Home pregnancy test?

Metaha vaholi! (afternoon my friends!)

The summer weather is in full swing and we are doing very little these days except rest and drink lots of water.  The day temp has got to be 100˚ and the nights are cooling to the low 90s/high 80s.  It's hot without air conditioning!  I had someone tell me that I should douse my top sheet in cold water before bed and sleep with it that way.  I tried it Saturday night and almost every night since then!  It's been awesome!  With the ceiling fan and floor fan both on high it's almost like winter!  It's amazing because after one hour the sheet is already dry!  Evaporation is an amazing process!  :-)

Etosha (yes, again)

When I went to Etosha with Daryl, Sabrina and Anna, Shelley couldn't join us, so I promised her that we would plan a small weekend trip before she left.  We decided that September would be a good time to go.  I know that many of you think that I go on too many vacations so I wasn't even going to tell you about this little weekend trip.  However, God blessed us so much that I can't help but re-cap our amazing trip and just brag on God's awesomeness for a minute!  In a day and a half, we saw an amazing amount of animals!  Total we saw: 59 elephants: one water hole had 22 elephants where we watched them play in the water and even got to watch one baby breast-feed!  16 lions: The first day we saw 12 lions.  A single male and then a pride with 5 cubs, 2 males and 3 females.  We saw one male earlier in the day and when we came back to that same spot the rest of them were there and crossing the road right in front of us!  The next day we saw an older male, a younger male and 3 females that crossed the road literally right behind our car!  I kept pushing Shelley out the window to get a better picture and she thought I was trying to get her killed!  5 hyenas (4 at the same waterhole with the 22 elephants!). We also saw a black rhino that was just off the road that stopped perfectly in a clearing for us to take some pictures!  The first day we saw a leopard come out from the bush to get a drink at a waterhole.  It was the most perfect sighting we could have ever wished to have of a leopard!  Then, to our amazement, we saw another one the second day! WOW!  People can go on safari their entire lives and never see a leopard!  We had two in two days!  The second one was a little frustrating at first because there was a huge banter with Linda, a missionary in Grootfontein that went with us of "Which tree? That tree. Which tree? That tree right there.  The dark thing in that tree.  Which tree?  Look at this rock then go straight back this way. I still don't see it.  Which tree?  Ok, is it the tallest tree? Yes. I don't see anything in the tallest tree. WHICH TREE? That tree."  I honestly think that the only reason I ended up seeing him was because he moved!  Every time it just seemed like our timing was orchestrated by God so that we saw the most amazing things!  Did I mention that it was an awesome trip? :-)  Here are a few photos that I posted.  

Further proof

In case you guys needed any further proof that I go on vacation more than anyone else in the world (except my fellow missionaries) I am planning another trip for the end of this month.  Jessica, the other missionary in Grootfontein, has her birthday at the end of the month and has requested a trip to Swakopmund on the coast.  She has also requested to go sky diving in honor of her birthday!  I think it's a great idea because it's something that I have always said I wanted to do.  However, it is a little expensive.  A chat with my friend brought us to acknowledge that we wouldn't want it to be cheap as that would be frightening!  The cost is $220 US.  Being on a fixed income this will be really difficult for me to come up with.  If anyone is interested in helping out a bit I would gladly accept it.  (Sorry, it wouldn't be tax deductible) You can email me for details about how. 

Home pregnancy test?

I don't always pay the best attention so it wasn't much of a surprise to me when I realized a little late that Olive (my cat) was in heat.  I found her the other night in a compromising position with a neighborhood cat.  Is there a home pregnancy test for cats?  What in the world am I going to do if she has kittens?!?!  Ekes!  Though I think it's slightly funny, I am still wondering what the results of my inattention will be!  Why hasn't she been spayed yet you ask?  By my best estimate she is only 5 or 6 months old and I didn't think she was old enough to have that problem yet!  I have an appointment tomorrow with the only vet in town to find out what we can do.  

Good cat? Bad cat?

