Christmas is a season for giving and residents of this province are renowned for their generosity, but one local physician wants people to consider one worthy cause in particular.
Last May, Dr. Scott MacKenzie spent two and a half weeks working with an organization called Lifeline Malawi, an independent Canadian humanitarian medical relief and development association founded and headquartered in Calgary.
The Corner Brook general surgeon had done part of his surgical training in Durban, South Africa, and had travelled throughout the southern parts of Africa before. When he looked into finding an organization to volunteer for, something about the landlocked south-central African country of Malawi beckoned him to join this particular group.
“A friend told me about Lifeline Malawi and it just caught my attention and interest,” said MacKenzie. “It was also important for me to know what kind of organization I was being associated with because I wouldn’t want to go all that way to find out they weren’t doing a very good job over there.
“Fortunately, I think they are doing a good job and really making a difference.”
MacKenzie said non-governmental organizations such as Lifeline Malawi are integral parts of the economies of some African countries. However, financial contributions don’t always find their way to where they can do the most help and sometimes don’t get to the agencies at all. He said he can attest to the fact Lifeline Malawi is making great strides in a primitive part of the country that has been ravaged by the rampant spread of HIV/AIDS, as well as malnutrition, malaria and tuberculosis and the tropical diseases common to the region.
Since founder Dr. Chris Brooks, a family physician from Calgary, opened the first medical clinic underneath a huge baobab tree in 1998, Lifeline Malawi has since blossomed into a full medical complex and has expanded to other sites in the region.
The organization also trains local community leaders to help teach people about the diseases that affect them and how to protect themselves from getting sick.
“When I was there, the clinics were seeing hundreds of people a day,” said MacKenzie.
“I myself was seeing maybe 50 or 60 a day. I saw a lot of kids with malaria, which is a very treatable disease, but there is still a real lack of clinics and medications to treat these people. And the people that really suffer are the children. There is a lot of death occurring in Malawi related to malaria, which is unfortunate.” The HIV/AIDS epidemic is also a serious issue in the rural part of Malawi the agency serves. While 14 per cent of the country’s entire population is HIV positive, that rate jumps to nearly 30 per cent locally.
MacKenzie said Lifeline Malawi is proactive in educating people about HIV and AIDS, both from a prevention standpoint and the perspective of advising people who have been diagnosed.
“Tuberculosis is also a big issue since people are more prone to that disease when their immune systems get beaten down by HIV,” he noted.
When people consider donating to charity, MacKenzie asked them to consider a worthy charity like Lifeline Malawi.
“It’s a privilege to be able to help these people out,” he said. “There are so many sick kids and the mothers and fathers who bring in their sick children love their kids the same way we love ours. But it’s hard because often things don’t turn out very well for them because of the lack of facilities.
“It’s not all doom and gloom, though. These people are wonderfully warm people willing to help each other and Lifeline Malawi is trying to help them stand up to their problems and really make a difference.”
For more information, visit www.lifelinemalawi.com.
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