A part of your soul stays in the country you go on mission to, Dr. Eleni Theocharous and photojournalist Katia Christodoulou have told CNA. They both took part in a recent humanitarian mission of the “Volunteer Doctors-Cyprus” organisation in Zimbabwe, with the aim of inspecting its existing educational and development programmes.
Replying to a question about the differences that the recent mission in Zimbabwe had compared to previous missions, Theocharous says that every mission is completely different, even if it takes place in the same country. “The special thing about this mission for me is that it was the last mission I led. I want to hand it over to the younger doctors to continue it,” she points out, describing the mission in Zimbabwe as “complex and multi-faceted.”
Asked about the most important needs that exist at the moment and the ways in which they can be met as a matter of priority, Theocharous puts the need for survival first. “If a child does not live, how will he/she go to school? You should guarantee the best nutrition possible for him or her,” she points out, adding that many children are born with HIV/AIDS because both parents have AIDS.
The Honorary President of the organisation “Volunteer Doctors-Cyprus” mentions the education of children as another important parameter on which the mission focused. “I had started the effort together with the Internationaler Hilfsfonds, which is based in Germany. Doctors of the World and Volunteer Doctors were actively involved in the mission,” she emphasises.
In addition, a programme has been started to grant sponsorships to children, many of whom have benefited from it, notes Eleni Theocharous, adding that the programme has been put on a more organised basis by providing support to the orphanage and building two schools. “We need to invest in education, by creating better schools,” she indicates.
Another part of the mission was the plantation that was created, she says. “There was a huge plot of land, given to us by the community, which used to belong to a white Boer. I saw a dry, barren, abandoned land, but next to it there was a river”, she points out, adding that many Cypriots worked voluntarily to help make the plantation what it is today, an example to be copied by other areas of Zimbabwe.
She also speaks of a project under the slogan “a bowl of rice pudding a day for every child”. Theoharous says that she considers rice pudding as the ideal food for children, because it has all the necessary nutrients for their growth. “If we systematically implement this project, we will ensure the nutrition of the children in the area,” she points out.
“When you go on a mission, you don’t come back as the same person. You have changed and you usually become a better person”, says Theocharous, describing the feelings this mission caused her. “The more you experience the drama of the people you help, the more you bond with them. A piece of your soul stays there. The emotions when someone returns from a mission are overwhelming,” she adds.
On her part, CNA and EPA photojournalist Katia Christodoulou explains that this was not her first trip to Africa, but she had been dreaming of this particular trip to Zimbabwe for years. “No matter how many trips you make, when you go to such countries, you leave a part of yourself there, as Eleni says. You want to go back there and offer whatever help you can, as much as you can,” she points out, adding that Africa touches her deeply and she will continue to travel there.
Katia Christodoulou reports that what shocked her on the recent mission is an image she saw in a hut with a thatched roof. “I saw a woman, a man and a little girl holding a bucket. The little girl was one of the school’s students who was absent on the day the students’ photo shoot. Her mother was blind, the man standing there was also blind, but not the father. Her younger siblings were also there,” she explains, adding that the girl could not go to school on those days because she had to help her family with chores that needed to be done at home.
“Education is the stepping stone for these people to become better and help others. For example, one of the teachers, Mulwaini Moyo, was a child of our programme who finished school, became a teacher and returned to her school to teach,” she points out.
Source: Cyprus News Agency