"Pang'ano, Pang'ano"

Pang'ano, Pang'ano is "Slowly, Slowly" in Chichewa. I recently added this word to the chichewa dictionary in my head. I think it fits the Malawian culture and approach to things perfectly. There is almost never any urgency or emergency in life here. I have seen people hurry occasionally but even in a big hospital like Malamulo we don't have an Emergency room!! It is the same with the business side of things - when I think of whether we are making progress or not "slowly, slowly" seems to fit. There are a few glimmers of hope -

Last week we made arrangements with the only pathologist in all of Malawi (who has an office in Blantyre) to send him specimans from the hospital for a flat fee (approx. $35 USD) since the patients are so poor. This rate is still out of reach for some but encouraging at least to have the option for patients.

We also arranged with a pharmacy supplier to provide drugs that are needed at the clinic in Blantyre. We struggle to keep the stock they need there and since this provider is located a few blocks away it will make the service much better. This will also be helped by the loan of 1 million Kwacha (~$6,600 USD) to give us a basis for purchasing the items. The income from the sales will go back into that account and [hopefully] continue to fund the supplies for the clinic.

The challenges come when the guys from the pharmacy supplier don't follow through when they say they will and we have issues setting up the bank account to keep this loan and "jump start" money for the clinic.

I am happy to report that we purchased 30 brand new mattresses for some beds in pediatrics with some money that my friend Melissa donated. Those arrived a couple of weeks ago and just today when I wandered through they are starting to be used! Also we got 7 exam tables donated by World Vision and are getting 52 new hospital beds with mattresses donated from ADRA!! We also have another container that has arrived in Blantyre from the organization "Giving Children Hope" (www.gchope.org) that should be here this week.

All of these things add up to be really positive for the hospital... and I try to keep that in perspective but it is easy to get bogged down in the details and the incompetence of individual people. There have been days this week when I've had to be firm and direct with people to be sure that the importance of the issues is communicated. This goes back to the first comment that there is no urgency about anything!!! Daily reports, assignments to be done, patient bills and accounts done correctly (all manual) - nothing seems important or serious!! To my western mind this is completely frustrating, as you can imagine! **deep breath**

It is CRAZY hot today so I think Cristy and I are going to head home early. Going home and being comatose and a glass of lemonade sounds very appealing!! Until later ---