Chidamoyo Hospital in Zimbabwe

On NY Eve we had a full day at work and only got home about 7 p.m. exhausted and ready for this year to end!   The church at Chidamoyo had a church service that started at 8 p.m. and then they had a movie and at 12:00 fireworks went off.   I had gone to bed at 10:30 p.m. as we were leaving on a long trip at 4 a.m. the next morning, so I jumped out of bed when the fireworks went off—thinking bombs were hitting us! They were loud!   Major ran into the kitchen from his bed thinking something exploded!   The crowd loved them! At 4:28 NY Day the Mereki family (Major, Patience, Michael and Carolyn) and I left for a family vacation in Zambia and Malawi.   On the way to the border with Zambia we were stopped at a police roadblock.   Roadblocks are common occurrences here and you always wonder if they want to see your driver’s license, your insurance papers, and your radio license— whatever.   This was a first for me—he needs change for a $20! He had char...

Well it’s the 26 th and holiday here.   Had to go to work this morning until 1 p.m. and now trying to catch up with work at home before dinner.   A whole afternoon off yeah! On the 23 rd (Sunday evening) the youth put on a drama of the Christmas story and also we sang and read scripture too.   It was a nice service. We had a wonderful Christmas Eve without staff Christmas party which started at lunch at 1 p.m.   We had over 75 people attend out of 92 staff so we were happy for the good turnout.   It rained on and off lightly during the party but our canopies helped to keep us dry.   We ate a big meal of beef, chicken, rice, coleslaw and gravy and chocolate cake for dessert.   I got up at 5 a.m. to make 4 cakes and the icing! We had some dancing and games and then gave out the bags of groceries for all the staff to enjoy a good Christmas.   Each staff member got 2 kg flour, 1 kg rice, 1 bottle cooking oil, 1 bottle Mazoe drink, 1 long...

It is the Friday before Christmas and all through the hospital not a creature has been stirring only a few rats…No ZESA for 5 days and we wait with baited breathe for that flash of light to tell us Father Christmas has blessed us with a cold fridge that will hold all that Christmas dinner! Last week we saw Rick and Sue Hahn off on Sunday from Harare.   We went in on Thursday night and had an African adventure to get to Harare.   We got as far as Magunje (on the tar road) and had a flat tire—a tire that was supposedly “fixed” before we left.   We quickly changed it and when we put the spare tire on-it was also low.   We rushed to Karoi (30 kms away) to get the tires fixed and found out the spare did have a puncture too!   So we waited while they hand repaired both tires—then we were on our way to Harare!   We got there at about 10 p.m. and fell into bed! Friday night 12 of us went to the annual Christmas pantomime.   This is a Christmas tradit...

We have been busy praying for rain the last 2 weeks.   We had a very unusually hot November and no rain.   No one was able to plow or plant at all!   On the 27 th of November we had 24 hours of prayer with people from church and the hospital signing up to pray for 15 minutes to cover the whole 24 hours—that is 96 people!   Juliasdale congregation where Gladys goes to church joined us.   We received our first big rain on the 26 th and it rained more on the 27 th .   This week we had rain from Monday evening through Sat—at least a little bit each day.   People are busy plowing in their fields and planting now.   They are happy not so depressed now that it looks like the rainy season has finally arrived.   Keep praying it will be a good season so that people will have enough to eat. We received some wonderful news this week that our application to Beit Trust—a UK based organization was successful in getting $20,000 for the construction ...

While I was in the US for medical care we received delivery of a brand new Holland tractor.  Donated by supporters of  our UK Trust we were overwhelmed by their generosity. We have never had a brand new tractor to help us with the work here.  The tractor is so important in hauling water when we can't pump enough; in bringing firewood for cooking; in hauling pitsand and supplies for our building projects; and ploughing for our hospital field. We are so thankful for this genrous donation and the big help to our work.  It has already been put to good use and working hard! We have also finished up our Pediatric extension and our nurses station!  It seemed like it took a long time but we are so thankful for these new buildings which are already being put to good use.  One side of the nurses station is our new recovery room.  All patiens from theater come straight to here for more monitored care. We are finishing up putting the ceiling board ...

On Monday Stephanie, Judy and Denise and Jordan (4 of our visitors) went out to help with Well Baby Clinic where we give vaccinations to under 5’s.   It turned out to be a very busy clinic and they did not get home until after 4 p.m.!   They were very exhausted and dirty! On Tues Judy and Denise volunteered to go for ART outreach clinic.   This is a very busy clinic and they helped to do all the weights and handing out of medicines!   They got back about 5 p.m. very tired! On Thursday Denise volunteered to go for an ART outreach clinic 2 hours from here.   She is a nursing student from Finland and getting lots of experience in community health. On Thursday Sylvia and Chuck left for Gweru to say goodbyes to Sylvia’s family.   They meet up with the other 4 visitors on Sunday in Harare and the 6 of them go to The Hide on safari in Hwange Game Park and then 4 nights in Victoria Falls before they all leave for home. John and Jim finished the shel...