By Healthymagination | Posted August 27 2010
Guest blogger Karen Berger is a travel writer who has covered traveler’s health in her books on outdoor travel, as well as in articles published on major Internet sites and in national magazines. She visited South Africa’s “Miracle Train” in East London, Eastern Cape Province. She is the Feature Writer for International Volunteer and Ecotourism for Suite101.com.
On an autumn day, a quiet, solemn group gathers at a train station in South Africa’s Eastern Cape province. They are waiting to board what has come to be called South Africa’s “Miracle Train.” But these people are not interested in traveling.
They are here for health care.
Formally called Phelophepa (a combination of seSotho and seTswana words meaning “good clean health”) the Miracle Train started as an eye and vision care project with major funding from the Transnet Foundation, the philanthropic arm of the state-owned rail carrier. The original train had just three basic cars; today, 18 air-conditioned cars carry medical students and volunteer doctors and nurses to remote rural areas to treat more than 45,000 patients a year. Services include vision, dental, and psychiatric services, cancer screening, preventative care for Type 2 diabetes, and HIV/AIDS counseling. Since its launch in 1994, the train has served more than 500,000 patients and traveled more than 100,000 miles.
“For many patients, we provide the only modern healthcare available,” says Dr. Cingo, Phelophepa’s manager, while showing a group of journalists around the train. “Some people walk here for a day or more.” Indeed, the only other choice is often a visit to the local witch doctor. So the train also supports a clinic where participants nominated by their communities receive basic medical training so that they can bring modern information back to their villages. And the staff work with local leaders and healers to publicize the train’s services and maximize its impact.
Inside the train, work proceeds in an orderly fashion. In the psychiatry car, two private compartments are set aside for privacy. In the optometry car, patients peer into a phoropter to see an eye chart, and smile widely as they see clearly, sometimes for the first time in years
“The train has to move from place to place, so we focus on immediate treatable problems,” Cingo explains. “We can’t treat conditions such as cancer in a single session. But we can do screening. and refer the patient to the nearest hospital for continuing care.”
A black South African, Dr Lillian Cingo studied as a nurse and midwife during South Africa’s Apartheid years, then studied neurosurgery, tropical medicine, and HIV/Aids counseling in London. She returned to South Africa, and has been with Phelophepa since 1995. For her, Phelophepa’s miracles have worked both ways: Her work has been both empowering and uplifting, helping to heal some of the scars of Apartheid.
As a result of Phelophepa’s success, Transnet is funding a second train, Phelophepa II, in partnership with the South African government and pharmaceutical companies such as Roche and Colgate Palmolive. Transnet estimates spending more than 80 million S.A. Rand on the project, which is expected to launch in 2011.
CONNECT THE DOTS
Phelophepa has been a joint project of the Transnet Foundation, which funds 75 percent, government agencies, and companies such as Roche (which supports the cancer screening programs) and Colgate Palmolive (which supports dental care). The project is headed by Dr. Lillian Cingo. To find out how you can help, visit Train of Hope.org.
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