Hello Chitokoloki!

Such an amazing first week, I only have time to talk about the first day so watch this space and I’ll write about the eventful first weekend!

I arrived into Lusaka after 5ish hours sleep on my 10 hour flight from Heathrow. After getting my visa and clearing customs – thank God my luggage got through – it was about 2 hours before I was up in the air again, who knew it was so slick in Africa! So my travel arrangements from Lusaka to Chitokoloki was on a 6 seater plane flown by the amazing Canadian pilot Don! I was so excited as we walked by the large British Airways plane I had arrived on, to the tiny plane in comparison. It was such a cool flying experience and as co-pilot for the journey, Don let me steer the plane a bit. He also showed off some of his tricks, I felt like I was back on a rollercoaster in Alton Towers except with amazing views of rural Zambia – it became clear how remote we are at Chitokoloki! The services of British Airways were topped by Don’s interesting stories about his life and Zambia (brilliant tour guide) and from the in-flight refreshments of sugar peanuts and coke provided by Don!

Plane I arrived on

Transport from Lusaka to Chit

co-pilot

view from above

We landed into Chitokoloki after 2 and a half hours and I met some lovely people and was shown to my cosy guesthouse, which I share with 2 brilliant, hilarious ladies. After unpacking and playing with 2 wee girls next door Tanis, a permanent nurse here asked if I wanted to go up to the hospital then and I thought why not, so went along. Straight away I was shown where to go and get stuck in so I whipped on my scrubs and went to the operating theatre where I saw 2 operations and a breach birth back to back. I was so amazed that firstly, I was already watching operations (having never seen one in real life before) and secondly, that I was able to do more than just watch but help out quite a bit. I found it so interesting as the surgeons and nurses kindly talked through what they were doing; I have learnt so much from them.

My humble abode

View from the guesthouse

We had got changed back into normal clothes ready to leave, when a lady was rushed to theatre to give birth. I felt like I was on a special episode of ‘One Born Every Minute’. It was a breach birth so quite a dramatic one, but thankfully everything was ok and a sweet little girl was born and I got to clean her – what an amazing experience.

Lydia, Georgia and I buying coke in our scrubs

We then left the hospital at about 5.30 and got dressed and ready to play some pool volleyball, which is a very serious activity that goes on at Chitokoloki. I was put on team World as the British had a couple too many. However this may have been an unwise decision as the absent World members produced a protest that that was against the rules and may have been the reason why they lost that match! It’s all joking obviously but often enters into discussions even during surgery, which we find quite funny.

Later that evening a few of us met to play some card games, 2 of which are student doctors who just passed their finals and who are very helpful at hospital showing me where to go and talking through some of the diagnoses and treatments. Georgia who was hosting us is a very sweet American girl who is visiting, as her Dad is a surgeon temporarily working at Chit. We have many things in common as she grew up in Kenya and is about to start a medical course (BioMed) so I have really enjoyed getting to know her. She’s been such a blessing to me as she has shown me round and has helped me settle as she was in my position a few weeks ago, I will be sad to see her go next Tuesday.

I then made the wise decision to go to bed however it took me longer than usual to get to sleep. I was just buzzing off everything that had happened that day and so amazed that it had all occurred the day I arrived!

Other things I have loved about being here over the last few days: Sunshine and heat, beautiful singing in morning devotions, bonfires by the Zambezi river with cooked maize and sweet potatoes. It’s like I had forgotten how much I love living in Africa, I am in such a beautiful place here and I’m so excited for what’s to come.