Happy 2018 and lots of visitors!

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We had a great Christmas.  It was a 5-day holiday here from the 22nd through the 26th.  I was on call for anesthesia and only got called out 3 times and all during the day for C/Sections so I was happy!
On the 27th we had a one night visit from the Steven Marshall and family from Harare.  Steven is a missionary kid of the late Dale Marshall and Mrs. Linda Marshall who now lives in Boise, ID.  We enjoyed seeing their 2 older sons who live in the US and their daughter Lauren.  Sloan brought his girlfriend Mackenzie from the US to see his home.  They were on their way to Kariba, so it was great to host them for one night.
On the 28th Chie and River from Seattle, WA came to be with us.  Chie works at Drip Assist a company in Seattle that has developed an IV infusion device.  We use it at our hospital to help us control the rate of IV infusions and we met with the staff of the company when we were in Seattle in September.  They bid on a trip to Chidamoyo at our auction and won!
River helped us with many fix-it projects around the hospital and I put Chie to work helping put Viral Load results in the computer and catch up on the famous Green Books (our ART records book).   She also spent time teaching new staff on the Drip Assist.   They visited Rhino Camp and Major’s village and helped him weed his maize field!  People did a double take to see white people working in a black person’s field!
On the 7th of January we saw the arrival of Cathy and Bob Walker from IN.  Cathy was the RN here from 1971-74 and was my roommate when I came in 1972-73.  She and her husband came in 2006 for a visit and now came back to celebrate our 50th anniversary and to help us get ready for it!  We have really put them to work and they have been painting, sorting and cleaning fulltime!  We are so thankful for their help.  Our hospital is starting to look so great!
On January 9th Chie and River left us after a short visit and we were sorry to see them go.  They promised to come back. 
On January 10th we welcomed Holly Dack from my home church in Sebastopol, CA arrived.  My church has generously sent her to help me hostess the 50th Anniversary celebration of the hospital coming up on the 21st of January.  We kept her busy cleaning all the guest rooms and setting them up for the 20 guests we are housing here in the next few days.  We also put her to work cleaning and organizing at the hospital. 
On Saturday and Sunday this past weekend we traveled to a Game Farm 30 minutes from Harare called Thetford Farm.  The Mereki family Major, Patients, Carolyn and Michael) and Cathy, Bob, Holly and I had a wonderful 2 days relaxing and seeing animals.  We had our own church service Sunday and the Mereki family sang for special music.  We were happy to rest for 2 days and get ready for this busy week ahead.
We are expecting 3 more people this evening and 2 arrive tonight and 3 more on Thursday and so we have been going to the airport every day for 4 days this week!  We are so excited seeing old and new friends and can’t wait to welcome everyone for this celebration on Sunday. We have been painting and cleaning and really sprucing up the hospital.  We are thankful to Friends of Chidamoyo who have been paying for all the repairs and paint!

We pray for a great time for all on Sunday.  Stay tuned…

Christmas Day


Mereki family on Christmas

Opening gifts with Mereki family on Christmas Eve

Christmas Day church


Giving Tea and Cookies for Christmas after church


Mackenzie holding baby from a C/S with Lorrain looking on


Devon, Lorrain, Lauren, Sloan, Mackenzie and Steven Marshall

Chie helping in the office

Chie teaching nurses how to use Drip-Assist

River working on my washer

River and Chie saying goodbye

Holly Dack helping in OI office

Bob Walker helping to paint

Cathy Walker helping sort supplies in hallway





Dinner at Thetford Farm



 Patience, Holly and Carolyn

 Mereki family singing for church

 Sable at the Farm

Zebra at the farm


 Cathy Walker and Rhino

Kathy and Rhino


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