Charles Powell writing:
We have arrived! After a two-year absence, Lynne and I have returned to Zinga. We had the pleasure of traveling with some of our guests, Dr. David Holdt, MD, his wife, Sylvera Holdt, RN, and their middle son Alex. Travel was largely uneventful.
Progress has been phenomenal. Areas that were mere chalk lines at my last visit are beginning to take shape and many are nearing completion. We are bracing for a massive expansion of the program to include obstetrical service and specialized neonatal care. It is very satisfying in many ways, but challenging in many others.
The staff has recently expanded clinic coverage from one shift to two. We will suddenly need to go from two shifts to three, with full-time pharmacy and ancillary staff, not to mention qualified medical staff. Nonetheless, with change there is an opportunity. We will need skilled medical volunteers to assist with organization and training and we welcome you to join. The sheer scale of the project is awe-inspiring, but all things are possible with God, and our supporters with the help of God have made all this possible
Fear not! Our visitor needs for non-medical volunteers will remain. We will merely have more opportunities for you to participate. Please consider a visit to Zinga! You will leave forever enriched. For those who cannot come, please continue to pray and to offer your financial support as you are led. Charles W. Powell, M.D.,
President, IHP-US
Lynne Powell writing:
As the United States debates whether or not to provide “healthcare for all,” the citizens of Tanzania have decided to roll out their own government health insurance. This coverage, presumably available to all, will provide well-child care and sick-care to children in Tanzania for whom medical care would otherwise be unaffordable. It is our hope that no family in Tanzania will ever again have to decide whether to spend money to save one child’s life at the expense of being able to afford food for the rest of the family.
As a result of the government insurance program, the clinic is preparing itself for a massive influx of patients. It is now providing 2 shifts of medical and nursing staff that will cover the hours from 8 A.M. until 10 P.M. This started last week. So far, there has not been a big increase in patient numbers. According to sources in the clinic, there are several reasons for this. One is that the new hours are new and may need some further advertising and communicating before the wider community becomes aware that they can get health care in the evening.
The other problems are less easily addressed. One is the dark and scary nature of the road that goes from the Bagamoyo Road to the clinic. The possibility of a shuttle service, whether provided by a bus or a smaller three-wheeled vehicle, is being discussed.
We are also discussing another issue, which is a common problem anywhere “after-hours care” is offered. If patients get sick in the evening, unless they think they need to be admitted to the hospital, they are likely to take some Tylenol and seek healthcare in the morning. Since we are solely a clinic at this time, people who think they might need to be admitted skip over our Zinga clinic and go directly to the hospital in Bagamoyo. There is some discussion among the medical staff here that we might open 2 to 4 hospital beds where people who need to be observed overnight can be admitted. This can be accomplished even before we are ready to open a birthing center or an inpatient pediatric unit. It is something to think about.
It is exciting to contemplate the expansion of the clinic to serve a larger patient population, but, as always, the path God sets before us has obstacles, and decisions to be made every few steps. We appreciate your prayers and support as we continue to serve the people of Tanzania.
Lynne Powell MD Board member, IHP, US, IHP-JEMA-TZ, JEMA Childcare
Jesse Kitundu writing:
Seasonal rains are here, and this makes the weather perfect, not very cold or hot. Mango trees are in full bloom again and in two months the mangoes will be beady.
Dear friends of mothers and children of Tanzania,
We welcome you to witness how wonderfully your help has changed Zinga. I always find it difficult to find the right words to say other than saying thank you very much.
Jesse Kitundu, President IHP-JEMA-TZ
Paula Lofstrom writing:
Opportunities:
For nothing will be impossible with God. – Luke 1:37
Winston Churchill said, “A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.”
In today’s Daily Word we read that loss can deliver us to a deep appreciation for the gifts we still have [think of the people whose homes have burned or blown away!].
Certainly, here in Tanzania, IHP has faced challenges. But, since our motto has always been, “Trust God and show up for work,” we have done so. And God has done as only God can to get us through the challenges and created amazing opportunities for us to serve the underserved and to create a place of healing the people God created. God has trusted us to do this work. We trust God to create opportunities to make it happen.
Trust. It’s all built on trust. We trust the donors to come through so this hospital can be built. The donors trust us to use the money wisely to serve the people – and that may mean buying supplies for building and reagents for the lab and salaries for the wonderful people we employ. We trust our staff to be doing their very best and the patients trust us because of the atmosphere created in a place of love and trust.
Again, plagiarizing from The Daily Word: If one expects life to be hard and people against them, they will find evidence everywhere. If they believe challenges carry blessings, then they will find good in difficult situations. Our lives here are a blessing and what IHP is doing for the people we serve is a blessing. The people we employ have jobs and can support their families. Providing education not only for medical students but helping others to increase their educations is a blessing. No matter what, you can’t outgive God. And blessings abound.
For helping to continue the blessings to continue, if you feel led to help, please, GET INVOLVED! You can begin by praying for us and then with your support.
Please send checks to:
IHP – Matt West Treasurer
8016 No. Everton Ave.
Kansas City, MO. 64152
Or
Go to our website, www.ihptz.org and click on PayPal
Or
Call Matt at 816-985-4406 and he can put it on your credit card.
