Garden Health Clinic Screening and Teacher's Workshop

It was great to see community leaders, and many caregivers with their children. Every family who registered got a clinical visit, eye exam, vitamin a supplement, antiparasitic vermex, urine analysis test, any necessary injections/shots like measles, and medicines/antibiotics as needed.
It was great to gather information about family history, chronological age, and more about their household information. For those of us working at Garden, it gave us one last time to see the children as well as those from previous years.

The screening was such a wonderful way to get a sense of the community of Garden. I was so happy to meet all the caregivers of students I have taught. It was quite a long process for each child to go through as they had to sign in, take a urine sample, get weighed and measured, get an eye exam, meet with those handing out medicine, and meet with the doctor. Waiting between each part of the screening was anywhere from 15 to 30 minutes, and to meet with the doctor was a bit longer as the doctor was very thorough. I can easily see in the United States that waiting this long would be unacceptable and many parents would be outraged. Here, it was quite the opposite as everyone waited patiently! Most of us attending the screening had to leave around 12:30 to get back to the guest house for lunch and to help gather materials for the teacher's attending the workshop. Maria and Jen stayed behind at Garden as they had become part of the team who was handing out medicines to children and their caregivers. They were very much a part of a fabulous team of nurses, doctors and clinical helpers.

The teacher workshop was a wonderful opportunity for us to praise the work many of us have witnessed in the community schools. We had 22 teachers ready to learn about the tree of life, reading, and a make-it/take-it. The communities represented included Chawama, Ng'ome, Garden, Bauleni, Mtendere, Mendevu, Fumbelo, ZOCS (Zambia Open Community Schools), Simon Kapapwe School, and the Pentecostal Church. The morning block was devoted to teaching them about the tree of life and was taught by Lucia, Wendy and Cheryl. The afternoon portion of the workshop talked about reading and a make-it/take-it. Ruth shared her wealth of knowledge about phonemic awareness, reading and providing teachers with some strategies and handouts.

Both sections of the workshop were very helpful. The teachers were so appreciative to be recipients of all the tools and ideas we sent them away with. It was also an opportunity for us to share more materials with them. Each community received a bag packed with school supplies like pens, pencils, colored pencils, rulers, paper, scissors, glue, and many small visuals that could easily be put on desks or walls. Each group was also sent away with 3 big books and 12 regular sized books. I feel that it is so important to cherish these teachers, as they are the ones who can reach hundreds of children. It is truly amazing how hard these teachers work where typically each community has anywhere from 75 to 300 students in school. Each community usually has 1 or 2 teachers. They are truly miracle workers in that they are devoted to their respective communities although they go through many hardships and challenges.