Project Description
Recently Waves of Mercy International has been made aware of the desperate need for anti venom in Swaziland, Africa. People are dying and losing limbs from the poisonous bites of snakes. The bites from the black mamba and Mozambique spitting cobra, to name a few, are causing great suffering among the poor there. The anti venom is very costly (approximately $120 Canadian per vial) and each victim needs at least 5 vials to survive. The cost for treatment is out of reach for most people as the average daily income is about $1 US per day. The situation is desperate and time is very critical after one is bitten, anti venom must be administered within the first few hours.
Call to Action:
Waves of Mercy International has purchased and delivered many vials of anti-venom to the Good Shepherd Hospital in Swaziland. The stock of anti venom has now been used; we need to purchase more as soon as possible. We have also purchased and delivered medical equipment to this hospital to help the doctors treat snake bite victims. Another great need for this region is to have a 4×4 vehicle which could be used as an ambulance as people are not able to get transport to the hospital from the rural areas.
Donate to help buy more anti-venom!
A Snake in My Bed
Thank you for this lovely message. I will pass it on to Clifton as well.
I was at GSH yesterday to visit a snakebite victim who had a terrible experience. I’ll tell you the story:
The elderly lady is paralized from her neck down. She has slight movement in her hands a feet. At about 21:00, she saw a Mozambique spitting cobra crawling onto her bed. In an attempt to scare the snake away, she wiggled her toes. The snake bit her. She tried again, this time a little harder, it bit her again. The third time she really tried with all her might and it bit her a third time.
She lay with the snake in her bed the entire night until the neighbours came to her rescue in the morning.
They called the ambulance but it never arrived. Finally they found someone with a car but he wanted E200.00 to take her but she didn’t have the money to pay. It took 5 days for her to finally get to the hospital.
It was too late for antivenom and now we are just treating her wound as best we can. See pictures below (caution, not for sensitive viewers).