I have been frightened before, but I had my first true panic attack Saturday night when I went out to get a glass of water right before bed and found Olive playing with one of the spiky geckos that I hate so much in the hallway!  She looked like she wanted to come and show me her prize so I had to praise her for catching it but kept telling her to stay where she was!  It was a little like this "Good girl Olive!  You caught a lizard!  Good girl!  No- no- don't bring it here. You stay right there.  Don't you dare bring it over here!  But good girl for catching it..."

Shelley, who was house-sitting at Daryl and Sabrina's next door, got a phone call of "Olive caught a lizard and you have to come over right now!"  The saint that she is, she actually came over.  However, at night we always bolt the door from the inside so even with her keys she couldn't get in!  That sent me into even more of a panic because it meant I had to get past Olive and the gecko to get to the kitchen to let her in.  Poor Shelley had to stand outside coaching me from the window to get me through it!  The gross little thing kept biting Olive and at one point she flicked it up onto the wall.  Because it was above her, she "lost" it.  At this point I was able to use a piece of foam to push her into the bathroom then use as a shield between me and the gecko.  They don't typically run from people and I think this poor guy was a little shocked because he didn't even try to run when Shelley finally used an old plastic butter tub to catch him.  What would I have done without a roommate who isn't afraid of these nasty little creatures?!?!?! (Mary said that in the future I can call her, but she leaves in December!)

Me

So you're tired of hearing about all the fun stuff I do and you just want to know how I am doing.  Well, it's been a struggle lately but it is improving.  Things weren't going well with Shelley and we had to ask Sabrina to mediate for us, I haven't been able to do any teaching at the hospital for a multitude of reasons, and the heat is intensely oppressive and makes me ridiculously lethargic and cranky.  On the other hand, I have been developing a wonderful relationship with Pastor Domingo's youngest daughter Emilly.  Emilly called me a month ago and asked if I knew anyone that could tutor her in accounting because her grades were very poor.  I asked those around me who are teachers if anyone could help and the answer was always no.  So I decided to help her myself.  What do I know about accounting?  Absolutely nothing!  However I do have a college degree and I am an American consumer so I figured I knew enough.  Boy was I wrong!  Even though she's already half way through her book in school I decided that the best place to start was the beginning.  It has been so confusing!  I have no clue why the debit side is for money coming in and the credit side is for money going out!  I don't understand at all!  However, we have been able to keep working through the book and we're all the way to chapter 3!  I don't know if it is the blind leading the blind or if I am helping, but I hope it's the latter!  I use it as a chance to coach her in English as well which she appreciates.  Emilly is a very sweet girl and I have enjoyed spending time with her several afternoons a week.  I will keep you updated on how we do!  :-}

I hope this finds you all doing well!

lots of love and hugs!

kapande

Kimmie Tibbetts

Serving the people of Namibia at the Rundu State Hospital
http://thekimmieconnection.blogspot.com
http://s207.photobucket.com/albums/bb136/thekimmieconnection/

8 months, 7 weeks, 1 hour, a few pounds?, etc.

Dearest Family and Friends...

How are you all doing?  Things here are going as well as they can when you live in rural Africa!  The only exciting thing is that it's Daryl's 30th birthday today!  And I must say that he is handling his much better than I handled mine!  :-)  We have a surprise planned for him that I am getting very excited about!  I will try to post some pictures afterwards of the evening's events.  The only thing that Shelley and I haven't figured out is what present to get him!  Why are guys so hard to shop for?!?!?!  Yes, we are a little last minute... I am ok with that!

8 months

Time is fun when your having flies!  Oops... I mean time flies when you're having fun!  :-)  Though many days I have felt the strain of living and working in another culture, it is hard to believe that I have been in Namibia for 2 1/2 years already!  WOW!  The time in many ways has just flown by!  It must be in the air or the water because everyone keeps asking when I am coming home.  The answer that I have given to all who have asked is the same.  Not yet!  :-)  Part of the reason that I am a little vague is that it depends on my work permit.  Yes, after all these months I still haven't heard anything (nor do I really expect to yet).  My main plan is to leave sometime in May, which is only 8 months away!  However, should my work permit expire before then, I probably won't bother renewing it and I'll just head home.  It is very strange realizing that I am on the downhill stretch.  It has made me a lot more tolerant of the things in this culture that I don't really care for.  I am now questioning if I have actually accomplished anything!  Rationally I know I have, but there is something about knowing you are leaving that grips you and makes you question yourself.  I am also looking forward at the next few months and wondering what I want to do with the time that I have left...  

