A Reflection on World AIDS Day from Zimbabwe

Yesterday was "World Aids Day", which reminds us of the tremendous number of AIDS patients we have cared for in Zimbabwe. In our Christmas Newsletter, we have this paragraph: "At St. Theresa Hospital, there are now over 1800 clients receiving on-going anti-retroviral (ARV) therapy. Nearly all of these are doing extremely well, and in fact, are living very normal lives – for what accounts for “normal” in Zimbabwe these days! More than 750 of these people have now been alive for more than two years on treatment. Remember, before we started our treatment program, ALL of these 750 would most likely be dead at this time, with countless more orphans in the District as a result. Of the 1800 + clients, 210 are children under the age of 14.

Being involved in the initiation and development of the AIDS treatment program has been one of the most satisfying things I have ever been involved with. You cannot imagine the satisfaction when you see this woman who was at deaths door and weighing only about 65 pounds just a year ago, and now is totally well and weights 130 pounds. As Elise, at Mission Doctors Associations, says: “where else would you find a woman who would be happy about gaining 65 pounds?”

Here is a picture I took of one of the empty male wards: I am proud of it, because when we arrived at St. Theresa’s in 2001, these wards were all full of dying AIDS patients. The overall hospital census has dropped from an average of 130 per day to under 70 per day. There is no other area of medicine where one can have such a huge impact!"

Much of the success of decreasing the incidence of AIDS is because of the treatment of AIDS patients. After being on treatment for six months or more, the viral load decreases to "undetectable" and this means that transmission to another is much, much less likely. Kudos to ALL involved in this work throughout the world, and to the UN Global AIDS and TB program. We must keep the "pressure" on the rich countries of the world to continue to support this work, and even increase the funding so that more and more people can have access to treatment.

Life continues...

I have just returned from my first Board meeting with Mission Doctors Association. It was a two-day “retreat” where we went over all aspects of the organization, including reviewing the Mission Statement, Values, etc. You can get an update on the web site.

During the weekend, I talked with Jessica about my blog and how I had not done much of an update lately, because it does not seem appropriate to write in the blog about my life in Florida! After all, people want to read about “life in the missions.” I do keep up with the life at St. Theresa Hospital, so here is some of that information.

On a monthly basis, the hospital administrator, Ms. Hove, sends me all of the financial information; how much diesel has been used and how much is in the tank for future use; how donor money that I supply has been used during the past month; the complete hospital statistics that are sent to the Ministry of Health; and the Pharmacy inventory statistics. I go over those reports each month, and send back comments and questions to Ms. Hove. About three weeks ago, I also was able to talk with her via Skype on a Sunday morning. We chatted for about 40 minutes, so it was a good time to really get some pertinent information, and also to just hear how things are going.

They are indeed going quite well in spite of all of the difficulties. The staff are still paid a pittance by the government (as are ALL government employees in the country). The top nurses salary is about $180 per month, and the bottom “general hand” salary is $100. It seems like so little (and it is) but it is still better than during the days of hyperinflation, when the Zimbabwe currency would lose half of its’ value within one to two days. Now at least, if one has $20 US today, it is still worth $20 next week or next month or next year!

The financial report for the first six months is quite impressive. Remember, this is to operate a hospital that is averaging about 60 patients per day, plus a very busy out-patient department, a maternity ward that delivers around 90 babies per month, and an extensive AIDS diagnosis and treatment center, with several out-reach centers. The figures exclude most salaries, since those are paid directly by the government. There are a few still having to be paid by the hospital out of “revenue.”

Total revenue for six months: $80,000.
Sources of revenue:
Hospital fees 50%;
Donations: 25%;
Government allocations 20%;
“other” 5%.

Total expenses: $80,000. Medicine purchases is 25%, and the remainder is all of the other items needed to keep the hospital running. Remember, this is for six months! Of course, there are many things that “just do not get done” because there is not the money for it, but still, the main work of the hospital goes on and I feel that it goes on very well. They can all be proud of the good work they are doing under such difficult conditions.

Right Now...

We are getting ready to travel to L.A. for the big Charity Event on Feb 6th. Although we will be getting an award, we really feel that there are most likely many others who deserve it just as much or more than we do. Still, we are very grateful for this recognition.

I am busy trying to prepare an appropriate talk -- we will post it on the Blog after the event. I most likely will "again" use part of the "Romero Prayer" (on the left) since it has been my mantra ever since we returned to Zimbabwe in 2001. It helps to provide some stability in a situation where there is so much instability.

I read the news from Zimbabwe nearly every day, and it is only by having something like that prayer to fall back on that one is able to continue to have hope for the very poor of the country. Now we hear that once again the Southern half of Zimbabwe has had essentially no rain since the middle of December, so there will again be very poor (or no) crops this year. It is going to be another extremely difficult year, and deaths from starvation will only be prevented by even more food aid -- the majority of it from the U.S. With the devastation in Haiti and the need for such a large amount of aid "right now", it is going to be difficult for organizations to find the food that will be necessary.

DAY EIGHT: GRATITUDE

Part eight of our Eight Days of Gratitude

Finally, we ALL should be thankful for the abilities that God has given us: the ability to work to help ourselves and the ability to work to help those who are so much less fortunate than we are. Let us all give very special thanks during this Advent season.

DAY SEVEN: FREEDOM TO WORSHIP

Part seven of our Eight Days of Gratitude: Freedom to Worship

USA: Freedom to worship when and where we want.

ST. THERESA HOSPITAL: Freedom to worship when and where we want.

SURROUNDING AREA: Freedom to worship when and where we want.

We can all be grateful for our freedom of religion.

DAY SIX: AGRICULTURE

Part six of our Eight Days of Gratitude: Agriculture

USA: We can be so very thankful for the tremendous job done by our nations farmers; feeding not only all of our nation, but having surplus for many parts of the world including Zimbabwe.

ST. THERESA HOSPITAL: Hospital employees barely have enough income to feed their families, but it is still better than all of those unemployed. Hospital patients are thankful for the donor support which allows the hospital to buy food for the patients.

SURROUNDING AREA: The very poor will undoubtedly run our of their own food much before a new crop is harvested this year. They remain thankful to the many nations of the world who supply food for the hungry.