The Hunger season
A time of despair
Paeds Ward Child with COMFORT DOLL
This is the beginning of "the hunger season" in this part of Malawi - a well recognized season of despair.
It is also the beginning of rainy season, and malaria season.It is viewed by health professionals in Namitete, as a period of time when hospitalizations increase due to opportunistic infections in HIV positive people, cases of cerebral malaria skyrocket, and cases of malnutrition, pneumonia, anaemia, and bacterial meningitis are common reasons for admission to hospital.
Children have the highest morbidity/mortality rate.
This is the time when maize supplies begin to run out for many peasant farmers. Crops, which are planted in December, are ready for harvest in June. The hospital chaplain tells me that some farmers are now harvesting in April with lower yields. That is due to the threat of theft from others, who have had a poor harvest. The government does provide subsidies for fertilizer which means that farmers receive coupons to ensure their plantings do well.
However, some sell their coupons to others.
Why sell the coupons? In this country with increasingly high costs of petrol, fuel for cooking and other necessities, people need extra money to survive, and will put short term needs ahead of long term security. Abject poverty, coupled with periods of ill health and inability to farm, means that maize stores become depleted and families go hungry.
In the Anti-retroviral Therapy Clinic, we registered a woman who had lost 10 pounds in the last month. When the co-ordinator Grace asked about her food supply, she replied that there was not enough for herself and 5 children. And, food had to be shared with extended family in the village.
St. Gabriel's Hospital knows that during the 3 month "Hunger season", admissions to the hospital and especially the paediatrics ward will double. The NRU (Nutritional Replenishment Unit) will be filled to capacity. The paeds ward has 120 beds. Imagine another 120 children occupying small mattresses on the floor!!
It is so heart breaking to be here and witness the children, felled by communicable disease. They will receive the best medical care St. Gabriel's can offer, but for many from the villages, their arrival here is too late.
Every day, after my day on a medical ward is finished, I visit the Tuberculosis room in the paeds ward where 6 lovely children are staying for 2 months due to recurring tb. Several of the children are HIV positive - Stage 4. It is a time I cherish. The children are survivors of the worst situation imaginable for a westerner from a developed country. I shudder to think of those children who do not have access to a Tier 1 hospital in Malawi. There is so much that needs to change.
Malawians I have spoken to express anger at their government and their president for their increasingly difficult challenges to survive. They are not at all reticent about speaking out. They are angry that their president has alienated countries who have assisted with aid and stability. They are frightened by the killing of 20 protestors in Lilongwe last summer. They work long hours and work hard. They are also, however, resigned to the fact that the next election is in 2014 and while
impatient, state they have no choice but to wait and hope. And I wonder, will this peace loving country with no history of major conflict rebel?
The black market is everywhere in evidence, not just selling currency, but gasoline and any other commodity that people can get their hands on. Travelling back from Lilongwe last weekend, our driver pulled off the road and came back with a large jerry can of gasoline. His trunk was already loaded with gasoline and I hoped that no-one would light a match in our vicinity.
Everyone says that these are bad times.
And now, this is the season when resources are stretched to the limit. I ask Father Willem, R.C. priest, hospital chaplain and social justice leader in the community how he deals with all the presenting challenges. He tells me that he encourages the villagers to continue to work hard, share, care about others and pray for a better government and future. It's about had work, encouragement and faith. Life does go on.....
It is also the beginning of rainy season, and malaria season.It is viewed by health professionals in Namitete, as a period of time when hospitalizations increase due to opportunistic infections in HIV positive people, cases of cerebral malaria skyrocket, and cases of malnutrition, pneumonia, anaemia, and bacterial meningitis are common reasons for admission to hospital.
Children have the highest morbidity/mortality rate.
This is the time when maize supplies begin to run out for many peasant farmers. Crops, which are planted in December, are ready for harvest in June. The hospital chaplain tells me that some farmers are now harvesting in April with lower yields. That is due to the threat of theft from others, who have had a poor harvest. The government does provide subsidies for fertilizer which means that farmers receive coupons to ensure their plantings do well.
However, some sell their coupons to others.
Why sell the coupons? In this country with increasingly high costs of petrol, fuel for cooking and other necessities, people need extra money to survive, and will put short term needs ahead of long term security. Abject poverty, coupled with periods of ill health and inability to farm, means that maize stores become depleted and families go hungry.
In the Anti-retroviral Therapy Clinic, we registered a woman who had lost 10 pounds in the last month. When the co-ordinator Grace asked about her food supply, she replied that there was not enough for herself and 5 children. And, food had to be shared with extended family in the village.
St. Gabriel's Hospital knows that during the 3 month "Hunger season", admissions to the hospital and especially the paediatrics ward will double. The NRU (Nutritional Replenishment Unit) will be filled to capacity. The paeds ward has 120 beds. Imagine another 120 children occupying small mattresses on the floor!!
It is so heart breaking to be here and witness the children, felled by communicable disease. They will receive the best medical care St. Gabriel's can offer, but for many from the villages, their arrival here is too late.
Every day, after my day on a medical ward is finished, I visit the Tuberculosis room in the paeds ward where 6 lovely children are staying for 2 months due to recurring tb. Several of the children are HIV positive - Stage 4. It is a time I cherish. The children are survivors of the worst situation imaginable for a westerner from a developed country. I shudder to think of those children who do not have access to a Tier 1 hospital in Malawi. There is so much that needs to change.
Malawians I have spoken to express anger at their government and their president for their increasingly difficult challenges to survive. They are not at all reticent about speaking out. They are angry that their president has alienated countries who have assisted with aid and stability. They are frightened by the killing of 20 protestors in Lilongwe last summer. They work long hours and work hard. They are also, however, resigned to the fact that the next election is in 2014 and while
impatient, state they have no choice but to wait and hope. And I wonder, will this peace loving country with no history of major conflict rebel?
The black market is everywhere in evidence, not just selling currency, but gasoline and any other commodity that people can get their hands on. Travelling back from Lilongwe last weekend, our driver pulled off the road and came back with a large jerry can of gasoline. His trunk was already loaded with gasoline and I hoped that no-one would light a match in our vicinity.
Everyone says that these are bad times.
And now, this is the season when resources are stretched to the limit. I ask Father Willem, R.C. priest, hospital chaplain and social justice leader in the community how he deals with all the presenting challenges. He tells me that he encourages the villagers to continue to work hard, share, care about others and pray for a better government and future. It's about had work, encouragement and faith. Life does go on.....