LHSON Zambia

There is a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to  dance. There is real beauty in traveling abroad with students and faculty.  Opportunities abound for conversation and experiences which contribute to the learning and growth of all involved.  Doing life in a more intense, intimate, and organic fashion than is normally possible in our daily life provides the milieu for encountering people and our worldview in a less scripted, planned, and prescribed way.  While inside jokes are numerous, nonsensical and cause us to laugh with abandon, it's actually the realizations, breakthroughs, and connections that occured in both the mundane and the stressful moments that we will carry with us as we exit security at DFW to return to our routines, responsibilities, and relationships. We departed Ndola this morning after celebrating the week and bidding farewell to most of our Northrise and Impact Ndola friends last night.  We dance...

Enjoy our latest blog from our Communications Co-Chairs:  Autumn Jade Morales and Michelle Barbosa: Tectonic plates shift every second of every day underneath the earth's crust. Often the impact of this geological occurrence is not even noticeable on the surface but deep below millions of things have moved & changed. Every once in awhile something shifts and the impact is monumental and results in an earthquake, literally shaking the earth with the initial impact, shockwaves, and vibrations of the aftershock.   This is what it has felt like serving alongside Northrise University in Ndola, Zambia. Impact Ndola is aptly named and just like tectonic plates are shifting below the surface, impact Ndola has created many positive shifts below the surface, mostly invisible but important impacts on the community and those serving. Some of those moments where when we as nursing students were playing games with children & pinky promising to be best friends forever or sit...

“Christ with me; Christ before me; Christ behind me; Christ in me…” – St. Patrick Baylor Nursing School espouses the idea that nurses are the hands and feet of Christ.   To that end we strive to educate our students to have skill and compassion as they tend the needs of the whole person.   We would hope that students participating in mission trips through the school would experience this in profoundly meaningful and tangible ways.   While our students did bring Christ with them and are serving in His name, they have discovered that He is here in Zambia and they are encountering him in new ways and at ever turn.   A resonating theme to our experience is the deep realization of our own privilege coupled with our profound appreciation for the joy we find resonating out of the people here.   We are learning what it truly means to be content in all circumstances and that we are made perfect in weakness. The students are eager to serve but are also learning th...

We woke to our first Zambian sunrise this morning. After a deep breath of African air we laid our eyes upon the vibrant red dirt that featured prominently on our inaugural day in Ndola and at Northrise University. The students were eager sponges today despite their tremendous jetlag.   Our day was filled with touring the community and the school; meeting those with whom we will work; and preparing for that work.   We soaked up the sights, sounds, smells, customs, and language of this place and began trying to create some order of it all.    I loved hearing the constant questions and observations from our students as they aimed to understand this new world. The students were drawn to children like magnets at each stop in the community and are anticipating our return to serve them.  Lori and I found such great joy in watching our students engage with the children.    We visited three schools for orphans and vulnerable children in the com...

The Baylor University Louise Herrington School of Nursing is deeply committed to L EARN. L EAD. S ERVE. and that is incredibly evident in the plan for our Zambia mission.   Our trip is designed to fulfill all three aspects of this profound mission and calling. The opportunities to  L EARN .  seem to lie boundlessly before us as we begin our journey together.   We will experience the riches, beauty, history, and diversity of three different countries as we travel:   from the lavish sites of Dubai to the solemnity of Johannesburg, South Africa with the beauty and rawness of Zambia sandwiched in-between.   There will be much to process from seeing all of which humankind is capable ranging from the highest achievements of architectural, artistic, and financial success to the manner in which we can deprive and subjugate one another to great injustices.   Not only will we see great structures of steel and a man-made island, but we will also see sufferi...