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.

Saturday, October 16, 2010

Tinotenda goes outside...sunshine, wind and dirt!

So is that a cute guy or what!  Today is an off day but the Doc's were going to the hospital to round on the kids we had operated on earlier in the week and send them home.  So I went to visit Tino.  WE DID IT...we walked laps in the hospital and the went outside.  I picked him up and walked to grass and dirt.  The sun was breaking out, the wind was blowing.  Tino had a big smile.  Now getting him to back inside was a little tricky.  A Zim staff person taught me how to say let's go in Shona, which helped get him back to the ward.
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1 comment:

  1. JaneOctober 16, 2010 at 5:31 PM

    Oh, Sandy, how wonderful. What a lucky little boy to meet you. And someone here was very grateful for your attention today, too.

    ReplyDelete

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