“I left to be useful” – Dr Mauro Ferro, a general surgeon from Turin, tells us what prompted him to leave for a period of voluntary work with Salute e Sviluppo at the Karungu Hospital in Kenya.

A totally new experience for those who, like our friend Mauro, already suffer from “Africa-sickness” and usually travel to discover this beautiful continent as a tourist. This time Mauro is not just any tourist, Mauro is a surgeon who would like to operate in a hospital in Kenya and thus have the chance to to experience first-handall the contradictions, the daily sorrows and joys of life that will indissolubly bind him to the paths of the lives that he operates, saves and knows.

Dr Mauro’s experience was totally positive, and he was immediately warmly welcomed by the entire local population – “There wasn’t a single patient who didn’t say hello to me every day in the hospital! – and soon established an excellent relationship of mutual trust and fruitful cooperation with all his colleagues.

“But the situation is still an extreme emergency, especially for HIV patients. In Karungu, we had about 7000 patients under treatment”. – Dr Ferro tells us how our help is indispensable and how it is needed now more than ever. “raise awareness among local population, so that everyone is aware of the risks of coming to the hospital only when you are in a bad condition.

We fully support Dr Mauro’s call to do more for a population still living in extreme poverty and great misinformation; more resources and aid are needed, now more than ever.

And we owe it above all to the children, the future generations, who are the hope of real change.“What about this experience will stay with me forever? the indelible looks of children on their faces.”

And through Dr Mauro’s eyes and gaze we have been able to relive a little of his great little experience, which is why we can only thank him, as well as for his invaluable help at the Karungu Hospital, for having told us, today, what he experienced #on-his-skin.

(Dr. Mauro Ferro archive control of HIV patients in treatment at Karungu Hospital)