From our Medical Student, Bigiwiri: "I don't have words to thank those who are helping me, but I say thank you very much ! May God bless you. I feel free to study and I feel I have someone to go to with any problems.The study of medicine is my dream. It is very difficult, but I will do it."
Bigiwiri is now working hard at epidemiology and his other subjects. (Peter is the professor teaching epi.) He plans to head "home" to Maratane Refugee Camp in the north of Mozambique to see his mother and siblings for 2 weeks in July. You can google Maratane and read the latest, but the camp has been inundated with Ethiopian and Somali refugees. The food aid was cut off for 3 months, so Big sent some of the money we are giving him for his expenses here, to his mother. So as well as supporting medical education, a bit of our money is going directly to a refugee of the Hutu-Tutsi debacle.
There has been cholera in the camp, which is a big worry.
When Big went to see his mother last year, the owner of the room he was renting, stole everything. Now he has a room at a place where he calls the woman Mother, so that is MUCH better. He has a plastic table and 2 chairs, a bed, 2 sheets, 2 pots, a plate, and a spoon. I just gave him extra covers and a mosquito net. He has malaria, diagnosed on Friday, shaking chills, etc, but is still coming to classes. He is taking treatment. Hopefully the mosquito net will help.
Big is a short, handsome, quiet young man with a big smile who has spent his whole life in refugee camps. Even his family is amazed that he is here in medical school. He has many friends here at Catholic University, and I believe he is progressing well. Thank you to everyone who is pitching in. With his determination, and your support, this young man will become a doctor, thus helping his family and the people he will serve. We are born to serve.
Love, Emily
Thursday, June 30, 2011
Le Weekend: 12 June 2011
Hello from Mozambique Everyone!
The electricity has been down , now back up. But when it is down there is no internet. That explains some of the times that emails are not prompt.
It is a beautiful weekend here...blue skies, good wind, perfect temperatures. Mozambique is fabulous June and July!
I was at the Grand Hotel all day yesterday for a health fair in the grand lobby. This was built by the Portuguese to be the grandest hotel in all of Africa, and it was, briefly. Now 3000 people live in it. There is no water or electricity or garbage collection. There are trees growing out of the roof, and families live in the rooms and hallways and old coolers etc. It is a cement skeleton with everything taken out that could be. You can google it...it is absolutely fascinating. Grand Hotel Beira, Mozambique. The views from the balconies are spectacular!! Check it out. It is one of the most interesting phenomenas I have ever seen in my life.
The fair was nice. Irma Augusta, the ever active nun for Family Health at the med school organized it.
I went with my stethoscope and had about 100 kids listen to their heart and a pep talk about healthy heart practices. They loved using the stethoscope. There was drumming and dancing. I don't think Sister Augusta is too keen on the dancing, as it is all pelvic and suggestive!! But very fun!
Hope you are having a wonderful June and that the peonies are glamorously strutting their stuff in Maine just now.
Love, Emily
The electricity has been down , now back up. But when it is down there is no internet. That explains some of the times that emails are not prompt.
It is a beautiful weekend here...blue skies, good wind, perfect temperatures. Mozambique is fabulous June and July!
I was at the Grand Hotel all day yesterday for a health fair in the grand lobby. This was built by the Portuguese to be the grandest hotel in all of Africa, and it was, briefly. Now 3000 people live in it. There is no water or electricity or garbage collection. There are trees growing out of the roof, and families live in the rooms and hallways and old coolers etc. It is a cement skeleton with everything taken out that could be. You can google it...it is absolutely fascinating. Grand Hotel Beira, Mozambique. The views from the balconies are spectacular!! Check it out. It is one of the most interesting phenomenas I have ever seen in my life.
The fair was nice. Irma Augusta, the ever active nun for Family Health at the med school organized it.
I went with my stethoscope and had about 100 kids listen to their heart and a pep talk about healthy heart practices. They loved using the stethoscope. There was drumming and dancing. I don't think Sister Augusta is too keen on the dancing, as it is all pelvic and suggestive!! But very fun!
