You wake up in sweat! Short breathed …… calling for help. Your mom has been worried for a few days now and anxiously try to carry the only thing to you available in the house …. a cup of dirty river water. There is no light to see how you are doing – maybe a candle. Other sleeping family members are coughing heavily but they try to hide themselves under a thin blanket. The cramps are worse than ever. It’s 02:00 in the morning. The cup of water doesn’t help to sooth the pain and the chills.
The unlucky ones …… die a few hours later.
There is no help. There is no medicine. The few Hospitals and clinics available are far out in town if you are lucky you might find an overworked doctor who is usually travelling around to help other clinics – and they are expensive.. Anti-biotics …. not available. Malaria medication …. not available.
What you are reading is really what is happening on a daily basis in Mozambique. There really is NO doctor available. I am the lucky one. I am typing this as I am trying to recover from an illness – I tried to hold out for as long as I could in the bush ….. only to find out my symptoms are deteriorating. I had a car! I had enough money to make my way back to the RSA to get help – a hospital, a doctor, medication! I feel I am recovering, but lying in my bed I could barely close my eyes …. thinking of the millions here in Mozambique who are not so privileged?
So what do we do? Do we just say …. that’s the way it is? What can we do? Well …. we can do what so few are doing unnoticed:
- Join a group somewhere and reach out via a medical outreach;
- Pray
- Care for someone not so fortunate close to you first!
- Just do it!
Sounds too simple? But it will help and will make us more thankful for what we have. Thanks for caring! There is some amazing news though ……. what has happened on the base and how teaching health to young primary school kids could change everthing ….!