THEY CALL ME «MZUNGU»

My interest in this region appeared back in the distant 80s when we were children and watched Soviet television. Even then, I was amazed by the footage from Africa: nature, animals, mystical traditions, and what is most important – the suffering of people, the low standard of living and disease. During that time, the idea to become a doctor was born in my head. I really wanted to help Africans, go to Africa and treat them. Since childhood, it was clear that I would become an infectious diseases doctor, and in my twenties I undertook that specialisation.

In the first year of my work in the infectious diseases hospital, I heard about an invitation to work in a hospital in Africa. I ran with joy to the head physician with my resume. But her answer was simple: “Your experience is 6 months. The required experience is 5 years. You are young and inexperienced. Go back in your department” It was very embarrassing!

Time passed, I had been working as an infectious disease specialist for 12 years. I Became a virologist, epidemiologist and molecular biologist.That time Africa itself was waiting for me. I was sent to Uganda from Israel.

And you do understand that I immediately agreed to go.

So, there I was, working in Africa, in Uganda, in Entebbe. The locals call me “MZUNGU” (white man in local language). For them, I am a curiosity, because I’m the only white-skinned blonde here. Children surround me on the street and follow me for a while. More and more of them every day.

The other day a group of kids ran up to me, holding bracelets woven from threads and ribbons in their hands. Children handed me these baubles, asking me to buy 1 dollar each. But I didn’t need bracelets, and I didn’t even have dollar bills with me, so I refused politely. But they continued jumping around me with begging eyes. At last, I decided to give them some sweets from my supply. Taking off my backpack, I opened it and began to rummage through the compartments with my hand. There was an unopened package of Bon Pari lollipops, which I handed to the busiest bracelet dealer. The children jumped happily, clapping their hands. Then something completely unexpected happened to me: they put their bracelets on my backpack and ran away with a bag of sweets. I was left standing in confusion. I now had 10-15 baubles for $15, though I gave children some bags of sweets for $2. How unfair of me! On the other hand, from the children’s viewpoint, it was an amazingly profitable exchange. Rare Overseas sweets for some braided threads. Probably each of us thought that it was an incredibly successful deal. That’s how I got handmade bracelets that I would give away to my colleagues as souvenirs when I get back to the lab.

…I live near the great Victoria Lake. The second largest in the world. It looks like a calm sea, and you feel the same on its shore. However, the lake is teeming with schistosomes.This is a parasite that penetrates into the skin of a person and rises to the internal organs, destroying them. Therefore, even a drop of water from this lake is not harmless, especially if you have wounds on your skin. It’s like sitting on the shore of an acidic lake on Venus - beautiful, but extremely dangerous. Other parasites common on the ground are hookworms. They also penetrate the skin and then, according to the plan of all parasites, make their way to the internal organs. Perhaps you might think twice before walking barefoot on the grass along the picturesque shore?

There are snakes, but they are afraid of people, so you won’t meet them unless you specifically look for them. However, lizards come to the house, hang on the walls, wait for you in the shower, in the kitchen. They eat mosquitoes, so they are considered extremely useful. That is why sleeping surrounded by lizards is even safer. Better still, sleep under a net and have suitable repellent.

There is also an amazing lake fly phenomenon - a cloud of lake flies. They don’t bite, they don’t stick. They have only 24 hours to breed before they die.Therefore, they don’t care about you. But if this cloud gets in your way, then your nose, mouth and eyes will be plastered over. It’s not scary. It’s uncomfortable.

It’s a rainfall season now, and it feels like a waterfall from the sky. The roads here are made of a red clay, and when it gets wet, it turns into a slush, difficult to overcome. Only powerful jeeps could cope with such roads. Sometimes they are also pulled off the road into ditches, and stay there lying on their sides, like tired cows. This is how we went on expeditions to the villages. On jeeps slowly wending our way through such roads. There were some villages, where no one can get for many days. Moreover, people there remain hungry and deprived of any help, including medical assistance.

I applied all my knowledge in medicine and virology here. I took blood myself, interviewed patients and worked with samples in the laboratory.

Africa has dramatically changed my view on epidemiology. What I understood while being here: we came to save this part of the world from infections. But people here are in such close contact with these viral, bacterial and parasitic infections that it has become an integral part of their condition. Looking at how children dive headlong into the dark waters of Lake Victoria, and then go home barefoot, I realized that treating hookworm and schistosomiasis in this case is a utopia, because tomorrow, and the day after tomorrow, and in 10 years, they will do the same. There was another question: what if these viruses, bacteria and protozoa get to us, visitors, or to another continent? Our mission was to answer these questions.

Just before our visit to Africa, the Zika virus caused troubles in the world. Women who contracted this infection for the first time during pregnancy gave birth to children with microcephaly. South America and the American South were the hardest hit.

The Zika virus is named thus because it was found in the Zika forest in Uganda. Therefore, we arrived at the heart of this infection and collected blood samples from people who live around Zika Forest. Since then we have studied their immune response against Zika virus. Based on the knowledge gained, a vaccine and treatment has been developed. Today, pregnant women avoid such consequences, and children are born healthy.

The data assembled during this expedition is of great importance for world science, especially considering the conditions under which it was assembled.

“That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind,” as Neil Armstrong said.

by Anna Demina Winner of OEBF 2022 in Best Academy work category. Article published with the Saltanat Rakhimbekova grant.