From: Elisabeth Hangartner
Date: Tue, 27 Aug 2019 at 22:51
Subject: Kaseye Update
Date: Tue, 27 Aug 2019 at 22:51
Subject: Kaseye Update
We made it safely back home to Colchester after a two-hour stopover in Zurich. Currently we are visiting with old friends in British Columbia whom we met when we lived in Edmonton (1979-86). We are living in the beautiful mountain cottage of the administrator of Solon Foundation. He invited us this past summer when he checked on the progress of Kaseye’s Communication Center, a project we are able to accomplish thanks to the support of Solon. The Internet connection is in the pump house below the cabin where we live, right by a beautiful secluded mountain lake in Sooke, British Columbia, a village about 30 km from Victoria BC. The weather is gorgeous! We are thoroughly enjoying our time off in British Columbia.
After quite an upheaval in Kaseye due to the very poor follow-up by the Hospital Administration on the constructive suggestions of our two qualified hospital administration volunteers, the Management of Kaseye Hospital seems to be very receptive for improved collaboration. Also, the Chiefs and the Director of Economic Development in Northern Malawi intervened and promised to put some constructive suggestions on the table.
In any case, we will be back in Kaseye later this year to complete the operating tract, the laundry and the housekeeping cottage and to evaluate our options for the future. We do hope that the crisis has made it crystal clear to everybody involved that we and INTERPLAST Germany came to improve patient care. Thomas, in particular, refuses to put brick upon brick for new buildings if the current patient care level remains where it has been for over twenty-five years. Times are changing, and a remote hospital like Kaseye Community Hospital can only survive if the services are much improved. We trust that the Hospital Administration and the entire hospital staff will fully cooperate with us, INTERPLAST Germany and all our tireless volunteers to help the people of Kaseye and many surrounding villages receive the hospital care they need and deserve.
We are closing for today. The sun is disappearing behind the pines and cedars, and it is getting cool. We look forward to giving our next report again from our cottage in Kaseye.
Greetings,
Elisabeth and Thomas
