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Wounded elderly woman saved in Madagascar

MAF Madagascar’s reputation as a supplier of medical aid makes all the difference to Nononje, an elderly lady wounded in a cattle raid

The shots that the dahalo (cattle raider) fired were indiscriminate.

Nononje, an elderly Madagascan woman, was one of those hit, leaving her with a large wound in her knee and in terrible pain.

Her community’s remote location, however, limited access to the medical care which she needed, while her subsistent lifestyle made it difficult to afford any treatment.

There was hope though. Her family knew that MAF regularly flew in medical professionals from Antananarivo to the town of Beroroha, where they offered their services for free.

MAF partners with HoverAid to provide this much-needed ‘Madagascar Medical Safari’.

Although Nononje and her family had just missed the latest MMS, this partnership saved Nononje’s life.

For HoverAid’s staff could assess her and knew that her disintegrated, infected knee put her life in the balance.

They arranged urgent overland transport to the capital, where she was seen by one of the same doctors that MAF normally flies to Beroroha. He treated the wound and placed pins in Nononje’s knee to save her leg, although it may never be able to bend again.

Four months after Nononje was shot, MAF pilot Josh Plett flew her back to Beroroha. Their arrival marked the beginning of another medical safari that Nononje had just missed before.

‘She may not be able to bend her leg anymore,’ says Josh, ‘but her life was saved. This was only made possible through the witness MAF and the Madagascar Medical Safari teams have built up in Beroroha over the years.’