Chinyingi is a
Capuchin mission and
hospital
A hospital is a health care institution providing patient treatment with specialized health science and auxiliary healthcare staff and medical equipment. The best-known type of hospital is the general hospital, which typically has an emerge ...
in the sparsely populated
North-Western Province of
Zambia, on the west bank of the
Zambezi River. An estimated 6000 people live within a seven kilometer radius of the Chinyingi mission. The mission's hospital, Chinyingi Mission Hospital, serves the local community with a 52-bed hospital and several health outreach programs, providing everything from
first aid to services for people with HIV/AIDS
AIDS
Human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a spectrum of conditions caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a retrovirus. Following initial infection an individual m ...
, which affects some 25% of Zambia's population. The mission also operates a school.
In the 1970s, a Capuchin brother named Crispin Valeri constructed a
pedestrian bridge over the Zambezi River. Valeri was motivated by the deaths of five people who
drowned in the Zambezi River as the tragic result of four people trying to use a
dugout canoe to ferry a sick person to the hospital for care.
He solicited donations of material from the
copper mines of Zambia's
Copperbelt, and employed local unskilled labor to construct the bridge, which despite Valeri's lack of training or expertise, proved sturdy and reliable and still spans the river . At the time, the bridge Valeri constructed was one of only five crossings along the 2,574 kilometer length of the Zambezi. A
pontoon bridge was later constructed underneath it to allow vehicles to cross.
Chinyingi's elevation above sea level is 1,100 meters.
Chinyingi Mission Hospital redesign
As of May 2016, the Chinyingi Mission Hospital was undergoing renovations, with hospital staff consisting only of one nurse. The remainder of the staff had moved elsewhere, looking for employment at rural health outposts spread across the North-Western Province of Zambia or at th
Zambezi District Hospital located across the Zambezi River in the village of Zambezi. The priests of the Chinyingi Mission noted that the redesign and renovation of the hospital was a necessity, as they were unable to find a doctor that wished to practice at the facility. Instead of closing the doors to the hospital permanently, they initiated renovations in order to keep the facility up to high standards, and to provide medical care for the villagers on the western bank of the Zambezi River as Valeri intended by building the suspension bridge.
See also
*
List of crossings of the Zambezi River This is a list of bridges and other crossings of the Zambezi River. Locations are listed with the left bank (moving downriver) listed first.
Crossings
References
{{reflist
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. ...
References
*McIntyre, Chris
"Chapter 17: The Western Provinces" ''Guide to Zambia'' (online edition). Bradt Travel Guides. 3rd edition: November 2004.
(2002). Capuchin Franciscan Friars Province of Stigmata of St. Francis. Retrieved August 10, 2005.
Falling Rain Genomics, Inc. Retrieved August 10, 2005.
{{coord, 13, 21, 15.5, S, 23, 00, 38.7, E, region:ZM_type:city(500), display=title
External links
* http://photography.nationalgeographic.com/photography/enlarge/zambezi-river-bridge_pod_image.html
* https://web.archive.org/web/20161031114933/http://www.panoramio.com/photo/110335782
Christian missions in Zambia
Populated places in North-Western Province, Zambia