The hospital where Warren George worked as a nurse in Zimbabwe was so short of basic supplies, like plaster, that he could not make casts to treat people with broken bones.
He soon sought to join the exodus of more than 4,000 nurses who have fled the southern African nation in the past two years.
But the government has refused to give him and many others the documents they would need to work in, say, Britain or Canada.
He says that he now earns only about $500 a month as a traveling nurse and has to pick up extra shifts on his days off to ensure his family has enough to eat.
Zimbabweans are scheduled to go to the polls on Wednesday in only the second election since Robert Mugabe, the liberation leader turned strongman president, was ousted in a coup.
Persons:
Warren George, Robert Mugabe
Locations:
Zimbabwe, Britain, Canada