The big heart of CUAMM

There are people there with fewer material securities, but capable of living relationships and community in a very intense way. And also, and above all, in the religious dimension. There, David also encountered communities capable of living faith, suffering, and human relationships with a participation that, in our richer and more organized world, sometimes seems to have weakened.

The churches are full, often to the point that many people have to stand. There are numerous choirs, in which people sing with all their energy. The different neighborhoods take turns organizing the celebration, singing, and proclaiming the readings.

At the end of the Mass, birthdays, weddings, and important events of the community are celebrated. During the offertory, those who can offer money; those who cannot bring produce from the garden or food items. Everything happens while singing and dancing.

One feels truly part of a family. Sunday is the center of community life. It is a joyful and contagious faith.

But this faith is not just something formal to be displayed during community celebrations. Even daily life is permeated by it, and Dr. Placco himself witnessed this in his hospital ward. Nurses, psychologists, patients, and families frequently spoke of God. In the most difficult moments, when a newborn was in danger or a family had just suffered a loss, faith became a way to entrust oneself and seek a strength that medicine alone could not provide.

But what effect did this way of living his profession have on Davide?

He felt very comfortable. In Italy, it is often difficult to talk about faith in the workplace and even more so in a hospital. Science and religion are frequently presented as opposing or completely separate realities.

Of course, he also worked with non-believers and the comparison was important. There were different sensitivities and motivations. But being in an environment where faith could be expressed freely supported him greatly.

But the aspect that Dr. Placco has become even more aware of is that helping means educating.

It is not enough to build a well, bring in machinery, or start a service. It is necessary to train people who can continue the work. He himself has therefore held lessons for the students.

This is precisely the method expressed by the name Medici con l’Africa: not to come from the outside to replace those who live in the area, but to work together so that the communities and local professionals can carry on what has been built.

Helping Africa means above all creating the conditions for people to live with dignity in their own homes, without being forced to leave them.

This is how the big heart of CUAMM manifests: knowing how to give to build.

Six months in Mozambique between medicine, faith, and humanity for doctor Davide Placco

Davide Placco, 32 years old, is a resident physician in Pediatrics at the Hospital-University of Padua and is part of Doctors with Africa CUAMM. He spent almost six months in Mozambique, working in a large hospital and interacting daily with children, newborns, families, and local healthcare staff.

The organization he left for the African continent with is Doctors with Africa CUAMM. The name comes from the original designation of University College for aspiring missionary doctors, founded in Padua in 1950 to prepare doctors and healthcare workers willing to put their skills at the service of African populations.

The initiative was promoted by the doctor Francesco Canova together with the bishop of Padua Girolamo Bortignon. A few years later, in 1955, the direction was entrusted to don Luigi Mazzucato, a priest from Padua, who would lead CUAMM for fifty-three years, transforming that small college into one of the main Italian organizations engaged in health cooperation in Africa.

Today, Doctors with Africa CUAMM is led by Don Dante Carraro and operates through long-term health projects, with particular attention to the training of local staff, hospitals, territorial services, and the health of mothers and children. The choice of the words “with Africa,” rather than simply “for Africa,” expresses a precise method: not to replace local populations, but to work alongside them, sharing skills and responsibilities.

When Davide left for Mozambique, he brought with him his medical training and the experience gained as a pediatric resident at the Hospital-University of Padua.

In Africa, however, he found himself practicing medicine in a radically different context, where even exams, medications, and tools considered essential in Italy can suddenly be unavailable.

For example, it could happen that it was not possible to perform a simple blood test on a child or that adrenaline, a crucial drug in case of cardiac arrest, was missing, even in a large tertiary hospital.

Davide therefore felt how privileged we are and take everything for granted. He felt like the “rich white” because, even without having an extraordinary salary, compared to many of the people he met, he was truly very wealthy. They could see him as we look at a billionaire or a very famous person.

But then he met people who have very little, yet live with simplicity, serenity, and a closeness to others that can be disarming. And this led him to change his perspective because he saw these people who had little and were happy.

But is it possible to say that those people are happier than us? In reality, there are pros and cons. One cannot idealize a condition where mortality is higher and easily treatable diseases in Europe can have serious consequences. At the same time, however, our society sometimes seems to weigh people down. We have a lot, but we risk living with greater loneliness, anxiety, and sadness.

There are people there with fewer material securities, but capable of living relationships and community in a very intense way. And also, and above all, in the religious dimension. There, David also encountered communities capable of living faith, suffering, and human relationships with a participation that, in our richer and more organized world, sometimes seems to have weakened.

The churches are full, often to the point that many people have to stand. There are numerous choirs, in which people sing with all their energy. The different neighborhoods take turns organizing the celebration, singing, and proclaiming the readings.

At the end of the Mass, birthdays, weddings, and important events of the community are celebrated. During the offertory, those who can offer money; those who cannot bring produce from the garden or food items. Everything happens while singing and dancing.

One feels truly part of a family. Sunday is the center of community life. It is a joyful and contagious faith.

But this faith is not just something formal to be displayed during community celebrations. Even daily life is permeated by it, and Dr. Placco himself witnessed this in his hospital ward. Nurses, psychologists, patients, and families frequently spoke of God. In the most difficult moments, when a newborn was in danger or a family had just suffered a loss, faith became a way to entrust oneself and seek a strength that medicine alone could not provide.

But what effect did this way of living his profession have on Davide?

He felt very comfortable. In Italy, it is often difficult to talk about faith in the workplace and even more so in a hospital. Science and religion are frequently presented as opposing or completely separate realities.

Of course, he also worked with non-believers and the comparison was important. There were different sensitivities and motivations. But being in an environment where faith could be expressed freely supported him greatly.

But the aspect that Dr. Placco has become even more aware of is that helping means educating.

It is not enough to build a well, bring in machinery, or start a service. It is necessary to train people who can continue the work. He himself has therefore held lessons for the students.

This is precisely the method expressed by the name Medici con l’Africa: not to come from the outside to replace those who live in the area, but to work together so that the communities and local professionals can carry on what has been built.

Helping Africa means above all creating the conditions for people to live with dignity in their own homes, without being forced to leave them.

This is how the big heart of CUAMM manifests: knowing how to give to build.