Old Mutare Mission Hospital

Old Mutare Mission was our first stop to see what the United Methodist Church is doing to help people in Zimbabwe.  It is called Old Mutare because the site of the mission was the original location for the town of Mutare, but the actual city was moved when the supplies needed to build the town couldn't be hauled over the mountains from Mozambique.  The area was given to a missionary and ever since has belonged to the Methodist Church in Zimbabwe for mission work.  It is a large area and holds many different buildings and programs.  We were fortunate to visit many of these while there.

 

Our first stop was the Old Mutare Waiting Mothers Shelter.  We met 16 women in their last weeks of pregnancy.  They come to live at the Waiting Mothers Shelter so they can be close to a hospital when they give birth to receive good medical assistance and eliminate problems that can be deadly when delivering a baby in more remote areas of the country.  They were very happy to take photos with us and let us see their temporary housing.  Their make-do shelter has no toilets or water nearby, no electricity and no kitchen for cooking food yet they still stay there for their babies safe deliveries.  The head nurse that gave us our tour let us know that they would very much like to provide a kitchen for these mothers to cook their own food and have electricity for a fridge so they can store extra food that they cook.  As you can see in the photo below they have lanterns they can use that are solar powered.



Next we toured the Old Mutare Hospital right next door.  There was an unbelievably long line of people waiting to be seen by one of two doctors.  The doctors that work here are truly a gift from God working long days helping people who have walked many miles to receive medical care.  The biggest challenge for these doctors is not having enough electricity to keep the pumps running to provide water from their bore holes during the day.

 

 

Next we were able to visit the maternity ward and see 2 and 3 day old babies and their mothers who graciously allowed some of our team members to hold the cute little babies.  Loree and Annette couldn't resist the urge to hold these new little bundles of joy!

 

 

 

 

Next it was time for us to listen to a talk on maternal health from a female doctor who is an Ob/Gyn and has helped her fellow Zimbabwean women deliver babies for years.  She brought us up to speed on the challenges she has faced daily in helping women during their pregnancies.  There are many barriers to a successful delivery and some of those are lack of funds to pay clinic fees, midwives and nurses not trained to spot pregnancy complications early on, lack of transportation to get to a clinic or hospital when a delivery becomes problematic, etc.  She has seen too many women and babies die due to complications that could have been prevented early on.  The current nurses in Zimbabwe are paid very little and overworked with too many patients for each nurse.  She is advocating for a better salary and benefits for nurses to keep them from going and working in neighboring countries and keep more around so their are fewer patients to each nurse.  She is also advocating more training for midwives to spot high risk pregnancies early on and inform the mothers the options they have available to them to make sure they can be in a hospital facility that can assist them with a safe delivery.  She was very passionate and knowledgeable and helped us understand why the life expectantcy rate is so low in Zimbabwe.  There are too many women and babies dying during childbirth. 

 

We also received some insight into the AIDS/HIV crisis in Zimbabwe from this doctor.  Fortunately, people are no longer being quiet about HIV and how it spreads so they have seen the number of infected people going down.  However, in this country's culture the man is the head of the household and the group of people that are still being infected are married men and women.  This is mostly due to infidelity in a marriage.  If a wife suspects that her husband is having intercourse with someone else she can ask her husband to wear a condom during sex, but if he says no then she must have sex with him without a condom and risk becoming infected.

 

After this informative discussion we got to visit the Tairo Project.  The Methodist Church trains people who have HIV to sew and make items such as bags, purses, bookmarks, wall hangings, clothing, etc that they can sell in order to support themselves and their families.  We met a man who had been trained and was using their hand crank sewing machine to sew some items.  Some of us took advantage of our first opportunity to shop and buy local made items that would support our church's mission.

 

 

 

The mission hospital also had vegetable gardens, a dental clinic and so much more.  It was humbling to see all the good work being done by the Zimbabwe Methodist Church in Old Mutare.  They are helping so many people in so many different ways.  







Coming Home

Well it's hard to believe that our Zimbabwean journey is over.  We had a very meaningful trip learning about the health of women and children in Zimbabwe as well as a cultural exchange with fellow UMW sisters who live in Zimbabwe.  We had a team that was truly hand picked by God and we are now sisters bonded for life.  We heard beautiful music and were inspired by the green and rocky scenery that we encountered.  We saw a country of people who help each other and do any kind of work they can to make enough money to feed their children and send them to school.  Education is very important to the people of Zimbabwe and the majority of people can read with a higher literacy rate than here in the USA.  I know I was also impressed that access to education was the same for boys and girls and many mothers work outside the home. 

Zimbabwe is a beautiful and peaceful country.  The people living there have a deep faith and trust in God.  But they don't sit around and wait for God to drop food, water, etc into their hands.  They are busy doing what they can to improve the lives of their children, but they also know when to relax and enjoy a cup of tea with a friend and savor the blessings of each day.  At times it almost felt like they don't need us Americans to come in and try to help, they are doing it for themselves.  We did see definite needs and ways we can help and I know many of us hope to go back again someday.

Well now that I've recovered from my jet lag I will be able to post lots of the photos we took on our trip so that you can experience for yourself part of what we found so amazing in Zimbabwe.

