Greetings in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. WE PRAY THAT THE Lord has been keeping you well.
- COVID – 19.
Dinah and I are happy to let you know that your prayers for our recovery were answered. We have recovered fully. PRAISE THE LORD! We had a few residual effects sometime in January going into the early part of February. The most noticeable were body weakness, loss of appetite and deranged smell. We where then given our first doses of the Sinopharm vaccine on February 23. Our second doses are going to be on March 22. You should hear wild stories in the social media about why not to get vaccinated. Vaccination against COVID-19 in Zimbabwe is voluntary and free. Among those we work with in our ministry, 68% were vaccinated. None had side effects of the vaccine. Fence watchers are now coming back asking for vaccination. May be, they were waiting to see if some of us would collapse. But we do not store the vaccine here in our hospital. So, they will have to wait until the day we are going to be given our second doses to get their first doses.
It was not only Zindoga and Dinah who caught COVID-19. Of those we work with, the following categories and numbers were also affected:
- Nurses
- Nurse Aides
- General Hands
- Student Nurses
- Casual workers
- THE RAIN SEASON AND AGRICULTURE.
Our rain season has been very good. In fact, our country has had above average rainfall. For those who did not have fertilizer and their soils were weak or sandy, there was a lot of leaching and crops are not doing well. But for those whose soils are strong and those who had fertilizers, their crops look great. We are going to have a good harvest of corn, ground nuts and round nuts at our family farm. Overall, the country is going to have a bumper harvest of most crops. This is a blessing from God because, usually, our country spends a lot of foreign currency importing food.
- BUNGU FAMILY.
We are happy to let you know that, our youngest son, Kudakwashe David has decided to get married. We are going to go for the traditional marriage proceedings on Saturday April 3 in the morning. The process is that representatives of the Bungu family, traditionally males only, (not any more) go to the home of the girl. There, there will be male and female representatives of the girl’s family. The Bungu representatives will tell the other family that we are interested in their daughter. Then, the girl and a few other female relatives led by one Aunt of the girl will take some money from the Bungus to show that they approve of the marriage. The, the male representatives of her family will ask for a certain amount of money, usually $3000 to $5000 US dollars. After that is paid, the next stage is that they will ask for a certain number of cattle – average 7. Both the money and the cattle (in Shona ROVORA and in Ndebele LOBOLA) may be paid in instalments that may take years. I hope you now feel educated in Zimbabwean marriage system.
- WORKLOAD.
The following depicts what the Lord has allowed us to accomplish in January and February 2021.
- MATRON LETITIA MBAWURA RETIRES.
Matron Letitia Mbawura came to us in 2013. She was a wonderful Matron and member of our Hospital Executive. She was Roman Catholic, but you would not know it because she worshipped with us and even sang in the choir and danced with the other ladies. She was intelligent, motherly, trustworthy and a good team member. She retired on February 28, 2021 her 65th birthday. We will miss her. We held a gift-giving occasion for her and her husband in front of the hospital. They were given a variety of gifts which included a Queen-sized bed, a gas stove and cash.
- PRAYER REQUESTS.
- PROTECTION AGAINST COVID-19. Kindly pray with us that those who work with us, their families and us do not catch COVID-19 (some of us for the second time).
- FOR INCREASE IN SUPPORT. Zimbabwe’s inflation rate, until lately had gone to 600%. It is now hovering around 300%. It is made worse by wholesalers, followed by other shops who do not want to follow the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe US dollar Auction rate of the US dollar to the Zimbabwean dollar which is 83 to 1. Most shops’ exchange rates are 100 to 130 to 1US dollar yet people earn in Zimbabwean dollars. Fuel [Diesel and Petrol (Gas)] were costing US$1.20 per liter until a week or two ago. Now they are around $1.35 to 1.4 per liter. WE are failing to meet our budget and that hurts our evangelism, outreach and clinical work. So, we are requesting you our partners to help us.
Our finances are controlled by TOWER ACCOUNTING which is a 501©3 subsidiary of ICOM designed to assist mission-oriented Christian non-profits with their finances. If you want to reach them about our finances or your contributions, you may call them on 317-827-7882. We use your support to further the preaching of the Gospel and to relieve pain. You may send to contributions to:
Mashoko Christian Hospital Inc, P. O. Box 19022, Indianapolis, Indiana 46219 OR send through our website on mashoko.org. We thank you in anticipation.
