NEVES UPDATE

I met Neves at his home tonight.  He is now 8 years old according to his mother.  He is very thin and his skin was very dry and rough.  His scalp was covered with thick dried crusts from his scalp weeping and oozing.  Flies continued to bother him in the scalp due to the odor.  I was dissappointed at his appearance as it was worse than my visit 2 years ago.  On the positive side he was still much better than the first time I saw him.  I reviewed treatment and the importance that this is a chronic life long problem and treatment needs to be continued.  I left some medication and will leave instructions to pick up further medication for infection and inflammation reduction with Care for Life who will visit him again in a week or 2 to deliver the rest of his treatment.   

Neves and his parents .  Neve means snow in Portugueese with Neves being plural or a lot of snow.  I am not sure if Neves is his Surname or first name but his father does call him Neves.  Tomorrow will by my last training session in the morning and I will be off to catch a flight back to the US.  I will miss my friends in Mozambique.

Beautiful Mozambique

Today at around noon we decided to go to the beach.  One of our favorite places is Rio Savane.  A peninsula jutting into the Indian Ocean with the Savane River on the south and the Ocean on the north.  It didnt take much convincing for Joao to take us.  He loves the beach!  When we arrived the tide was out.  The normal transport accross the river was stuck on the other side where the deep river channel lies.  We had to walk accross the river bottom to meet the boat that would carry us the last 100 yards. It was muddy to the ankles so walking barefoot turned out to be easiset.

We met people crossing the river in the other direction taking their products into town.  (a twenty plus mile hike)

The Indian Ocean was beautiful.  There was a small fishing village to the north and villagers walking down to the river crossing point.  We decided to walk up to the village.  There were quite a few boats out on the water fishing.  The boats were dug out canoes with sails.

While walking to the village, we were having a meal prepared at a resturaunt located on the peninsula.  The meal was wonderful.  We spoke with the proprietor and owner of Rio Savane.  The property has been in his family for 3 generations.  The large trees we enjoyed today were planted in 1951 including groves of coconut trees.  We then walked back to the beach and headed south. To the mouth of the river.  We had to hurry back to the boat so we would not miss the last run to the car at 5 pm. 

It was amazing to see the river now the tide had come in.  The river we almost could walk accross was full. It was going to be another beautiful Africa sunset.


With afternoons like today it makes it hard to leave Africa.  When we crossed the river by dugout and arrived at the car I was brought back to reality.  I hate mosquitos!

Mud Pies

I am going to miss my friend Philipe.  While waiting for villagers to arrive for a training session I played  a little soccer with him.  His ball made out of tattered shopping bags held up relatively well.  I felt bad when his father sternly scolded him for not attending school that day.  Evidently  our game became so intense he forgot to go to school.  His father told him if he wasnt able to go to school he would not be able to play and made him come sit on the porch of the family home.

The act of mimicking the preparation of food appears to be universal.  This young girl was busy making the best mud pies in Nhamatanda.  Her mother was busy frying some type of dough balls that looked like hush puppies so she could sell them. Mozambique is making progress.  Individuals are starting small businesses from making and selling food, selling fruits and vegetables, making consumer items like furniture, bricks, sifters and many other items.

These are the items that the mother of the girl making mudpies was frying.

This man has taken bamboo and cut it into thin pieces and will weave it into the bowl held below.  This instrument is used to separate the chaff from rice and corn.  The finished product will sell for just over $1.00 in US funds.

The above 2 pictures are of a brick making process.  This entrepenuer has hired a few boys to apply the outside mud coating before firing the bricks.  The bricks were made on site from the clay soil.  Wood is placed beneath the bricks and will "fire" the bricks. They are stacked in such a way for the heat to move through collumns in the stack.  There are 12,000 bricks which will sell for 1 metical each.  This is approximately 11 cents per brick.  When these are all sold it will give the owner enough money to buy a motorcycle which will be a huge sign of success in the community.  It is going to be hard to leave Africa. Our training is over.  I will train the staff one more time Monday morning before my flight leaves for home.  I do miss my family and look forward to returning to Arizona.  There is still much work to be done and we will be doing another revision to the Health Booklet.  We learned so much by teaching the people.  I learned more than I taught.  I also gained a greater love for these wonderful people in Mozambique.  If you have any desire to help dont hesitate to contact Care for Life on their website careforlife.org

Asubida

We went to 2 more villages today.  We went to a village near Dondo.  We taught the health promoters in the community.  They were very young, but bright and attentive and had a great knowledge of the things we were teaching and reinforcing. We taught in the village of Asubida in the afternoon.  Over 30 people from the community attended the training in addition to the health promoters.  They continue to amaze me with their willingness to learn and their enthusiasm for the things care for life is teaching them.  Almost all are usisng latrines, drinking purified water and using mosquito nets.  I am very impressed with they way they entertain thruough song and dance.  As soon as they begin to sing it almost seems to put them in a trance and take them to a happy place.  Their smiles and enthusiasm are contageous.  We walked down to an area below the village. Miles of endless rice fieldsl could be viewed and its beauty was enhanced by the setting sun.  I thought Arizona had beautiful sunsets, and they do, but the sunsets in Mozambique are indescribable.

Chiverano

On Wednesday June 1, we went to Chiverano in the morning and Nhamainga in the afternoon.  We had a pretty good rain storm in the morning and it was good to be teaching in the machessa.  The roof is made of plastic sheeting and it is covered with palm leaves.  There were plenty of holes but by positioning benches in an abstract way we were all able to sit in dry spots and had a good time teaching the topics of Malaria, Nutrition, Immunizations, Cholera/diarrhea and the treatment of dehydration.  In the afternoon we went to Nhamainga and the people in this village are a hoot.  They love to sing and dance.  For our stretch break Suzanne led us in the "Hokey Pokey" and they absolutely loved it.  Many people besides the 8 medical promotors stayed.  Over 20 leaders in the community.  The people are eager to learn.  Teaching them what a protein and carbohydrate at times was frustrating.  It is very common for people to eat the same thing every day.  They may have rice and beans with little variation.  There is malnutrition in a land of plenty. One leader shared with us that he ate chicken and rice every day and thought that he was eating healthy.  Chicken is not affordable to the poor.  He said he was not feeling well and went to the clinic.  He said he was surprised when the medical provider told him he was not eating correctly.  We teach them to eat cereal and grains, fruits and vegetables, protein, and a little bit of good fats or oils every day.  They are understanding and many will go home and make an effort to vary their diets and eat a variety of foods daily.  They usually sell any excess food for money. Today was Childrens day.  A big holiday in Mozambique.  All the children were dressed up with new clothes and the girls all had colorful beads in their hair.  They all walked around with little colorful baskets given by their families with treats in  them.  It looked like Easter Sunday.  I will try to post a photograph later.  Large celebrations were occuring at the schools.