February-March 2011

Jan 09, 2012

and are instructors with the UBCO nursing program.  This gives us a very strong affiliation with the nursing school and enables a collaberative win-win when developing learning experiences for both Canadians and Zambians.

For 6 weeks in Feb and March 2011, OkaZHI nurses Jessica Barker, Fay Karp and Mary Mitchell were in Zambian with a group of UBCO 4th year nursing students.  With tribal unrest in Western Province, the first 2 weeks were spent in Lusaka at the University Teaching Hospital, thanks to Margaret Maimbola.  The students worked on a variety of wards alongside Zambian collegues in this main teaching hospital, establishing relationships to be built upon in the future.

Once Western Province was determined to be stable, the nurses continued on to Mongu where they were welcomed back by old friends.  The next month passed quickly as they continued with hospital ward experiences and expanded to outreach programs.  Check out the UBCO nursing students blog on the website for more detailed descriptions of their time.

March also saw the arrival in Mongu of OkaZHI founder and executive director Dr. Bill Nelems and wife MaryEllen.  Following a format used for the Canadian OkaZHI team in January, and in keeping with OkaZHI's goal to solicit Zambian input for all programs, Dr Nelems and the Canadian OkaZHI team conducted a planning "retreat".  There was a good turnout of Zambians who participated enthusiastically and the information obtained will be utilized in planning future programs.