Friday, October 22, 2010
My Makumbi little friends
The veneer cracks
Well today has been difficult. Many moments of tears. The magnitude of need, of dead ends, the taking advantage of the most venerable...the children is overwhelming. The orphaned children are so very needy, lacking one on one attention. They crave physical touch and contact, they literally crawl all over you. You can't really hide when you are the WHITE visitor, one step into view and you are mobbed.
Since there is only one mother in each home and 10-12 children, they are left to manage them selves for much of the time. They do not learn boundaries or expected behaviors, I don't mean expected by our culture, but by responsible Shona adults. An example in a village one would not expect children to chase and injure the animals. But here the orphaned 4 & 5 year old's chase the cows and hit them with sticks and rocks. A behavior that does not get curbed because of the ratio of 110 /8 children to adults. The orphaned kids also are not performing well academically when the reach secondary school. They are trying to identify where to intervene and how. There are so many needs it is not an easy task to fix. At 5 the secondary school students were filing into the church, filling it from front to back. I can not describe the sound of the African voices it is so beautiful. The sing in harmony boys and girls. Today I was sitting in the last row, older boys joined me they had base voices and literaly the bench vibrated with their voices. Before you know they were swaying and claping full of joy!
Since there is only one mother in each home and 10-12 children, they are left to manage them selves for much of the time. They do not learn boundaries or expected behaviors, I don't mean expected by our culture, but by responsible Shona adults. An example in a village one would not expect children to chase and injure the animals. But here the orphaned 4 & 5 year old's chase the cows and hit them with sticks and rocks. A behavior that does not get curbed because of the ratio of 110 /8 children to adults. The orphaned kids also are not performing well academically when the reach secondary school. They are trying to identify where to intervene and how. There are so many needs it is not an easy task to fix. At 5 the secondary school students were filing into the church, filling it from front to back. I can not describe the sound of the African voices it is so beautiful. The sing in harmony boys and girls. Today I was sitting in the last row, older boys joined me they had base voices and literaly the bench vibrated with their voices. Before you know they were swaying and claping full of joy!
Thursday, October 21, 2010
A preschool full of mountain goats!
Today I went over to the preschool for the orphanage kids. $0 between the ages of 3 & 6. They had there lunches in tin cans and some even had little back packs. Stefi a volunteer from Germany played her guitar and sang. The kids said their prayers then we headed to the "mountain" kinda like Mt Tabor only granite. We walked for a half hour to the base of this granite rock. I had at least 2 kids hanging on when i was walking. When I sat down there were 6. They were like mountain goats climbing this rock. They can not get enough attention and affection.
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Play ground soccer
Makumbi
My friends Jane Salisbury and Philip Stanton worked and lived in Zimbabwe about 20 years ago. They were at the Jesuit Mission Makumbi. You can refer to the web site lower down on blog page.
It proved to be challanging to arrange a ride from Harare to Makumbi...But here I am. I was picked up by a Jesuit Isaac from the hospital. It was about an hour and half ride on a washboard paved road. We arrived after dark. Dinner with the Jesuit community was waiting. After dinner Fr Mueller the Jesuit Superior gave me a moon lit tour of the mission. Which I retraced in the light of day. The connection to WiFi is by satelite, so I sit out on wall outside the office to get internet.
My first activity was to attend the secondary school asembly. The voices of the children gave me goose bumps. It was half in shona the tribal language and half in english. All the academics are in english.
There are apoximatly 800 children here, 100 in orphanage, 400 in secondary, 300 in primary school.
Today I am just getting my barrings and trying to recover from the 16 hour days at the hospital.
Tomorrow I am going to the orphanage to hold and hug babies, I'm just going to try to be a spoonge and experience this place.
I will attempt to learn the Shona greetings. The kids say Good mourning How are you? So maybe I can learn some Shona
It proved to be challanging to arrange a ride from Harare to Makumbi...But here I am. I was picked up by a Jesuit Isaac from the hospital. It was about an hour and half ride on a washboard paved road. We arrived after dark. Dinner with the Jesuit community was waiting. After dinner Fr Mueller the Jesuit Superior gave me a moon lit tour of the mission. Which I retraced in the light of day. The connection to WiFi is by satelite, so I sit out on wall outside the office to get internet.
My first activity was to attend the secondary school asembly. The voices of the children gave me goose bumps. It was half in shona the tribal language and half in english. All the academics are in english.
