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The Rhodesia Herald,
February 17, 1969
THE first qualified African nurse in the City Health Department, Miss Edith Opperman (60), who commenced general nursing and midwifery in Harari 36 years ago, retires next month.
Miss Opperman, who was one of the guests at a civic reception organised by the mayor of Salisbury, Alderman Mrs Florence Chisholm, received a broach from the mayor, who said: “I am giving you this small personal present. The gift, in the form of a Flame Lilly broach, is an emblem of your country and mine.
“We are both Rhodesian women inspired by a common purpose to serve. You have been successful: I hope I am.”
The mayor said Miss Opperman’s services were recognised by the award of the MBE in 1959 and during the whole of her service she had given without stint of her time and professional skill to a very large number of Africans, particularly mothers and babies.
A State Registered Nurse, Miss Opperman was presented to the Queen Mother and Princess Margaret when they visited Rhodesia in 1953.
“Miss Opperman has had the confidence of the people she has worked with and her unaided efforts, the present dispensaries, maternity, midwifery and child welfare, services have been built up,” said the mayor.
Miss Opperman, South African-born, was trained at Bridgeman Memorial Hospital and at the Crown Mines Hospital, Johannesburg. She worked in South Africa for a year before coming to Rhodesia.
Miss Opperman said: “When I started working for the city council, there were no clinics at Harari.
“I did my midwifery work for six months, going from one house to another. Then I asked for a central spot where I could confine mothers and a four roomed house was converted to a maternity home. It had two beds.”
She said as the work grew, a bigger maternity home was built. It had 20 beds and a staff of nine African nurses, who were under the supervision of a European sister. Miss Opperman intends to stay in Rhodesia.
LESSONS FOR TODAY
- Miss Opperman was born in South Africa, but chose to come to Zimbabwe to practice as a nurse. Even after her retirement she chose to stay in Zimbabwe.
- This shows that it does not matter where one is born, but as Africans, we are one people and that alone should transcend all borders.
- Calls by South Africans for foreign nationals, especially their black brothers and sisters to be deported from their country and the xenophobic attacks on foreigners is a brutal attack on ubuntu.
- As a country, we should continue to celebrate and honour people who have made an indelible mark in the history of this country. Miss Oppeman was the first qualified nurse to join the city’s health department and was instrumental in the establishment of a maternity clinic in Mbare, which is still operational today, and was rightfully named after her.
- The nursing staff at the clinic should strive to exhibit the values and ethics that were displaced by Miss Opperman during her tenure at the clinic.
- The nursing profession is a special calling that requires individuals that are ready to make self-sacrifices just as Miss Opperman who had to move from one house to another doing her work until a proper maternity clinic was established.
Online Reporter