may have been sleeping during it... The last patient of the day was rather dramatic with her moaning and groaning. We had a great day! It was a blessing to be able to assist God's people!

We went back to Mike and Cindy's house for a great lunch.  We packed up the car and hit the road for Livingstone.  We arrived at the guest house with no power but within 15 minutes the power returned. We are waiting for our food right now at a restaurant called "Spot."

Tomorrow morning we leave at 7 am for a safari in Chobe!

Kuomboka

8/16/2012

Greetings from Zambia!  We arrived in London yesterday morning at 6am and had a 13 hour layover.  Brian was our tour guide since he was there in 2010.  We took the Underground into town for the day-we started at the National Art Museum and saw Buckingham Palace (unfortunately Dr. Fricke missed his appointment with the queen), the London Bridge, Big Ben, the Horsemen Square and Westminster Abbey.   The temperature was great, even with some rain in the afternoon.  We arrived early to our departure gate and found the seven member Zambian Olympic team waiting to board our flight.  

We arrived in Zambia this morning at 7a.m. local time after a 10 hour flight.  Alfred and Lumba greeted us all with a huge Zambian welcome.  Everyone was anticipating a much needed shower.  After freshening up, we headed for only Dental School in Zambia, the Dental Training School of Lusaka.  We met with the head of the dental school and a couple other officials who gave us a tour.   

We went to "Wimpy's" for lunch and had a great meal.  We then took off for a 4 hour drive to Jemba - we were supposed to be at the Hospital at 2:30 to begin working, but we arrived just a few hours late at 4:30.  The head of the facilities asked if we wanted to do the dental work inside or outside (there was nothing for dental equipment here).  We made it work with 2 operating tables for patients.  Trevor and Brian both extracted their first tooth in Africa with Dr. Fricke looking over their shoulder and coaching them! We finished working around 7:30 and headed down the road a few miles to Mike and Cindy's for a delicious dinner.  We are all pretty tired after a few LONG days of travel!  

Tomorrow morning we will work at the Jemba Hospital again and then leave in the afternoon for Livingstone.