Zambia (MNN) — Zambia's unemployment rate is near 50%, and 86% of the
population lives below the poverty line, according to U.S. government figures.
Day-to-day existence is the struggle for food and water, let alone
addressing medical needs like hydrocephalus, cleft lip and palate, spine deformities,
clubfoot, and other crippling orthopedic conditions that require highly
specialized attention.
These conditions are treatable, but without CURE International, they have
nowhere to turn for proper care. Even
with CURE's presence, sometimes a hospital is too far for a family to go. So CURE takes the hospital to them via mobile
clinics.
Kimberly Bennett is the CURE Advocacy & Zambia Field
Communications Specialist. She just
helped wrap up another orthopedics mobile clinic in Zambia last week as part
of a team assisting Dr. Giorgio Lastroni, CURE Zambia's consultant orthopedic
surgeon and medical director.
They set up at the Mtendere Mission Hospital in Chirundu–a small town in
Zambia's Southern Province near the Zambezi River, just across the border from
Zimbabwe. While the hospital has an
excellent team of Italian and Congolese doctors, most of their surgeons are
general surgeons and are not able to perform complex or highly-specialized
surgeries.
This time, among the normal run of patients they helped were two people, a
man and a woman, who had been bitten by crocodiles while bathing in the Zambezi
River–a fairly common scenario.
All in all, Dr. Lastroni saw over 20 patients in Chirundu and operated on
5. "I don't know if all the cases we worked on were a success," said Dr.
Lastroni as they drove back to Lusaka, "but we definitely gave it our all."
Stories like these keep CURE Zambia moving forward. This year marks the 5th anniversary of CURE
Zambia's official opening. Since CURE
Zambia opened its doors in December of 2006, their teams have performed 4,500
surgeries, 32 annual mobile clinics, numerous community awareness seminars, a
new ENT & Audiology clinic, and medical training sessions.
Why do it? It is an expression of God's
love. While not overtly evangelistic,
the staff and support team are followers of Christ, and everything they do is
in His name. When the inevitable
questions come, there's an open door to share their hope.
Although you may be miles away, or have no medical knowledge to speak of, you
can still support their work. Find out
how you can pray, give, or go. Click here
for details.
