Zimbabwe Absurdity

“Let’s see how many donations you have done; oh, 48 so this is 49”, commented the nurse.

I was on my quarterly visit to the local National Blood Transfusion Service. They’d contacted me by email some weeks back so I was a bit late but rather than make a special trip I waited until I had business in that area; it’s a fuel saving thing. My first thought was not “What do I get for it” (an inscribed shield) but “Damn, where has all the time gone!”. A quick calculation estimated that I’d been donating regularly for nearly 12 years. Actually it’s longer than that as there had been a considerable gap between my first donation in the army (compulsory) and when I’d moved back after doing the backpacker thing.

As far as I can see the NBTS is still well run which is quite amazing considering the turmoil that the country has been through. I did notice that the collecting bags came from Germany and as usual I checked that the correct hygiene was being practised. It was. I do know that various NGO’s help out but still, it is nice to know that some things are working. I’m not so sure that I’d want to be on the receiving end though!