Little girl gets her goat

Residents of White River and other Lowveld towns opened their hearts and purses to enable Dr André Hattingh of Pediatric Care Africa to deliver about 750 kilograms of food to the orphanage near Inchopo. It is still without a roof.

He also delivered the promised goat to the little girl only known as Helena, whom he consoled with this promise during his previous visit to the cyclone stricken area.

It took him three days to reach Inchope from White River and last Monday he delivered the baby goat to Helena. The staff at Buffalo Camp near Save, where he stayed overnight, acquired the goat for him.

The mothers with children at a pre- and postnatal clinic, which is fully functional again, received 2 000 kilograms of food, as well as medicine and medical disposables.

The clinic is situated 10 kilometres outside Inchope and was reopened only recently. Hattingh and his team handed out food and baby food to approximately 100 mothers and children, while he did a quick check-up on the babies to make sure they receive the correct baby milk and foods.

Before entering Inchope on his last visit, Hattingh noticed a man in a wheelchair begging for food next to the road. This time he found him at the same spot again and realised that he was severely handicapped and needed help with pressure sores.

“I kept some food and water to give to him and stopped again to check on his pressure sores on my way to Chimoio.”

At Chimoio Hospital Hattingh met with the local doctors again to alleviate the needs of patients.

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“The need for food is still huge as most of the villagers lost their complete maize, vegetable and food crops due to the extreme wind and rain,” he said. The loss left them literally starving and with no possibility of a new maize crop before the next season.

On his return to White River this week he said many food trucks passed Inchopo en route to presumably Beira. According to the local villagers they have not received any other food apart from what the Pediatric Care Africa team had delivered.

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“We are currently preparing another large delivery of food with trucks around the end April or in the beginning May,” he promised. “We would like to also take blankets and other essential items urgently needed by the people in the affected area.

Hattingh also thanked all the generous people for their selfless donations. “We can take a large quantity of goods back on our third trip. Our previous trips gave us the opportunity to establish what is required and needed most by the cyclone victims,” he said.