Cancer

I was learning about cancer today. Of course, the two main forms of treatment for cancer (besides surgery) are radiotherapy and chemotherapy. Chemotherapy is very expensive, and the great majority of Zimbabweans could never afford it. Radiotherapy is cheaper. There are two radiotherapy machines in the country, but they are both broken, and have been for a year. Even though I already knew the answer, I asked, "so if a Zimbabwean is diagnosed with cancer, what does he or she do?" "They die at home. But we (the hospice service) will try to give them some pain medication. And we just hope the cancer doesn't go to their spine, because that means they will be paralyzed before they die. You know, it's a very difficult thing to tell a family that there is treatment for their loved one's cancer, but that it is not available to them." The presenter said sometimes the family will give up everything to pay for chemotherapy, but then have to stop halfway through the treatment because of lack of funds. Because the treatment isn't carried out to its full term, it is pointless. As we were learning about this, participants in the seminar were very distressed. One person suggested that we stage a small demonstration to the Ministry of Health about the radiotherapy machines. But, of course, demonstrations are not allowed in this country.

The top headline in The Herald today is about a man raping his 10 year old daughter because she asked him for pocket change. It explained his reasoning, "I give her pocket change every month. But she started nagging me and wanting money more often - acting just like a prostitute. I did it to teach her a lesson." He also claimed he was filled with evil spirits at the time, and so cannot really be blamed. I guess the spirits will follow him to prison. Welcome to Zimbabwe.