Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Rome (Fides Service) - On the occasion of the annual Women’s Day, March 8, the Italian organisation Doctors with Africa CUAMM presents testimonials of some of its 41 women operators, CUAMM doctors, nurses, physiotherapists, logistic experts serving in Angola, Ethiopia, Kenya, Mozambique, Tanzania, Uganda and Rwanda. Professionals who left an ‘easy’ job in Italy to serve the poor in Africa. Young specialists who believe in a better world where healthcare is guaranteed for everyone not only a privileged few.
Paediatrician Dr Maura Lucchini works in Matany, Uganda. “I came with the fears and hopes of a young doctor facing a first experience in Africa and now the joys and difficulties of these people are part of me. I did not come thinking I would change things or save the world, but something has changed, myself. I have changed as only people who have been here can understand. Some people might think my work here is in Africa is extraordinary, I find what Africa is doing for me is extraordinary. Africa asks for a lot, but it gives much more. There is something to learn every day, especially about myself”.
Dr Barbara Secco who serves in Wolisso, Ethiopia, is dismayed by the abyss of injustice between western arrogance which considers every whim a sacred right not to be renounced and the resigned acquiescence with which the people of Ethiopia accept their tragic living conditions. We have to get down from the pedestal on which we have put ourselves to ‘see better’, but at a distance, and we must realise that human persons are all unequivocally equal with the same unequivocal rights.
Dr Donata Galloni working in Beira, Mozambique says the impact with Africa was harsh, not so much because of living conditions or extreme poverty and under-development, but rather to find a meaning for her presence in front of a health situation in which apparently nothing could be done. (AP) (7/3/2006 Agenzia Fides; Righe:33; Parole:413)
