I’ve had my first experience with the private health care system in Zimbabwe this past week. Relax it wasn’t me personally but a visiting doctor from England. No he wasn’t volunteering in the hospital but a patient. Kal Wells came for 3 weeks to volunteer to work in clinics and in orphanages and ended up being the one needing help. Saturday night started like any other evening, there was no ZESA like most Saturday evenings so we were all just relaxing in my room and chatting. Kal had been at another children’s home, Danai, for a party and his stomach was feeling a little upset. What started as diarrhea quickly turned in to vomiting, sweating, and passing in and out of consciousness. He told me it would pass but I knew something was wrong. I called a dear friend, Bev to come and collect us to take us to the only private hospital with trauma and ER. I called Kal’s insurance to let them know and ask them if Avenues Hospital would be alright. The lady on the other end of the phone said they had no specific ties with any hospital in Zimbabwe and to take him where ever they could help. We arrived at the hospital just as Kal began to have seizures. They took him into ER where I was asked to fill out forms and pay a consultant fee of $51. As the night wore on and I talked to the front desk and his insurance, I found out that Zimbabwe doesn’t recognize any insurance but their own and I would have to pay for all his fees. This was find until the doctor decided that he had to be admitted to the HDC (high dependency unit). The deposit for this was $1200! At 12:30 at night where was I going to get $1200. In any other country I would pull out Visa and say “charge it”. Unfortunately, visa isn’t “all you need”. In a country that works on a strictly cash basis, and where no bank would be open I began to panic. Fortunately, Bev could find the funds by using the Diocesan Pastoral money that she had in her desk. So she zoomed to her office and picked up the money and we were able to “check him in”. To make things more interesting when she got back, I was handed an envelope with 2 tubes of blood and was asked to take them to the 24 hour lab and pay the fee to have them run. So we got into the car and drove down the street to the lab where we paid $55 to have the tech run 2 tests. He told us the results would be ready in 30 minutes and he would report back to the hospital. Kal was in rough shape but when we came the next morning to collect him, the doctor said his white blood cells were double the normal count and his potassium was extremely low. The doctor said it was food poisioning, gave him 2 perscriptions and said there was nothing else to be done and sent him home. We took him to Richard and Venetica’s, a lovely couple from church for a little R ‘n R. Sunday came and went and Monday showed up. Monday afternoon Kal relapsed. Needless to say it ended up that Kal was airlifted to Jo’burg where his insurance could pay for the health care he needed. Kal is doing well and on his way back to England. There is only private ambulance Zimbabwe and it costs $300 which they ask before they take you to the hospital. Luckily they agreed to be paid by his insurance and took him to the plane and then to Jo’burg. I have never been so thankful for the health care system in Canada and will never complain again! The care he received at Avenues Private Hospital was fantastic, unfortunately the administrative side was horrid and as a result Kal was take to South Africa.

On another note, I leave for Penhalonga tomorrow. Penhalonga is on the east side of the country. It is an orphanage and hospital that was started by the CR (Community of the Resurrection). It is still Anglican but no longer run by the CR. It is one of the poorest orphanages in the country if not the poorest. We are going to help out and visit for the week. Penhalonga is in the diocese of Manicaland. This Sunday, Manicaland is concreting their new bishop. He was ordained as a priest 3 months ago. He is making history as the fastest concreted bishop ever. Manicaland like Harare has had problems with their previous bishop and the political troubles. Manicaland is a rural diocese and has had more trouble spreading the word of what is going on. Also rural areas are more inclined to Mugabe and to be more conservative. This concretion has been a long time coming and I am looking forward to taking part of this historic moment.
PENHALONGA
I went to Penhalonga this week for the first time. It is on a mountain top. Carl and I had to take a bus from Harare to Christmas Pass which is about 3 hours away. Christmas Pass got its name as it was discovered Christmas Day some 100 years ago. From there we had to wait for a Combi to take us to the turn off to Penhalonga. This was about a 30 minute wait which I am told is not that long. This combi only took as far at the turn off to St. Augustine’s Mission. It was another 30 minutes to the mountain. From there we hiked up a steep path with our backpacks. Had I known what this climb would’ve been like I would’ve packed much lighter. This took us to the mission. Penhalonga is a village, which is centered around the school and hospital. The sister’s were happy to see us, we got settled in the guest cottage as the sister’s live in the cloisters and visitors aren’t allowed in. We had tea and a much needed rest. For the rest of our time there is rained. This was very good news for the sister’s but bad news for us since it limited what we could do. We spent the Friday morning planting maize seeds in the fields with Sister Elizabeth. We spent the afternoon at the orphanage with the children. School runs differently here, the children go to school for 7:30 and finish between 12-1. This allows them to help in the fields during the afternoon. We had brought them toys and colouring and gave them out. This orphanage has nothing, they eat sadza and beans or cabbage everyday. When there is no sadza they eat bogart which is an awful food that looks and tastes like hay. It is considered the bottom of the heap as far as the food chain. Their orphanage is leaking all over the place, and smells of stale urine. Even in these awful conditions I have never seen happier children. It is absolutely the most humbling experience. All they want is to play and talk and just be with you. They are so happy that you’ve come to visit. Saturday I was able to sneak a peak at the church. This church was designed