FSAOF Commentary Tariro – An ongoing story of Hope Part One

FSAOF Response Commentary

Tariro – An ongoing story of hope

We were heartened to see that The Salvation Army IHQ published an article about the current state of affairs at the Howard Hospital in Zimbabwe. It was good to know that IHQ recognized the desire for a flow of information from Howard Hospital and stepped up to provide some.

The article has generated a lot of feedback on the FSAOF blog, with a mix of positive and negative comments.  Certainly, people are still concerned about the state of medical and social support provided at the Howard, and will continue to be concerned well into the future.

This commentary will be split into several sections to allow for ease of posting to the FSAOF blog, and also for ease of reading. Additionally, this commentary draws from and will speak to comments posted on the FSAOF blog regarding the Tariro article.

Overview

We would like to begin by commending those who are working hard to restore Howard Hospital back to being a working hospital. In particular, we want to commend the current staff of Howard Hospital for their continuum of care for the people of Chiweshe during the last 12 months. Major Joan Gibson is applauded for all her hard work in carrying on with the nurses’ training program and providing guidance during this time of transition. We thank General Andre Cox for his interest in the Howard Hospital and for the commissioning of the Tariro article. We also recognize that Majors Dean & Eirwen Pallant have faced significant challenges with the Howard in their joint position of International Health Services Coordinators.

This article was created after a visit to Howard Hospital and Zim THQ in Harare by Major Sandra Welch and Major John Murray. The date of the visit is unclear but appears to be within the last couple of months. It was accompanied by a small photo journal of the sights around Howard Hospital, although very few from within the Howard, and in Harare.

It is encouraging to note that there are some positive things occurring at Howard. We would caution, however, to not fall into thinking that things are better than they actually are. Things take time to repair, particularly in a country such as Zimbabwe, which faces considerable challenges on many different fronts.

PREGNANT WOMEN SKIPPING 
ROPE IN A HAPPIER TIME

However, we are disappointed that this report, for all the positive points it presents, is still the work of internal Salvation Army officer personnel. 

Many people who have left comments on the FSAOF blog are disinclined to accept the findings and statements within this article. We, along with these commenters, remain firm in our convictions that only an independent external review and audit of the conditions, services and programs, finances, and operational structures in place will serve as a fair and acceptable account of what is truly going on at Howard Hospital.

History of Hope

There are some minor corrections we would point out in this first section of the article: The statement of “little medical training” is somewhat inaccurate and misleading. The wife of the founder of Howard Hospital was, in fact, a nurse. She also had some training in dental extractions. 

Additionally, a number of the missionaries who served at Howard before it became a hospital were trained nurses.

We want to point out the correct spelling of the name of the headman is Thomas Mudyiwa, 
not  Moudyiwat, patriarch of the Nyachuru village.

It is certainly true that Howard Hospital has enjoyed a great reputation, not only in the local Chiweshe community, but also to points beyond, including the capital Harare. This reputation has been the result of decades of work by dedicated doctors, surgeons, nurses and support staff at Howard. It is our hope and prayer that this reputation can be maintained into the future.

 

DR. THISTLE CELEBRATES THE DELIVERY 

OF A  CONTAINER FILLED WITH 

NEEDED MEDICAL SUPPLIES

This section also briefly speaks to the ancillary programs associated with Howard Hospital; community outreach, AIDS/HIV therapies, mobile family health and vaccination programs for outlying areas surrounding Howard, and the programs for the children affected by or orphaned due to AIDS/HIV. 

What we would have liked to have seen were the statistics associated with these programs. We know what the statistics were in past years, so without the provision of the statistics for the last 12 months, there is no way to ascertain how the services to the community are actually doing.

With regards to the programs for the children, we want to specifically address a concern we have about the school education program. We know that the school education program has been terminated and donors have been forbidden to pay school fees for needy orphans directly to Salvation Army Schools, as recently as this past week, late September, 2013."

So, based on this information, we find the brief mention of the operations of these programs to be disingenuous as to the true picture of what is happening.




Jolinda Cooper

Former SA Officer, USA