FOUNDATION’S PROJECTS IN TANZANIA

Since the end of 2013 and due to security concerns in northern Kenya, the foundation has moved its activities to Tanzania. Some projects that do not require continuous physical presence remain in Kenya, as the sponsorship of students from remote areas (the “nephews”), the center of fitting amputees of Bungoma (Western Kenya) and the evaluation of patients particularly complex to operate in Spain.

The main activity is carried out since 2014 in the north of Tanzania, in the district of Lake Natron in a remote village called Engaresero. There, in addition to restart the “nephews” program , we carry out surgical missions every 6 months. Patients come from hundreds of kilometers around. We set up a field hospital in the dispensary humanitarian Engaresero and do reconstructive surgery. We do mixed surgery. Sequelae of trauma and fractures, burns, tumors, congenital malformations, gynecologic surgery, thyroid, and any case for which we are honestly its better-only opportunity.

There is no electricity or running water. We use gasoline generators and water from the river. Verbatim we work from sun to sun, in extreme hardness. It requires professionals tough enough to endure physically and psychologically these missions. When it gets dark we finish the surgeries because of the risk of failure of generators and because insects physically prevent it.

Patients are transferred to and from their villages in our vehicle or in paid local transport. Many people can not even afford transportation. Maasai population is hard as the ground. Newly operated patients sleep on mats or directly on the floor. No laboratory or radiology or UCI. We have a system of “portable” X-Rays that allows some diagnostics.

Despite the conditions we try to provide a good standard medical treatment.
The monitoring of patients is particularly difficult in these areas. We try to make treatments that not require postoperative care, as patients return to their villages in a day or two.

Complex cases, or those that require removal of plasters, needles or bone fixation, are reviewed in two months, in a quick mission “doing consultations”.

For two days the patients are reviewed in the nearest villages to make sure they go well. It is surprising the resistance of these people and the few complications that we have there.