Back in December, we read an article in the New York Times, Zimbabwe Health Care, Paid with Peanuts, on a hospital in Chidamoyo, Zimbabwe, that accepted barter in exchange for medical services. Faced with astronomical inflation, Zimbabwe abandoned its own currency and switched to the US dollar some years ago, but that currency, too, can be hard to come by:
“It’s very difficult to get this famous dollar that people are talking about,” said Esther Chirasasa, 30, who hiked eight miles through the bush to the hospital for treatment of debilitating arthritis. Her son, Cain, 13, walked at her side carrying a sack of peanuts to pay for her care.
But lack of currency coming in can make it hard for a hospital to operate:
Short of cash like the people it serves, the hospital practices a level of thrift unheard of in the United States. Workers and volunteers steam latex gloves to sterilize them for reuse, filling the fingers with water to ensure against leaks. They remove the cotton balls from thousands of pill bottles to swab patients’ arms before injections. And they collect the tissue-thin pages of instructions from the same bottles for use as toilet paper.
So it was a pleasure to hear from Larry Gail that there’s a benefit dinner happening at the Wallingford Boys and Girls Club this Saturday, July 16th from 6:00 – 9:30 to support the Chidamoyo Christian Hospital:
Chidamoyo Hospital runs on a $120,000 annual budget and touches 70,000 patients a year. The event is sponsored by Larry & Cheri Gail (Wallingford residents) who have supported the hospital both financially and through volunteering since 1996. A portion of the proceeds raised at the event will be donated to FamilyWorks, Wallingford Boys & Girls Club and the 45th St. Homeless Youth Clinic as we want our efforts on behalf of the hospital to benefit local charities as well.
Chidamoyo has vaccinated over 500,000 children, nearly eradicated in utero AIDS transmission at the hospital, provides orphan support to 200 child head of household families, graduated over 3000 girls through high school scholarships and built and refurbished local schools.
Tickets to the event are $40 and includes an international dinner, beverages, a live Marimba band and a live and silent auction. Tickets may be purchased through email at [email protected]
(Photo by Robin Hammond for the New York Times, who hopefully won’t give us a hard time for reposting it here)