(Córdoba, Argentina) – She was born in Nhachengue, a rural village in Mozambique. When she was only a year and a half, her feet were burned and had to be amputated. Today, 10 years later, Yoyoca has walked again with the help of a prosthesis, and this was in Córdoba, the city where she has been adopted.
Silvia Somaini and Irene Albrecht are the founders of the “Yoyoca, Africa de Pie” foundation. Although they gave so much priority to help this child walk, today they continue to work with other children with health problems. The women, who work with the Congregation of the Redemptorist Missionaries, have sponsored some girls in Mozambique and traveled in 2013 to meet them.
The situation in Mozambique (which has 24.1 million inhabitants) is dramatic. Every child is a survivor in a population whose life expectancy reaches 50.3 years and the mortality rate among children under five is 57 per 1000. The 70% of people live below the poverty line. International organizations estimate that around 400,000 children have been orphaned because of HIV.
The Redemptorists are in the poorest neighborhood of Maputo, the capital of Mozambique. The missionary Ernesto Steeman has been in the village for 14 years and is one of Yoyoca’s friends.
Córdoba is a place where you enjoy visiting friends and going for a walk, love parties and music. When the solution for Yoyoca was reached, the foundation raised the question of how to continue supporting the Redemptorist program. “There is a lot to be done because poverty is extreme”, says one of the women.
(from www.lanacion.com.ar)
Foundation “Yoyoca África de Pie”:
