African Insights - August 2002 African Insights - Newsletter:
Miracle – Life Saving Medicine – Water and Soap:
The child in the arms of her father was skin and bones. Her face was hollowed out, her skin shrunken, in a state of dehydration, whimpering in pain and agony. He asked for help, his daughter had been ill with stomach problem, diarrhea for days, she has had this before, but this was the worst it had ever been.
I was in this little clinic by the invitation of a woman bye the name of Anne. She ran this small Kenyan non-governmental agency
along with a school, a training center for women to prevent HIV infection and
orphanage. It was the only clinic around in this god-forsaken place.
This was not an emergency room as in a modern western Hospital; this was simply
a mud hut where desperate people came who had no money, no hope.
Quietly and
caringly Anne went to work, breathing a prayer ever so often, shaking her head
in disbelief, sighing, hoping that she could perform
another miracle. The girl’s
name was Elizabeth and she was five years old. Her parents lived in the slum of Kibera that houses nearly a million desperate people existing on next to
nothing, lacking the very basics of life such as water, food and proper shelter,
but this slum was home for Elizabeth and others like her. She was moaning in
pain and the Anne tried to do all she could with her limited equipment and
supplies, with her training as a nurse in England, but it was not enough, it was
too late, another child became a statistic for the World Health Organization and
UNICEF.
Each year over 800,000 children like Elizabeth die needlessly in Africa, they die before their time, die of something preventable - that could and can be prevented with a simple antidote such as soap and water, the miracle is not some modern medicine, but the washing of hands, sadly, too late for Elizabeth whose lifeless body laid upon the roughhewn table. Her father cried, Anne had tears in her eyes and I felt a deep sense of sadness for the child, for the father, mother, and at the same time an anger at the demon of poverty that kept people such as Elizabeth from the very basic things of life, clean water, food, a bed, schooling and all the other things we take
for granted.
It is estimated that children in this part of the world have at least five bouts of diarrhea per year most often accompanied by under-nutrition and childhood diseases like measles. It is the leading cause of death in children in Africa and all is needed is water and soap a few times a day before eating. 25% of Africa’s children die before the age of six from diarrhea, dehydration, malaria, measles, pneumonia, etc, things that in the west would be a simple thing to deal with and in most cases it is with over the counter drugs and a healing environment of nurture and care where water, food, running water are freely available to prevent a death such as Elizabeth’s.
Some time ago I read about a computer conference where the executive of Cisco Systems spoke of the Third World’s need to be wired for computers, to have access to the Internet. Bill Gates, Microsoft’s co-founder, who besides being rich has some basic sense, said in reply “they first have to have electricity and their other basic needs met.” (Bill and Melody Gates Foundation does more for Sub-Sahara Africa than the US Government) How right he was; we can come up with another this or that scheme and spend billions on financial aid to Africa that most often never reaches the ones who need it the most, but simply supports a decadent life-style of leaders that fleece their people of the very things they need and deserve.
In a place like Kibera water is a precious commodity, the faucets are a distance from the homes and in many cases they have to buy it for a few shillings. ON
their way there they would pass by
the streams of open sewer that became like rivers during the
rainy season. Even Anne’s clinic and school had no running water and it had to
be fetched from a distance. Yet the local Western’s Women’s Club had donated a
small electric refrigerator for which there was no power and all it was being
used to store various things…What if those ladies had actually visited the slum and seen that there
was no electricity and that there was no running water and the need was for
water and not for a refrigerator that would be used as a storage cabinet…hmmm.
As I walked out of the clinic, which was located at the edge of the slum, I noticed a golf course with an immaculate green lawn, a sprinkler lazily spreading precious water all around. A six or eight foot fence kept the well-dressed golfers safe from the slum dwellers as the caddies pulled the gulf bags around the well watered course. Some wide-eyed children were at the fence looking through to see the rich play this game they did not understand… So near and yet so far…I felt like screaming…jon
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How Can I Help? What Can I do to help a Child in Africa? Since the early nineties I have been involved with caring for children. Last year we formed Ambassadors of Hope International, a registered non-profit organization in the USA .dedicated to working with the children of Uganda and East Africa, children who are born into slums and have little to hope for unless someone cares and makes a difference in their lives by coming and giving their time, by someone sponsoring a child so that they can get an ongoing education. Many people give a donation that pooled with others translates into help for a child, a hope filled future. If you are interested in helping in any way, please contact me by email at jonblanc@kabiza.com or you can send a donation by check to:
You will receive a tax receipt if you are in the USA and a detailed account of what will happen with your donation. Less than 10% if any, will be used to handle your gift. In the USA everyone is a volunteer and there are no employees. The money is sent to Alpha and Omega Ministries where it is administered by qualified staff-members, some of whom have worked with Ugandan children for over 20 years.
If you desire to We do have a special gift for you for any donation over 25 dollars, or the sponsorship of a child. We have various beautiful 20" by 30" hand made in Uganda Batiks that we will send to you with the receipt for your donation. You can pick out your batik today and email me your choice along with your planned donation, name and address. |
Ambassadors
of Hope International - PO Box 2974, Blaine WA 98231
sponsor a child with a monthly donation, it is $25 per month or $300
per year in one donation
See more of African Children in Pictures on pages 1,2, 3, 4,5,6.
Page1 Page 2 Page3 Page4 Page5 Page6
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Last updated: 22 August 2008
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