January 2005

Visitors from home: In September 2005, Kitty Briggs and her daughter Cindy Cullen arrived to spent 3 weeks with us. Kitty was a youth sponsor for our high school/college group when I was in college. She and her husband are active members of my home church in Sebastopol, CA. Cindy who was just a small girl when I was in youth group is now a mother of 3 and lives with her husband and children in Windsor, CA and active in church there. We put them to work painting and wallpapering in our staff bathrooms. They also sorted medical equipment and supplies that came in our recent container. It was great fun to have them here.

Visitor from NJ: In September we also had a visit from David G from NJ who came to evaluate some of our non-functioning medical equipment. He was with us for just 2 days and we kept him very busy. This was an evaluation trip where he went to several hospitals to see what the needs were, so we hope to have him back again in the future.

My 50th Birthday Party: It was with great fun that we celebrated my 50th birthday party in September at my favorite safari camp, The Hide in Hwange National Park. Carolyn Hall and Russ McFarlane from NYC and Kitty and Cindy and my friend Gladys who lives East of Harare all went with me. We spent 3 nights going out on safari and looking at animals. The night of my birthday we slept out on a platform about 16 feet off the ground, under a full African moon! We heard jackals crying, lions roaring and wildebeest munching grass nearby! This was like being in heaven for me! Many people sent wonderful gifts and cards and we had a fun time opening them all! When I got back to Chidamoyo we had another birthday cake with all the staff. We were suppose to have it the day before we left for The Hide, but we had an emergency surgery that ran almost to lunch time and so my “surprise birthday celebration” had to be postponed! The staff had waited all during their tea time for us to finish so they could eat the cake and when we came out of theater Major said, let’s go for tea! I looked at him like he was crazy and said “I’m going for lunch, bye!” He didn’t want to tell me there was a “surprise”, so I ruined it.

Victoria Falls: After 3 nights at The Hide we continued on for 2 nights in Victoria Falls. Carolyn and Russ white-water rafted the Zambezi River. Cindy bungee jumped the 421 ft off Vic Falls Bridge and Gladys and I relaxed around the pool at the hotel and did Christmas shopping! What fun!

Visitor’s leave: Carolyn and Russ left from Harare on our way back from Victoria Falls and after a few days in Cape Town, SA left for NYC. Kitty and Cindy left a few days later for San Francisco after a night in London.

New Lorry received: In October a lorry (big truck) was received as a donation from FAME in Indiana. The lorry will be shared between Makonde and Chidamoyo hospitals. We have been picking up our drug orders from Chinhoyi and have made one trip to Harare with 2 freezers that needed to be fixed. We are so thankful for this truck, which will be a big help to us in our work.

Graduation for counselors: On our October 22nd our 4 counselors graduated at a ceremony in Harare. Major (our Administrator) and I went in for the day to attend. We are so thankful for their work and how well they did in their course. We counsel over 200 patients a month for pre and post test counseling for AIDS, as well as general counseling for deaths, attempted suicides, etc., so they are very busy!

Missionary meeting: On November 3-5, we had a missionary meeting for all of our missionaries left in the country. Six out of the 8 were able to spend 2 nights together at a safari farm south of Harare. We spent time in just visiting with each other and planning a conference for all of our missionaries in Africa, which will be in Kenya in July. Bill DeLaughter (he and his wife Carolyn were our missionaries in Karoi for many years) was visiting from the US and spent the time with us as well as Steve and Janeece England (from IN) who are filling in for Ben and Karen Pennington in Masvingo while they are on furlough in the US.

Trip to South Africa: Major (our Administrator) and I headed for South Africa on November 7th. We drove from Masvingo to Johannesburg in one day (10 hours + boarder time) and spent 3 nights with Joyce and Brion Morris and their son David. They were missionaries in Zimbabwe for several years and both had taught Major in college. We were able to get an extra fuel tank put on the Land Rover, get the car serviced, do some shopping and buy a washing machine with the money I had been given for my birthday and by a special donation! I have never had a washing machine in the 24 years I have been here and I was so excited! We also spent time with Paul and Karen Reyman, Phoebee Rees and Alice Fishback missionaries in Johannesburg as well as friends Chris and Ted Welch who emigrated from Zimbabwe in 1982 to South Africa. We enjoyed pizza, Kentucky Fried Chicken, and McDonalds! We traveled back to Zimbabwe on November 12th and after 3 hours trying to make our way through customs on the Zimbabwe boarder we drove all the way to Harare the same day and arrived at Chidamoyo the next morning, exhausted, but safe and sound!

Thanksgiving 2004: I was able to travel to Chinhoyi (3 hours away) on Saturday November 27th to celebrate Thanksgiving with fellow missionaries Dale and Linda Marshall and 3 of their children and spouses and 8 grand children, Gladys and Judy Pickett, another missionary in Chinhoyi. We each brought part of the meal and enjoyed “stuffing” ourselves. We ate outside and it rained on and off during the day. We had all the traditional food, but chicken instead of turkey because we can’t get that here. The kids enjoyed swimming and the hot weather. I returned home the same day.

