Chidamoyo Hospital in Zimbabwe

Lori and Major at her going away with staff Dr. Kirsty Smith at work on the CD4 machine Ryan at ART/EPI clinic Bob working in the dusty chapel Dr. Ryan and Dr. Greg We have been very busy with visitors this past week. Bob is here helping to put roofs on our 2 new additions. He is finding out things never move fast in Africa, so he has been keeping busy painting our new flats while he waits for the timbers to arrive for the roof. On Tuesday afternoon last week, Lori Batten joined us. She came to pack up her household here and get her dog, Maputi and return to the US. She was busy saying good-bye and packing and left this morning for Harare to get Maputi on the plane home today and then she leave tomorrow afternoon. . We had a breakfast in her honor on Friday at work so she could say her good byes. She is working in Seattle. We wish her well as she adjusts to life in the US. While she was here running around in shorts, Seattle had a snow storm with 12 inches in some areas! She is look...

Mom and stolen baby after reunited! Bob and Cheryl at church on Sunday Fireworks NY Eve NY Eve celebrations at the church Driving home on NY Eve Mereki Family, Gladys and her maid and Dr. Kellert Major exploring ruins in the Highlands Dr. Kellert at Nyangombe Falls Happy New Year 2012. As we say here “ Makorkoto Gore Itsva !” We went to the Eastern Highlands and stayed in Juliasdale from December 28-31. We stayed in a wonderful Inn across the street from Gladys. Cheryl and I had a fireplace in our bedroom, but we seemed inept in getting it to burn very long! It was cool and raining and so green! A different world from Chidamoyo . We haven’t slept under blankets since September and there we slept under 2 blankets and it got down to low 60’s at night. We got to see Gladys several times and she is doing well. Keeps very busy visiting the “old people” and making sure they are ok , taking their meds , have food, etc. She celebrates her 75 th in September—so we will have to think...

Cheryl, Mrs. and Dr.Kajese at Christmas brunch Christmas Brunch Christmas Brunch Tea and Bread after church Mrs. and Mr. Mereki and Carolyn and Michael Church at the Hospital on Christmas morning Michael holding a gift for the family Michael opening a gift Cheryl getting her gift bag from Major Staff and their gift bags Major as Father Christmas Staff at the hospital party on 23rd Caroling on the lorry What a wonderful Christmas we had and I hope each of you did too. This has been a busy week leading up to Christmas. We had movies on Tuesday and Friday nights for 2 weeks leading up to Christmas. The community comes and joins us. We were happy to be rained out one night but postponed the movie until the next night. We were happy to have needed rain. This past Wednesday night we went caroling in our lorry (big truck) and at each place we stopped added more people to the truck. We ended up with about 40 people squeezed in! We gave out sweets to all the people we sang for. Thursday w...

African flying termite The invasion begins--they love light! Christmas is up at home! Dr. Kajese and Dr. Kellert holding up ovarian tumor removed! Starting the surgery for the ovarian cyst! Starting to remove the container off the lorry The Lorry arrives with the container The container from Sebastopol Christian Church arrived on Saturday last week (10th of December). It was quite an experience to get it here; in fact it could be a movie script! One of doctors left on Saturday at 6:30 a.m. to go to Chinhoyi with the driver and they only got about 5 miles away from the hospital when they found the truck bringing the container had broken down on our big hill (Dzimaiwei Hill—which means “Oh my goodness” hill) since the night before. The driver came back to tell us and quickly Major took off with the Land Rover and tractor to pull it up the hill. They got there by 7:30 a.m. and went to work. The doctor and driver went on to Chinhoyi (3 hours away) while Major went to work trying to ge...

Christmas is up! Hysterectomy at Chidamoyo with Dr. Kabanzi and Dr. Kellert and myself doing anesthesia Thanksgiving dinner at Chidamoyo Students enjoying all that food! Major is getting ready to eat! Thanksgiving was celebrated here on Sunday November 27th. Thanksgiving Day is not a holiday here and so it is always a busy day and no time to cook the feast—so we usually have it on Saturday, but Major and family wanted to go home to plant that weekend so we had it Sunday night after church. We had Major and wife Patience, Dr. Kabanzi, Dr. Kellert and 3 medical students from University of Zimbabwe who are here for 4 weeks with us. We started by explaining what Thanksgiving was and they really got into the eating part! We had planned on having chicken because turkey is hard to come by and very expensive here, but the driver didn’t get to the butchery in time to pick up the chickens I ordered and paid for, so we had one small chicken and roast pork with all the trimmings! We had a tab...

Mr. Mereki 20 years and Mrs. Mereki 10 years getting their certificate from Dr. Kabanzi Presenting certificates Long Service Award Dinner Dinner for Long Service Awards Dr. Kellert sewing up a leg TOP TEN THINGS YOU LEARN WHEN YOU HAVE NO ZESA* FOR 5 DAYS IN A ROW (ZESA is the name of our electric supply company in Zimbabwe and stands for “Zimbabwe electricity Seldom Available!) 10. It is your fault that ZESA went out because you bought extra meat, had 2 pigs slaughtered, filled the freezers full for a staff party on Saturday this week. 9. Everyday you struggle to call the ZESA fault line on Skype( because there is no cell phone coverage when there is no electricity) with your battery back up with a small amount of time before it will die, to report that you still have no electricity. The answer you get everyday is “has this been reported?” 8. You learn quickly not to wear that headlight flash light that is so great because it leaves your hands free to do things. As the only light i...

Price giving with Headmaster at Zvarai Major and Cheryl eating after the prize giving Cheryl and I at Prize giving Prize giving with students and teaching Students performing for parents and us Nurses station and Trauma room going up Pediatric extension and Nurse station and Trauma room under construction Major, myself, Dr. Kajese, Dr. Kellert and Dr. Kabanze The 3 Doctor K's Well it has been another busy week in Club Chid. The three Doctor K’s are all working hard and Dr. Kellert got to do her first C/Section with Dr. Kajese on Wednesday evening. It went well and she is now used to our instruments, sutures and non-disposable everything—don’t throw those gloves away—we reuse them!! The C/Section was done on Lori’s maid who had come the day before to clean Dr. Kellert’s house—that put her into labor. I told her she should have tried that on her patients in the US “clean my house and you will go into labor!” The building continues on the Peds extension and also the Nurses Stati...