November 19, 2004
Aid to Africa: Reflections on Mozambique


Some faces of Mozambique

Over the past few weeks, Doctors for Life continued to hold the clinic at Zavora , Mozambique . This was part of the groundwork in starting a permanent structures clinic at this site (see building plans). The word is now out in the surrounding areas that a clinic is there that has medicine available. Some people are walking as far as 20 miles to get there! There are still large numbers of people coming (about 70 a day) that we are not able to see everyone that comes that day. The need for the clinic in this area is definitely great. There are several ways to look at the time that I was there at the clinic, I’ll look at it from three different perspectives.

As a medical professional:

Mark Kaiser, medical volunteer from the USA

There are many obstacles to overcome in helping the people in Mozambique with their medical needs. Language of course being high on the list, but there are many underlining health problems such as poor nutrition, access to medical care, availability of medicines, health education, etc. Much of the time was with patient education explaining different healthcare topics. I can’t recall the number of times I had to instruct a mother to remove the wool hat from a child having a high fever. Some infections were obvious to diagnose (such as most ear infections would have pus draining from a ruptured eardrum or the pot bellies of children that have parasites). Some conditions needed more tests or studies that were just not available there. It can be difficult since most people just don’t know about their bodies. They had no idea what they were treated for from prior visits to the doctor.

Mark, Mariam (the translator) and Tineke

Aches and pains were still the number one complaint of the patients there. Everyone has to work in the fields if they want something to have to eat. With the change in weather, many people had colds and viral infections too. This time we had brought a scale to get a better idea of the children’s weight since most were underweight for their ages. I tested a few people for HIV, but did not find any positives. I had treated a few patients there for STD’s including a man who didn’t want to tell me if he was sexually active since his wife was sitting right outside the door (he was).


A group of people close to the clinic

The clinic is beneficial to many of the people there by saving them trips to the hospital (as with those who had pneumonia or a kidney infection). I’m still not sure what the mothers do for the children that have fevers of more than 103F. It was good to have the medicine needed to treat the patients seen. I had the opportunity to see some of the same patients that I had seen during the last visit. They were doing well (including the girl with the leg burn that had almost completely healed). Altogether there were 660 patient visits over 14 days.

As a visitor:

The lake between the DFL clinic and the beach

Mozambique is a country of great contrasts. There is the natural beauty of the land and beaches. It is easy to see how this was once a popular resort area for people to go to. The beach that is close by is beautiful with a coral reef right there too. Sometimes in the afternoons we would go there to swim and to see the local fishermen coming back with their catch of the day. One day we saw a man walking down the road carrying a swordfish over his shoulder that was the same size as he was.

In contrast with the beauty of Mozambique is the poverty that is there. Twenty years of civil war had caused much damage, many buildings still remain abandoned 12 years after the war. The clothes that people wear are so worn that they are torn and only hanging on by a few threads. But the people of Mozambique are quite amazing and what make the country so beautiful. They will wave to you as you drive down the road, always ready with a smile (some with few teeth to show). People waited patiently to be seen, pointing out others that were more ill than they were. Even though they have so very little, they do what they can to share and help others.


Running behind the vehicle as the team leaves the village

We really had no access to the news to see what was happening in the world. What we had was our own form of bush TV which was two spiders in a glass jar along with a few bugs (one spider ate the other).

The real need...


Mark shares some thoughts with the waiting patients during a morning devotion

The extent of the need of the people there was shown in the last patient of the clinic, a 28 year-old woman. She came late and would not have been able to been seen, but people had said she had crawled all the way to get to the clinic. I didn’t believe this until I had seen the marks in the sand when I had drove her back home (over 3 miles). She had ulcers on her legs that were treated by the local witch doctor for over a year. I had asked why she had never gone to the hospital for this and she said she didn’t have the money. But she did wind up paying money to the witch doctor of the equivalent of a month’s salary plus a goat. The witch doctor had applied some sawdust material on her legs which only attracted the flies and ants. One of her legs was in such bad shape that there was nothing to do other than to amputate it before her health deteriorated more (she weighed about 60 pounds). I could only pray for her that she had an understanding of what she needed to do. The local church there will follow up with visits to her and her family.


The foot of the lady who was treated by a witch doctor. The result is clear...

It is a comfort to know that I do not go alone on a trip like this. I know that Jesus is there with us and the prayers of many are with us as well.

The beautiful coast of Inhambane

Maputo, capital of Mozambique, at sunset

The clinic had to move a few times due to the hot tropical weather on the coast line. Shade is vital