The medical and eye surgery outreach to Cuito Cuanavale and Mavinga was probably one of the toughest ones DFL undertook thus far. The people in Mavinga are very isolated and the need for medical care is great. The approximately 200km took some of the team members almost 3 days due to trees that had to be cut down, and a puncture on one of the tyre. The 200km od trip between Cuito Cuanavale that we thought would take a full day, took the truck with surgery unit almost 3 days. We got stuck, flat tyres on the surgery unit truck, trees falling on the truck cab etc. Two people in the team were treated for malaria while being in Mavinga and the trip back was just as challenging.
But going to these areas was worth it. The team of doctors, medical staff and volunteers were able to help hundreds of needy people. In return the patients often expressed their joy and thankfulness often in very illustrative ways. In total we did about 72 surgeries of which most were to treat or prevent blindness. These were mostly cataract and trachoma cases. We also gave out hundreds of prescription glasses and treated and screened many hundreds more for things like epilepsy, malaria, leprosy, abscesses etc etc. We also treated many for Trachoma (with Azythromycion) that is mostly linked to areas that have a lack of hygiene. We also assisted the people with dental extractions. We look back at our time in Mavinga and Cuito with thankfulness, that we returned safely and that we had the privilege to go to those remote areas regardless of the challenges.]]>
