Another busy week has gone by and I don’t even know where to
start! Actually, that isn’t true, I have to start with a shout out to my one
confirmed reader Maw (Maura to those not in the know) Reidy, my second mother
and moral compass!😂 Hi from Zimbabwe Maura!
As I mentioned in my last blog, Fr. Trust and I took a trip
this week to Kariyangwe which is north of Hwange and where Fr. Trust is from.
And talk about a road trip, flying all over the place in a truck because there
is no difference between the side of the mountain and the ‘road’ for 2 hours
was a bit mad but there was regular relief from the many cows who waltz out
without a care in the world (Zimbabwe is very like Ireland sometimes…) and
chickens, or ‘Road Runners’ as they are affectionately called, sprinting across
in front of you from nowhere! I almost had a heart attack every time the
chickens appeared which Fr. Trust found hilarious.😒
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| Father Trust and me |
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| Father Trust's homestead |
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| Kariyangwe Mission Hospital |
The thing that struck me most is that the hospital is
currently without electricity (somebody stole a section of the power line a few
miles away, as you do…). Getting something like that repaired here isn’t a
simple job and it’s been 2 months now since it happened! This has happened in
the past so when they were last offered a donation they requested some solar
panelling (no flies on this lot) which keeps the emergency equipment powered
and some lighting at night. A few months back the power in our block in QMC
went and the back-up generator failed for about 45 minutes and it was
pandemonium! Don’t get me wrong, all the patients were fine and everything was
sorted after the initial panic but we are just so used to technology being at
our finger tips that when it’s gone we don’t know what to do with ourselves and
these guys are cooking dinner for patients over an open fire in the back yard!😄 When I asked them how they cope they were just so blaise about it – this is
just a thing that happens and they deal with it.
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| Dinner is served! |
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| Literally in love with their pharmacy! |
Again, this is a hospital without any doctors. Nurses here
have complete responsibility for their patients and one of the biggest
challenges is to know when to keep a patient where they are and continue to
treat or when to refer to the regional hospital in Binga. It is a lot of
responsibility but nurses here are prepared for that in their training. It is
known and accepted that there are not enough doctors to staff the rural
hospitals so nurses assume this responsibility as soon as they are qualified –
bit of a sink or swim situation but from the nurses I’ve spoken to it doesn’t
seem to phase anyone. Again, it’s just the way it is so they get on with it.
As I was off over the weekend I managed to squeeze in a 2
night safari over the border in Chobe National Park in Botswana. Going on an
African safari has been on my bucket list since before I knew what a bucket
list even was so I decided to make the most of my weekends! There was only a
small group of us and we spent the weekend on game drives, boat tours on the
Chobe river and camping in the bush – listening to a lion roaring while alone in
my tent in the pitch dark was not something on my bucket list but was
definitely an experience!🙈 We were charged by a big bull elephant the next day
in our jeep as well so all in all it was quite the adrenaline fuelled weekend!
To finish my time in Hwange I spent yesterday back in St.
Patricks with Sister Rumi as she was away when I first visited. Working with
her for the day I got to see the administrative side of things – trying to
stretch a budget and staff that are sorely depleted is no mean feat - considering
that most of the hospital was and is still being built due to donations (for
example, thousands of bricks for a new department were donated from Australia)
trying to keep things going can be difficult! We also spoke about the currency
crisis which came to a head in 2008 as I had heard somebody mention it earlier
in the week. This was before Zimbabwe switched to US dollars as currency as
their inflation rates sky rocketed. This resulted in massive food shortages and
nurses literally not being able to come into work as there was no food in
shops, farms were deserted and people had to spend their days trying to find
food somewhere to feed their families. I remember hearing about this on the
news years ago; white-owned commercial farms were seized by the government and resettled with local black communities followed by the collapse of the country's wholesale agriculture industry after government mismanagement and the land just stood
idly for years so there was literally no food being grown and due to inflation and sanctions it was impossible to import any. You hear this on the news and it feels like
it’s a million miles away but now I’m here talking to nurses who had to stop
coming to work to basically go on the hunt for their families next meal. I
can’t imagine trying to keep a hospital running and patients looked after while
this was all going on as how do you make people choose between their job and
feeding their family!? It’s not like the money they would earn at work would
even help as there was no food to buy! With the election approaching at the end
of the month people are hopeful for a brighter future for the country which
will obviously include more support for the health care system.
My time here is now coming to an end – I leave for Bulawayo
tomorrow and my first Zimbabwean city! I have had the most amazing 2 weeks in
Hwange, staying in a convent in rural Zimbabwe is definitely not something I
ever thought I’d be doing but the Sisters and Fr Trust have been amazing. If
you are ever in this part of the world make sure and look them up as I’ve never
been looked after so well although, be warned, there’s a lot of mass involved
(6:30 every morning, not even joking) but bleary eyed mornings aside it’s been
brilliant!
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| From left to right: Sr. Noeline, Sr. Johanna, Sr. Anastasia, Sr. Jane & Sr. Rumi |
Oh and best of luck to the Cnoc na Gaoithe Ceili Band (Clare
County champs! Woo!) who are competing in the Munster Fleadh in Ennis this week,
we’ll be shouting for ye from Bulawayo! Hup!
Slán go foill.
Kate