Catholic Peace Action video

Lenten Witness at Ministry of Defence 2 April 2012

 

 

 

Working in Africa as a doctor is of course a great privilege but also a great challenge. It is hard to believe the extreme poverty of many of the sub-Saharan African countries. Even after 20years of African experience there are times I am shocked myself. The life expectancy in Uganda is 54 years whereas in UK its 82 yrs. This simple statistic represents most inadequately the suffering of and grieving for many thousands of premature deaths. Watching helplessly while many young people die is the medical reality. At a recent medical meeting in London I presented the data of the age groups in our intensive care unit, ICU. Overall about 30% of our patients in the intensive care unit die and of all the patients in our ICU 44% are under 18 years of age. I hope shortly to place on the web page of African Mission a more detailed analysis of our ICU outcomes for those who would wish to see the specific areas and diseases the ICU is able to help.

It’s not just a matter of the many diseases which are prevalent in Africa, diseases which we hardly ever see in Europe such as malaria and tetanus and typhoid but also the entire infrastructure is inadequate for what we in Europe would consider essential. Getting normal email, boxes by normal post, phone calls, driving on normal tarred roads, water and electricity at the hospital and in your own living quarters cannot be taken for granted. All of these essential logistical support structures have to be built from scratch. African Mission in London is my most significant logistical and donor support group which makes it possible for me to function with some efficiency in such an environment. It is also a special privilege to work in St.Mary’s Hospital Lacor Gulu Uganda which has as its special mission to bring quality care to the poorest. All patients are subsidised significantly for the hospital costs and there is no special fee to be admitted to ICU. Over the last year the African Mission Charity has been a support in many significant areas where the hospital in its overall plan has not been able to focus where I, in my close working contact with my colleagues, have been able to identify special needs. Our anaesthetists in theatre perform a very essential and skilful task but are often without adequate books of the correct level to study and reflect on their wide experiences. African Mission has assisted with book purchases. Acquiring a laryngoscope for each anaesthetist, a special instrument for the
anaesthetist to place safely a tube in the lungs of patients, has improved the safety of surgery in the operating theatre.

Surgical mortality in Africa is an area which is gaining more international support and is where African Mission has assisted me over the 10 years that I have been at St.Mary’s Lacor. The question which faces the physician in the context of extreme poverty is whether any form of ICU care can be sustainable. Hospital care of any sort is not cheap and is ICU care sustainable? Physicians have to face the reality that their resources are limited. The most complex equipment that the ICU possesses is the Glostavent ventilator for those patients who are too weak to breath on their own. Often this weakness is only a short interval and many of these patients recover. African Mission has been crucial in keeping our Glostavent machines in good working order with spares and upgrades that build a strong capacity for this facility. The electricity for the ICU is from solar power and the oxygen is mainly from concentrators which filter ordinary air, removing nitrogen and leaving almost pure oxygen. In this way our machines consume hardly any disposables and run cheaply. This means when I ask African Mission for spare parts it is a very considered request for an item that will maintain our hospital care with sustainability. Your donations are making the hospital care efficient and sustainable and reaching direct patient care and supporting those on the very face of critical patient care. We now have a good supply of antibiotics which means we can reduce delays in the treatment of septic conditions thus giving the patient a better chance of survival. I have included 3 photos of interest. The first is a mother and child whom the ICU cared for after a major operation. Mortality after any kind of surgery in a small baby is high in Africa and we are grateful to all the staff who contributed to this child’s recovery. The photo of a boy who has recovered from tetanus after being on a Glostavent ventilator for 4 weeks shows him now in the process of rehabilitation. His poor nutrition is another area of challenge which we have to face in the future.

The third photo is of the team of people who contribute to the sustainability of our ICU care. Anaesthetists know their debt to engineers so that their life saving equipment works well. This third photo shows our hospital engineer getting instructions from the Glostavent engineer who was able to visit us this year from UK. African Mission has supported many developments of life saving significance in the ICU and operating theatre. In the future we will need to maintain this momentum. Our anaesthetists and nurses need more educational opportunities if they are able to sustain the care they are giving now and this is an area we may need to focus on soon. Thank you for your prayers and financial support.
http://africanmission.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/index.htm

Ash Wednesdsay 2012. I had time to write this on 22 February at the Ministry of Defence. I didn't have time to finish it which would have been, " Choose Life". A small chance to speak truth to power. No charge at that time but later in Lent, 2 April 2012, I was charged with Criminal Damage for trying to do the same.

Caught in the Crossfire of Collateral Damage and Global Inaction.

To appear in Vocation for Justice June 2007


Sometimes one particular patient can cause you to pause and reflect and Martha a 10 year old girl and patient on the Intensive Care Unit is one patient whose story I would like to share. She was abducted by the Lord’s Resistance Army, a rebel group that has been fighting the government in northern Uganda for 20 years and when the government troops caught up with the rebels she was shot in the leg in the crossfire. The wound was not severe but one week later she developed tetanus caused by a wound infection. Thousands die from tetanus in Africa each year and it is a distressing condition with a painful death. The body is thrown into very strong spasms and most die from inability to breathe.

Our first line drugs were not working so we decided to use a treatment which is more expensive and challenging to the staff because Martha would need a tracheostomy, an opening in her throat, and be placed on a ventilator for 3 weeks.

In 20 years of practice in Britain I cannot recall seeing a patient with tetanus because with a few injections almost the whole population is immunised. In Africa the weak infrastructure of basic healthcare means that many are just not immunised and with insecurity the weak infrastructure collapses completely. Even in parts of Africa where there is no violent conflict tetanus remains a major cause of death. In Africa most children like Martha don’t survive but we thank God for her good recovery and pray for a change of heart in those who justify war and its collateral damage. Martha was a victim of war in both her direct wound and secondly in her lack of immunity. Likewise the sick and poor of Africa are also the collateral damage of our global lifestyle and wrong choices of inaction.