Hope you are having a wonderful June and that the peonies are glamorously strutting their stuff in Maine just now.
Love, Emily
From Peter: 2 June 2011
I visited our 4 students who are doing their rural rotation at Buzi today, 160 km from Beira. They were making rounds in the medicine/pediatric ward when I arrived, and I saw the following patients with them. These were the only patients I saw
A 40 year old woman with urinary incontinence caused by terminal cervical cancer
A 3-year old with HIV and miliary TB on CXR
A 5-year old with a hemoglobin of 3.9
A 3 year old with HIV, dyspnea, treated for PCP pneumonia
A 50 year old man with HIV and meningitis, probably cryptococcus
A 15 year old girl with abrupt onset of lower extremity flaccid paralysis
A woman with urinary retention caused by terminal cervical cancer
A woman with HIV and a 10 inch, hard hip mass and inguinal nodes
A 30 year old man with severe ear, sinus, and mouth problems, probably nasopharyngeal carcinoma
A 3 year old with HIV who weighs 5.7 kg and is not gaining weight after 2 weeks in hospital
An 8 year old girl with septic knee arthritis and meningitis, successfully treated by the students with arthrotomy and ceftriaxone, but now deaf
A 4 year old with malaria and severe anemia
A 30 year old man with epilepsy who lives by himself, had a seizure, and fell in the fire.
And this in a hospital where the strongest available analgesic is one tablet of paracetamol/acetaminophen, the only antibiotics are cotrimoxazole, penicillin G, and ceftriaxone, no antifungals, no anticonvulsants, and no antiretrovirals (because they are not allowed to be administered to inpatients in Mozambique).
I felt like I was in the middle of a holocaust.
Peter
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Em Becomes a Tug Assistant
Dear Friends,
Hope this finds you all fine and enjoying June . Here it is cooler and everyone is suffering with the 60 degree temperature. Ski hats, parkas, and scarves are the thing now.
Last week, I had the best day I ever have had in Mozambique ....
It is the law that a Mozambiquan pilot must standby with the Captain on the bridge to bring the ships in and take them out through the channel. I have been trying totally unsuccessfully to wrangle a place on the port tug boat to get out to sea with them. Security, port policies, etc created a dead end for the official tug.
I happened to meet 2 South African guys who are here with a vessel for another project, and are helping the Port temporarily with this job of moving pilots on and off ships. I asked them if I could come along if I made a lunch...and sure enough, I was at sea the next day.
We met the 1st outgoing ship which had a pilot already on it from port . We went along up against the ship’s leeward side going 6.4 knots. They lowered a ladder and the pilot climbed down onto our vessel. Then we went full throttle to the 1st incoming ship and did the same thing...up against the side, ladder lowered, and pilot climbed up to bring that ship in. Then back to the 2nd outgoing ship to get that pilot and put him on the next incoming ship. And so on. The ships are lined up off shore waiting for the pilots.
The ships were from China, Emerites, Holland, South Africa, Monrovia, Nassau, etc. It was one of the most exciting days of my life!! Hope you all are having lots of excitement, too, but not too much!!! Sending many greetings from Mozambique!! Emily
Hope this finds you all fine and enjoying June . Here it is cooler and everyone is suffering with the 60 degree temperature. Ski hats, parkas, and scarves are the thing now.
Last week, I had the best day I ever have had in Mozambique ....
It is the law that a Mozambiquan pilot must standby with the Captain on the bridge to bring the ships in and take them out through the channel. I have been trying totally unsuccessfully to wrangle a place on the port tug boat to get out to sea with them. Security, port policies, etc created a dead end for the official tug.
I happened to meet 2 South African guys who are here with a vessel for another project, and are helping the Port temporarily with this job of moving pilots on and off ships. I asked them if I could come along if I made a lunch...and sure enough, I was at sea the next day.
We met the 1st outgoing ship which had a pilot already on it from port . We went along up against the ship’s leeward side going 6.4 knots. They lowered a ladder and the pilot climbed down onto our vessel. Then we went full throttle to the 1st incoming ship and did the same thing...up against the side, ladder lowered, and pilot climbed up to bring that ship in. Then back to the 2nd outgoing ship to get that pilot and put him on the next incoming ship. And so on. The ships are lined up off shore waiting for the pilots.