by the same architect as the CR church in Mirfield. It needs some renovation but the structure and bones of the building are stunning. The diocese of Manicaland has had the same problems as the diocese of Harare with their bishop. Bishop Jacazi left and came back 2 years ago. He is tied to the Robert Mugabe and ZANU PF. He took the buildings and all the assets that the church has. The bigger problem for Manicaland is that is a rural diocese and so communication is bad and hard. So the news that Jacazi wasn’t the Anglican bishop didn’t spread and the trouble he was causing wasn’t know. So the split was more even. As well the rural area is more conservative and sided with Jacazi as he is more conservative. The original reason for leaving was the issue of Gay rights but was also dealt with white people. Saturday while Mother Betty was in town she read in the paper and was told that the courts had sided with CPCA (the Anglican Communion side). This mean that Bishop Jacazi had to give back all the buildings and assets, as well as pay back all the money he had taken and pay all legal fees and that he was no longer the Bishop for the diocese of Manicaland. This was a huge success for the diocese and came just in the nick of time since the new bishop was concreted on Sunday. This also meant that there wouldn’t be any trouble during the concretion on Sunday as people feared there would be. The Sister’s at Penhalonga make communion wafers. They haven’t made it for some time since there hasn’t been a market and no money to buy flour. I went and bought some flour and Sunday evening Sister Elizabeth taught me how to make communion wafers. It is a long tedious process but I was surprised how far 2kg’s of flour can go. I made 2000 wafers and 200 priests hosts from 1 kg of flour. It took 7 hours to do. The Sunday night we made the batter and pressed the shapes, we let them sit over night. Monday morning we cut them out and packaged them. I took 1000 wafers and 100 priests hosts to bring home to show and use. I was quite proud of myself and impressed with how they turned out and it is all done by hand! The rest of Monday I walked around the village with the children and Carl and I met with children who live in the village but are specifically orphaned. They live with either parent or grandparent. There are 9 of them who come to this group. We told them about projects we were working on and projects we were implementing at Penhalonga. There was a girl who’s 14 and had to drop out of school because her grandma couldn’t pay for her school fees. The new year starts in January for school not September so we told her we would pay for her to start in the new year. High school fees are $90/year and primary school fees are $30/year. There is so much to do in a place like Penhalonga and all they really need or want is time. They just need to know that someone cares and wants to help. We read to the children Monday night and said our goodbyes because we had to leave Tuesday morning while they would already be at school. Tuesday morning we climbed back down the mountain. From the top of Penhalonga you can see Mozambique which is really unbelievable. We were able to catch a combi from the crossroads that took us right to the Christmas Pass turnoff. Luckily some friends were coming back from Mutare and we were able to get a lift.

CONCRETION
Sunday morning we were up at 4:30am to get down the mountain and catch a combi to get into Mutare to be at the school to begin the procession to the Show grounds for the concretion at 8:30. This concretion is a historical moment. It’s the first time in history that a man who had only been a priest for 3 months was to be concreted. Julius Makoni is known around the world as Asland because he is seen as a savior. This diocese has been waiting for him for 2 years. There has been a tremendous split, people not knowing who to trust or who is in charge, well today that was made clear. There was lots of talk during the service about the struggles this diocese has been through and how all that was going to change because now they had a leader who was going to take charge and lead them into the future and give them the possibility of a future, one without fear or retribution. We walked from the school to the show grounds, 3000 people walked and sang as they celebrated a new beginning. What made the service moving was how people we so happy for this to happen and relieved that was taking place. Elderly women were dancing in the isles, people were clapping, cheering, singing and chanting. I have never seen a community come together and bond like I did on Sunday. They have been waiting so long for this that it was hard to believe the day had finally come. It doesn’t matter where in the world you are from a concretion of a bishop is the same in all places. When the time for gifts and homage to be paid to the new bishop people brought everything from communion wafers to maize to goats. I could only think “Only in Africa would someone bring a goat”. Bishop Julius spoke and I truly believe he will be an amazing bishop. He spoke well and spoke like a leader and a shepherd. When he was robed and given his ring, his staff, his mitre and his cross; he really looked mighty and like a bishop. He’s a very humble man, silent and deadly. As I was got to the show grounds I was asked to walk in the procession with Carl; I went into a room to see bishops and priests getting dressed. Bishop Bacari came up to me and said “I saw you walking in the procession, I noticed that you walked with purpose and meaning, where did you learn to do that?” I answered “A lifetime of walking with a bishop”, he laughed and said “Are you a daughter of one?” and I said yes. He told me I would make my dad proud. Bishop Bacari was the interim bishop in Harare during the 2 years of trouble. He is now semi-retired and works as a bishop without a specific diocese, he goes where needed. He presided over the service. He’s one of those people who when you are in his presence know that you are with a great man, someone spiritual and wise. I also met the Bishop Chad, the bishop of Harare. He was lovely and asked me to drop by his office sometime. He had just come back from the House of Bishops in Niagara Falls. He had a great time and enjoyed the falls. It was a long and wonderful day, we took a combi and walked up the mountain back to Penhalonga and I slept like I had never slept before.