Tears for the Mozambican Women...

Today Mozambique celebrates 38 years of  Independence from Portugal. The country is partying... However Mozambican Women do not have  yet much to celebrate...

It is well known that maternal conditions are the leading causes of death and disability among women. 99% of these deaths occurs in low resource countries especially Sub-Saharan Africa.
Nearly all maternal deaths are preventable through availability of contraception,  timely prenatal and postnatal care, skilled birth attendance and ways to reach  emergency care to deal with complications.  To obtain all these improvements women have to fight poverty and inequality.

 Most of the pictures were not mine but taken from the Internet:

 We must help them have a better future.

 Women in Mozambique  work the land, but tradition strips their rights of ownership and inheritance

 Women have the right to contraception to empower them, to decrease death by septic abortions, maternal hemorrhages.  

Mozambican women must unify and fight for their rights.

According to the International Fact-Finding Mission document Mozambique is a patriarchal society where the men dominates and put women in a position of inferiority.  Domestic violence has a social legitimacy since men is the head of the family and has the "rights" to solve marital conflicts. As per UNICEF statistics: Justification of wife beating reaches the level of 36%.
Rape, sexual violence are common and specially growing is the harassment of girls students by teachers and fellow students.

Most of the population is still in rural areas where polygamy, early forced marriage remain widespread. Early marriages lead to girls be taken out of school by their husbands, increase illiteracy, and causes high number of pregnancies: 24% of women ages 15 to 19 already have 2 children. Remember most of these are unwanted pregnancies because destitute women have no access to contraception.
Believe or not despite the Mozambican Family Code reads that marriage is "monogamous", polygamy is still very prevalent in rural areas.

Rural women for whom land is the source of their live hoods  have no rights to ownership. The houses belongs to the husbands who holds the assets. The husbands can get rid of their women simply throwing them on the streets with no warnings or rights... I know nurses who went through hell because of this tradition but slowly rebuilt their lives. By the way a good nurse from the hospital wants now to find an American husband, she heard they make much better husbands then her ex- Mozambican. If you know of any available American man just let me know...

On top of all the inequalities there are a lot of widows in Mozambique due to the civil war and HIV/AIDS high rates. These are vulnerable women whose traditional customs strip them of their rights specially ownership and inheritance.

The single-parent household led by women have the highest rates of extreme poverty. It's very unheard of single-parent men in this country.

Although Mozambique has ratified the International Women's Right Protection measures violation of these rights is common:  persistence of discriminatory laws, violence against women, limited access to property, education and health care as well obstacle to access to justice " African for Women's Right" March 2010


Here are some statistics from UNICEF 2011 for Mozambique and some from the USA to compare. If you want more information just visit UNICEF website.

• Total population: 23.930. 000
• Life expectancy at birth= 50 years  USA= 79 years
• Total literacy rate= 56%
• Adult literacy rate female as % of males= 61
• Urbanized population= 31%
• Percentage below international poverty line  (US$ 1.25 per day) = 60%
• Maternal mortality ratio lifetime risk= 1/43  (USA= 1/2,400)
• Contraceptive prevalence = 12%  ( USA= 79%)

• Child marriage by age 15 = 21%
• Child marriage by age 18 = 56%

Today I say tears to these women who do work very hard, for whom pregnancy and delivery is still a death sentence.  I wish them a way of becoming stronger and find their freedom status in the society  to give themselves  and their children a stronger and more equitable life....

But there are good news in the horizons:  Mozambique has eliminated maternal e neonatal tetanus from its statistics and I do have large number of female medical students in my classes.

African adventures at Gorongosa National Park

Gorongosa National Park is in the heart of Mozambique. It has over 4,000 square km of valley floor and some surroundings plateaus.  The rivers spread over the area originating at Mont Gorongosa.
Three main vegetation types support the Gorongosa ecosystem's wealthy of wildlife: savanna, woodlands and grasslands.

                      

During the long civil war the number of animals specially mammals was dramatically reduced as Gorongosa was one of the battle fields of the war.
Elephants were slaughtered for their ivory, lions and other carnivores died of starvation when their prey zebra, antelopes, wildebeest, buffalo were eaten as bush meat by hungry people.  Many of the park large herbivore populations were also reduced by the war and poaching. However more than 400 kinds of birds and reptiles survived.