The other question people ask is where am I going to live.  The answer is I am not sure, though I am leaning towards heading back to Atlanta.  I still want to get my Master's in nursing education, but think that being home for a year first will be wiser than starting right away.  The school that I am interested in is in Texas and I don't think that coming home from being gone for 3 years and trying to settle in a new place is a good idea!  I want to be around people I know at least for a while before I strike out on my own again.

7 weeks

It's been 7 1/2 weeks now that my car has been sitting in the shop.  While most of the parts have come in, the rubber seal for the gear box has been elusive!  Here's what's been going on.  After the promises of '3 days' stopped I have had to make multiple phone calls to harass the mechanic to find out information.  Neither he nor his wife are very happy to hear my voice at this point and if I call with my cell phone I think he ignores it sometimes then later just claims to have not had his phone with him!  Before we went to conference he did receive a seal, however it was the wrong one.  He sent it back along with the old one for the guy in Windhoek to know exactly what was needed.  After we came back from conference I called the mechanic but he said nothing had happened, so I put pressure on him to find out what was going on.  He finally got the guy in Windhoek to say that the old part had never arrived so they didn't know what to order!  My mechanic had to call the post office and figure out what went wrong.  The story given was something about the parcel being small and set aside somewhere.  After that it finally made it's way to Windhoek.  That was a week ago.  This week they are saying that there isn't a part like it in all of Namibia so they are having to contact South Africa to try to find it.  It is all very frustrating and I can't wait to get home and buy a new car that I won't have to do anything to but change the oil and wash!!!!

1 hour

HOORAY! YIPPEE! HURRAH! YEE-HAW!  WAHOO!  In case you haven't figured it out, we are all very happy to announce that the time has changed again!  Why are we so excited?  Because we no longer have to take Shelley to work at 5:30 in the morning!  :-)  YAY!  With the time change, the hours for the nurses working also changes from 6-6 to 7-7.  Now, since Mary leaves to go to the college at 6:30 anyways, Shelley just rides in with her and Daryl, Sabrina and I make our way to work at 8.  Since we are in spring, our time moved up an hour, so now we are currently 6 hours ahead of my friends in GA (and Joy & JD in NC), 7 hours ahead of my friends in OK, and 8 hours ahead of my family in NM.  When the time changes there in October it will be different again, but this is it for these next few weeks.    

A few pounds?

After being told for some years that I am at risk for diabetes (my own health problems related to my tumor as well as a family history), I have finally started taking the doctors seriously.  It is not an effort to lose weight, but rather to become a healthier person.  Of course, in this process if I lose a few pounds I won't be sad about it!  So, I have cut out almost all refined sugar from my diet!  YIKES!  After having done some research, Shelley and I have also started eating a much more balanced diet and are only buying foods that have a low glycemic index (GI).  Sabrina and Daryl have been very supportive and are cooking healthier meals when we join them for dinner!  Because it is a lifestyle change and not a diet, I am allowing some 'slip-ups'... so don't worry, I won't deprive myself of any of Daryl's birthday cake tonight!  :-)   

Prepaid Electricity

As some of you may remember from when I first arrived, our electricity here is prepaid.  It is an interesting way to do it, but pretty wise since most people are very poor and would constantly have it turned off and then wouldn't be able to pay the reconnection fee... it would be a serious downward cycle.  However, for those of us that could pay, it is sometimes a bad thing.  Take the case of a few Sundays ago when our power went out.  Sunday is when the power tends to go out because they are working in the lines, so at first I didn't think anything of it.  However, a little bit later I noticed that the electricity meter was flashing red.  If the power is out then there is nothing that is on.  I went over to look at it.... that's when I realized that the power for the town hadn't gone out, we had just run out of power credits!  I felt so embarrassed!  To make matters worse, when we went to get more electricity credit, the machine was down and the line had over 30 people in it!  OOPS!!!  I went back several times that afternoon and it was always the same story.  Finally in the early evening I was able to get more credit and we were back in business.  Thankfully it wasn't too hot that day!  (I pay much more attention to the meter now too!)

