In mid-December, 2006 I received a call from Mary Jo Penner, a friend I’d known in college, inviting me to join her and her husband, Greg, for a two week trip to Harare, Zimbabwe. The purpose of the trip would be to provide volunteer services at Newstart Children’s Home. This charitable organization was founded by Mary’s parents, Saleem and Grace Farag six years ago and now provides a home for fifty children aged 7 to 18 who have lost both of their parents due to AIDs. I have read about the havoc that AIDs is causing in the sub-saharan countries of Africa and saw this as an opportunity to experience it personally.
One in five people in Zimbabwe has AIDS. One fourth (four million) of the population of Zimbabwe has died in the past five years. There are 1,200,000 children in Zimbabwe who have lost both of their parents to AIDs. Though rich in agricultural lands and natural resources, Zimbabwe’s economy is in shambles. The suffering of Harare was apparent in decaying buildings, parking lots full of rusting buses, closed shops and empty petrol stations. Food staples are only intermittently available in the markets. I was largely isolated from this because with the exception of two trips to the countryside, I spent the entire two weeks on the 25 acre campus of the children’s home.
Greg Penner, an otolaryngologist, and I spent the entire time building cabinets. A shipment of used cabinet doors had previously been delivered to the home. It was our job to sort through the doors, find matching sets and then build appropriately sized plywood boxes to hang the doors on. We built base and wall cabinets for a laundry in the nursery and for a medical clinic laboratory. For tools we had a drill press and a home made table saw in addition to assorted hand tools. The children, like children anywhere, were friendly, helpful, playful and curious.
For two weeks, I slept well, answered no phone calls, voice mails or text messages. I sat down with friends and enjoyed meals together. Each evening at dusk we closed the day while the children sang beautifully in their Shona language.
I did not find any answers during my stay in Zimbabwe, but I think I have a little better idea of what the questions are. I would go again in a heartbeat. Thanks to my wife, Elizabeth, and my colleagues, Dr. Brooke-Huffman and Dr. Kuttner-Sands without whose help and support I would not have been able to go.
One in five people in Zimbabwe has AIDS. One fourth (four million) of the population of Zimbabwe has died in the past five years. There are 1,200,000 children in Zimbabwe who have lost both of their parents to AIDs. Though rich in agricultural lands and natural resources, Zimbabwe’s economy is in shambles. The suffering of Harare was apparent in decaying buildings, parking lots full of rusting buses, closed shops and empty petrol stations. Food staples are only intermittently available in the markets. I was largely isolated from this because with the exception of two trips to the countryside, I spent the entire two weeks on the 25 acre campus of the children’s home.
Greg Penner, an otolaryngologist, and I spent the entire time building cabinets. A shipment of used cabinet doors had previously been delivered to the home. It was our job to sort through the doors, find matching sets and then build appropriately sized plywood boxes to hang the doors on. We built base and wall cabinets for a laundry in the nursery and for a medical clinic laboratory. For tools we had a drill press and a home made table saw in addition to assorted hand tools. The children, like children anywhere, were friendly, helpful, playful and curious.
For two weeks, I slept well, answered no phone calls, voice mails or text messages. I sat down with friends and enjoyed meals together. Each evening at dusk we closed the day while the children sang beautifully in their Shona language.
I did not find any answers during my stay in Zimbabwe, but I think I have a little better idea of what the questions are. I would go again in a heartbeat. Thanks to my wife, Elizabeth, and my colleagues, Dr. Brooke-Huffman and Dr. Kuttner-Sands without whose help and support I would not have been able to go.
posted by Thrushsong at 5:34 PM
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