Lions Donate to Impoverished Zimbabwe

Gifts for Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe is one of the most poverty-stricken countries in the world, and one local community group has made it a priority to provide aid and improve the living conditions of the country’s people.

The Angle Vale Lions Club has been busily taking donations and raising money to send a 12-metre-long shipping container full of old hospital equipment and everyday items to Zimbabwe.

As part of the project, hospital beds, mattresses and operating theatre equipment from the old Royal Adelaide Hospital and Repatriation Hospital will be sent to the country’s Buhera District to be used in local hospitals.

The cost of sending each shipping container is around $20,000.

Angle Vale Lions Club incoming president Bob Bacon said the club has a Zimbabwean member, Kennedy Mavunganidze, and hearing first-person accounts of stories from his home country has motivated club members to make the project a reality.

“It’s something the club has committed to and we want to get it up and running as fast as we can,” he said.

“We’re about a third of the way to our goal.”

Mr Bacon said the facilities at the old Royal Adelaide will be a luxury for those living in the area.

“Even things like hospital beds, there are plenty of hospital beds from the old hospital which would be a luxury for them,” he said.

“Even if they don’t have the electricity to use it, the comfort would still be a major improvement.”

Angle Vale Lions Club secretary Dot Lewtas said Mr Mavunganidze shared a DVD with members about the effect the equipment will have on the Zimbabwean people.

“It will have a huge impact,” she said.

“One of the rooms in this clinic was used as the birthing unit.

“It has a dirt floor, a dentist’s chair, which was all ripped at the bottom, and a little lamp – that was it.”

The club has had contact with people in the Buhera District who have requested pillows, bed linen, blankets, tables and chairs as some items of high priority.

In addition to hospital equipment, the container will also include school supplies, personal items, homeware and other household items.

To donate, contact the Angle Vale Lions Club (0416 452 925) or donate money online at gofundme.com.

Article written by Tom Staggard

Originally published on May 23, 2018 by The Bunyip

Bunyip article