A Striving Novice: StrivingNoviceMissionZambia2017

From paved roads and sturdy bridges which compile the concrete jungle that I call my home; to a rocky unpaved African village with rickety wooden bridges, and hand made, cardboard structured homes. My nursing journey will once again take me across oceans on to another continent where I get to combine my various passions for travel, adventure, nursing and of course meeting new people and exploring new cultures. Entering this other world of living, health, and nursing is like the spark that rejuvenates my passions for the work I do and live for. That passion that sometimes drifts into my daytime naps and sleepless days, and but is so needed to help uplift my stamina to provide care with a full heart and complete devotion. Volunteering and using my nursing skills in such an arduous setting serves as an energy boost that simultaneously humbles my everyday practice and revives the spark of interest of a #strivingnovice to challenge my nursing spirits and to humble myself in the work I do.

Last year when I scored the opportunity to travel on a nursing adventure, to practice the work of my passion, in a foreign country that was lacking the essential necessities that I use each day at work, but often take for granted, the accessabilities which myself and my patients are privileged to attain; my thirst for another opportunity to combine my two passions of traveling and nursing, only became more parched. Before I ever went on a travel mission, the idea was more like a freign dream, something similar to my once imaginary vision of nursing, that consisted of a hero shocking pulseless humans and performing compressions. A dream that was void of disgruntled, odorous patients yelling, demanding and requiring the little bits of my nursing capabilities. That hero nurse fizzled into the air as my life became consumed with the real life world of nursing, school, and my ongoing attempt to fit life, health and some sleep hours into the almost non existent time slots in my schedule. But I learned, that everyone has a busy life; even people with the passion to creep outside the lines that mark their schedules, and which overtakes the minutes we hope to sneak into our limited lifetime to make some of our dreams come alive. So if it meant giving up on sleep for the few days before the adventure, some extra organizing, and pleading emails to be granted time off, I was going to give one of my dreams some life for the second time.

So,it is just a few weeks into my second to last semester of NP school, and after completing 3 ER night shifts and 3 NP clinic days;and after few flight cancelations and other airport drama- thank you- #winter2017snowstorm, I have finally embarked on what will hopefully be another educational, fun and fulfilling adventure; as I fly across the some continents to dive into a world of nursing and healthcare that is void of computer systems that dictate what I did and what I can do, lacking essentials such as power and electricity, and bare of what I used to think is essential in the life of healthcare and life saving environments. With vaccines ingested, and injected, bags packed with random basic items to fill the bare supply rooms in the small clinic and labour ward,such as lights ( as in candles and electric headlamps), gloves, resuscitation devices, and sanitizers; and some kosher food; a tired but adrenalized #StrivingNovice, with a newfound energy obtained from the mare exhilaration for what will greet me after my 20+ hours of travels, as well as ambition; to bring light, smiles, candies and healing to some remarkable human beings inhabiting some small, rocky, unpaved villages in Zambia, Africa.-#StrivingNovice takes on #MissionZambia #2.

#alwaysstriving

#StrivingNoviceTakesZambiaMission2

#ERNurseDMissionZambia2017.