Small Fish

Morokeni Muholi! (Good morning friend!)

Ngapi? (How are you?) Nawa nawa. (Literal: Good, good. Meaning: I am very good.) Things here are going well.

A whole new me

I have a new name. Actually I have had the name since January when I went to the funeral of the nurse in Ovambo-land (the northwestern part of Namibia). It was given to me by Ben Sitarara (see-tah-rah-rah) a nurse that works in the High Care Ward. He asked me if I had an African name, and I am sure that he already had one in mind if I said no. Since I didn't, he gave me one. My new name is Kapande (ka-pahn-deh). I heard from someone else that there is a legend about a man who liked to play music while sitting under a tree. The story is that he sat under the tree for so long that the tree enveloped him and he became part of the tree. However, when asked, Ben will just say that it means small fish. I am not quite sure why I have been given the name small fish, but it's fun!

So, if I have had the name since January why am I just now telling you about it? It is because of the mini ceremony that we had this last week. Ben arrived in our ward with a funny smile and some of the cleaners that went to the funeral with us in January. He had Agnes present me with a beautifully beaded black and white necklace and told everyone present (mothers of our patients included) that they were no longer to call me Kimmie. That Kimmie no longer existed and from now on they were only to address me as Sister Kapande. Then apparently he went around to all the other wards and told them the same thing! How do I know that? Because several nurses came from other wards to say hello to "Sister Kapande"! It was a really fun day and it made me really feel like I was accepted as one of them. :-)

Work

Work continues to be very busy as our census remains high. Though it has improved some, it is still high and makes even the idea of work tiring sometimes. Things with the new doctor have been a little on hold lately. Two of the Cuban doctors are on leave right now so Dr. Mlauzi is covering the gastroenteritis (diarrhea) section of the pediatric ward. That means that we don't get to see him except as he is walking past us to go to the other section. Hopefully in a few more weeks things will get back to normal. The good news is that they have made Dr. Mlauzi the head of the pediatric department. This is a great thing because now he can have power to deal with situations like the last one I told you about with the switching of medications.

Those Crazy Canadians

The ladies arrived safely with all their luggage, including some Reese's Peanut Butter Cups for me!! :-) Their first week has been full of meetings and planning committees as they work with the AIDS Education and the Orphans and Vulnerable Children (OVC) Project. Yesterday they also went to their first choir practice!

Right now we have Jessica, who is serving in Grootfontein (about 2 1/2 hrs away from me back towards Windhoek), visiting with us. She is staying at Mary's house, so for this first week all three of the ladies have been living here with Sarah and I. Today Jessica is leaving and Amy will be moving over to Mary's. After having been by myself for a year it was quite an adjustment to have Sarah move in. I was really worried about having 3 more people move in, however I have been doing well with it. Everyone has been working hard at helping cook and keep the kitchen clean and we have been having lots of fun watching episodes of Grey's Anatomy that Sally brought. :-)

Fleas

For the last 3 weeks we have been suffering from a plague of fleas! It has been awful! We have given the dogs medicine to help them with the problem then we paid our gardener to spray the yard. However, there are no handy sprayers like the ones you can find in the States, so the poor man has been bent over spraying our yard with an old Windex type bottle! I feel really bad for asking him to do it, but at the same time I am very thankful that it has been working! We have noticed fewer fleas in the last few days!!! It is quite embarrassing to have visitors and when we get to work we frequently have to pull several off. I can't wait until they are all gone!!!

Etosha

As a farewell party, we are taking Paul (the UK guy who has been working out at the Bible college with the OVC project) to Etosha! We have decided that it is a good time to take the ladies, before it gets cold, and to allow Paul to have a small safari before he leaves. We will only be going for 2 nights, so it is a quick trip, but I am looking forward to the break.

I hope that you are all doing well. I would love to hear from you all!

lots of love!

kapande

Kimmie Tibbetts
Serving the people of Namibia at the Rundu State Hospital
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