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In terms of EDUCATION,
the EsMaBaMa Project aims specifically
To reinforce access of education for the
youth of the three Districts
Promote girls' access to education
Fight illiteracy, especially among women
Today, the EsMaBaMa project gives the opportunity to 7,700 students to access to a primary and secondary school, and to prepare for University, in a protected environment and in the respect of their own culture and religion.
Through EsMaBaMa, young women from the cities and the rural areas as well have an opportunity to get an education, of a good level, and in the protected environment of the Missions.
Students of the Estaquinha primary school
Analphabethism reaches 54% in Mozambique. Teachers of the missions are also dedicating their time to teach adults of the area, willing to learn, to read and write.
The second main objective of the EsMaBaMa Project is to reinforce HEALTH-CARE for the populations near the Missions.
Each
Mission is provided with a small health-care center with a doctor/nurse
and a
pharmacy to provide primary health assistance to
students and the
surrounding communities. This is very important in areas so isolated
and away from the city, where only traditional medicine is present,
insufficient to fight diseases such AIDS, cholera, and malaria.
An important objective of the Project is to guarantee the transmission of accurate health information to students and the local population in the hope of preventing disastrous diseases, namely HIV/AIDS.
For
this reason the Missions are essential not only by primary assistance
and for availability of medicines, but also for reaching the rural
communities with essential information about prevention of infective
diseases (AIDS) and cure.
The Mission of Mangunde is the biggest for the highest number of students, but also equipped with the biggest health-care center.
The Mangunde Health center is the biggest and better equipped in the territory of the four Missions. It provides prenatal care, vaccinations, maternity ward, blood tests and general care to the neighboring communities.
The Day Hospital The hospital consists
in a few small buildings: a pharmacy
where medicines (mainly
anti-retrovirales) are
distributes to the ones in need;
a room for visits, one for the HIV
test (for a bit of privacy),
and one emergency room. The hospital is also provided with a
"‘delivery
room” (una casa de espera) where pregnant HIV-positive women can
come to
deliver their babies in safety. 
The
hospital (only 2 doctors) serves an area of 150-200 km radius. There
are no
streets or cars, and people have to come to the hospital by walking.
They have
ca 40 kids born there every month. Most of the women, who come to
deliver their
babies, are HIV negative. However, about 2-3 children per month are
born HIV
positive.
Since
starting the program for prevention of the vertical transmission in
2005, there were 25
children born from HIV positive mothers. All these children are still
negative,
because the mothers got the anti-retroviral therapy during pregnancy.
But they
have also 36 HIV-positive children in the program, which mothers came
to late
and were not so lucky. 25 of them need therapy.
Delivery room-hospital of Mangunde
The hospital allow anyone who wish
to take the HIV test for free. The test is also done on pregnant women
who come to the hospital to deliver their babies.
Blood samples are preserved (refrigerated) and then transported to Beira for analysis. Refrigeration of blood samples requires electrical power all day long, which is supplied by an oil generator and solar panels. Even if the cost of life is very low in Mozambique, as well as people income (less than 100$ per month), the price of oil is comparable to the price in Western countries like the US, making it one of the principal expenses of the Mission, besides the anti-retrovirales.
In
The structure
of
society unfortunately does not discourage the spreading of the virus
for several reasons:
First of all, especially in the rural areas polygamic families are
quite common. Moreover, in the small and remote communities (difficult
to reach), a disease is seen as a curse rather than the effect of a
pathogen. In this contest, HIV positive people are often emarginated and live in shame. This
increases the
reluctance among people toward taking
the HIV test.
Information is especially essential in forming and protecting the new Mozambican generation, allowing the kids to grow aware and safe from contagious diseases. As doctors and nurses do in the hospital, teachers in the schools are doing a great job in providing information about prevention of sex-transmitted diseased, in terms both of abstinence and practicing safe sex.
In addition, the EsMaBaMa project promotes SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT of the region, by employing 376 permanent or temporary workers as farmers, construction workers, teachers, doctors and nurses. All the personnel is being socially and economically promoted in an area where paid job is practically non existent.
In this sector EsMaBaMa aims to:
Develop agricultural
production and animal breeding to ensure a balanced
diet to students and
to prepare a framework so that both Schools and Health Centers can be
self-sufficient. Currently the
Missions are supported by foreign aid but also by their own agriculture
and farming. The final objective of the Missions is to be
completely
self-sufficient from an
economic point of view. This is almost a reality in the case of the
Mission of Estaquinha.
Promote the economic and
social development of the
populations of the 3 districts by creating working conditions, better
education
(literacy classes, night classes, etc.) and by sharing the production
techniques implemented by ESMABAMA.
Several foreign volunteers work in the Missions as doctors, nurses, teachers and in the agricultural area, together with Mozambican people. Foreign volunteers can offer on one side a high level of teaching and expertise, and on the other side expose the students to totally different cultures from their own.This is especially important for the social development of the students and, tomorrow, of the country.
The foreign volunteers in fact keep exposing the students to "progressive" ideas, to information about spreading and prevention of HIV and other diseases, and to concepts such as emancipation of women. All this, trying to remain in the respect of the Mozambican culture, urban and rural.
