US-BASED couple working to expand medical clinic they opened in Zimbabwe

By The Repository

JACKSON TWP: A return visit to their native Zimbabwe left such an impression on a Perry Township couple that the trajectory of their lives has changed.

Onias Mabgwe was pursuing a master’s degree in business at the University of Akron when he and his wife, Diana, a registered nurse, returned to Zimbabwe when their daughter-in-law became ill during the impending birth of their grandchild.

The couple was so shocked at the conditions of the medical facility that they took on a mission to build a new medical clinic, the Westside Healthcare Center in Onias Mabgwe’s home village of Gweru.

The clinic, which is being sponsored in part by the couple’s church, Park United Methodist in Akron’s Kenmore neighborhood, opened in February 2023.

Currently, the Mabgwes are planning to load a shipping container with medical supplies to be delivered to the clinic at the end of the year, and are seeking funds to help cover the estimated $5,000 in shipping costs.

The couple say hospital conditions in Zimbabwe are so desperate that patients at times are requested to provide their own gowns, toiletries and linens, and that bed space is at such a premium that women are sometimes forced to give birth while lying on the floor.

The Mabgwes met as teens while growing up in neighboring villages. Onias Mabgwe said they made the decision to emigrate to the United States in the 1990s to study after his job with a railway company was on the verge of being phased out.

He enrolled at the University of Akron to pursue a business degree. Diana Mabgwe was a nurse and midwife.

“I came here in 1999 in May, and she came in December 1999,” he said.

After completing his degree, Onias Mabgwe said, he was on the verge of entering graduate school when his wife insisted on returning to Zimbabwe when their daughter-in-law fell ill.

“Seeing what we saw was very disheartening and very heart-breaking,” he said. “The medical service provision process was so, so bad. So, my wife said, ‘What do you need a master’s for? You already have a business degree.’ So we went home, and then she said, ‘Wouldn’t it be a good thing for you to go for nursing?'”

Mabgwe smiled as he admitted that he ignored the question − twice. His wife broached the subject a third time.

A gift for empathy

“When she really pushed me the third time, I did not answer. I slept over it,” he said. “So, I thought about it and I just realized this was just a male ego thing, and my wife had a valid point. So, after she went to work, I went to Akron School of Practical Nursing.”

Onias Mabgwe learned he’d have to take an entrance exam, and then be placed on a two-year waiting list.

“So I said, ‘When can I take the test?’ They said, ‘We will give you material to study. After you study and feel comfortable, then you can come back and take the test,'” he recalled. “And in my mind, I already have a degree. How difficult can the entrance exam to an LPN program be? So I asked, ‘Am I allowed to take the test now?’ But they all laughed and said, ‘If you flunk it, it’s gonna take you four months to come and retake it.’ Then I said, ‘I’ll take my chances.’ ”

Mabgwe not only aced the test, he was able to squeeze into classes two weeks later. After competing the LPN curriculum, he earned a nursing degree from Stark State College.

Diana Mabgwe said she urged her husband to consider nursing because he has the gift of empathy.

“It made him become a very good candidate because in nursing, you have to have empathy,” she said. “You need to be able to help other people who are in need, and people need love.”

Onias Mabgwe’s first official nursing job was at the former Edwin Shaw Hospital in Akron, where his wife was already working.

“When I was in nursing school, I started working as (a state-tested nursing assistant) just to get my foot into the profession and see what it entailed,” he said.

Eventually, he took a job at Manor Care, where he worked from 2005 to 2013, followed by his current job as a nursing supervisor at St. Joseph Senior Living in Louisville.

He also works part time at two other local nursing care facilities.

“I’ve got three jobs,” he said with a smile.

Meanwhile, the couple moved from Akron to Perry Township to be closer to their daughters, who are enrolled at a local college.

But everything changed because of Zimbabwe.

‘Do we have to be rich to make a difference?’

“They were delivering babies on the floor,” Onias Mabgwe recalled. “We saw kids getting aerosol treatments from one single machine.

“The nurses would just dip the thing in water, shake it a little bit, and use it on the next person. We’ve got a lot of asthmatic babies in Africa, and they were using the same (instrument).

“Seeing what we had seen and being in the United States, we’re looking at the differences in healthcare services, delivery and, you know, we cried. We both cried and we said, ‘Why?’ Then my wife said, ‘Honey, do we really have to be rich to make a difference? We need to do something.'”

Upon returning to the United States, the couple met with their pastor, the Rev. Linda Sommerville at Park United Methodist, who helped to sponsor the Mabgwe family’s move to America.

“We presented our intended project, and she listens,” Onias Mabgwe said. “And before she said anything, she said, ‘Let’s hold hands and pray.’ As we’re holding hands, I found myself becoming suddenly more confident because I was wondering how we could pull this big thing by ourselves. At the end of the prayer, she said, ‘The clinic will be built.'”

The Mabgwes emptied out their retirement savings and bought a 10,000-square-meter piece of land. Construction began in 2014. Members of Park UMC raised $25,000 for the building budget of $200,000. The clinic has a 32-patient capacity.

“It took seven years,” Onias Mabgwe said. “Our church is a very small congregation, but they played a major role in encouraging people to contribute. And I worked 12-hour shifts, non-stop every single day.”

Diana Mabgwe said she worked to keep her husband fed while constantly praying for him, “that God may give him a good health so he can continue to finish (the clinic).”

Construction was complete in 2019. The couple said they decided about three years ago to add an operating room because pregnant women who need a caesarean section have to be transported to another facility 15 miles away.

“So, we’ve been saving, saving, saving,” Onias Mabgwe said, “until we finally thought we could start building the surgery center. The building’s up, but it is a lot of things that need to be done.”

The cost to complete the operating room, including materials and labor, is $5,000. The equipment budget is $20,000.

The Rev. Jared Priset, lead pastor at Church of the Lakes Methodist, said his church was happy to offer space for the shipping container, noting it operates a similar mission partnership in Sierra Leone.

“We looked at nine different places,” Mabgwe said. “It was a huge blessing because we have a lot of stuff to pack.”

The couple plan to visit the clinic in December, bringing with them donated books, Diana Mabgwe said. “So our arrival coincides, with the arrival of the container,” she said.

The couple say they are grateful to be able to help others. Both grew up in poverty-stricken villages with no plumbing. They said time was told by looking at the sun, and pencils were regarded as a luxury.

“When we look back at the lives we’ve lived, we thank God every singe day,” Onias Obgwe said. “So many of our friends are gone, and you ask yourself, ‘Why did God let me survive?’… We have food and clothes and everything we need. To be honest with you, we are not desperate, but our desperation comes from the need to help. Yes, we are very desperate in that. ”

To learn more about the clinic, contact Onias Mabgwe at 330-428-8926 or Diana Mabgwe at 330-956-1169, or call the church at 330-745-3714. Tax-deductible donations may be sent to Park United Methodist Church, 2308 24th St. NW, Akron, OH, 44314. Write “Zimbabwe clinic” on the check’s memo line.