Day 4 – In the Shoes of a CHW

The day started pretty chilly and we had episode 2 of the “Weird Night-Time Dreams” show starring Zack, Karina and Sophia over our pancake and egg breakfast. We decided to check the CDC light trap we set the night before to see if we had any success and yay!, Our trap finally got some mosquitoes.

We then headed to the MRT boardroom to participate in their weekly meetings. We had interesting insights into how reports are generated. And we got to enjoy one of the perks of working here at MRT; the daily tea break at 11 am.

We then continued on our quest to understand more about the healthcare system here in rural Zambia. We embarked on a journey to a more rural part of the district. The ride was breathtaking – literally; a combination of a mini roller coaster ride and a mini-safari except we saw only goats, cows, chicken and sheep on dirt roads that we still aren’t convinced were real roads. We also learned why “you can’t yoke a horse”. After about an hour and half, we landed in the community health center at Siabunkululu in the Kalombo district. We got the chance to interview community health workers (CHWs) who gladly answered questions to the best of their knowledge. It was amazing to see the work been done by these CHWs considering the fact that they were all volunteers and had other jobs.

We went on a mini-hike to see a zone assigned to one of the CHWs. The households in this village were very scattered yet this CHW with his bicycle could visit his people very frequently. The village is made up of about 300 – 400 households and each household has an average of 8 people. His health post is a beautiful, local church pictured below.

After a day packed with activity and emotions, we headed back to Macha. On our way, we learned so much about the history of the Tonga people and the various languages in Zambia. The conversations during the day really sparked the interest of some team members in learning more about medical anthropology. We got back to our hostel later that evening and had dinner – rice with soup and some beef meatballs. After such a good meal, we could not leave without saying “Twalumba”, which means “We thank you”.

Stay tuned… The weekend fun just began!!!!!