Suffering from regular 12-16 hour electricity cuts, Nkulumane Clinic, in Bulawayo, was in a very bad situation. The maternity section of the hospital had to operate by candlelight, and cold water during the night - unfortunately babies do not wait for the daytime hours!
The need for hot water for baby births and for the sterilization of equipment is well chronicled — but when there is no power there is no hot water and the clinic was desperate.
Besides the critical need for a supply of hot water, many times women in labour need oxygen for their sometimes very difficult births. Also of course so did the babies themselves, yet the staff was using candlelight to work alongside oxygen cylinders! This was a tragedy waiting to happen and a very dangerous situation indeed.
Their cry for help was heard by a Rotarian from Harare who is a solar energy expert while working on another project with the Director of the Zimbabwe Development and Democracy Trust (ZDDT).
Appalled by the situation, PP Rod Beadon of the Rotary Club of Borrowdale Brooke in Harare appealed for help to an ex-member of his club now living in London and a member of the E-Club of London Centenary.
The Club’s committee recognized the urgency of the situation and co-operated magnificently to ensure the money raised from a golf competition the previous year was used to excellent effect.
Said Cynthia Grund, member and PHF from Greve in Denmark, “When solar energy is so inexpensive, we need to concentrate on utilising our hard earned funds in such projects where we get so much for so little, in terms of money”.
Working with the ZDDT (Zimbabwe Development Democracy Trust) PP Rod Beadon of AEC (Alternative Energy Consultants) together with two Zimbabwean Rotary Clubs and the E-Club of London Centenary, facilitated the donation, which consisted of the geyser* and its installation as well as solar powered lights and solar roof panels.
*(a boiler as it is known in Europe — instead of being heated by electricity, the water flowing through the solar pipes becomes very hot in the suns rays and is stored in the tank which retains the heat-sometimes as high as near boiling)
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