THE EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN CHURCH IN ZIMBABWE HOSPITALS RECEIVE SUPPLIES FROM THE GLOBAL HEALTH MINISTRIES CONTAINER NONU504656 They came, they saw, they participated and they celebrated. This is the best way to summarise what happened last Tuesday, 8 May 2012 at the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Zimbabwe (ELCZ) Head Office in Bulawayo when representatives of the ELCZ hospitals (Manama, Masase, Musume and Mnene), HIV/ AIDS units (Thusanang, Betseranai) and the Zimbabwe Association of Church related Hospitals (ZACH) came to witness the opening of the container with medical supplies from Global Health Ministries of the United States of America as well as receive their respective allocations from the container. ELCZ Burure Clinic, which is not yet operational, was represented by the ELCZ Head Office staff, some of whom also did the overall coordination and observer roles. The ELCZ hospitals, HIV/ AIDS units and ZACH representatives arrived early in the day to wait for the opening of the sealed container which occasion was graced by Dean S S Vudzijena, the ELCZ Evangelism Coordinator. Dean Vudzijena expressed gratitude for the benevolence of the Global Health Ministries and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) whose gesture is the true fulfilment of Christian love and accompaniment in diakonia where distance is no barrier to the love of Christ. He prayed that the beneficiary units will use the supplies to alleviate pain and suffering in God s people and prayed for God s blessings to all involved to make the donation a success. After the welcome and remarks from Dean Vudzijena, the container was opened and the representatives of the beneficiary institutions participated in offloading the container, checking the goods against records and then loading the goods into Lutheran Development Services (LDS) trucks for transportation to ELCZ hospitals and HIV/ AIDS units while the ZACH items were collected by representatives from one of the Bulawayo based ZACH affiliated institutions. ZACH had facilitated the duty free clearance of the container through the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (ZIMRA). The beneficiary institution representatives thanked the people behind the donations and indicated that the donations came at the most appropriate time when supplies in medical institutions had started getting to alarmingly low levels hitherto unknown since the advent of the inclusive government. As the representatives worked in the hot sun, it was clear that the welcome relief they had on receiving the supplies made them not feel the strain of the work involved, neither did they feel the scorching sun. M M Dube 14 May 2012
Container lock, with ZIMRA seal still intact just before opening
Representatives of beneficiary institutions wait for the opening of the container outside the gate next to the container
Dean Vudzijena (Right) and the technician waiting to break open the seal to the container
Technician breaking seal to the container
Container is finally open, full to the door
Representatives from ELCZ hospitals, ZACH and ELCZ Head Office line up for a photo before the hard work starts to offload the container
Offloading of container in progress
Offloading of container continues
ZACH representative checks the offloaded items against the list
Mr N Moyo, Administrator and Sister Zibanga, Matron of Masase Hospital check Masase Hospital items against the packing list
Manama Hospital Administrator, Ms S Dube (Right) checks Manama Hospital items against the packing list while assisted by Mr Muleya, the driver at the hospital
Musume Hospital Administrator, Mr S Nyakwangwa checks Musume Hospital items against the packing list
The first LDS truck leaves with items for Manama Hospital
Stacked Mnene Hospital supplies await transportation next to the container
Final hand over of tallied packing lists by beneficiary institutions representatives to ELCZ Head Office staff after checking of items against packing lists