News from the Doctors for Mozambique Foundation

Number 27 extra edition

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Newsletter number 27 is the fourth extra edition, published following the devastation caused by Cyclone Idai in Mozambique.

 

CYCLONE IDAI’S IMPACT – AN UPDATE FROM MOZAMBIQUE

Since Cyclone Idai tore through Mozambique, we have published a number of extra newsletters updating you on how our students in Beira are doing. Many of you have responded and your generous donations have made it possible for us to help our students get back on their feet. Gitta and Harrie have now arrived in Mozambique to help hands-on with making the houses habitable again. They are also making sure the students get good meals. This will help to prevent the students’ health from deteriorating even further.

This week, Gitta sent us an email to let us know about the situation she and Harrie find themselves in there. We thought you would appreciate reading her email too, so here it is:

Dear All,

 

Attached are a couple of photos of the food aid our students are getting. It is proving a huge success. Today they all came to our house for a meal. Our house maid had asked three friends to cook for 41 students. We plan to repeat the exercise twice a week for as long as we are here, each Wednesday and Saturday. It’s quite an undertaking, but the students really appreciate it – not only the food but also the chance to be together.

They have lost some weight in the last few months and our aim is to help them regain those kilos. The nutrition supplements provided by New Care Supplement have also been distributed. Idai has had a huge impact on all the students. They are clearly very glad that we have come and that we are helping them, but we can see the strain on their faces. The situation has been so tough for so long!

We were aware that Cyclone Idai had hit the city very severely, but when we arrived we were still shocked by the extent of the impact. Every house has been damaged in some way. Roofs are missing, walls have collapsed, and some houses have disappeared altogether. Trees have snapped like matchsticks. Electricity wires are hanging from the poles – if the poles are still standing. We feel quite overwhelmed. Our own home suffered relatively little damage, but still, the roof is leaking so we have had to push the furniture to one side to stop it getting damaged, and the ceiling tiles have mould on them. Inconvenient, but peanuts compared to what other people have experienced. We have worked extremely hard this week. We’ve already had two meetings with all the students and they have each drawn up a list of a maximum of three urgent problems we hope to help them with. As well as keeping the lessons going, we are doing our best to help in whatever way we can.  

 

Gitta