Here are some excerpts from the "thistle epistle" ... which is a newsletter written by Dr. Paul Thistle. For some background, Dr. Thistle is a Canadian born physician who works at Howard Hospital in Zimbabwe where the 2012 3D's with Dr. Vikki Vogt will be headed in June.
THE THISTLE EPISTLE
February 2012
‘He opened the rock, and the water gushed out; like a river it flowed in the desert’
(Psalm 105:41 NIV)
Dear Friends,
Raindrops have
been falling on our heads this season in Zimbabwe, sometimes
transforming into flash floods outside our window. The rains have been
good. Who needs to pay steep admission fees to water parks when the boys
have their front yard at Howard! Our visitors comment on how green the
countryside is. It will make for a good harvest for those farmers that
could afford the seed and fertilizer earlier in the year. To paraphrase
Johnny Appleseed, ‘The Lord has been good to us’.
We remain
concerned by the economic indicators in Zimbabwe, where prices of basic
commodities rise 10 percent each month. We had adopted the US dollar in
2009 so you’d think that inflation would be the same worldwide, i.e.,
low single digits per annum. Go figure. The end result is that workers’
incomes are not keeping pace, and operating costs of the hospital are
skyrocketing. The other national news that distracts from the cost of
living drama is the typhoid epidemic and the specter of a national
referendum and election in 2012. If you’re not in the frying pan you’re
in the fire!
We sense a lot
of apathy and indifference here at the start of 2012; people’s ‘get up
and go’ have gotten up and left. Our workers feel disenchanted,
fatalistic. A nurse who worked for 42 years at Howard received a lump
sum payment of $150 for a pension upon retirement, the rest of her
investment eroded by hyperinflation and currency changes. All
government ministry of health posts have been frozen such that, if we
were to discipline an indolent employee with dismissal, we would not be
able to replace him or her with government funding. With no operating
grant to start 2012, Ol’ Mother Howard’s cupboards are bare, the worst
we have seen in 16 years of ministry.
By the grace
of God, we will keep the hospital doors open, or at least the ones that
are still on their hinges. Living in a world of privatized medicine in
Zimbabwe we are obliged to remember that a sick person is not just a
paying customer, but a human spirit with a will to live, a sense of
dignity and personality. Those who view health care as any other
business overlook these truths. To quote Dr. Paul Brand, former
orthopedic surgeon to India, “Though technically we may be concerned
with tendons, bones, and nerve endings, we must never lose sight of the
person we are treating.” We must not leave the mission out of the
mission hospital.
We are deeply
disturbed by all of this inequity and injustice in health care, where
patients may have to pay a month’s salary for investigations and
treatment at a public health care facility, or the equivalent of half a
year’s salary for an operation. It would arouse class action suits and
royal commissions elsewhere, but strangely, people here don't respond in
the same fashion. They channel their chronic pain into a smile of
gratitude. They stand on their sore feet and testify of God's healing
grace. We are truly humbled … though still dissatisfied, with the
status quo.
Out of the
depth of difficulty arises the desire to do more. To quote Churchill,
‘an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.’ There are
optimistic opportunities about: slow but steady progress towards the
completion of the new hospital, and progress in the development of a new
community based follow up program in Maternal Child Health. Our
Children First sponsored school health team screened tens of thousands
of kids last week for common conditions. Donations of medical supplies
come in the nick of time. Our Eyes for Zimbabwe camp is returning at the
end of the month … you see. We’ve been kept afloat by the faithful
support of well-wishers abroad who look beyond the cynicism in the NGO
development world and prefer to give direct to Howard, to do what they
can when they can, even in the midst of the global economic downturn.
Dr. Thistle also reminded his readers that ....
......Economic stability in Zimbabwe. There is talk of
re-introducing the Zimbabwean dollar. This may return inflation to its
trillion percent as in 2008! Nobody wants to go back there, i.e., to
carting wheel barrows of money about.
......The completion of the housing and hospital construction projects.
......Our community projects: Home Based Care, the Tariro ‘Hope’
Clinic, our Orphan and Vulnerable Children program, and our Maternal
Child Health project.
......Medicines, supplies and operational support for the daily work of the hospital.
…..The continued health of our HIV counsellor, Betty, who had a
double valve replacement in Toronto in April 2011. We are grateful for
her sustained recovery.
..... Safety and sanity for the Thistle family in all situations.
2012 is not a regular furlough year for the Thistles, so we are
looking at innovative ways to make it home to our family and friends in
Canada during the boys’ school holiday in June. If you see a hot air
balloon overhead strung together by chicken wire and duct tape: don’t
shoot it down. It will tumble down on its own.
‘One person can make a difference, and everyone should try.’
(John F Kennedy)
In the front yard, before the rains
‘Johnny (aka Jimmy) Appleseed on Children’s Ward’
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