One night in Masia Kwa hospital

Foto a text: Martin Bandžák

Helena is a nutrition nurse and takes care of severely malnourished children at Masia Kwa Hospital. The hospital is located on the banks of the Congo River, in a remote part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Some of the children are so sick that they have to stay in the specialized ward for more than a week. There can be up to 20 of them here at once, hundreds more are treated on an outpatient basis. Their mothers and sometimes their fathers are here with them. Helena, together with the other health workers, cooks special therapeutic milk for them, which she prepares every 4 hours, and according to their weight and state of health, the children have to drink it down. It is medicine and their only food supply. They also receive antibiotic treatment and their food intake and weight are monitored every day. After months of starvation, this is the only way to return them to normal and heal them.

In order for Helena to be able to treat them, she had to come all the way from Kinshasa, where MAGNA sent her. Together with other health workers, he lives in a simple house, without electricity or running water.It is extremely hot here right now, which does not contribute to the overall quality of living. The food is also very simple, they have a feast when colleagues from Kinshasa come and bring them canned sardines in oil.

The situation in Masia Kwa was never ideal, but it has worsened significantly following the violence in the area of ​​the nearby town of Kwamouth, where people have been chased and killed, houses and villages burned to the ground. Entire families were forced to leave their homes and hid in the surrounding forests for months, afraid to return, many of them are still on the run. The villages were completely destroyed and even if they wanted there is nowhere to return. A large part of the territory is still inaccessible, due to the presence of armed rebel groups. Months of being homeless, on the run and without food, the already fragile health of the children means that the state of child malnutrition here is alarming. Helena and her colleagues from different parts of the Congo, as well as Europe, do everything necessary to help them survive each other day and return them to a normal life in full health.

MAGNA has been operating in the Mai Ndombe region as one of the few organizations since 2018, when its health workers treated victims of violence in Yumbi. Today, MAGNA provides health and nutritional assistance to thousands of children, women and men here. The biggest problem is child malnutrition and malaria, which are aggravated by constant conflicts.