Small, Small, Catch Monkey

This is the second guest post installment from AfricanKelli. Check her blog for more photos and a detailed account of her work in Moz.

Photo by AfricanKelli

I’ve just returned from two weeks in Beira, Mozambique. I work for an American NGO that has a public health project in eight outlying villages of Beira.

This city was once the major port for Southern Africa. The former Portuguese colony has suffered greatly since their independence; civil war, Cold War, communism, the arrival of HIV and a essentially non-existent educational system have left the people fighting to survive. The average life span in Mozambique today is just 37.

I’m not exaggerating when I say there are entire generations of people simply missing. You don’t find folk in the villages age 40-60. There are some older than 60 who managed to avoid the AIDS epidemic and there are entire orphanages full of children who haven’t. There is no end in sight to this disease’s wrath even though testing and treatment are free. And some 26% of the population in Beira is HIV-positive.

Photo by AfricanKelli

Our health project focuses on HIV testing and treatment, and malaria and cholera prevention. We have 11,000 people currently participating in the project, along with our partnering agency — Care for Life. While it is easy to see the death and despair in these numbers, I’m hopeful too. Our mosquito nets are preventing malaria every day. Our water treatment project is restoring health and keeping children from dying of dehydration every day. Each day a child is born healthy in Mozambique because the HIV prevention message was successful. I have to cling to these positives to get through our work. Otherwise it would be too easy to give up.

Photo by AfricanKelli

They have a saying in Cameroon — “Small, small, catch monkey.” Little by little, we are tackling disease and poverty in Mozambique. I know this beautiful country will once again thrive with prosperity. I hope to be there to see its great return.
 

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Posted: July 18th, 2008

Categories: Politics & society, Body, mind & spirit, From around the world, Travel & leisure


One Response to “Small, Small, Catch Monkey”

  1. SunnyInspiration says:
    July 21st, 2008 at 6:15 pm

    I really enjoyed these guest posts by Ms. AfricanKelli. Thanks. ~D

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