This is an update on the situation in Zimbabwe as work to recover from a terrible cyclone that has destroyed homes, belongings, and families is undergoing…
Dear Brothers and Sisters-in-Christ,
We send you all greetings from the Mutambara Mission Hospital in Zimbabwe. We give thanks to God for all he has done for us through you, his servants. We thank you for your prayers, financial support, and moral support. For all these we say, may God replenish your resources abundantly according to his riches in glory.
Our Country Zimbabwe is improving gradually, but still undergoing serious challenges in various fronts. The country has had the opportunity to return to single currency status, thus moving away from the previous commercial multi-currency status with the US$ dominating. This means that the official medium of exchange is the Zimbabwe Dollar. Following this, the ensuing unstable exchange rate between the USD and ZW$ is causing a lot of misery among the citizens of the country. This is because the present exchange rate of 1 USD to 13 or 14 ZW$ has not translated commensurately to the salaries of the civil servants. Hence, civil servants need about 12 ZW$ to purchase a loaf of bread.
This has generated a lot of disenchantment among civil servants and some going to strike action. A good example is the junior colleagues in our medical profession who have been on strike action for almost a month now. Though the senior doctors are not on strike, the quality of patient care is always affected whenever any group of cadre in the health system is involved in any kind of strike action. Mutambara Mission Hospital is not left out. The situation here is that Emmanuel is the only doctor working in the hospital. Patient care is further diminished from whatever situation it has been prior to this.
Another sector or front is the issue of electricity supply. Mutambara Mission Hospital has a solar system which was installed in 2016 through the assistance of the Upper New York Annual Conference. It has served as a backup when there is power failure. The country has been having serious challenges in terms of electricity supply. The solar system supplies light for about 24 to 48 hours which has been good. We only need to run the generator when power is needed for machines like suction machines. In the past year we have noticed that the duration for the solar supply has been diminishing until the last 3 months when it was found that some of the batteries were going bad, and recently smelling. So far now, they have all been disconnected. We need US $8,000 to get 4 lithium batteries to replace the damaged 16 gel batteries, or US $9,000 to get another 16 gel batteries according to the quotation we considered fair.
Due to the urgency, we have suspended other projects to pay for the lithium batteries. We will appreciate your support in this regard to get light back to the hospital and put an end to the use of lamps, and cell phone flashlights to work as there is long hours of power failure. Kindly use the Advance # 3022286, Project Name Mutambara Mission Hospital. Whatever support you have towards the solar lithium batteries will be highly appreciated.
Prayer Requests:
- That God’s hand will support this restoration of light in the hospital.
- Pray for God’s intervention in the settlement of remuneration for civil servants in the health sector in the country.
Florence and Emmanuel Mefor, UMC Missionaries. Advance # 31991z and 31990z respectively.
See below for the previous update on the situation in Zimbabwe.
Dear Brothers and Sisters-in-Christ,
We send you greetings from Mutambara Mission Hospital, Zimbabwe. We thank you for your unflinching support in our work both by Prayers, and finance. May our God continue to replenish your resources in the name of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ.
An update on the Cyclone that hit Zimbabwe is that things have been stabilizing gradually. Some reconstruction of the damaged infrastructures had started. Washed away roads around bridges have been temporarily remade to provide access in both directions, thanks to the winter/dry season. We sincerely hope that the rains will not meet the temporary access roads as they are today. The pictures below are show the reconstruction of the damaged bridge close to Mutambara Mission Hospital. The members of the community are participating, forming the labor force.
The people hard-hit by the cyclone lost all their belongs, including houses, and family members. Psychological counseling has been provided. How thorough it has been is yet to be seen.
Presently we see some of these patients who were victims of the Cyclone. But in great numbers are the pregnant women who lost their families and have come to stay in the Mothers shelter waiting to deliver. The burden is mainly on feeding them and providing for the new born baby. We have been using the money we got from our former missionaries from Upper New York Conference and from friends in Norway, through the Norway United Methodist Church. Thanks to God the Government have also provided support for the mothers in terms of some groceries. While we supplement with the money mentioned above for other groceries that are lacking. We have an average of 60 to 75 mothers daily and they are fed breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Sustainability remains the bedrock of providing food for these pregnant women as sure the Maize flour provided by the Government will soon run out. We are still working towards the irrigation of the nutrition garden and farm for growing of Maize. The Deep Well supported by one of our Supporting churches from Iowa Conference is ready. We are working on putting up an overhead tank near the garden and getting a pipeline from it to water sprinklers. We hope to have some pictures on this in our next newsletter.
Country News:
A good number of countries all over the world are facing different types of challenges. Our dear country Zimbabwe is not left out. We thank God for the very chilly weather in Zimbabwe presently as opposed to heat wave in the upper Northern Hemisphere. The present power/energy situation in Zimbabwe is not good for lots of things including the irrigation mentioned above. There is 18 to 19 hours of power failure almost daily and scarcity of diesel or gasoline in pumping stations to run electric generators and vehicles. Initially power failure was on alternate days but has gotten worse as mentioned above. Power comes about 9.30pm to 10pm when people are almost in bed and goes off anytime between 5am and 6am.
Few days ago, the government announced that the country is now back to mono currency monetary system from the multi-currency system in place the past ten years. The official medium of exchange in Zimbabwe is the Zimbabwe Dollar. This sounds good for the country, though people are jittery about the after effect, especially as it affects inflation which was already on the high side months prior to this announcement. We hope that the economy will stabilize to the point that inflation will decrease and the people to gain confidence in the usage of Zimbabwe Dollar as medium of transaction.
Family News:
We give thanks to God that our family is doing well. Chukwuebuka, Rachel and the kids plan to move to Grand Rapids shortly from Wisconsin. Osita will shortly complete the extension period of his Internship and is deciding on his return to Nigeria. Anulika has gotten a job presently in Nigeria, but is working on her going back to read her Master degree program.
Prayer Requests:
- We pray for World peace and God’s intervention in troubled spots all over the world.
- We pray for improved economic situation in Zimbabwe.
- We pray for God’s guidance in our daily activities so that we do what he wants by obedience.
- We pray for quick recovery of our patients.
Thanks to you all for your support by prayers, finance and moral. Your widow’s might is all appreciated and too numerous to mention individually. We pray God’s blessings on you all as he replenishes your resources.
Yours in Christ.
United Methodist Missionaries
Florence Mefor Advance # 130991Z
Emmanuel Mefor Advance # 130990Z
Mutambara Mission Hospital Advance 3022286.