Since 2004 the Carr Foundation's Gorongosa Restoration Project, a U.S. non profit organization is helping the Mozambique Government to protect and restore the ecosystem of the park.  Animals  are being reintroduced to their land.

Bob and Flavia and their friends Eric and Alison, Nick and Annie got into their 4 x 4 wonderful 1998 Toyota  Land Rover Prado Active Vacation and headed over to this beautiful land.   Of course it took us a while to get there (about 5 hours) because neither the potholes  nor the police let you speed in this part of the country.
We had a great time. As money is short now in our lives we opted to camping over staying in one of the fancy and must say beautiful but very expensive roundale guest houses.  The camping facilities were great with a very nice hot shower.

Poor Eric the picture was not good and the cake was not pretty, but was delicious.

It was Eric's birthday.   We had a wonderful barbecue with vegetables
(otherwise Flavia would have gone hungry), t-bone steaks, potatoes and grilled pineapple. The delicious meal culminated with a birthday cake baked by Flavia ( sorry Eric as Flavia is not a good baker, but at end the cake was a success). Our feast ended with smores. Alison was able to find pink marshmallows at the supermarket in Beira. They were pink but according to the human carnivores in our group  tasted really delicious.  The weather was pleasant and even a little hot during the day but chilly and comfy at night by our fire.

Here are some of the pictures of our great adventure. Gorongosa is one of the most beautiful places that we had visited so far in this side of the world.

The entrance and our great car ACTIVE VACATION perfect for the occasion

This was the first wildlife we saw as soon as we entered the park.  After that Flavia's desire for camping went down the drain, but Bob and Flavia managed to sleep inside the car very comfortably. All the sits unfold nicely and we had 2 comfortable beds.

in between....

Dear friends and family,

This will be a different post. It is the one I promised myself I was never going to write.  But life changes and emotions don't follow many rules.  I have decided that my blogs would have lots of pictures and less "talking". Yeah!!! things definitely changed.

This last weekend Bob and I had the great surprise to receive our supplies that we have shipped from the USA in December.  Great, because I had giving up on them coming at all to the way here to Beira. However much to my dismay they came and  and indeed, intact.  We were so anxious waiting and even had forgotten what we had shipped.
Much to my surprise some of the stuff were well needed here but most was just a waist of money.  We do not need all the clothes we sent down. It was nice to see also the small gadgets we got that we cannot even use here because the electricity is 220 Volts and it costs a lot of money to buy devices to change from 110 to 220V. At least it is nice to know that our 13 year old alarm clock made safely......

What I was not prepared was for all the emotions that came together with the boxes.  The items that came felt my heart with nostalgia and a strong desire to be back with family and friends in Texas.  Bob and I had a bless reading the farewell books and picture card we got from you all. Thanks so much Pat, Yvonne, Patty Young and all the Women's Clinic friends for this wonderful "recuerdo".  It means a lot to us.
We closed our eyes and made believe that we still lived in the States ant that we were going out to eat at our friends Pat  and Yvonne' house as we did many times. That the next day I was going to work back to the Women's Clinic and visit and see all my patients, friends and co-workers . You cannot even imagine how much we miss all of you.

 Then I remember why we came here. Not to have fun, not to make money but just to follow our dream to help the poorest of the poor. I remember some of the patients that have died on their postpartum period and left behind a family with no mother, no guidance and no love. I remember Lydia Esmeralda a HIV patient, sweat as could be, trying very hard to take her medication to keep herself alive to take care of her daughters. However after a bad infection following a cesarean section she died in one week at the hospital. I still cry when I think about all the mothers in this country that put their lives in danger every time they get pregnant. The odds that they will die from their pregnancy is so much higher than our women in the USA.  I told myself that we are very blessed to have such wonderful friends and family that support us in our dreams.  In my mind that moment I could see all the students that are learning from me and I had the hopes that I can pass to them the love for my profession and the love I have for my patients.  I want to pass to them the importance of caring, the knowledge that a patient is not a bed number but a human being with feelings and a life outside the hospital grounds.  If I can succeed at least 50% of the time I will be happy and will never feel that Bob and I are here for nothing.  But I need all of your help there from home to give us the strength, the love and the moral support to keep going.  Later I will also need some material stuff to help here. You cannot even imagine the lack of supplies.  It is hard to believe that one can even practice medicine without all the lab work and studies and medication  we have available in the USA.  It has been a great challenge but I have faith that we will get there one way or another. I miss all of you but I am happy with myself for the decision Bob and I made to be here and help empower destitute women.

