A doctor from Marosvásárhely in Congo

Recently, the third group of a three-member Hungarian voluntary doctors returned from the war-thorn country Democratic Republic of Congo by helping and supporting the under aged and adult population. One of the doctors amongst the three is Dr. Mária Pongrácz a family doctor from Marosvásárhely.

It is Well-known, that a bloody civil war raged in the Democratic Republic of Congo area, in which nine other African states engaged, between 1998 and 2004. More than a hundred thousand people became refugees. The Hungarian based “African–Hungarian Union” with its “children of War campaign” initiated an organized charity. In the framework of this program, the Union had organized a mission of voluntary doctors. A Hungarian doctor group with 3-3 members extended efficacious help by three occasions for more thousand camp dwellers this year till now.

 

Dr. Mária Pongrácz went on this mission basically to forget the sudden death of her husband Dr. Antal Pongrácz. She went on this trip on her own expense. She quoted, that she saw a lot of horror. The suffering of others confirmed her soul and that’s why she wears her own burden. Her account of experiences gives us an insight into a distant world.

 

 

 

– What is Congo like? Was it worse than your expectations?
– The reality surpassed it with a good one, which fell short of my idea of concern rather. The people live in an astonishing misery. We did not find one single healthy child practically. There are few words which I could illustrate what is happening over there. The sight and sounds in relative give you the overall picture. Our main headquarters was in a bigger settlement in Kiwanja where military based soldiers from India are stationed by the UN.

 

We went out from here every day onto different places, in the jungle where deep forests could be found, onto settlements consisting of 40-50 huts, where relief organizations are hard to find. The huts are made from sticks, corn bast and of mud. Nor electricity, water or furniture could be found in them. The inhabitants sleep on the floor on floor mats.

 

– What do they live from? I guess, they do not have incomes.
– They do not have incomes really. The land is worked on certain areas, and the products are swapped between each other. A certain tree root are collected called the cassava, it is dried and grinded. From this a corn porridge-like mix is cooked. They haven’t seen bread before. The water shortage is one of the largest problems around here.

 

They plod five -from six-seven kilometers of a distance on foot on the very dusty roads from drilled wells carrying water on their back or head in cans weighing about 25 liters. It is questionable, if the water is consumable. Bathing hardly comes into question, but even drinking of water happens pretty rare and it is very hot though.

 

– What kind of medicine substance was at their disposal?
– The medicine I took along from here on one hand, hereby I would like to say thank you for Richter Gedeon company, for the Reform church, for the castle church’s congregation for the help. Two medicine firms from Hungary gave antibiotic in big quantity. Mainly, we could even have made use of more medicine in the treatment of the acute diseases.

 

How did they welcome you in these hidden settlements?
– They were overwhelmed and grateful, they rejoiced with us where we experienced appreciation from them, most did not see a white man yet though. We examined altogether some 2200 individuals. In the last 2 days we worked in the refugee camp, which was at the military base. It is indescribable. The long row of tents, covered with nylon. These people without their roots have been vegetating there for years.

 

– We only went to places where we felt at least safe. It happened that we changed a route because we heard in the morning, that along our destination, there was a shooting. The blue helmets lead the way with a car, accompanying us everywhere and they were left with us throughout while we attended to the patients.

 

On those settlements that you had visited where more than a hundred people live, is there any kind of medical care?
– There aren’t any organized, professional medical cares, it does not exist here. We observed the traces of some other kind of alternative natural medicine. We were shocked by the fact, that there are tiny scars on their body. It turned out that the surface of the skin is cut often, and certain plants like bark of a tree are put onto the raw wound and they heal with this.

 

– Hospitals exist in bigger settlements, in cities with the most modest equipments, but it is necessary to pay for the medical care apart from the big emergency cases. The population does not have an opportunity for this though.

 

How are they doing with the child mortality? Which are the most frequent illnesses?
– there are 10-15 children in a family, but only half of these reach the age of five only. The children are underfed and they have all kinds of illness. We pleased them with candy during an examination and most did not know that it is not necessary to eat it together with the packaging.

 

– Diarrhea is very common amongst their circle as well as, the verminous, malaria and a lot of skin infections. It is hard to describe, what kind of hand, feet, infections we had seen. For survival they don’t even know the necessary or minimal things or even an idea, like how it is possible to reduce a fever with a wet towel or cloth. The life of a child does not have value. Three of us examined and treated 200-250 persons daily.

 

and when we left them – because it started getting dark in the evening it was dangerous out there in the jungle –, those who didn’t get attended to were still waiting in a long row. We felt very sad and heart wrecked by the seen.
– Which evenings were the most shocking?
– A woman brought a small child, whose foot was full of wounds, with an occasion, but was not possible to establish what his problem was. I asked the mother to wash his small foot somehow. It turned out that the child was a victim of leprosy.

 

For more information you can log onto www.ahu.hu or contact Mr. Zsolt Pato patozsolt@ahu.hu

 

 

Source: Vásárhelyi Hírlap

Edited By: AHU – David A-O

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