I am amazed by the culture here in Zimbabwe. This country is by far in the worst condition economically than I have ever
been in. Their government is extremely unstable. Their currency has been discontinued because it is worthless. They use the
African “rand” here and the US “dollar.” They do not give change back here. So if you go to the grocery store and have a $5
bill and want to buy something for $2, you better find something else for $3 or else you would be wasting your money. They
only take cash. You cannot use VISA or credit cards. The only way that we are able to get money out here is Western Union.
Most vehicles that you purchase here are used. New vehicles are hard to come by. And to buy a liscence plate for your vehicle
costs $200. I thought $50 in the States was bad!
Everyone is required to pay an electric bill regardless if they even have electricity or not.
There was a time this past year that all phone lines and internet access was shut down completely. You could not even get
ahold of people in the next town over.
There was also a time where the currency was so unstable that if you rode the bus to work in the morning, the
currency was useless on the way back home because it had already changed to something else.
It is extremely hard for people here to get visas out of the country because they are afraid that the people will leave and
never come back.
Health care and medicine is extremely scarce here. We have been working at this mobile clinic where they give out free
medication. On our first day when we arrived, there were over 100 people lined up waiting in the hot sun. Some people waited for well over 6 hours just to get looked at. I sat there in amazement thinking of how much I took medical care for granted. In America we have clinics, doctors offices and hospitals all over. They are lucky if they even have medicine available to them here. We sit in the doctor’s office for a half hour and complain that they are too slow. We wait in the waiting room at the hospital for 3 hours and get livid because we have wasted our entire evening.
I was talking to Winnete (the lady we are staying with) and she was telling me that Mutare has one hospital and if you are
admitted and need surgery, you have to bring all of your own supplies for the surgery. They give you a list of the items
that are required and then you are responsible for purchasing the gloves, forceps, bandages, prescriptions and anesthetics.
I have NEVER heard of this! I was blown away.
Working in the clinic and learning all that I did has forever changed me. I will never take hospitals or medicine for granted
again.
