RENEWED HOPE CHARITABLE FOUNDATION, INC.
Working Together For Zimbabwe's Future
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RENEWED HOPE CHARITABLE FOUNDATION, INC. Working Together For Zimbabwe's Future |
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| November 12, 2006 Dear Readers, We now have electricity, let the celebrating begin. I am still not accustomed to the idea of lights. I find myself fumbling around in the dark and suddenly wonder why. So Ralph flips the switch and has a good laugh at me. About 9:00 this morning, Ralph was summoned to the Secondary School. The Headmaster had fallen off his bike and thought he had broken his ankle. Ralph took an ace bandage and drove to the accident site. At 110 degrees and no refrigeration, we have no ice for such injuries. Ralph wrapped the ankle with the ace bandage and then took him to the local clinic. Of course they didn’t do anything. They didn’t even have an ace bandage. Again there was no point in going to the hospital because no doctors or services are available on Sunday. So tomorrow it is obvious that someone will be taking the Headmaster to the hospital for x-rays and a cast. Ralph is becoming well known at the hospital. In fact he was invited to sit in a staff meeting one morning last week and to discuss some of the problems we are facing out here. I believe he has taken children there three times in just more than a week. Ralph has to make a trip to Harare tomorrow to collect some building materials for the building that is under construction. So it looks like I will be the one doing a hospital run. Never a dull moment! In a recent journal, I discussed an issue of Bilharzia that we are dealing with here. I explained a bit about it and the serious effects it has on the body. Two emergency trips to the hospital with children turned out to be Bilharzia in advanced stages. As a result of these cases, the hospital personnel came here and tested 425 children. 88% were infected and treated. However, to date the hospital has not made a return visit to test the balance of the children (approximately 2000 children). The reason they have given us is that they do not have the funds for the drugs. The medicine (praziquantal) is available but expensive. The nurse reported this week that at Guzha she made a list of 166 children who had symptoms of Bilharzia. Are there any readers who can help us out so that the children being served by Heather Chimhoga Orphan Care Center can receive treatment before the ailment reaches the advanced stages? Approximately $4,000 USD is required to provide the medication needed to treat the remaining children in our area of service. The hospital will come here to test and administer the medication if we have the funds to provide the drug. Donations can be made to: Renewed Hope Charitable Foundation, P. O. Box 1476 Castle Rock, Colorado , 80104-1476 Indicate on the check that the donation is for the drug. Polite, a young boy, is suffering from a serious infection in his legs (Osteomyelitis). Pictures of his wounds were posted on the website in August. We have taken him to the hospital on many occasions and tried different medications. Nothing is helping. The Dr. has indicated that he needs an intravenous drug (Gentamycin), but it is not available in this country. We are trying our best to get it shipped in from SA. To date we have been unsuccessful. Ralph is in Harare today getting the paper work done to be able to ship the drug into Zimbabwe, but we may be unable to obtain it in SA. Pray that our attempts are successful or this young man faces the possibility of amputation. At a combined Board meeting (Advisory Board and Management Committee) on November 4, Ralph and I proposed our dream of a Safe House for abused children and a Hospice Center for very sick Orphans. The combined Boards voted on the proposal and it passed 100 %. So we are moving ahead. Yesterday a meeting was held with all of the Orphan Care Givers, Village Headmen, Ward Counsel Woman, and other community leaders to introduce the idea and allow them to ask questions and offer ideas. The group was overwhelmingly in favor. They went so far as to propose several sites to locate such a facility. At the moment, none of the sites seem ideal and so we will wait and see what else develops. This project will require a sizeable piece of land and considerable infrastructure. It must be off-site of the school but near-by so that children who are able can attend school. The next step is for the community leaders to do a Needs Assessment of the area to be served. A mother with a two-year old child came yesterday for assistance. The child is malnourished and in need of nutritious food. See picture. However, the child does not qualify for our assistance because both parents are living. I am puzzled as to why the mothers in these cases seemed to be perfectly healthy. All we could do was supply a two week emergency supply of food for the child and advise the mother to get a referral letter from the Hospital in order to get assistance from Social Welfare. However, I have been informed that Social Welfare has no funds. This is the fourth such case I have dealt with in the last month. It is heartbreaking to turn these cases away but we have such limited resources and we dare not jeopardize the program for orphans. Making such decisions is the most difficult part of this job. Today, November 15, a meeting of the Executive Committee was held. One of the major topics of discussion was that of people bringing malnourished children to us for assistance and yet they do not qualify for assistance. Some brain storming was done trying to come up with a satisfactory solution. One member of the committee reported that in one village, the headman is requiring each family to contribute a bucket of maize at harvest time. The maize is sold and the money held for just such emergencies. It sounded like a good plan to the committee. It was suggested that a meeting of all Headmen be held and the idea introduced to them. Ralph and I suggested that they go one step further and require those receiving assistance to do some task in their village in return for what ever assistance they receive. We are anxious to find a satisfactory solution to this problem. Our budget will not stretch to help everyone. Children with no parents are our focus. As I bring this to a close, please pray for us as we move forward on a new faze of this mission. Pray that we will be guided to do God’s will not our own for this place. In His Service, Ralph and Roberta |
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Renewed Hope Charitable Foundation, Inc. | a 501(c)(3) charity | P.O. Box 1476 | Castle Rock, Colorado | 80104-1476 2006 Journal 10 |