Stephanie's notes about the trip so far

The house and food is awesome. The ladies that cook for us are so good and they are so kind. I am very spoiled here for this being a mission trip. They make our beds, food (3 meals a day), and do our laundry everyday. We even have a guard who stays outside all night!Yesterday we went to the Dairy place and kinda just looked at all the animals there was one lactating cow... There were several different herds and corrals all owned by different people but sharing the same land maybe like 10 acres. The terrain they live on is awful they dont get free choice water their taken to get watered only in the morning and evening. They dont get any concentrate and hardly any forage bc they are all sharing the same land. Its so sad. Today we went back this morning to work on all the cows who were either sick or injured. We did a few castrations, a lot of ivermectin and deworming. We did a mass removal, Preg checks,some vulva abscesses. There was one cow that aborted a few days ago and retained her placenta partially and so I got to insert this giant pessary pill into her vagina it was so stinky and gross. There were a few maggot filled wounds we cleaned up, couple ring worm casses, and some lameness exams. It was pretty busy we visted 5 different herds and only one of them had a chute the rest was definitely rodeo style. It was awesome though, especially to see how much these farmers really do love and care for their cows the best they can. It was neat to have them be like yeah this cow is feeling a little off out of a herd of like 30. They knew everything about every individual cow. Its just awesome to be like God is the same with us times 5 billion. He knows every hair on our head and its reassuring to know He is in control in Zambia otherwise it would be ten times more heartbreaking. It is so sad to think that my camera could buy dinner for a family for like a week. They need so much and we have so little to give. There needs are way beyond our reach but not God's. I just have to remind myself that Jesus promises He is all we truly need. So just keep praying He continues to work through us. I know the people here are so appreciative of everything we are doing and I hope they are able to see the love of Christ in us. I can feel God working on my heart more and more everyday and opening my eyes to the world beyond vet school and America. I wish everyone would go do a mission like this just to see how truly selfish we are as a country.One of the saddest things here is the children there are hundreds of orphans because they have lost their parents to HIV. 1 in 4 people here is HIV positive and its so awful. Just yesterday one of the other group memebers was volunteering at the hospital and he said there was an 18 month old boy the size of a 6 month old who was HIV+ and was too weak to even hold himself up. Its so frustrating to know he will never have a chance at life... The country is improving slightly they have more and more education programs and are now promoting abstinence instead of condoms as a preventative so God willing, the numbers should start to decrease in the next few years. Overall, this trip has been amazing so far the people I am with continue to impact my life as we are bonded more by this experience. The farmers and locals are awesome too and its great to see them want to better their animals. Its still hard to see them living in the conditions they are but its the best they can do. Thanks for reading please keep praying for all of us we hope you are also doing well.