mass mailer- 5/29- work is coming!
Good morning everyone!

How are you doing? I am doing well. I wanted to share the big news with everyone! After more than three months of being a bum, I am actually going to start working! :-)

I had a very nice meeting with the head MD and the Matron of Nursing last week and it was decided that I will actually start working on June 1st! I realize that this is a Thursday, but I think it will be better this way so that I can get a break after just a few days of culture shock! It was decided that I will be working in the Pediatric Ward. My shift will be from 6 am to 4 pm, and I will work Monday through Friday. Hurray for weekends off! :-) I am pretty sure that they are just allowing me to work less than the nurses here and giving me weekends off since I am a volunteer and they don't want to scare me off, but for now I am ok with it! I know that sounds awful, but at this point I know that I am going to need the time to be able to recover from both the physical and emotional part of it.

As many of you know I will be wearing a navy skirt (with pantyhose I might add) with a white top and navy shoes as my uniform. The hospital is supposed to provide me with these items but have been out of supply for the last few years so it is up to me to get them. Thankfully I brought a white scrub top with me and I have been able to find two skirts that will be ok for me to use. The shoes have proven to be a different story though. They don't really wear comfortable shoes. Most of them wear dress shoes to work their 12 hour shift in. I just can't do this, so I am bending the rules a little bit... Mostly with the Matron's approval. Since they don't have shoes for me then I decided to order some clogs from 'Green-Cross', a really nice line of shoes that I have mostly found sold at pharmacies. I don't know how long it will take for them to come in and until then I will just be wearing my sneakers. The Matron said that if I wanted I could wear my sandals, but I honestly don't think that I could wear open toes shoes to work and be comfortable! It goes against all training I have ever had!

Many of you knew that I was supposed to be moving to hospital housing right around the time that I was to start at the hospital. That isn't going to happen, at least not right now. The hospital is currently renovating the nurse's flats and is even putting some of their nurses 'out on the street' until it is finished. That in addition to the fact that they just recruited a small batch of nurses from Kenya to work and gave them any remaining housing adds up to me staying where I am for now. They are saying that it might be as soon as next year that they are able to get me housing (but this is Africa and things don't run on a time schedule like we are used to so I'm not holding out for anything). This does present a problem though. The hospital is about a 45 minute walk away and I know that I am not going to want to walk 45 minutes to and from a ten hour work day five days a week. So what is there for me to do? I haven't quite figured that out. After some prayer I don't think that I am supposed to be buying a car. This means that in the morning I am probably going to contract with a taxi driver to be picked up each day. Yes, it will be a little expensive at N$6 a ride, but isn't convenience always a little expensive? As for the ride home I'm not sure what I will do. At this point I am thinking of walking home since the time will help me clear my head and unwind from the day. Something that you can pray for is that maybe there would be a female co-worker that lives close to me that would volunteer to let me ride with her. I know that God has something planned, I am just waiting to find out what it is!

I am sorry that there aren't any new pictures for you to look at this week. I did take some on Saturday when I went to one of the lodges with some other volunteers and played ping pong but I haven't downloaded them onto the computer yet. But other than that nothing that exciting has been happening!

I pray that this finds you well.
much love and many hugs!
kimmie

Praises:
I was well received by the one doctor and the nurses that I met on the Pediatric ward last week
I get along really well with the Matron of Nursing
Rob's brother and family arrived safely yesterday
my friends from Zimbabwe made it back safely this weekend

Prayer needs:
for me as I start work, that God will give me peace and calm my anxiety, that things will go smoothly, that I will bond with the other staff
continued recovery for the two ladies that had surgery and Audrey (heart surgery)
Alisa's parents are in the middle of flying home, they left yesterday to go back to Canada