Examination
Waiting Room
George Mussalli - Author of
this Status Report |
Dear Friends and Supporters of
Life Project for Africa,
Thank you for your efforts in
making our annual fundraising dinner a success.
It was wonderful to serve as your master of
ceremonies for the evening. I was struck by the
progress that has been made since I visited the
NJIA Health Center with my family in 2009. We
saw first-hand how great the need was. The
health center was well-organized and designed.
The doctors and nurses were eager and practical.
The school children that filled the waiting room
for their vaccinations were full of joy and
hope. They were shocked when they compared their
heights against my children of the same age. My
kids towered over them, a testimony to the
nutrition available to us here in America. The
kids delighted in seeing photos of themselves on
our digital cameras -- the first time they have
ever seen what they look like. (Imagine
never knowing what you look like?) But in a
place with no mirrors and missing so many other
things, life is very different.
As a
physician I recognized that the NJIA Health
Center had the essential ingredients to be
successful -- patients in need, willing doctors,
and friends like all of you who believe in
helping the most needy of this world. It is easy
for me to see how the plight of his people
had drawn Fr. Stephen to action. Now as a
layman, Stephen Mosha has devoted every part of
himself in the service of these women and
children in desperate need. I thank God that
there are courageous people like him who can
work directly with the destitute on our behalf.
I am reminded, however, that what binds us all
together as supporters of the NJIA Health Center
and Life Project for Africa is beyond the merits
of any one man. We too are responding to the
tears in eyes of an eight year old girl who has
lost her parents to HIV infection and now finds
herself as head of the household -- in charge of
herself and her two young brothers. I met this
girl on my travels in Tanzania. Without our
help her choices are death or "marriage"! The
NJIA Health Center and the related projects of
Life Project for Africa are helping save lives
and salvage shattered childhoods. That is the
work, my dear friends, that your dollars are
engaged in. I am proud to be part of this effort
with you and to share some photos from my family
trip to the NJIA Health Center. I look forward
to visiting the hospital again, perhaps with
some of you! Be well and stay active in your
support of LPA.
George Mussalli, M.D.
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