There are apoximatly 800 children here, 100 in orphanage, 400 in secondary, 300 in primary school.
Today I am just getting my barrings and trying to recover from the 16 hour days at the hospital.
Tomorrow I am going to the orphanage to hold and hug babies, I'm just going to try to be a spoonge and experience this place.
I will attempt to learn the Shona greetings. The kids say Good mourning How are you? So maybe I can learn some Shona
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Tuesday Goodbyes
We did 10 small procedures. Packed and began our goodbyes. For me the hardest goodbye was to Tinotenda. As soon as he saw me he wanted to go for a walk and put a death grip around my waist
We walked for a few minutes, but since I already started to cry he was a bit confused. I knealed down and hugged him and pealed his arms off before I burst into a full cry. Crying now typing. Have already began exploring if Makumbi has capacity to care for him. Mortality rates in Zimbabwe are 35 & 38 years for women & men. This is a harsh place for those with handicaps. Even a cleft lip is seen as punishment for doing something wrong. Most of the kids we saw the fathes had left as soon as they saw their child. So having CP most children either don't survive or are turned out to street at 18 and left to die. My heart breaks for this beautiful boy. Ok I an sobbing and can't see the computer.
We walked for a few minutes, but since I already started to cry he was a bit confused. I knealed down and hugged him and pealed his arms off before I burst into a full cry. Crying now typing. Have already began exploring if Makumbi has capacity to care for him. Mortality rates in Zimbabwe are 35 & 38 years for women & men. This is a harsh place for those with handicaps. Even a cleft lip is seen as punishment for doing something wrong. Most of the kids we saw the fathes had left as soon as they saw their child. So having CP most children either don't survive or are turned out to street at 18 and left to die. My heart breaks for this beautiful boy. Ok I an sobbing and can't see the computer.
Monday Monday
This is actually Wed AM 06. I am at Makumbi Mission. I am going to back track and share Mon & Tues updates.
So afer a reekend of R & R we headed back to hospital for our last 2 days of surgery. In between surgeries we began to inventory and pack away supplies for next year. We all cherrished the last days of working with our Zimbabwe friends. Two nurses worked with me in the PACU, Lydia & Gladys.
As in most mission trips some kid has an issue. Monday afternoon a women walked in with an orphaned little girl with a cleft lip. We figured we had enough time to slip her in. How's that drive up surgery.
She was the last case of the day. She woke up quickly in PACU, she did very well.. gave her first dose of Tylenol and handed her off to Sherri. At the end of rounds which was always the last thing we did before leaving the hospital. She was foun listless and with an Oxygen Sat down in 80's ( not good) we stimulated her , gave her sugar, 100% O2. Had her cough and deep breath as well as you can make a 3 yr old. Started a new antibiotic for aspiration. Her lungs sounded like a matag washer. Bit by bit she perked p. Kathy Clinch our annestesiologist, Travis one of our surgeons , & Dave our ENT Resident stayed the night. 1 AM she really turned the corner.
We had moved her into the Peds ICU......but could get NO labs, CXR, and only had access to the meds we had brought. So despite being in a hospital we were on our own.
She did fine and will go home Wed or Thur with a new face.
So afer a reekend of R & R we headed back to hospital for our last 2 days of surgery. In between surgeries we began to inventory and pack away supplies for next year. We all cherrished the last days of working with our Zimbabwe friends. Two nurses worked with me in the PACU, Lydia & Gladys.
As in most mission trips some kid has an issue. Monday afternoon a women walked in with an orphaned little girl with a cleft lip. We figured we had enough time to slip her in. How's that drive up surgery.
She was the last case of the day. She woke up quickly in PACU, she did very well.. gave her first dose of Tylenol and handed her off to Sherri. At the end of rounds which was always the last thing we did before leaving the hospital. She was foun listless and with an Oxygen Sat down in 80's ( not good) we stimulated her , gave her sugar, 100% O2. Had her cough and deep breath as well as you can make a 3 yr old. Started a new antibiotic for aspiration. Her lungs sounded like a matag washer. Bit by bit she perked p. Kathy Clinch our annestesiologist, Travis one of our surgeons , & Dave our ENT Resident stayed the night. 1 AM she really turned the corner.
We had moved her into the Peds ICU......but could get NO labs, CXR, and only had access to the meds we had brought. So despite being in a hospital we were on our own.
She did fine and will go home Wed or Thur with a new face.
Sunday, October 17, 2010
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