DR PAUL THISTLE – GUILTY – OF CARING.

CAPTAIN PAUL THISTLE INTERVIEW

STIMMA Interview with Captain (Dr.) Paul Thistle prior to the team of STIMMA Volunteers being asked to leave the clinic for their safety. Visit www.stimma.org for more information about the current mission or other charitable services STIMMA provides. Aug. 24, 2012

This is a YouTube video of an interview with Dr Paul Thistle, 24 hours after he was told by The Salvation Army to leave Zimbabwe and the hospital he dearly loved, in which he served selflessly for 17 years.

In it, he explains why nothing has been done by the Salvation Army even after there was such an outcry against the action – the quasi-military structure of the organisation does not allow dissent in any shape or form, he said. The hundreds of letters of concern would have no impact, he said, as they may not have reached the highest level of leadership. People do not feel they can speak out, he said, because of victimization by the Salvation Army. (Victimization by a Christian organization?) But he felt he had to speak out, and his expulsion was the result.

He emphasized that his expulsion was a decision made by the Salvation Army alone, and actually said that the Zimbabwean government HAD tried to intervene, but as it was a church matter, the government could not overturn the church’s decision. (For ‘church’ read ‘Salvation Army’).

He said that people would die as a result of the decision, as they cannot afford even the transport to go to another hospital. This has been confirmed by some of the medical volunteers who served at Howard in a supporting capacity each year.

He said the Howard hospital was built on the actions of dedicated staff, volunteers, donations and community support, and he was fulsome in his praise of all those who had helped. At the end of the video he was clearly moved as he realised all the implications for the hospital and the community, and he broke down in tears.

And so a chapter closes – a golden chapter of Salvation Army service – the gold-standard service of Dr Paul Thistle - service lovingly and selflessly given, with no thought for himself or any self-promotion. The only thing he promoted was the Howard Hospital, and worked tirelessly for its patients, its resources and for the surrounding community. He turned his back on the worldly riches that come with secular surgical appointments, and worked tirelessly to ‘do His Master’s will’ to ‘serve suffering humanity’ within the ‘bush’ environment in Zimbabwe. Although extremely busy with surgical, general medical and administrative matters, he still found time to engage with the local children, playing football with them every week. He spent much of his furlough at home in Canada fundraising for the hospital that he loved. He was totally integrated with the community – he loved them and they loved him - and one can’t imagine what it took for him to leave it all behind.

It’s not as if it’s like driving a car – once you turn off the ignition the motor ceases instantly. No – with medical matters there is a continuity of care which doctors are bound to carry out according to their Hippocratic oath.

The Salvation Army forced him to break this continuity, leaving patients with no surgeon of equal skills to turn to – indeed, no surgeon at all. (This situation is one that continues – 12 months on – unless the Salvation Army can tell us differently).

This sudden severance of continuity of care is the sole responsibility of the Salvation Army, more to its shame – where is its care and compassion for a whole community - people with deep and complex human needs? Are these qualities less important than those reputations of Salvation Army bureaucrats, separated from the real world by the very office they hold? This is not meant to be disrespectful to those who hold commissioner rank, but clearly, dispassionate decisions were taken swiftly at this level that have hugely impacted detrimentally on desperately poor people who have no other avenue of support.

In every organisation based on military lines there is a tendency for the leaders to be removed from reality, as they fail to engage with the lower echelons, and they have no idea what the rank and file are thinking and doing.

Hopefully the various threads of this very sad situation will have given the ‘top brass’ a revelation in seeing the opinions of the soldiery they lead, and hopefully they will be proud of their high standards.

Do they think they are leading people who are of the same mindset as themselves?  The people offering their contributions on this website have been many and their opinions varied, but almost unanimously they have called out for justice, for accountability, for recompense, for apologies, for commitment to HH, for transparency, and compassion.

The response? Not even a polite acknowledgement of their concerns by Salvation Army leaders. Instead, a very arrogant and cold silence – not even basic good manners that we teach to infants - and no acknowledgement that any mistakes have been made.

These words come to mind: ‘What is divine about my creed, if I am blind to human need?’

I do hope we each ask ourselves this question, because it is the basis of our Christian service. It is for ALL of us, regardless of rank.

The Salvation Army has lost Dr Thistle – a rare jewel indeed. He is a true servant of Jesus, following His example regardless of the personal cost. Standing up for the community of the Chiweshe people – people with no power and no voice to lobby for a better life – standing up for what he saw as a loss of integrity in the leadership, with no regard for the consequences that would shock him to the core, and would result in his whole family being ripped from the community they loved and in which they served tirelessly.

How could the Salvation Army have let him go so ignominiously? The swift timescale suggests it was done in a fit of pique with NO thought for the dire consequences for either the Thistles or for the dependent community. That in itself is shocking from any leadership, but from mature and experienced Christian leaders it is reprehensible indeed. The prevarications an conflicting statements that have come out of IHQ since have added to the reprehension.

But God is indeed good, and has honoured Dr Thistle for his principled stance – it is thrilling to learn of his new employment at Karanda hospital, and equally thrilling to know that his integrity is unquestioned among those who supported him with their monetary gifts and prayers while he was at the Howard Hospital. It is a measure of the man that they have decided to continue to support him in these ways, which is much to the Salvation Army’s detriment. Not only has the Salvation Army lost a fine, dedicated officer and surgeon, but it has also lost the funding that he worked tirelessly to raise.

There HAS to be a change in leadership style if the Salvation Army is going to face the growing challenges in this increasingly secular world. Even though we exist within a hierarchical ‘Army’ structure, the very humanitarian and spiritual nature of our existence as a movement suggests that this is something of a misnomer. As individual Christians our allegiance is to God, and to God alone, not to an antiquated leadership structure that will not survive in this postmodern world.

People no longer accept the things they used to accept – Salvation Army leaders who have been officers for years, with no current experience of the outside world may not know this - in secular employment people no longer do what they are told without question  - they enquire more, they want to be involved more, they sit on working groups, attend seminars, they give their opinions, (which in many cases are accepted and implemented) and they want to explore the reasons for management requests before they obey them. There is consensus. And people are very rarely sacked in such a peremptory manner as Dr Thistle was, especially as all he did was to question the status quo. Our improved education has made us think and ponder more, and we are no longer willing to just sit and be told what to do by as members did in the ‘good old days’.

SA Soldier LO 

UKTI (name on file)