Missing life

One of the hardest things about being here is missing all the big life events that are happening in people's lives.  Missing weddings and births make me the saddest.  The latest wedding that I have missed is Sally's.  She was here as a short-termer from Canada last year.  Amy and Sarah, who were both here at the same time, were able to go.  I am still waiting for some pictures.  (hint hint)  It is always good news to hear about my friend's happiness, but it's also sad because I hate missing it.  I am also happy/sad to announce that my friends Joy & JD are expecting their first child, due in early February!  I can't wait to meet him/her when I return next year!  Congratulations Sally & David and Joy & JD!  

I hope this finds you all enjoying the new school year and the fun colors and weather of fall.

love and hugs to all,

kapande

Kimmie Tibbetts

Serving the people of Namibia at the Rundu State Hospital
http://thekimmieconnection.blogspot.com
http://s207.photobucket.com/albums/bb136/thekimmieconnection/

regarding forwards

Hi Everyone!
Just a reminder to all of you to not send me forwards with large
attachments. My internet is dial-up and charged by the minute.
Attachments clog up my account and take a long time to try to
download. Thanks for your help in making internet communication less
painful!
Thanks in advance!
kimmie

p.s. please also remember that I will be gone the 20th to the 27th
without internet access.

gross pictures of the carcass

Ok, it's not everyone's thing, but for those of you that wanted to see the jackal carcass you can look at the photos.

http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=50937&l=deb7a&id=624739114

hope you enjoy it!

k

Kimmie Tibbetts

Serving the people of Namibia at the Rundu State Hospital
http://thekimmieconnection.blogspot.com
http://s207.photobucket.com/albums/bb136/thekimmieconnection/

Olive

Hello Dear Ones!  

How are all of you doing?  I hope that this finds you well.  Here, they would say ngororo (nn-go-roe-roe) meaning 'it's just like that'.  It's what you say when there's nothing really going on.  Of course in all of life there's really never a time when there is NOTHING going on, but of course we all say that when there is nothing exciting going on.  :-)  So how are things here you ask?  It's just the every day ins and outs of living in a foreign culture.  

Olive

I have a new houseguest.  An adorable but absolutely rotten kitten.  :-)  McKenzie rescued her from the village.

  When she found her she had her whiskers burned off, a huge sore on her leg and the same skinny le

gs and pot belly that the undernourished all have.  I am proud to say that after a few months of TLC and proper food that her whiskers have grown back and she looks like a normal kitten now!  Being a kitten means she loves biting and scratching both Shelley and I.  She is very playful!  Her favorite game is to bat at our legs as we walk down the hallway.  Normally this is fine since it's winter and we wear pants around the house.  However, Shelley wears a skirt as her uniform for work and has to carefully watch her hose clad legs from the claws of the little monster!  She is really cute and has an odd brown/grey and white coloring with bright green-yellow eyes that really sparkle with mischievousness.  Though she is rotten I have had a lot of joy having her!

               

