I write my newsletters sometimes too fast and less frequently, because of all the work with my local doctors' teams, patients and clinics. This since my first expedition in 1986. I am also very thankful for my local teams, who are a big help. Without their help, I couldn't make it anymore.
These last two years have been very hard on expenses. It all started when the Covid pandemic broke out. There was little time, money or energy to go talking or raise funds either: they need us on the field, we have work to do. And anyway, it was also impossible to go witnessing during the lockdown period. The Omikron variant made it even worse, regarding expenses, in these poor regions: people survived despite a very low immunity system, but these patients needed more medicines to stay alive. Still more medicines were needed.
The numbers have been overwhelming. We are speaking about tens of thousands of deaths in Haiti, the Andes and most of all on the Brazilian border with Bolivia. This happened only in the regions where we are working, where vaccination was not available, as the local government is against the tribes we want to rescue. Bolivia is as good as a communist state. There is a battle between many tribes there, and in Haiti violence broke out everywhere to get money. White people were their first target, as they always wanted money in exchange.
On top of it, our jeep-ambulances, sometimes more than ten years old, are getting motor defects and need new, expensive tires on these roads. And the number of orphans is dramatically increasing, as many people already died from the Delta and Brazilian variant at around 35 years old, leaving behind four, five or six orphans on their own.
I ask you: please do not forget us. Help us keep Doctors on Mission alive, our numbers are in red. Think what a child's life means. Think what it is for an elder to suffer till death comes.
I hate to beg for money, but I know that we can do so much better altogether! Thank you for all that you already do.
