MAF flights give mothers with young children access to essential healthcare and advice.
The village of Lesirwai lies outside of road networks, in the plains of South Maasai region in Tanzania. From the air, you can see endless strings of foot trotted paths zigzag in the barren ground. People living in the numerous villages across this area share the great challenge of living in a remote place; all services are a long way from home.
“Many people find it difficult to get to the bigger towns. It's a problem, because it is a very long and expensive journey,” says Bartholomeo, the chairman of Lesirwai village.
As a response to this challenge of accessing basic services, MAF has partnered with Same hospital to fly in a remote clinic monthly to the village of Lesirwai. In these remote clinics, mothers and children get preventive treatment of major illnesses through vaccinations. Each child’s growth is monitored and documented, and expecting mothers get regular maternal check-ups and after birth care.
Many people find it difficult to get to the bigger towns. It's a problem, because it is a very long and expensive journey
When MAF flights from Arusha take the medical team out to the bush, mothers arrive to the clinic by foot, carrying their infants in cloth slings in the intense heat of the open plain. Older children journey with their mothers, avoiding the dense thorn bushes the best they can. Usually, they reach a total travel time of several hours for the day.
With under two flight hours used to carry a medical team on site, 70 recipients were tended to at the one-day clinic. This means serving 70 lives with the practical love of Christ. “When the MAF plane comes here, it gives us relief and we get these services close by. We are very grateful for what MAF is doing. God will bless you for this.” Bartholomeo says.
Upon educating the mothers, Rachel Mnzava, a nurse on board the medical team of four, takes special care to involve the mothers.
“Have we agreed?” she asks at the end of each theme, waiting for the unified reply of “We have” from the mothers sitting at her feet.
Rachel gives instructions with firmness in her voice: “If your child has an eye problem, go to the hospital. Don’t buy medicine and administer it in the child's eyes, because you don't know what the problem is. Instead, take the child to the hospital or an eye doctor to be
treated.”
Because the journey is long and the road isn’t easy, there are times when mothers find themselves unable to make the trip to the clinic on the day appointed. One of the challenges seen at the clinic has been the occasion of giving birth, and the inability to travel to the clinic by foot right after having the baby. Most mothers in these communities still give birth at home.
Maria, the wife of the village elder in Lesirwai, chimes in on the conversation with wisdom of a seasoned grandmother.
“We at the village are eager to see a response to our need of a trained doctor at Lesirwai village in a small birthing facility. I confirm that the mothers of this region would come to give birth there,” she says.
She recognises the challenging road conditions and lack of roads passable by a vehicle, but shares her priority with the entire crowd of mothers and nurses. “You say we need to fix the road? I say we need a small hospital to give birth safely first.”