The health statistics of sub-Saharan Africa are the worst in the world and the inequality is widening every year. Life expectancy is improving in every continent except Africa and despite many sound bites and photo opportunities of politicians and celebrities the structural changes which could easily be initiated to reverse this violence of poverty is not on the agenda even now. In 1970 a commitment to increase international aid to 0.7% of Gross National Product was made by all countries in the United Nations yet 37 years later it has not yet been met by Britain. In trade relationships Africa is in an even worse situation. In 2000 900 US$ was given to a European cow from the EU in subsidies annually and 8 US$ in aid to an African. Our political leaders have promised little and done almost nothing and until we face this reality the continued structural violence of poverty to Africans like Martha will continue. If effective action is to be taken of global significance then it must address the sacred cows of not only the European Union but also the sacred cow of military spending. In 2004 globally one thousand billion US dollars was spent on the arms trade each year while 78 billion US $ was spent on Aid and our government is a major arms trader. We have the funds if we chose to use them to promote life in Africa.

It is perplexing to see that there is no direct coalition between those who work for peace and those who work for development. Surely local Charity Law must be waived in the face of the present carnage of African lives and Christians should have a holistic approach. The current strategy is just not working and never will. The global resources are available to make a difference but we ask for too little. Slavery was present in Africa for 400 years and on current figures the slavery of absolute poverty will continue for another 400 years. Wilberforce campaigned for Abolition of the slave trade not for a partial alleviation of its worst effects.
On Ash Wednesday I had the privilege of joining other Christians at the Ministry of Defence, London in opposing our nuclear addiction to the greatest weapon of mass terror that humanity has ever invented. Our Chancellor has found the necessary funds for the potential holocaust of the Trident weapon system to be renewed at a cost of possibly 40 billion US$ yet the avoidable deaths in Africa are equivalent to a Hiroshima and Nagasaki occurring every week. The potential holocaust we plan for in Trident is already happening in Africa now.

The amount in aid from Britain according to Oxfam is worth one cup of coffee per person each week. The poor of Africa are relying on us to demand from our leaders on a different scale than has yet been done. Until we face this truth we can expect little global change and in 2015 we will record yet another series of broken promises for the poor of Africa.

Dr.Ray Towey is a lay missionary who has been working in East Africa for 14 years. raymond.towey@btinternet.com

Good web page

http://www.paxchristi.org.uk/Documents/Theft%20from%20poor.pdf

A COMPARISON OF ARMS AND AID GLOBAL EXPENDITURE

In 2004 the global expenditure of arms was one trillion $US, 1,000,000,000,000

The global aid given in 2004 was 78.6 billion $US. In visual terms this is the reality

The message is simple. Stop the arms trade if you want to solve poverty. The peace dividend is a human right.

http://www.youtube.com/v/VHrv1h1TS9s

ASH WEDNESDAY 21 February 2007

24 Years ago I marked the walls of the Ministry of Defence and had the privilege of doing it again this year in good company again. I just never learn to behave, thank God.

Liz, Dan, Sr.Mary, Carmel, Ray, Sarah

a few of the oldtimers!..........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

On the Revolution of Love
It "Changes the World Without Making Noise"

VATICAN CITY, FEB. 18, 2007 (Zenit.org).- Here is a translation of the address Benedict XVI delivered today before reciting the midday Angelus with several thousand people gathered in St. Peter's Square.

Dear Brothers and Sisters! This Sunday's Gospel has one of the most typical, yet most difficult, teachings of Jesus: Love your enemies (Luke 6:27). It is taken from the Gospel of Luke, but it is also found in Matthew's Gospel (5:44), in the context of the programmatic discourse that begins with the famous Beatitudes. Jesus delivered this address in Galilee, at the beginning of his public ministry: It was something of a "manifesto" presented to everyone, which Christ asked his disciples to accept, thus proposing to them in radical terms a model for their lives.

But what is the meaning of his teaching? Why does Jesus ask us to love our very enemies, that is, ask a love that exceeds human capacities? What is certain is that Christ's proposal is realistic, because it takes into account that in the world there is too much violence, too much injustice, and that this situation cannot be overcome without positing more love, more kindness. This "more" comes from God: It is his mercy that has become flesh in Jesus and that alone can redress the balance of the world from evil to good, beginning from that small and decisive "world" which is man's heart. This page of the Gospel is rightly considered the "magna carta" of Christian nonviolence; it does not consist in surrendering to evil -- as claims a false interpretation of "turn the other cheek" (Luke 6:29) -- but in responding to evil with good. (Romans 12:17-21), and thus breaking the chain of injustice. It is thus understood that nonviolence, for Christians, is not mere tactical behavior but a person's way of being, the attitude of one who is convinced of God's love and power, who is not afraid to confront evil with the weapons of love and truth alone. Loving the enemy is the nucleus of the "Christian revolution," a revolution not based on strategies of economic, political or media power. The revolution of love, a love that does not base itself definitively in human resources, but in the gift of God, that is obtained only and unreservedly in his merciful goodness.

Herein lies the novelty of the Gospel, which changes the world without making noise. Herein lies the heroism of the "little ones," who believe in the love of God and spread it even at the cost of life. Dear brothers and sisters: Lent, which begins this Wednesday, with the rite of the distribution of ashes, is the favorable time in which all Christians are invited to convert ever more deeply to the love of Christ. Let us ask the Virgin Mary, the docile disciple of the Redeemer, to help us to allow ourselves to be conquered without reservations by that love, to learn to love as he loved us, to be merciful as our heavenly Father is merciful (Luke 6:36).