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Enjoyable time away at Rhino Camp

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On Monday the 27th of July, Major and Patience and I left Chidamoyo for 4 days at Rhino Camp.  Its a 4 hour drive to Kariba and then a 1 hour boat drive down to Rhino Camp.  We arrived to large groups of hippo all around and some elephants munching the grass.Major and Patience went fishing twice a day and I went out on a game ride once each evening.  In the morning I enjoyed just sitting in the sun and reading my book while elephants walked by in front of me, munching grass.
It was a wonderful and relaxing time.  Just a good time to get away and enjoy a change of scenery during Covid.
Fishing wasn't that good for Major and Patience but they caught enough for all of us at camp to have fresh fried Bream for our last dinner there.  Major doesn't eat fish but the rest of it loved it!
We returned home on Thursday afternoon.  Zimbabwe had started a very strict lockdown again due to Covid.  Now people have to have a letter from work to travel or otherwise stay at home. You must wear a m…
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Surprise visit by thieves

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On the 1st of July I went for my stent replacement.I was admitted—starved for 19 hours, waited in pre-op for 2 hours and then was cancelled due to complications with the patient in front of me. I told Major to come and pick me with food!!   They rescheduled me for the 3rd of July—just 2 days later, and so had a free day in Harare.With lockdown and trying to stay away from crowds we met Dr. and Mrs. Kajese (our doctor here from 2011-2014) for tea outside and went running around for supplies for the hospital.It was nice to have some human contact with friends—even with masks on and social distancing!!On the 3rd I got my procedure done and was home by 4 p.m.We came home to Chidamoyo the next day (the 4th) and had a day to rest before going to work on Monday--- I thought!At 0410 on Monday (the 5th of July) morning I was awaken to 7 guys yelling as they cut my fence and ran by my window and with 4 hits with a sledgehammer broke into my house.I had run to the dining room and asked them what…
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Covid, Health, Container Arrived!

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Life continues under lockdown here in Zimbabwe.Still no transport in rural areas, making it hard for patients to get to us.
Covid-19 continues to increase.As of today (23-June) we are up to 512 cases and 6 deaths.Returning residents from South Africa have been the main number of cases.Now we have several cases who are not returning residents and so we expect the spread at any time.
Last week on Thursday all nurses at Government hospitals went on strike (for better Pay and sufficient PPE) which has driven people to mission hospitals for care as they cannot get care at other hospitals.Our Out-patients has increased a lot this week, even without transport readily available.People are hiring vehicles to bring them long distances to here.Continue to pray for the hospital and all our staff to be kept safe and well.
I did have my stent removed from my right ureter.Tried in the doctor’s office on May 26th and failed so had to go into the hospital for the in and out procedure on the 27th.I was ho…
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Covid Lockdown--Zimbabwe style, Two new vehicles and Happy Birthday Major

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Not much to write about during these days of stay at home.No traveling, no direct patient care, and best of all no suspected cases of Cornavirus here!
I usually come to the hospital Monday-Friday 0700-1200  to do office work and Internet and go home after tea.
Like many of you I have been spending a lot of time sorting, cleaning closets and drawers and getting rid of things I do not use!Major loves to hoard so I dump it all on him!I have almost finished all my closets and drawers and feel better about no clutter!  Major says if this stay at home order lasts for too long I might not have anything left in my house!
We continue to see patients at the hospital.We let 3 in at a time through our fence and we have our OPD outside with our staff in PPE.
There are now officially 46 cases positive cases in Zimbabwe, 4 deaths, 18 recovered and 24 active cases out of 28,019 tested. (www.worldometers.info) There have been 5 cases and 1 death in our Province and none in our district.We have no test kits…
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The age of Covid-19

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On the 23rd of March Zimbabwe was ordered into a 21-day lockdown and suddenly life changed for many people.  Unfortunately, many people took it as a holiday from work and started going to stores and friends and walking to "hang out."  The Army was sent into townships to enforce the order and many people were beat and sent home or arrested where they then were put in crowded jails with more people!
Some people took the order seriously and at the hospital we had already started a screening process and letting 3 people in at a time to inside the gate. We have moved our OPD to our outside veranda and don't allow people to walk inside the hospital, but outside.  We have been having daily staff meetings, we are wearing our PPE and we have cut back on staff so less people will get exposed!
We are running about 15 in-patients including Maternity and we are feeding caregivers so they are not in and out of the hospital.  We are also feeding staff on duty so they are not going back a…
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