MOZAMBIQUE: From the air it looks like a golden paradise but on the ground the sadness left in the wake of AIDS is all too apparent. Deaglán de Bréadún reports from Massinga in Mozambique
It could be a scene from Apocalypse Now, the film that brought alive the horrors of Vietnam. Two ultra-sleek helicopters cruise low over the palm trees and land in a vast cloud of dust. On the ground, young local men perform a welcoming war-dance to the sound of drums.
But instead of Robert Duvall, who plays a US soldier leaning out of a helicopter and, scanning the explosions devastating the village below, utters the famous line that he "liked the smell of napalm in the morning", it is Brian Cowen who emerges from the chopper to glad-hand the crowd in the best Fianna Fáil tradition.
And instead of war, famine, pestilence and death, the Minister for Foreign Affairs and his flying column of civil servants and aid workers are bringing funds from the Irish taxpayer to control and, if possible, eradicate these evils.
The country is Mozambique, third-poorest in the world. The province is Inhambane (Land of the Good People), crippled by poverty, HIV/AIDS and a legacy of civil war and drought. The place is Massinga, a rural area of Inhambane, suffering heavily from all the ailments that torment modern Africa.
Ireland has no major historic connection with Mozambique and there are only a few dozen Irish people living there. But because the former Portuguese colony is so poor and deprived, Development Co-operation Ireland (DCI), the aid division of the Department of Foreign Affairs, has included it among its six priority countries for development assistance, and will donate a total of €37 million to that afflicted nation next year.
Mr Cowen's chopper is piloted by David O'Connell, South African-born but the son of a Belfast man, Brian O'Connell, who emigrated in the late 1950s. From the air, Massinga looks like an earthly paradise of golden sands, coconut trees, and colourful landscapes.
But once they have their feet on the ground, the Minister and his party get a different perspective.
After the noisy high spirits of the people at the airstrip, the silent suffering of the patients in the Massinga Rural Hospital comes as a shock.
More shocking still are the conditions in which they suffer. The medical director, Dr Antonio Almajene, shows the Irish delegation around.
There are only 65 beds to serve a community of 320,000. The Minister tells local journalists this is the size of Cork, then explains that Cork is Ireland's second city.
Mr Cowen cannot resist drawing a contrast with conditions back home, which are nevertheless the subject of constant complaint.
Grimmest of all is Massinga's "isolation ward", only a short distance from the main hospital buildings, where patients languish in the midday heat. They are suffering from TB and other communicable diseases, but Dr Almajene remarks that "TB is often a euphemism for AIDS".
The water supply is poor and use of the toilets has to be restricted.
About 20 metres from the isolation ward stands a set of latrines, surrounded by corrugated iron sheeting, an ominous sight even to a healthy person, never mind a hospital patient.
Electricity is also problematic. At the time of yesterday's visit, the power was down all over Massinga except for an odd flicker at the governor's residence. One ward has only nine beds for 22 patients.
"Some are sharing the same bed, sleeping on the floor or outside in the open," says the doctor.
Through necessity the maternity room and the gynaecological treatment room have to be next to one another, causing concern to Dr Almajene that mothers having babies might catch infections. As a child cries in the background, the doctor explains that malaria is one of the major causes of death among children.
Despite its large catchment area, Massinga Rural Hospital does not have an operating theatre or surgical ward.
"This is our priority," Dr Almajene says. At present, people have to travel 70 kilometres to undergo an operation.
This is where Ireland comes in. The Minister said €1.5 million was being provided for a two-year building programme at the hospital.
The health adviser for the project is Dr Douglas Hamilton, former surgical registrar at Waterford's Ardkeen Hospital.
As an interim measure, the Minister made an immediate donation of €25,000 yesterday for special diagnostic equipment to assist in identifying victims of HIV/AIDS.
Pointing out that all aid measures are being carried out in consultation with the local administration and health service, the Minister added: "They don't need a hand-out, they need a leg-up."