Medical Mission -Zimbabwe: Harare tour like no other

Mission trip to Zimbabwe

I have been invited to be a member of a medical team sponsored by Operation of Hope. This is a family run foundation started by a plastic surgeon from Longview, WA. I depart from Portland, OR Oct 6, 2010. The first leg of my journey takes me to NY. My friends Philip and Periuza Wegner will meet me and send me onto Johannesburg, South Africa. A 15 + hour flight UGH...compression hose here I come. I have a short layover then a final flight to Harare.
Once in Harare we will be setting up at Harare Central a large government hospital. We hope to complete 70 cleft lip and palate surgeries over a 2-week span. Children will travel from all over Zimbabwe to have these surgeries performed for free by an American medical team. Apparently there are no plastic surgeons trained to perform these surgeries in Zimbabwe
My last week in Zimbabwe will be spent 60 miles away in Makumbi a Jesuit run orphanage and school. I get to do my favorite thing hug babies and children! My travels home bound take me to Ethiopia, Amsterdam, and then finally back in the Pacific N.W.

Thursday, October 28, 2010

Harare tour like no other

I began my goodbyes to Thomas and Steffi my friends from Germany. I then attended a religion class for form 3A4, which translates into a junior in HS level. Isaac Fernandez a Jesuit scholastic led a discussion about after life both in Catholic tradition and the ATR (African traditional religion).
Sr Dominica & Fr Mark Hacket arrived just before teatime at Makumbi. They both were worked at Makumbi for many years and are good friends of Jane and Philip. We tour around the mission and they shared stories of the past.
We ventured over to preschool for a final mobbing and singing of We are the children. We need food. We need clothing. We need shelter. We need education. We need exercise. But most of all we need love.

We shared lunch with the Jesuits and the departed for Harare. Fr Mark proceeded to provide a tour that I guarantee no tourist gets. We headed to the most opulent neighborhood where those who are insiders to the ruling party live. These dwellings make Pittock Mansion look small. We went then thru a rich but less opulent area. We turned up by the racehorse track. A shanty village had reappeared after only months ago been mowed down by the government in the middle of the night. To bring stark contrast in directly across the road the was a home under construction which was 3 levels high, brick and stone in the design of the Great Zimbabwe. Mark was not done yet though.. We headed to Imbare the slum area of Harare. At some time in the past 10-15 story high dormitories were built intending to house only one person, but families the size of 10 were now occupying the space. It was a gruesome sight with raw sewage flowing in the street.
But the saving grace was ending at Harare Central and getting to see Tinotenda one more time before leaving Zimbabwe. I happily found him standing in the hall holding on to a chair. I was greeted with a big smile and hug. I doubt he recognized me, but this is his response to getting attention. It was again difficult to peal Tino off but knowing that soon he will have a new home in L’Arche made it much easier to leave. Sr Dominica has now been enlisted into my check in on Tino army.
Thursday before leaving for the airport we made a trip to L'Arche Zimbabwe. They have just completed a second home. We got a tour and met some of the core members.. The director Alice knows Dominica and will expidide Tino's move. It did help that she knows there is money coming once he is moved in. I'm sure it will be a signifiant adjustment, leaving the only place he has known since 3 months old. I am confident that in a L'Arche community Tino will grow and reach his potential, and the community will be enriched by his spirit, smile and hugs.