Commentary: Malaria kills friends ‘and we cannot stop crying’
|
Carol Kreamer |
July 31, 2006
Editor's note: Malaria kills a child every 30 seconds and a person every
10 seconds somewhere in the world. These are the sad statistics and
Carol Kreamer, coordinator of the Mozambique Initiative for the United
Methodist Church in Missouri, puts a human face on this deadly disease
as she writes about the death of a friend.
A UMNS Commentary
By Carol Kreamer*
Laurina Osseia was a beautiful young woman of 34 who lived in a suburb
of Maputo, Mozambique. When she and I and Mozambique Initiative
representative, Ezequiel Nhantumbo, began working together in March, she
was eight months pregnant and due to deliver two weeks after I was to
depart Maputo.
She came in to work every day, even Saturday, knowing that there was
much to be done in the two and a half weeks that I would be working in
the area financial executive office.
|
A UMNS photo by Carol Kreamer Laurina Osseia is eight months pregnant in this photo taken in March.
|
Laurina
Osseia, who lived in a suburb of Maputo, Mozambique and worked for
several weeks with Carol Kreamer, coordinator of the Mozambique
Initiative in Missouri, is eight months pregnant in this photo taken in
March. Two weeks after giving birth to a healthy baby girl, Osseia died
from malaria. Malaria kills a child every 30 seconds, a person every 10
seconds somewhere in the world. A UMNS photo by Carol Kreamer. Photo
#06xxx. Accompanies UMNS story #06832. 7/31/06. |
I came to know Laurina as a friend and a co-worker. Through her broken
English and my broken Portuguese, we communicated and I discovered her
dry sense of humor. She had a three-year old son, Fernando, Jr., and we
talked about our families -- me about my grandchildren and she about her
son.
I came to learn that Laurina was devout, ethical, bright, and mature for
her 34 years. Having worked also through the ninth month of pregnancy
many years ago myself, I knew how her back must have hurt sitting at
that desk and how tired she must be at the end of the day.
She had been taking accounting courses at the university, and instead of
attending class, she came to work in the office to learn while I was
there. I was grateful for her efforts, tediously working side by side
with me and Ezy (Ezequiel), going through past year journals, helping to
reconstruct the 2005 accounting and learning processes as we went.
I took a photo of her profile and we laughed as we looked at the digital
image -- her pregnancy photo! The look on her face said, “Carol, why
are you making me do this?” I expected I would come back in April to
greet her with her new baby.
When I arrived on April 20, there was Laurina! She had still not
delivered and expectantly awaited the day. Finally, we got word by cell
phone that Laurina had delivered her new baby girl.
Laurina was healthy prior to and soon after she delivered the baby. And baby Ylva was healthy with a good birth-weight.
How excited we were. I wished I did not have to depart the next day (May
4), sorry that I would miss seeing her and the new baby. I looked
forward to seeing her in the future to bring proper greetings and gifts.
Laurina’s battle
But two weeks later, Laurina’s battle began.
Just about everyone I know in Mozambique has malaria, kind of like the
common cold here in the United States. They treat it each time, though
knowing it could eventually be deadly.
According to Laurina’s husband, Fernando, on Saturday she was admitted
to Maputo Central Hospital with chills and a fever. It appeared that she
had complications and now had pneumonia.
Many people talked to her on Sunday and thought she was doing better.
Laurina even sent Ezequiel a text message on his cell around 3 p.m.
Sunday to say she was at the hospital, as he had promised to visit her
on Monday.
Then, late in the evening, she took a turn for the worst and word was received of her death.
Statistics have names
We who work in mission become -- as the Rev. Don Messer calls it in his book, A Conspiracy of Goodness -- a collegiality of bridge builders.
Messer reminds us of this historic dimension of the mission and
ministry, and that missionaries have symbolized this bridge-building
ministry between peoples and nations. He reminds us also that quite
often someone loses their life while bridges are being constructed.
We are reminded that the statistics are not non-persons. Each statistic
has a name. For me that name is Laurina. When you know the name, it
becomes more than a non-person, more than just another who has died from
malaria every 10 seconds somewhere in the world. As Messer concludes,
there are no non-persons in God’s family.
The funeral service for Laurina was held at the big Malanga United Methodist Church on June 7.
More information about the fight against malaria can be found by visiting the Malaria Consortium Web site at http://www.malariaconsortium.org and the Roll Back Malaria Group at http://www.rbm.who.int
and our friends at Bread for the World, who continue to advocate in the
fight against these killer diseases that are one of the causes of
hunger and poverty around the world at http://www.bread.org.
United Methodists also can ask members of congress and President George
Bush to fully fund the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and
Malaria and other programs that support prevention and ensure universal
access to treatment by 2010.
A special fund for the United Methodist Community Based Malaria
Prevention Program has been established with the denomination’s Advance
for Christ and His Church, a "second-mile" voluntary giving program. The
Advance Special offers a way for United Methodists to participate in
the malaria program as individuals or through local churches, districts
and conferences.
Donations, payable to the United Methodist Committee on Relief, should
be designated to Advance No. 982009, "Malaria Control." Checks can be
dropped in church collection plates or mailed directly to UMCOR at P.O.
Box 9068, New York, NY 10087-9068. Credit-card gifts can be made by
calling (800) 554-8583 or going online to www.umc.org.
UMCOR also has prepared a church bulletin insert on the malaria program that can be downloaded from www.umcor.org by clicking on the resources link.
*Kreamer is coordinator of the Mozambique Initiative, Missouri.
News media contact: Kathy L. Gilbert, Nashville, Tenn., (615) 742-5470 or newsdesk@umcom.org.
Related Articles
Fight against malaria needs everyone's attention, United Methodists say
United Methodists to launch malaria prevention program
United Methodists should fight malaria deaths, executive says
Gates Foundation Pledges More Toward Malaria Research
Related Articles
Malaria consortium
Roll Back Malaria
Bread for the World
Mozambique Initiative
UMCOR: United Methodists in the fight against malaria
|