What I learned in Mozambique!

Another chapter ending in our lives and another will start soon in January 2014.  Not in Africa but still in a country with very high perinatal and  maternal mortality, where women have no voice.... Here we go again and this time Dili, in East Timor will be our land. I will be working with the Royal Australasian College of Surgeon (RACS)  in their project in East Timor teaching ObGYn.  I enjoy teaching very much, but I love my profession and this time I will have the opportunity to do both....

Back to Mozambique in  Africa... Wow! This was quite an experience and I am very grateful to have had the opportunity to be here thanks to the American Government as a Fulbright Scholar teaching Obstetrics and Gynecology for medical students at the Universidade Catolica de Mozambique.

I learned that I am so privileged in life to have so many wonderful friends and family members always so present in our lives despite the physical distance. People who always gives with their words of encouragement and their faith,  the strength to keep us going when I many times had doubts in my own capacity.  Thank you so much because I could not have done without you.  Thanks for all my patients, who always post their lives and pictures of their kids on Facebook.  You can't imagine how wonderful it is to let me witness the growth and development of your children, whom you had the confidence to let me help bring into this world. Thanks for all of you who post on Facebook not only pictures but words of encouragement and wisdom. You cannot even imagine how many people can benefit from your posts.

I learned that there are tremendous social injustices in this world which I do struggle to accept.   I wish I could have the faith most of you have to help me cope with these inequalities of life.  However, I learned that it is very important for me to be in peace with myself in order to help.  When I first arrived here  I felt apart.  It was very hard to see mothers dying from ailments so preventable in our country, to  witness the struggle of survival of people who live with less than a dollar a day, to cope with trash, poverty, diseases everywhere.  The hospital where I taught the students is the worst I ever seen in my life... Hard to believe this hospital is a tertiary referral center.   I am glad I never went to a hospital in the middle of nowhere...

I found very good people in this hospital who do their job well done despite the limited resources they have to deal with. I felt well received by the ObGyn Department and I will miss a lot of the people from here.  Bob had a great time at Rotary. Well, I bet people who knows Bob are not surprised at all. He always has great time  wherever he is.  Life is always a big adventure when one tags along with him....My life has being one adventure  after the other for almost 36 years.

My husband, friends and family members, yoga and meditation, and exercise,  were my strength to keep going. Now at the end of this year I can see that I was able to help, not as much I would have liked.  But I learned that the students and some doctors recognized my passion for my profession and my love for the patients. And this is so important in a country where respect and love for patients is unheard.  This fact per si is as important  as  the students learn how to take care of  hemorrhages in pregnancy, the number one killer of women in low resource settings. If you care and if you love your patients you will do the best that can be done despite the circumstances.

Today Bob and I went for our usual 3 hour Sunday walk along the beach.  Beira behave the best for our goodbye.  The ocean was beautiful and not muddy at all, the sun was shinning on the waves and the nice breeze was blowing so nicely that it all made me feel like we were in Paradise.   I learned that gratitude is the best action we can take daily in our lives.  I was very grateful today for Life.  But I am ready to go home for at least 3 weeks and enjoy the warmth of family ties and friendships.  Not much the warmth of the weather!

Then the question: where is home?  Definitions are plenty once you search the web, however for me home is where my heart is.   I am a Brazilian since I was born in Brazil,  I am an American by choice and I am a Texan because Texas is where my heart is....    

Merry Christmas and Have a Wonderful Year.

Hope you can continue to follow our adventures, not in Africa but in all places where maternal mortality is high, respect for women  is low because there is the place where Bob and I will be working to help make this world a better place to to be and always with the support of wonderful family and friends.

Love you all
Bob and Flavia