25^th of May is the African Freedom Day, also known as the Africa Day. On this day in 1963, the Organization of African Unity (OAU ) was founded. It is one of the most important international organisations, one that unites nearly all African countries today.

25^th of May is also the birthday of brother John, a seminarian, who stays in the Katondwe parish as an intern. He received his wishes from Katondwe Mission Hospital team, as well as freshly appointed deacon Emmanuel and Elisabeth, our guest from Germany.

On 21^th of May in St. Dominic’s Major Seminary in Lusaka an important event for the community of Katondwe took place. On this day, Emmanuel, our parishioner from the village of Mwavi and Edward, his friend from the Seminary, who visited our patients and supported them spiritually for many months, were ordained as deacons.

Delegation from Katondwe Mission Hospital couldn’t miss the celebration.

This nice and likeable young man in the photo is Bartholomew K. Kamlewe.

Bartholomew belongs to the team of the Katondwe Mission Hospital. He is a qualified midwife and a teacher, very committed to sharing with his students the secrets of emergency obstetrics and neonatal care. Moreover, he holds important positions on many committees at medical organisations. He is the first person from Zambia to participate in the Young Midwives Leaders (YML) Programme of the International Confederation of Midwives (ICM). He is also a member of the Midwives Association of Zambia (MAZ).

We had very busy days at the Katondwe Mission Hospital, occupied with difficult surgeries and medical procedures. However, these were also the days of making new friends and companions. We enjoyed the time of exchanging knowledge and serious talks, but also the moments of funny chats and laughter.

Yesterday, with a heavy heart, we said goodbye to our guests from Poland, but we believe we will meet again.

Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for the time we shared!

At the beginning of each day, we find a moment to pray and gather our strength for our daily challenges, and reassert our faith in the meaning of our work.

Today, a Holy Mass was held in the chapel of the Katondwe Mission Hospital, attended by the entire Katondwe Mission Hospital team, students from the hospital's nursing school and our guests from Poland.

We thanked God for the time spent together and prayed that Katarzyna, both Ann, Hanna and Paweł safely return to their homes.

Our guests always join the activities of Katondwe Mission Hospital with great commitment and actively support us in bringing medical assistance to all patients. This visit is not different. The gynaecological and surgical team, which arrived to Katondwe from Poland, have so far performed a number of surgeries and treatments of adult patients (numerous gynaecological treatments, as well as breast abscess incision and drainage, appendectomy, open biopsy with abdominal wall tumour removal, urological examinations, transrectal examination under anaesthesia) and of kids (such as orchiopexy, removal of a foreign body from an ear, catheterization of a bladder under anaesthesia).

At the Katondwe Mission Hospital, we welcome each baby with equal care and pray to God for their happy future. However, receiving a little human into the world is not always easy. As in any hospital, we also have cases of complicated births, and the African reality of Katondwe makes providing medical assistance much more difficult.

This time, another healthy baby was born, assisted by the gynaecological and surgical team which will stay in the Katondwe Mission Hospital for several more days.

Dear little Maria, welcome to the world!