Anna's gone and I'm blue :-(

Last weekend I went on another vacation.  Yes, again!!!  Anna's last request before she left was to go on safari and see elephants one last time, so we went!  Daryl, Sabrina, Anna and I went for 2 nights to Etosha then went to Windhoek to see her off.  It was an amazing safari and we saw an incredible number of animals on our first day!  23 elephants, 13 lions, 1 black rhino, a half eaten carcass with the lioness just on the other side of the road chasing away the vultures and as we were entering our camping place we came across a leopard!  All of that in one day!  We were extremely blessed!  Our time in Windhoek was nice as well.  We actually went to the movies!  (We saw the new Batman movie! I enjoyed it but think I missed out on a lot since I never saw Batman Begins...)  We also had two windows in our car broken and some bags taken.  Mostly it was Anna's last minute souvenirs that she had purchased that day!  OUCH!  It was while we were having dinner so they didn't get our handbags or anything of vital importance like passports or bank cards.  No camping gear or cameras, laptops.... nothing like that, though Daryl was sad that his Swiss Army knife was in the bag of snacks that was taken..  It was incredibly inconvenient to have to get the windows replaced, but we were so lucky that it wasn't worse!  The day that we sent Anna off we had to get the windows replaced so it shortened our time with her that morning.  Thankfully we were able to see her again a bit later.  Though I enjoyed spending time with her it was really hard because I had to say goodbye a second time!  I have received word from her that she arrived safely at home.  I look forward to the time that I am no longer the one being left behind!!!

The Mystery Rash- caution, contains gross details

I think it's quite disgusting and not at all exciting, but for the last 5 1/2 weeks or so I have suffered from a mystery rash.  Due to Olive, at first I thought it was a case of ringworm and for the first 3 days I treated it as a fungal infection.  However it was getting worse, not improving, so I finally went to the doctors here at the hospital.  No one could figure it out.  The rash started on my neck and traveled up to my cheeks, making it look a bit like razor burn (though I don't shave).  Then it spread to my arms, hands and legs.  I was frantic in my care for it.  A different pillow case each night, only wearing my clothes for 12 hrs at a time (then washing them in HOT water), using a different towel each day, using my African wraps as sheets so I could use a different one each night....  I was washing my hands each time I even thought that I had accidentally touched one of the sores or anywhere near one...  It was awful!  For the most part they looked just like a cold sore, kind of bubbly looking.  But then the ones on my arms started oozing a nasty clear yellow substance.  This lasted for almost a week and a half!!!  YUCK!!  That was definitely the worst part!  The ones on my face and neck cleared after about 9 days on their own, which was a huge blessing.  The ones on my arms and legs still haven't cleared up though!  We had a visiting doctor from the UK who was passing through Rundu and he looked at it for me.  He decided it was a folliculitis (infection in the hair follicles) with staphylococcus, a type of bacteria.  He put me on some antibiotics, but they didn't do anything.  At this point, the majority of the sores have cleared up.  However I still have two on my left arm that are intermittently continuing to ooze and several more that haven't disappeared yet.  I went to a homeopathic doctor in Windhoek to see if she could figure out what it is, but she was also stumped!  She just gave me some echinacea to improve my immune system.  So far they all look the same.  The two on my arm have started coming up with these yellow pimple looking things, which, when squeezed they ooze nasty thick yellow pus which then turns back to the clear yellow that they had in the beginning.  No one else is grossed out by them but I think that it is absolutely disgusting!  I have some pictures of it, if anyone is interested in seeing the grossness I wouldn't mind sending them along!  :-)

Annual Conference

Next week we will be going down to Greiter's Conference Center near Windhoek.  This time for our annual AIM conference where all the AIM missionaries gather for a time of fellowship and spiritual retreat.  It is always nice to see old friends and to meet the new people who work in other areas of the country.  There are going to be several new people that I haven't had the chance to meet so I am excited about it!  We will be gone August 20-27th and I don't think I will have email access during that time.  Most of our time gone will be at the conference, but we do have another day in Windhoek before hand.  (I am hoping to go to the movies again!  How exciting would that be?!  Two movies in one month!!!!)  

