Chanza is a girl who lives in a beautiful town in Ndola. She lives with her mother, father and her younger brothers. She loves her family. She also has a grandmother whom she loves very much. Her grandmother lives in a village far, far away in Chembe. She talks to her grandmother every day. She calls her in the morning to find out how she has woken up and, in the evening, to find out how her day was. Her grandmother is her best friend. She tells her grandmother how her school was.
One morning, Chanza woke up early in the morning. She brushed her teeth and ate her breakfast. She was ready to go to school when she remembered to call her grandmother.
“Hello,” she said.
“Hello, my sweetheart,” her grandmother responded.
“How are you granny?”
“I am not too well,” her grandmother said.
“What is the problem?” She asked.
“I need to see a doctor,” her grandmother said.
“How are doctors going to see you since your village is very far from town?”
“I don’t know sweetheart,” her grandmother said, softly.
Chanza was worried about her grandmother. She remembered how sick her grandmother was the last time they took her to the hospital.
“What can I do to help my granny?” she cried.
Chanza did not go to school that day. Rather, she rushed to the nearest hospital to see a doctor.
“Doctor!” She cried.
“What is it, young girl?” The doctor asked.
“My granny is very sick.”
“What is wrong with her?” Asked the doctor.
“I don’t know,” Chanza responded.
“Where is she? I can take a look at her?”
“She is not here,” responded Chanza, “she is very far away in the village.”
“Oh too bad,” the doctor said.
“What can I do for my poor granny,” Chanza cried, “she is all by herself.”
“Don’t worry Chanza,” the doctor said encouragingly, “we will use Tele-doctor.”
“Tele-doctor?” Asked Chanza, “what is that?”
“It’s an App that has been developed by scientists to help doctors to reach people in the rural areas and far places,” the doctor said.
The doctor continued to explain how the App is used to get information about a patient even if the patient is not in a hospital. The doctor asked Chanza to call her grandmother on her phone. When Chanza called her grandmother, the doctor asked her to install a ‘Tele-doctor’ on her mobile phone. Chanza’s grandmother installed the App on her phone as quickly as she could. The doctor then asked her to scan herself using the phone. When she finished scanning, the results were sent to the doctor’s phone.
“Look Chanza!” Exclaimed the doctor, “I have your grandmother’s results.”
“Really?” Said, surprised Chanza, “Are they ok?”
“Unfortunately not,” the doctor said, “her temperature and blood pressure are high.”
“Oh poor granny,” cried Chanza.
“Don’t worry Chanza,” the doctor said, “she just needs some medicine and she will be fine.”
“She doesn’t have any medicine in the village,” said Chanza sadly.
“We will send the medicine to her,” the doctor said happily.
“How can you do that?” she asked.
“We have the latest technology that can help us do that,” the doctor said.
The doctor led Chanza to the pharmacist’s office. There, they got all the medicine that her grandmother needed. Then, he led her to another room. In the next room, Chanza saw the technology that the hospital was using to send medicine to patients. The doctor then explained what the latest technology does.
“What is this, doctor?” She asked.
“This is a drone,” the doctor said. “This is what will take medicine to your grandmother.”
“How?”
“We will attach the medicine to the drone and then it will take the medicine.”
“Who will be controlling it?”
“We will be controlling it from here until it reaches where your grandmother is,” the doctor explained.
“Wow!” she explained.
“Come, sit with me and together we will fly the drone.”
The drone flew for a very long distance until it reached Chembe village. Chanza was able to see her grandmother getting the medicine. She became very happy.
Read – Andrew and the Robot – A Children’s Story by Pelekani Lwenje, Zambia
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