Working with STIMMA to help those who need it is a very rewarding. Some of our volunteers have taken the time to write about their amazing experiences. These are their stories.
In August of 2011, six members of the Global Medical Aid team (4th-year elective) travelled to Zimbabwe on an adventure filled with life-long memories, fantastic scenery and incredible communities full of hope and strength. The team spent 10 days volunteering at the Howard Hospital and surrounding communities followed by a weekend in Victoria Falls before returning home.
After arriving in Harare, the nation's capital, we travelled approximately 100 km north along a dirt road to the Howard Hospital. A pillar in this rural African community, Howard serves a population of nearly 250,000 people with 3 physicians and a diverse team of passionate and hard-working healthcare workers. Led by fellow Canadian Dr. Paul Thistle, the hospital is well known and respected throughout the country. Dr. Thistle has been a stable fixture in this community for the last 17 years, where he resides with his wife and two young children. Ravished by unstable political turmoil, a dismal operating budget and a high incidence of HIV/AIDS, the hospital must continue to be creative in finding solutions to providing a high-standard of healthcare – a lesson many Canadian health organizations could learn from. All Hospital workers are provided with lodging within the Hospital's compound. As visitors wondering around compound, we were always greeted with a smile.
Our main role was to help the pharmacy department with inventory management, including the destruction of likely millions (USD) in expired drugs donated from foreign counties. Although done so with the best of intentions, many donations go unused as they are either the wrong drugs, sent too close to expiration to be used in time or drugs the local workers are unfamiliar with. A good example of this was nearly $800,000 (estimate) worth of Arthrotec that wasn't used before expiration because the local nurses (who do most of the prescribing) and physicians were unfamiliar with this Western drug. In response, the pharmacy team also held in-services for the nursing staff on which drugs were current in the inventory and how to use them appropriately. In addition, we were able to attend inpatient rounds, watch surgeries and provide pharmacy services on community outreach clinics.
Although there as volunteer healthcare workers, our biggest memories were not that of poverty and disease but rather the way in which the community embraced our presence. Whether it be through our involvement in local soccer games, hanging out at the shops, hosting dinners, attending various church services or just wondering around the community, we always felt safe and welcome at Howard.
Lastly, we were fortunate to end off our adventure with a vacation to Victoria Falls, one of the 7 natural wonders of the world. Our first day there, we ventured across the border to Botswana for a breathtaking safari where we viewed the world's largest population of elephants, among many other animals including, antelope, hippos, buffalo, crocodiles, giraffes, and warthogs to name a few. Once back on the Zim side we spent our last day exploring the falls, a stretch of 1.7 km of unbelievable views.
Two weeks is never long enough, but during this short time in Zimbabwe we were able to experience third-world healthcare, African culture and some breathtaking scenery. When speaking to one of the local guys at the shops just outside the hospital compound, he said to me "many tourists come to African to stay in fancy hotels, go on Safaris and see the animals but this – this is Africa"
Michael Collins, BSc, MBT
BSc Pharm Candidate (2011)
University of Waterloo
My STIMMA trip to Zimbabwe was an incredible adventure that—if I may borrow Stephen Schwarz's phrasing from WICKED—has changed me both for the better and for good.
I got a sobering first-hand glimpse of the kind of desperate poverty and burden of illness that so many in our world face without respite. Somehow, it can be shamefully easy to overlook such things when they've only ever been a world away. Seeing that world in person brings peoples' struggles into glaring focus. It demands reflection about your own life, and on how the resources given to you might be shared more responsibly with those in need. Before going on the trip, I had definite misgivings about whether or not I (greenhorn that I am) could actually be of any use on a medical mission trip. However, I found that the people of Howard Hospital appreciated even the smallest contributions we made. More than that, perhaps, I think they simply appreciated that we cared and that we were there. I feel privileged to have been able to participate in even my own small way, to support the local staff and to help ensure that Howard Hospital's patients receive the medications they so badly need.
Building relationships was an extremely rewarding aspect of the trip. Our team enjoyed an easy camaraderie built upon shared labour and shared laughs (many of which were at my expense, ha ha). I enjoyed connecting with the local people, from whom I learned a great deal. I was very impressed by how genuinely welcoming and friendly the locals were. Wherever we went on the hospital grounds or in the village areas, we were greeted with smiles and free Shona lessons aplenty. We were even invited to participate in community activities and to share meals with our new friends.
I was touched by the tangible atmosphere of faith at Howard Hospital. That atmosphere made the hospital seem beautiful despite the dirt and disrepair. Both outpatients and staff could be heard singing hymns in the mornings…like a trained choir with traditional African flair. Signs reading things like "we treat, God heals" hung in all of the hospital wards. I wonder, does that prevailing attitude of faith explain how patients could remain so stoic in the face of serious and frightening illnesses? I think that such illnesses would cause many North American patients to complain bitterly or give up on living.
And of course it was pretty cool to see Victoria Falls, zip-line across the Zambezi River gorge, and go on safari in Botswana where "elephants have the right of way".
Although I made a few bad decisions along the way (I do NOT advise eating warthog meat or walking through unknown African grasses with bare legs) I definitely made the right move when I decided to go on the trip. In fact, I've been bitten by the Travel Bug! [And other bugs in Africa, unfortunately, though I suppose I can only blame myself. How could I go to the trouble of bringing a wearable mosquito-net face and neck shield, and overlook the importance of proper full-length pants?] I would love to go on another STIMMA trip in the future. If traveling is about meeting new people, growing from the experience, seeing the world and (especially for the altruistically-minded) leaving it a better place, then I can't imagine a more rewarding travel experience than a medical mission trip with an organization like STIMMA. Instead of hitting up that next posh resort on the beach, I'd encourage any person with the will and intestinal fortitude (double meaning here...stay away from warthogs!) to consider heading off the beaten track, to where his/her footsteps may actually make a difference.
Kathryn Guse
"In a country facing poverty, disease, and a lack of healthcare resources, I discovered that 6 Canadians can make a difference. I learned that sometimes what we consider to be simple tasks, such as counting medications for inventory purposes, can make a significant impact in a developing nation and create an opportunity for even more progress in the future. We can make adifference!"
Denise Kreutzwiser
On our trip to Zimbabwe, I was overwhelmed with the amount of TARIRO (hope) waiting for us at Howard Hospital. Despite the high prevalence of AIDS, malnutrition and tuberculosis, the people we met undeniably found hope in the staff and volunteers at the hospital. In the short time that we were there, we were able to contribute to that feeling of hope through our work in the pharmacy and on the wards. I have taken that feeling home with me and continue to see the hope that STIMMA offers people all over the world through their missions.