Zimbabwe, Part III

Monday, November 10, 2008
Greetings from Bulawayo! Flying Air Zimbabwe is an experience that could make one of our US air carriers look good! We arrived at the airport at 6am for a 7:30 flight, only to find out they’d decided they’d rather fly at 9:00. Apparently this is common. If you call in advance, you may be told a later time, only to arrive and find out they decided to leave as planned. We saw that happen to one couple while we were there. I’ve never flown a Chinese made airplane before, but I’ve decided now that I should never again complain about how loud an airplane can be. And don’t even get me started on the turbulence and landing!

Anyway, we made it here safely, and had an opportunity to visit with a hospital in the area. Again, it is a difficult situation, as there is few medical supplies or pharmaceuticals. We also noticed how young the doctors are in this hospital and the others we’ve been to. I didn’t mention yesterday, but in the afternoon we had a chance to meet with two local doctors that have formed their own local non-profit and have enlisted the help of many doctors and nurses in the area. They go out to rural areas 2 times per month and treat people in those areas. This is done in coordination with the appropriate people in the Ministry of Health. Those two doctors were very young as well. We were told that the country is also suffering from "brain-drain". Doctors know they can earn more money to support their families if they work in another country, so they leave Zimbabwe. They also leave because they get tired of trying to treat patients with no supplies. Basically, they get tired of seeing people die from easily preventable and / or treatable illnesses. We also saw a food distribution today. This is a time when aid agencies deliver food to a specific area of a district and then organize the people living in that area to come and pick up food (cooking oil and grain). The amount they pick up lasts 1 month, and is based on the size of their
families. Our understanding is this is the first food assistance this particular area has seen for some time due to various circumstances. People here are hungry. They can farm their land, but again, have no seed or fertilizer. It’s a hard situation.

One amusing story from today. As you drive along the "highways" here, you go through various police checkpoints. They can ask for a variety of things, but today, the checkpoint was checking for valid driver’s licenses and safe vehicles. As we pulled up and our host asked what they needed, the police officer responded with "I am doing a check for defective drivers and vehicles." Now I realize it’s probably not a good idea to laugh at a police check point in a foreign country, but the idea of searching for "defective drivers" humored me greatly. I think I’ll use this phrase when I return home. It is so much more amusing than just calling all those bad drivers back home "stupid". Anyway, we passed the inspection, allowed the police officer to have a bit of a laugh as well, and went along our way. Only 4 more days to go! Then back to the airport for the long trip home!