New church started: On the 27th Major took 3 lorry (trucks) full of church people to a new area called Mkowe—about 58 kms away. The road is very bad and it took 2 hours by car to reach the area. The people went on Saturday and spent the day calling on people in their homes and inviting them for a service Saturday night and Sunday morning. I joined them early Sunday morning, taking some more people in my truck. There were over 500 people for the service Sat night and they continued all night! We all had a fun time and hope to go to a different church each month to encourage the churches.

Christmas 2004: We enjoyed many activities for Christmas. We started on the 21st with candlelight singing for patients and their families at the hospital. On the 22nd we took our lorry out to sing at villages around and Major dressed as Father Christmas. On the 24th we had a special Christmas lunch for our staff, which included some of the staff kids as singers and dancers. We closed our outpatient department at 1, so that we could enjoy our party. All staff received meat, rice and drink to share with their families on Christmas day. The night of the 24th we had a film in the chapel and it was full with community and patients, even though it rained very hard and we thought we might lose our lights during the electrical storm!
Christmas Day we had church at the hospital in the courtyard, so the patients could hear and come. We had 3 boy babies born on the 25th—no girls! After church we had tea and bread for all who came. I had a brunch and invited people from the hospital who were not with their families because of work. Fourteen of us enjoyed a big meal outside and some of the kids even went swimming! Afterwards it rained very hard again, so we are happy for the crops!
As a gift to the community around us we decided to lower our fees in half for grinding their maize at our grinding mill for 3 days before Christmas! People flocked from all over bringing donkeys and scotch carts full! Our man who works the mill worked from 6 a.m. until 8 p.m. all 3 days! When I came to work in the morning the queue was so long! The people who own mills at our local township were not happy because they doubled their high prices to try and make more money since it was the holiday season and no one came to them!

Marshall Family comes to visit: On the 27th of December the Marshall family from Chinhoyi and Harare came to visit for 2 days. When the Marshall first came to Rhodesia in 1966 they spent 6 months at Chidamoyo before they moved to Chinhoyi. Dale helped in building the original hospital. Their children wanted to bring their children out to see where they had lived in the bush. We had an enjoyable time and lots of activity with 8 kids around! Our electricity which continues to be more off than on went off for 53 hours when they were here and so I was cooking for 16 over a gas camping stove—trying to keep everything hot was a challenge!

New Year—2005: We enjoyed a movie night on NY Eve at the hospital and then prayer time to bring in the New Year. We had a very good crowd and really enjoyed the fun we had. People in the community look forward to staying up and seeing the New Year in! Right at midnight a big thunder and lightening storm rolled in and knocked off our electricity for 7 hours!

Makonde Hospital Update: We hired a new graduate doctor to start at Makonde in August, but he chose not to fulfill his contract to us. Since August there has been no doctor there and so we are looking for a doctor. We are thankful for the extra support that people have sent to support the hospital. The hospital chaplain, Mr. Tauzen Kandungure has been made Acting Administrator.

Rainy Season had started: We are thankful that the rainy season started in late November and we have had some good rains so far. People have been busy plowing, planting and weeding as the maize and cotton starts to grow. People are also growing soybeans, sunflower seeds, and peanuts. We look forward to February when we are able to eat “green mealies” or corn on the cob before it dries on the stock. Keep praying that the rains will be good and that there will be enough food for the year.

Elections coming soon: In March there will be Parliamentary elections. January is the start of campaigning. We pray for peace in our area and no violence or intimidation in the voting process. Keep this in prayer for free and fair elections.

Building update: We have ordered the rest of the supplies for our AIDS/Education building and hope to have it all finished within the next month. We are busy putting the ceiling up, and windowpanes in the windows. We hope to have an official opening in the near future.

We also have built a new mortuary, which is big enough to have an office, room for refrigerator units and a post mortem room. The rafters for the building were built in 2003 when the rafters for the AIDS/Education were built and put up. We are up to roof level and hope to finish it shortly. It is located in the far corner of our property near the church side. No one seems to want the old mortuary for their office, so we may tear it down and use the bricks and roofing on another project.

ARVs for orphans: Some people have responded to our need for providing ARVs for orphan kids and we currently have 6 kids in our program. They range in age from 5-16 years old. We are happy to see that the medication is making a difference in their lives. It costs $15/month to sponsor a child on ARVs.

High School Scholarship program for girls: The school fees at our local high school went from $25/year to $25 a term (3 terms in a year) as of the new school year, which started January 11th. Because of the big increases we have decided not to add any new students this year since we have over 100 girls to educate through high school. This added financial cost will mean a lot more students not being able to attend high school. We are praying that we have adequate funding so that no one will have to be dropped from the program. We graduated 25 from high school this year and 1 from Form 6 (pre-University).

Thanks for the support: Although we ended the year with an inflation rate of over 500% and the government continuing to tell us that things are improving, it has been a struggle to keep up with prices and supplies needed for the hospital. The dollar has stayed the same for the past several months and the government refuses to devalue their dollar, so it leads to higher prices and higher inflation. Without your help and support we would never be able to make it. Thanks for your continued part in our ministry and work here. We couldn’t do it without you!