My Car

Owning a used vehicle isn't always the easiest thing here.  Especially when it breaks down and you live in the middle of no-where Africa and can't get the parts you need!!!  At first it was "3 days" then that came and went with another promise of "3 days"... I have been strung along with these continued 3 day promises for 3 weeks now!!!  The mechanic is a South African (Africaner) man who is very nice that Rob became friends with.  He really tries to take care of us missionaries but it's not always possible since he can't control the availability of parts for our foreign vehicles!  I really enjoy having my vehicle but it can be such a pain!  Though it has less people room than Rob's vehicle (which Daryl & Sabrina are renting from him while he's gone) it has a lot more luggage room which we really need for 5 of us traveling for a week including camping gear to make our stay there cheaper....  Please pray that it will be ready by the time we leave next Wednesday!  The shock has been busted for a long time.  Since I had them replaced when I bought the car it is supposed to just be a replacement part.  We have been waiting for the shop to replace it for many, many months now.  In the meantime the roads here are so bad that the shock finally busted through the top... isn't that fun?  I am waiting for the shock as well as that top part.  In addition it somehow also managed to mess up the gear box seal when all this happened and so the rubber seal has to be replaced as well... EKES!

I love you all and miss you!

kimmie

Praises:

• Anna made it home safely
• Work is going well
• I am exciting about getting to see everyone at conference!

Prayer requests:

• For continued healing for my strange rash.
• For safety in travel as all of us head into Windhoek from our various places of ministry
• That my car will be fixed by the time we need to travel for conference

new pics

Ok, so it's only a handful, but I thought you should see the pics that went along with my last email...

Andreas, my latest boyfriend as well as my new teammates are included...

love you all!

k

click me!

p.s. ask and you will find the answer... According to Dr Kristin who is a urologist, the studies done about HIV and circumcision are from S. Africa, Uganda and Kenya... all very well done studies she says!  Who knew?!

Miscellaneous trivia

Recently I attended a hospital meeting where I learned all sorts of interesting trivia.  It encompasses medical knowledge, Africa in general, Namibia, the Kavango region (the region where Rundu is) and Rundu itself.  Some of them are entertaining and some are heartbreaking...  

• The incubation period for Leprosy can be up to 20 years!  So, 20 years after you are exposed you can still get it!
• The Kavango region has over 400 registered 'traditional healers' (also known as witch doctors).... and that's just the registered ones!
• Only 3% of the world's health care work force reside in Africa, though Africa suffers from almost 25% of the world's disease burden.
• There are 112 identified bacteria and viruses in the Kavango region.
• Rundu State Hospital has over 3,000 patients on Anti-RetroViral (ARV) therapy for HIV/AIDS.  Over 10,000 people pass through the ARV clinic's doors each year for testing, counseling and medical examination.
• According to Rundu State Hospital's guidelines, doctors should only spend 12 minutes on each out-patient exam with a total of only 25 patients per day.  That equates to only 5 hours of work.  :-)  I'm not saying what actually happens... I just wanted to tell you what the guidelines are!
• Namibia has approximately 3,500 people who are Hepatitis B positive.
• A study (no idea who did it or where they did it) showed that when a man is circumcised it reduces the risk of transmitting HIV by 60%.  Namibia is looking into making it mandatory that all of it's male citizens have this procedure performed... 

According to the UNICEF document 'The State of the World's Children 2008': 

• "In 2006, for the first time in recent history, the total number of annual deaths among children under the age of five fell below 10 million, to 9.7 million.  This represents a 60 per cent drop in the rate of child mortality since 1960."  However... "Of the 62 countries making no progress or insufficient progress towards the Millennium Development Goal on child survival, nearly 75 per cent are in Africa." (page iii)
• Namibia ranks number 61 in the list of countries with the highest under five mortality rates.  Sierra Leone is the highest.  The United States is tied in the 151st place with the United Arab Emirates, Lithuania, Slovakia, Serbia and Thailand.
• In 2005 the rate of adults ages 15-49 living with HIV was  19.6.  
• In 2005, the total number of HIV positive people 2005 in Namibia was estimated at 230,000.     
• In 2005, the number of HIV positive women ages 15+ was 130,000!  
• In 2005, the estimate of children ages 0-14 that were HIV positive is 17,000.  
• HIV prevalence among young people ages 15-24 is 3 times higher in women than men (4.4% vs 13.4%).  
• In 2005, children ages 0-17 orphaned by HIV was 85,000, which is over half of the children ages 0-17 orphaned for all reasons which was 140,000.  

All of these statistics are astounding when you think that Namibia's total population is less than 2 million!