On the Road Again

The past few days have been extremely busy, but very meaningful for our Ubuntu team.  We can't express how much we've learned from our Zimbabwe sisters and each other.  Below is a brief overview of what we've been doing.  Our internet access has been limited or slow and it's been challenging to load photos and put out posts.  I will share more details after our trip.

Monday was a day filled with many activities in Mutare.  We were able to see the Old Mutare Mission Hospital and the Waiting Mothers Shelter there.  We also visited the Fairfield Orphanage and then ended our day with a learning exchange with our fellow United Methodist Women in Old Mutare. Tuesday we toured around Africa University and then we were back on the road again to return to Harare and our host families. 

Wednesday it was back in the group van for our drive to Nyadire Mission.  The last hour of our drive to the mission was a dirt road that had many large ruts from the recent rains.  But it was great to see the rural areas of Zimbabwe along the drive.  Plus along the ride there were no bathrooms to use so we finally had to stop and go alongside the road in the bushes.  This just added to our African adventure!

There was so much to see and learn in Nyadire and we only saw a small piece of the puzzle.  We met with the heads of the various programs at the mission to hear the challenges they face and the needs they have.  Then we toured the Nyadire hospital, their Waiting Mothers Shelter and their orphanage.  Then we were back in the bus headed back to Harare just before the rain came down.

Today we met with the Bishop and had a debriefing, followed by lunch and some local shopping.  Everyday has been go, go, go and it was nice to stay in Harare today.  Tonight we will be hosting a dinner to thank our host families for taking care of us this week.  Tomorrow we look forward to seeing some programs here in Harare.  Saturday we will then depart for our personal travel part of the journey and head to Victoria Falls to see the second largest waterfall in the world.

All of our group members feel extremely proud to be United Methodist's after seeing the good work being done here in Zimbabwe.  Those of you back home should be prepared for us to come back with a passion for helping further the resources and programs that we have seen.  Thank you for supporting us in our calling to be a part of this trip.  We wish we had more time here to see and do more, but we are excited to return home and share our journey with all of our friends and family back home!

Arrival in Zimbabwe

Our entire team made it safely to Harare, Zimbabwe yesterday after we all traveled via planes, buses, cars and across oceans and continents.  We were warmly welcomed by the local United Methodist host team and then spent time getting oriented to our mission and getting to know one another.  Our eight member team was divided into 4 host families and we all enjoyed a lovely meal at our host homes.  Thankfully they understood our need to rest and recover from the two days of traveling and allowed us an early night to rest up for our big week ahead.

Today we attended church with our host families and were warmly welcomed by their congregations.  We heard beautiful, soulful music by their church choirs followed by a thought provoking sermon.  Then it was time to hit the road again and travel by van to Mutare where we will be the next day and a half.  So far we have had a great time getting to know each other and learn about the culture of Zimbabwe.  The weather is perfect!  Nice and warm with evening showers and a cool breeze for sleeping.  Every thing is very green and we definitely don't miss the snow (at least not those of us from the midwest)!

Lunch at "Half-Way House" midway between Harare and Mutare

We look forward to meeting the women and children in Mutare tomorrow and can't wait to share everything we experience with all of you back home.

Meet Team Member Donna Akuamoah

 



Donna Akuamoah is from Ghana, West Africa, and she is the last child in a family of 6 children. She completed her primary and secondary education in Ghana, after which she was fortunate to receive a full four-year scholarship to attend Claflin University, a United Methodist affiliated college in South Carolina. She graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in English and a double minor in French and History in 2008. She then went on to study law at Duke University, and graduated with a Juris Doctor degree in September of 2011. Her career goal is to serve as an international human rights advocate on behalf of women and children in Africa. She is currently Executive Secretary for International Ministries at the United Methodist Women National Office.

HIV/AIDS in Zimbabwe

Here is a YouTube video about the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Zimbabwe where 25% of the population has HIV or AIDS.  Watch it to better understand why.

 

Meet Team Member Mary Jane Chapman

 

 

 



I am Mary Jane Chapman from Glen Ellyn, IL, and I am eager to make this journey.

I was raised in a small rural community in northern Indiana. I grew up on a farm.  From the time I was a very small child I attended the Methodist Church in that community.

I attended college at Indiana University and there met my husband. After we finished college my husband served in the military and during that time our two children were born. Both of these children now live nearby in the Chicago area, and I get to see them and my six grandchildren often.

For a time, I taught English at the local junior college and did some substitute teaching in the area high schools.  But I decided to change careers and went off to law school.  Since graduating from DePaul University College of Law, now 30 years ago, I have been a practicing attorney.  Currently I am in-counsel counsel for a real estate company.

I have served on a number of civic boards and commissions in my community. I was a board member for the non-profit organization that operates the battered women’s shelters in my county.  I was also a member of the Board of Trustees for the village in which I live. Currently, I serve on the Board of Trustees of my Methodist church here in Glen Ellyn and have been on this board for about 6 years.  Many of you may know that it is the trustees of the church who maintain and repair the church’s facilities.  My church has two parsonages and the church building. So there is plenty to fix, repair and maintain.

I have known our leader, Jane Dunn, for many years and know that we are all in very capable hands for this trip.  I will truly enjoy this Ubuntu journey and hope I can add to its success.