Hello to you all, a short update ~ since I last wrote things have gone from bad to chronic! I have been going to the hospital over the last few weeks (every second day and in visiting hours so as to prevent too many 'questions' being asked!!)

One case I would like to share with you ~ Precious came in with a minor infection in her foot. By the time a nurse asked me to see her (at 12 years old she is in the women's ward) the foot was badly infected. I left medicines and dressings for the nurses to treat her. Nurses went on strike and I had to resort to dressing Precious and burn victims myself. Horrified I discovered the foot had lost a considerable amount of flesh and the infection had further spread. Precious told me that nurses had been cutting away the rotting flesh and washing the foot with tap water!! Further more, when I visited the hospital yesterday I discovered that there had been no food in the hospital for 2 days and patients had only been given a cup of black sugarless tea. My stew was obviously in high demand. My heart broke as I watched Precious attack her plate of stew like an animal, frantically sucking on the bones – she had not eaten for over 24hrs!!

SAD REALITY ~ patients in the hospital are not being fed or medicated and for how long is this going to go on for. . . I personally cannot sit back and watch. . . .

MUTARE GENERAL HOSPITAL APPEAL

Mutare General Hospital in Zimbabwe is in a dire state. . .

There is NO liquid paracetamol, NO material for dressings, NO burn cream, NO anti septic, NO drips, NO surgical gloves, limited anti-biotics , (all these are required and need to be purchased by family members that can barely afford to survive on a daily basis) NO sterile burn environment for burn victims, ward curtains are torn, windows are broken, sheets are worn, the food (when available) is supplied but without nourishment(over the last 4 weeks patients have been fed a small portion of sadza/rice with cabbage boiled in salt water) children that are malnourished are being sent home to die as the required protein formula is unavailable. Xrays are unable as there is no film. . . tragically the list is endless . . .

UPDATE ~ there has been no food provided to patients for the last 48 hours, those without family to provide food – go hungry!!

Our nurses threaten to strike, not for the mere $70 000.00 (less than US$1.00) that they earned this last month but for the conditions under which they work. Daily the nurses suffer heartache as they watch helplessly as patients, particularly children, die ~ unnecessarily! Medical staff ARE human and the constant frustration of not being able to put their knowledge into practice due to the lack of medical supplies can only be disheartening. . . . .

Recently a news headline was one that chilled many to the bone ~ "death is stalking Zimbabwe's children" ~ apparently even children from the middle class are suffering.

More chilling quotes from the same news report ~

"Half the admissions end up in the mortuary"

"Malnutrition is a silent emergency that affects young children and they die quietly"

~ the quote I find most alarming ~

"In hospital we cannot feed them (starving children), at least at home they can scrounge for things. We only keep those that we can see won't make it at home. We have lost the battle before we have fought it. . . "

Are we prepared to help fight the battle for our children to be able to see in another season or do we just walk away with blood on our hands??

OUR NATION IS BLEEDING AND SO ARE OUR CHILDREN . . . . .

I firmly believe that even if we make a difference to one child's life – WE HAVE MADE A DIFFERENCE!!