Day Two Mozambique Operations Update from Andrew Stevens
Our morning began with a tour, led by our host Mr. Simon Mudiwa, of The Mission for Youth Orphanage, a facility called home by over 60 orphans. Simon showed us around the complex, walked us through the children’s dormitories, and introduced the staff. Everyone was extremely gracious for our arrival and made us feel like distant relatives who had finally returned home. During the staff introductions we met Liveson and Evelyn. Liveson was a governmental liaison who would accompany us throughout the entire deployment, aiding us wherever necessary. Evelyn was training to become the orphanage’s nurse and paired up with our volunteers to learn as much as she could throughout the ten days we would be in country.
After touring the orphanage grounds we loaded the team back into Simon’s truck and headed into the town of Gondola. Liveson had arranged a meeting with the Presidente of Gondola, a man of great vision and gravitas. After meeting each member of our team, he gave us his blessing and warmly welcomed us to be a part of his plan for a better life for his people. The other government officials we would soon meet however did not share his eagerness and welcoming nature. Prior to leaving the States, our chief concern was gaining the proper authorization to practice medicine and import pharmaceuticals into Mozambique. While we were able to pass through Customs without any fuss, I soon learned that we still required the approval of the local health official. Leaving the Presidente’s office, we headed across the street to meet with Gondola’s health minister. While Simon and Liveson had been pushing the issue of our approval with the minister for weeks with no avail, he hoped that a face-to-face meeting would resolve any roadblocks in our path. The minister’s office was dark and cramped, and the official himself seemed bothered by our presence. We introduced ourselves and briefed him on our objectives and then sat silently as the minister decided the fate of the mission. He turned to Simon and Liveson, and in Portuguese stated that he would refer our case up to the provincial health department. He called the provincial director and put him on speakerphone, as if to prove that he was actually trying to help. During the phone conversation, it became clear that the provincial office did not want our team to practice medicine in Mozambique and any further efforts to gain clearance would be lost in governmental red tape.
After having already seen the limited care available at the local medical clinic, we began forming contingency plans. We obviously would not be able to run medical clinics in the rural villages like we had originally planned. Word of free medical care would spread like wildfire and eventually make its way back to the district health office. This would not only put the volunteers of Team Rubicon in danger of arrest, but more importantly greatly affect our host. These were operational risks that we were not willing to take. However, we were in Mozambique, and we still had over a week until we departed. The gap in medical care still existed, and we had brought the medical expertise and supplies to help fill it. At this point not doing anything was not an option. Working with Simon, we created a plan to work within the network of orphanages that Simon knew and trusted. We would be able to run our operations within the orphanage compound, therefore limiting our exposure to the village populations. We knew we had at least a couple of days to refine the plan as we treated the population of Simon’s orphanage, which was more than enough time. The veterans of Team Rubicon are trained to respond to emergent global disaster, where the luxury of time is not afforded. For this mission to succeed we would just need a little on the fly creative thinking, Simon’s address book, and possibly a little luck.
Since we had work that could be accomplished at Simon’s orphanage, we headed back and began setting up the team stations. Doc Castaneda paired up with Evelyn, Joe and Dave grabbed a station, Nancy ran the pharmacy, and Dolores took over reception. With military discipline, we lined up the young orphans to be treated one by one. Having received little to no medical care their entire lives, all of the children were plagued with parasites. Many of their bellies were tight to the touch, filled with worms. During any given year, the average child in Mozambique deals with four to five bouts of malaria; we encountered and treated numerous cases of malaria in not only the children but the adult staff as well.
Doctor Castaneda diagnosed a child who previously had been confined to a wheelchair with a disorder treatable through physical therapy. We even worked with the staff to fashion a pair of crouches to aid in this process. For the rest of the day and the entirety of the next, the team saw and treated every child, volunteer, and staff of the orphanage. Through Simon’s personal contact we had made further plans to move onto an orphanage of over 100 children in Maforga, run by missionaries Trish and Roy Perkins.
