Mr Mereke's Washing Machine

Target: £8000

During Mr Mereke's visit in November 2007 he gave a very informative presentation about the needs of the hospital. A member of the audience asked what he would want if he could be granted just one wish. He thought for a while - many of us thought he might wish for a solution to the political problems of his country or something similar - but he said he would like a washing machine.

This sounded simple enough but it's not just any washing machine that's needed. He explained that all of the soiled linen of this 85 bed hospital, which sees over 300 patients a day, is washed by hand!
A proper industrial washing machine would be the only way to make things easier, but this represents a bit of a challenge!

With power shortages, using the washing machine might present problems, but at the moment there is usually power between 2am and 5am. Having an automatic machine would mean that this power could be utilised.

Raising the money needed for this washing machine is the current project for the Chidamoyo Trust. The political situation in Zimbabwe at the moment means that everthing is on hold until after the forthcoming elections, but money has already been raised for this project.

The fund was boosted by a generous donation of £500 from St John's Church in Crowthorne.

The aim is to purchase it by the end of 2008.