The ships were from China, Emerites, Holland, South Africa, Monrovia, Nassau, etc. It was one of the most exciting days of my life!! Hope you all are having lots of excitement, too, but not too much!!! Sending many greetings from Mozambique!! Emily
Monday, April 12, 2010
Teaching English
Here is a beach photo from Gerald, the Austrian colleague. People here are so fit, because of the physical demands of daily life and a whole foods diet. People do all kinds of sports on the beach...soccer, rugby, karate.
I’ve been helping teach English to the Preparatory Year Med students.
As you get warmer, we are finally cooling down a bit. We had a massive storm off the Indian Ocean that has brought fresher weather. It was so hot day after day, I was starting to drink cokes and get really grumpy. We have 12 hours of day and 12 of night.
April 7th was a HUGE holiday...Day of the Mozambiquan Woman. Everything was shut. Women were all dressed up in bright cloths around the waist and matching cloths around the head. (called capulanas). There were parties and parades and great celebration of Women!
Hope this finds everyone doing great and enjoying spring!! Would love to hear from you!! All the best! Emily
Monday, April 5, 2010
Chicken in My Lap
Dear Friends, Greetings!! I finally made it out to Young Africa today and met your 2 Moms! They looked very professional and happy. One is doing very well and one is struggling a bit but will continue and carry on. I think she can’t read and has some coordination issues. I got nice photos which Peter will put on the web at work tomorrow.
They are doing great, the teacher is lovely, and the classroom nice. They are very grateful and send thanks. It is changing their lives. Young Africa has 1000 students now.
After the visit, Sister Augusta wanted to go on down the road to see someone in a village. So we stood by the side of the road, sweating for an hour, finally packed into a bus and reached a small village. After the visit, packed into another bus, chicken in my lap and got back to Beira.
Will get those photos to you ASAP.
Hope you are all fine! Sending many greetings and lots of thanks! Emily
They are doing great, the teacher is lovely, and the classroom nice. They are very grateful and send thanks. It is changing their lives. Young Africa has 1000 students now.
After the visit, Sister Augusta wanted to go on down the road to see someone in a village. So we stood by the side of the road, sweating for an hour, finally packed into a bus and reached a small village. After the visit, packed into another bus, chicken in my lap and got back to Beira.
Will get those photos to you ASAP.
Hope you are all fine! Sending many greetings and lots of thanks! Emily
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Back down the Beira Corridor
Dear Friends,
Hope you are all fine.
I had to go back to Zimbabwe for a Residency Permit...so it was back down the Beira Corridor, over the car eating potholes , through the flooded areas, through green, green fields, and into Zimbabwe! There, the country seems to be recovering from the worst inflation known on earth. The shops are full of goods and full of people shopping. That was wonderful to see.
But there are a lot of extremely serious political and social issues brewing and I pray things remain calm in Zimbabwe. For a dissident view, if you are interested in the country, you can google Zimbabwe Situation. I did have a wonderful morning shopping and chatting with the ever friendly people.
Here in Beira there is a worrisome lack of rain. It’s hot as can be. We are eating avocadoes, mangos, pineapples, guava, and a lot of shrimp and octopus. I visited the house of a local “Traditional Healer/Witch Doctor”. (Many people tend to go to a traditional healer before going to clinic) or hospital). Her brother had been working in Germany , so we could chat in German! There are many Mozambiquans who worked in East Germany before the collapse of the East Block and they all speak German. It’s so much fun to meet them, as my Portuguese is a big struggle and English isn’t an option!
I am reading A Complicated War, the Harrowing of Mozambique, about the horrendous war that took place here in the 80’s and into the 90’s. I really recommend it if you are interested in Mozambique, South Africa and Zimbabwe. It is horrifically spell binding.
Now Mozambique is brimming with exuberance, projects, schools, all trying. Let’s hope for peace and forward progress in southern Africa!
Sending all the Best and take care!!
Emily
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