A sea of brightly colored headdresses and scarves gives way to a dim sense of reality; Mozambique still has one of the highest child mortality rates in the world.
For most U.S. service members who work with the medical civil assistance program that is part of Exercise Shared Accord 2010, the mortality rate is a shocking truth of life in a country where the fear of AIDS and malaria far outweigh the fear of missing a favorite television program.
But what is most appalling is “the vivid image of hopelessness,” according to U.S. Navy Petty Officer 3rd Class Godfrey Aneke, a native of Nigeria who has suffered some of the same hardships as many Mozambicans. The MEDCAP in Moamba is reminiscent of his own early life experiences.
Aneke moved to the United States in 2003, carrying with him his most prized possession – high hopes. After attending college to obtain an engineering degree, Aneke joined the Navy as a corpsman. He is currently assigned as the company corpsman with Headquarters and Service Company, 2nd Battalion, 25th Marine Regiment.
“My life [experiences] has made me want to help people,” said Aneke of his decision to pursue a career in Navy medicine. Just as Aneke witnessed poor health care in Nigeria, the same apparent lack of quality care in Mozambique was in a way a reflection of his early life he said.
“I saw things that really tugged at my emotions here,” Aneke said. “We give them what we can, but it is frustrating to know that, while we’re helping now, the medicine won’t last.”
Yet Aneke isn’t defeated by the temporary nature of his work. Rather, his emotions and love for his fellow Africans is embedded into the fiber of his character. He enjoys his work with a sense of optimism that says even temporary help can give enough hope to survive life’s challenges.
“You can see in the way he cares for the patients that this (experience) hits home for him more than for most of us,” said U.S. Air Force Tech Sgt. Kenton Young, a pharmacy technician with the SA10 task force.
Twenty-six year old Aneke said he has forged a connection with the children he is fortunate enough to help. They embody what he’s never had; a younger sibling.
Aneke is the youngest of eight children. His two sisters live in the U.S., while four brothers remain in Nigeria and one resides in London.
Staff Sgt. Samir Hussain, company gunnery sergeant for H&S, said Aneke’s interactions with the Mozambicans gives insight into the passion behind his care.
“For Aneke, its different country, same continent,” he said. “It doesn’t matter though, because once you’ve lived in that environment, you take a greater sense of care in what you are doing.”
The MEDCAP is more than another job or another mission for Aneke and it is clear to Hussain that Aneke doesn’t have the same ignorance to poverty and the situation in Mozambique that some Americans may have.
“My family has been fortunate, so anything I can do to help bring fortune to someone who needs it more than me is an opportunity I don’t want to give up,” Aneke said.
Each patient will remain in Aneke’s mind forever as a vivid reminder of why he helps, he said. However, the memory of one boy in particular is striking.
“A young boy came in, and he was HIV positive,” said Aneke. “He was too weak to walk, and his mother was pushing him in a broken wheelchair. The chair didn’t work properly, the wheels didn’t turn, and I felt for the mother.”
Aneke decided that he couldn’t leave the boy’s side. He waited in the lines and carried the chair though the medical tents. He said the experience was unforgettable and hopes that the people he was able to help may succeed in their aspirations.
Aneke is an optimist, but also a realist, he said.
“We are here to do what we can, but we are not the final answer,” said Aneke.
Mozambicans are living in poverty and the country, while growing, has an undermanned medical corps unable to properly deal with preventable diseases like malaria, HIV/AIDS, and tuberculosis.
Aneke said that opportunities to participate in humanitarian missions like the SA10 MEDCAP are the reason he is pursuing a nursing degree at Long Island University in Brooklyn, N.Y. The Navy offers Aneke a stepping stone in his experience which he said will help him continue helping people in need.
Aneke, a U.S. citizen since 2008, said he is “living my American dream, though it hasn’t yet gotten to the extent I would like.”
Aneke plans to pursue a commission as a Navy medical officer next year.
While the corpsman may have lifted himself into success, he cannot forget that every patient he cares for represents what could have been for him. It is this fact that drives Aneke to help, he said. He reminds himself that each Mozambican is a unique individual with his or her own hopes and dreams, and he is determined to do what he can to help make them come true.