Dennis Lofstrom writing:
It’s boxing-up time at Zinga in Tanzania, so it’s time to put on the gloves and get to work! Empty boxes are piled here in the corner of the Powell’s living room and the Drs. Charles and Lynne Powell have arrived from the US. to join us and are ready to go to work (and get us out of their house)! Even before the birthing center is open, they will be here to help with staffing, training, and supervision to create the safest, most advanced place for birthing babies in East Africa.
The Lofstrom Guesthouse is finished enough so we can move very soon. The kitchen shelving is almost done, and the water is being hooked up. The porches are being painted.
September 18this less than a month away. We will then be returning to Overland Park, KS to continue our yearly fundraising tour of the U.S. Please see the speaking schedule.
Dr. Bon Mazezele writing:
We thank God for everything here at Zinga Polyclinic.
The Children’s Hospital at Zinga has changed its name for now and is called Zinga Polyclinic, Children’s Hospital Projects the national health insurance wants it to be so that it is obvious that we serve all patients of different ages. Also, Zinga Polyclinic is operating 16 hours per day including Sunday. Initially, we were providing 8 hours for 6 days and not open on Sunday. The new schedule we started on 19 September 2019 is still new so people are becoming aware of our extended hours and on Sunday we got 6 new patients and 4 for follow-up from previous appointments. This is a good indicator that some people know our new schedule and soon the word will be spread.
Typical cases for us are similar to the two children I saw last week. One had Malaria and another with low hemoglobin of 6mg/dl and was not a child with sickle cell but had been sick for 2 months with malaria. Yet, these children were playing with toys like they are healthy and well. If the mothers had not brought them in, it is very possible the malaria parasites could migrate to their brains and the children become seriously ill very quickly.
Your donations that have built this clinic means children’s lives are saved.
Selemani writing:
Let me say this,
I am blessed with the gift of free will, from it I can choose to view a situation as positive or negative. I can choose when whether and how to respond to events. With this freedom, I have the power to change my life experience, lovingly supported, guided and directed by Spirit within me.
My freedom also allows me to choose, to commune with the Presence of God in me. I am reminded that no situation, incident, event or personal encounter has power unto itself. It is only what I choose to see. Today as I meet the world, I choose peace in whatever I do. I choose to love and to love others. I choose abundance. I choose wholeness. Because I am free to choose. I am blessed so that I can bless others.
Why have I decided to share this? It's because of the love you have been sharing with us. It is true that God blessed us so that we can be a blessing to others. Thank you for all the love gifts, cash given with love, in-kind gifts given with love, your time and donations you have shared with us (IHP JEMA US-TZ). We are blessed because you are the reason for these blessings we have.
Mothers, children, and families and many more have been blessed by getting good care here at The Children’s Hospital. Construction people, guards, doctors, nurses, and other staff are hired here, and we are able to support our families because of your donations, your help, and support.
The Hospital is growing. We are very happy, and we really appreciate your donations.
We are finishing up the Lofstrom guesthouse and it will be completed in two weeks’ time. We are smoothing the walls of the NICU building. We are still installing the BIRTHING CENTER windows, grills, hanging ceilings and soon we are going to install sanitary fittings. We will soon be putting up the walls for the PICU building. Also, we are planning to put roofs over the containers, and a roof for the maternal and child health building, and roof for the garage building.
Thank you so much for your support.
And thank you for being an IHP DONOR.
Yes, together we can. Tuna Pamoja!
Stay blessed.
Best Regards,
Selemani Shabani Salum.
The team from Immanuel Lutheran Church in Vancouver, WA writing:
This August nine members and friends of Immanuel Lutheran Church from Vancouver, WA spent 10 days with International Health Partners in Tanzania at the Children’s Hospital at Zinga. We began and ended our days with devotions on the veranda, sharing songs, prayers, observations, and rating the beautiful Tanzanian sunsets at the end of the days.
During the days we worked in the new guest house where Paula and Denny will live and host groups. We needed to get them moved in time for the Powell’s’ to come to live in their own house where Denny and Paula have been staying for the past 5 years. Using the supplies, we brought we scrubbed floors, primed and painted walls, and packed and carried stuff from one house to another. We worked on the inside while the contract workers from Tanzania worked on framing the windowsills, preparing the building, and installing the equipment. Hearing Paula and Denny’s stories of life-saving healing, witnessing their respect and love for the people around them, and experiencing their incredible hospitality has inspired us to work hard to prepare their home. They will use this home to rest, provide hospitality for visitors, and host groups that are working in the clinic.
During our tour of the facilities, we learned of the need for $25,000 for the water reclamation system that would allow IHP to open their beautiful, sophisticated birthing center. Seeing this need first-hand inspires us to brainstorm how we could raise this reasonable amount of money to open this incredible center for the people of Tanzania.
Our commitment to this project has strengthened because of the relationships we’ve built with the wonderful people of Tanzania who’ve hosted us with great kindness, patient teaching of Swahili, delicious food, and loving friendships. We are truly “Tupo pamoja” or “We are together” even when we are on the other side of the globe.
May God bless our continued partnership with this important project of providing exceptional medical care in Tanzania.
Pastor Adrienne Strehlow, David Scheels, Dorothy Klaudt, Darcy Klaudt, Wendy Houser, Shiela Osheroff, Sharom Marble, Charlanne Sappington, Mary Strehlow
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