This Christmas choose a gift that gives hope, that saves lives, that leaves your mark on the world. Instead of the usual necklace for her or a new tie for him; instead of the classic panettone or a good wine for your employees, choose a gift that differentiates you and, above all, makes a difference!

Find out how to add special value to your Christmas presents with Salute e Sviluppo on our page dedicated to the new 2016 Christmas campaign: CLICK HERE

“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)

A special story. The one that Sonia Storelli, Specialist in Paediatrics and Neonatology at the Consolata Hospital Nkubu (Kenya), tells us about the emotions she felt #on-her-skin in Kenya.

It has already been a few months since I returned, and yet sounds, scents and emotions are still a reality in my heart. I get off the Jeep and I close my eyes, I breathe … I breathe deeply and I feel the air full of moisture, the smell of the earth; I open my eyes and I find the African sky and the green of the plants of an intense that does not seem true. The Consolata Hospital of Nkubu has been my home for a fortnight… it is not my first experience in Africa and I have learnt that there is not only one Africa but many realities so different and so similar… Yet the hospital is all a swarming of projects of growth and change in which everyone has his well defined role… looking at it from outside it seems almost motionless but the patients are many and work very hard…

Two weeks is a short time, but hours pass very quickly when you put devotion and commitment into your work, when you realise that a part of you is healing with every medication or look you get, because what you receive is always greater, in terms of satisfaction and serenity, than what you give. I worked with the paediatric staff and from the first moment I felt integrated, in a continuous exchange of information and training… I had a lot to learn and I tried to pass on what my experience as a paediatrician had taught me! The day alternated between visits to the neonatology and paediatrics departments, the outpatients’ clinic, and training sessions involving medical staff, clinical officers and nursing staff, as well as students from the nursing school at Consolata Hospital in Nkubu.

I continue to leave pieces of my heart scattered all over the world… thanks to Umberto, the perpetual engine of the project and perfect host, thanks to Doctor Emelda who shared clinical decisions with me on a daily basis and who continues to share knowledge even from a distance, thanks to Moses and the other clinical officers and all those with whom I worked with. Special thanks to Father Efisio and to Salute e Sviluppo for the wonderful work they do and for offering me this opportunity which I hope is only the beginning of a long collaboration… and thanks to all the eyes that have crossed mine, to the smiles and tears and to all the “souls” who have caressed my soul and enriched it. See you.

Sonia