When Dr Marco Capretti told us we could do something for Father Stefano Scaringella, doctor and medical director of the Hôpital St. Damien in Ambanja (Ankify), we were thrilled.
Dr Capretti, with Via Etica onlus and in collaboration with the Faculty of Engineering in Brescia, brought prototypes of stoves and wind-powered devices to improve everyday living conditions.
Engineering students designed a simple, very low-cost stove fuelled by rice husks (the residue of rice milling), affordable for everyone. Via Etica onlus has also included the construction of "real" windmills in Antananarivo in its next project.
All we did was "extend" this work by launching our own project at the Capuchin mission in Ambanja, near Ankify. Our research and treatment project aims to eradicate leprosy with ozone therapy. Doubts are legitimate, because we are not sure that ozone is effective against Hansen's bacillus, which causes the disease.
However, with Camilla and Luca Papetti, in past years we visited the leprosarium attached to St. Damien in Ambanja, took tissue samples from leprosy wounds and, even more importantly, attracted attention. Father Stefano, who is in charge of the mission hospital, said he was interested both in working with ozone therapy and in growing crops on the land next to the hospital, to provide food for the orphans living at the mission.
For the hospital, we have sent and continue to send medicines and volunteer doctors, such as Dr Nicolò Scaroni, who helped in the ophthalmology department.
Camilla Papetti also organised support activities for the children at the centre, with a variety of very motivating occupational activities, despite the obvious challenge of managing so many children at once.
Finally, in 2018 we completed training for the hospital's doctors on the ozone therapy unit, for treating post-traumatic wounds, fistulas, ulcers of various kinds and post-surgical wounds.