Good news for a change

Today I made a visit to the Guardian’s Shelter at Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital to inspect what has been consuming all Caroline’s time and emotional energy, as well as plenty of Chira Fund (https://www.chirafund.org/ ) money. I am obviously biased but I doubt anyone could fail to be impressed at the enormous transformation that has come about through a lot of hard work.
After the rains the retaining wall between the shelter and the neighbouring property collapsed and has now been rebuilt with two large diameter drainage holes – it was retaining the deluge of rainwater coursing down the main hospital road (Chipatala Avenue), through the neighbour’s property and damming up behind the inadequately drained wall. Now there is a well made gulley conducting the rainwater past the newly built pit latrines and on into the maize field at the bottom of the property. The pit latrines are to be used when there is no water and the normal water closets are out of action. The toilet facility in use at any time is clarified by only unlocking the gates to the one in use! Sadly the showers are still occasionally used as toilets – I suggested a large sign on the entrance to the showers:
Another new addition is a 6 bay washing up sink with two 1000 litre water tanks as backup for when the mains water fails (or is turned off due to non-payment of the bill by the hospital). This is used to wash pots used to prepare nsima (maize porridge which represents the staple diet of all Malawians), but the glutinous nsima residue will inevitably congeal and block the drains.
A cunning plan takes this effluent into a bucket trap to collect the solid matter which can be emptied into another pit to feed the crows and rats but hopefully more usefully to create compost fertiliser for the maize field.
Meanwhile in the hospital, we are eagerly awaiting the arrival of the oxygen plant, which left Cape Town en route to Blantyre on Monday – this will deliver 800 litres of oxygen per minute and enable us to provide the only help to Covid19 patients we have available here. Anything more advanced is just not feasible in a LMIC (low to middle income country) due to lack of equipment (ventilators), drugs (sedatives to enable ventilation) or trained staff. You could reasonably argue that anything more than oxygen is inappropriate even in a HIC, although culturally unacceptable, due to the very high mortality in patients requiring escalation to such care.
The oxygen generators are serious pieces of kit and have a new building ready to accommodate them:
How will the installation team get to Blantyre when there are no commercial flights? Illovo Sugar Company have offered to fly them here and back in their executive jet! The whole saga of payment for the oxygen plant, the overcoming of bureaucratic hurdles and the transport for the installation team is nothing short of a miracle in answer to prayer, and in no small measure a testament to the powers of diplomatic persuasion of Prof Stephen Gordon and his team from the MLW (Malawi Liverpool Welcome Trust Research Institute) who have put their research on hold to help address the Covid19 crisis.