Love and miss all of you a lot

Thanks for always been there for Bob and me.

Your forever friend
FH

When it rains it pours

Some pictures for you to have an idea about the rainy season in Beira...

 After living in Texas for so long we were not used to see that much rain

....We though that this was very unusual but with time we discover that when it rains in Beira it pours...

Even though is very hot you better wear boots otherwise you may get stuck in the mud. This is part of my way from my apartment to the Medical School. 

If the inside was just like the outside.....

The reality of life in Mozambique is very different. Here you do what you are able to do  pending on the donations you get.  If the donation is to fix the outside you better do it otherwise you will loose the money. The Hospital Central da Beira faces multiple challenges and it is hard to see the outside improve so much when the inside suffers a lot with lack of equipment, medication, personnel and million more...

 This is the hospital entrance by January in the rainy season when I first got here

You had to be pretty good to not get wet or fall in the puddle

Now the entrance has pavement, but the hospital has no Pitocin in L&D...

You can even park your car closer to the main entrance if you are a physician otherwise why bother  to have parking slots if most of the people do not have cars any way

We live in a palace!

Compare to people that live in the country.....

 We took these pictures during our trip from Maputo to Beira.

This is the architecture style that predominates in the country!

Luck guys here! Their " machanba" is in front of their house. Some of the Mozambicans have to walk kilometers to reach their cultivated plot of land. Subsistence farming is the most common in the country.

.... BOB AND I LIVE IN A PALACE!!!

 The veranda of your palace. We live in an apartment on the second floor to the left. There are 4 apartments per building.

 The guest room decorated in Guatemalan style is just waiting for visitors. It has  air conditioning and mosquito net. First class in Beira. You would probably paid some couple of hundred dollars a day for a place like this in a hotel.

A view of the dinning room and part of the living room. Pay attention to the beautiful wooden floors.

We do not have a washing machine or a dryer and much less a dishwasher. However, we do have Fatima the best maid ever. She keeps this place spotless despite all the dust and humidity around here.

I found a perfect place to have my plants in the entrance hall. I must be careful to not overfill the vases because I do not want mosquitos around. Malaria is a very common malady here and kills more children than anything else.

Mozambique our new home!

 We are finally here! Beira is the second largest city in the country. Please read our page "Why Mozambique?"located on a side column for you to understand a little bit about our African adventure. For our Portuguese speaking friends - para amigos e familiares que falam so Portugues por favor usem  the google translation menu acima. 

 Fish is found everywhere in Beira. This is a sample picture taken from one of the local fishing villages.

 I am so glad I hadn't  given up on Bob's cooking. He now bakes the best pizza in Beira!  Peter taught him just before he left!

Ocean view from Roberta's first apartment. Beautiful view, but you can't swim in that water!

 Maputo is the capital of the country. This is a view from our daughter's  old apartment. She now lives in another one as rents are going up like crazy.

 A market along  the road. We have the most delicious mangoes here in Mozambique,  as well as papayas, avocados, pineapples.  I had to give up  on loosing weight here!

 We stopped in Vilankulos on our way to Beira from Maputo for R&R. Nobody can drive 18 hours straight on the roads here. This was a great stop! The islands of Bazaruto are just fantastic!

 People walk everywhere here. I could not believe how many people I saw walking on the roads. Car accidents are another important killer in this country.

 Just a quick peek at the pot holes we had to deal with on our way from Maputo to Beira. We have a great car, a four wheel drive Toyota Prado 1997 that Roberta and Morten found for us!  It was imported directly from Japan to ride the special roads of Mozambique!

 This baobab tree was along the road from Maputo to Beira.

Universidade Catolica de Mozambique- Flavia's new employer!