Urgent Appeal : Zimbabwe needs blood donors desperately

This Urgent Appeal, drafted by the General Manager of MWEB Zimbabwe, was forwarded it to us by a Sokwanele supporter. Please circulate the information widely. We will post further information as soon as we have it.

Urgent Appeal

I am taking this opportunity to write personally to all MWEB subscribers. MWEB has recently completed its year-end and as General Manager of MWEB I would like to thank you for your loyal support throughout the years. It has been a year fraught with challenges for the telecommunications industry, but also a year in which we saw a significant upgrade in bandwidth provision by TelOne. However I am writing to you today to appeal for support of a different kind.

Yesterday a tragedy unfolded, a tragic event that could have been avoided, one that led to the unfortunate loss of life. I overheard a conversation at lunchtime at Royal Harare Golf Course. A woman was on her cell phone and was looking for a person whose blood group was B+. My blood group is B+, so I approached her. She said that someone desperately needed surgery, but there was no B+ blood available. The operation, unfortunately could not take place until a donor with that particular blood type was found. I went to the Avenues and rushed up the stairs to ICU to donate my blood. As I arrived on the 3rd floor I was met by the family outside ICU and was told that the person needing the blood transfusion had passed away 3 minutes ago. The family had been desperately searching for a donor since 10h00 that morning.

3 minutes! That is tragic!

If I had known about this desperate need for blood, I could have arrived at the hospital sooner, and managed to save a life. Instead I was eating lunch, entertaining clients, when someone needed my blood less than 2km away!! I could have made a difference if only I had known, more to the point - if only someone had known how to get hold of me.

The country is desperate for blood. Even if one is a regular donor, this does not guarantee that there will be adequate stock when it’s needed most.

The young man in need of blood had been involved in a car accident on Harare Drive earlier that morning. He had been hemorrhaging and they needed to operate to save his life but could not do so without blood. What I wish to propose is a three-point plan, which needs your support and action in order to make a difference;

1. Blood Donation Day. MWEB will arrange a blood donation day at Meikles next week. MWEB will provide you with free parking, tea and biscuits and a 10% discount on one month’s subscription if you come and donate blood. Any new subscribers joining and donating on the same day will receive 1 month’s service for free. So tell someone and bring them along!

2. Database. MWEB will collate a database of people’s contact details, landline, cell and blood group, as well as their residential area. If ever the urgent need for blood arises, this web-based database can then be logged into and the type of blood can be searched for. The database will come back with a list of all the people with that particular blood group in the area nearest to you, and all their contact details. This facility could be the difference between life and death. Anyone with Internet will have access to it.
3. Capture your details online. Once preparations for a website dedicated to this blood donor database are complete, (a week from now) you will be able to log onto http://www.mweb.co.zw/bloodbank and capture your details online. All you then have to do is be available and prepared to donate blood to save a life in an emergency.

We will send out another email to let you know at what times and in what room at the
Meikles Hotel, the blood donation exercise will be carried out. We hope to have this database up and running within the next 10 days, and we appeal to you to please help us to help save lives.

Lets make a difference through making this work. If you have any queries or require further information please contact us at MWEB on (04) 25 33 33

I look forward to your response and action.

Regards
Mike Ehret
GENERAL MANAGER
MWEB Zimbabwe

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