Medical Mission -Zimbabwe: Zim music

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

Zim music

Last night en mass we went a movie theater to listen to a very famous Zimbabwe musician Oliver Mtukudzi. WOW! I am having difficulty importing from my iPhone but will get tech assistance in USA
He would sing one word and the place would erupt singing all the words with him. Danceing in front of theater seats. The opening act was his daughter & husband and their group, they joined in later as well.
Half of the team got pulled on stage...picture a bunch of white folk dancing in front of 500 Africans who really can dance. Thank GOD I was in second row. They are coming to hospital to sing for our kids tomorrow. These folks on this team have the party gene!!!!!!