Feb. 3 – The Argentine poet Jorge Luis Borges once said that the sea has the power to unite and separate. It is up to the will of men to cancel the distance between opposite sides. And this is what happened at the port of Maputo, Mozambique, where the 30th Group of the Navy (the Cavour carrier, the Etna tanker, the Bergamini frigate and the Borsini patrol), engaged in the naval campaign “Moving the System.” Between January 24 and January 31, the Group carried out different service operations (health and otherwise) for local children. The volunteers of “Operation Smile” (volunteer doctors, nurses and health care workers who carry out in over 60 countries around the world for patients with facial deformities) joined them aboard the Cavour aircraft carrier. With the support of the Italian Red Cross and medical personnel on board, the doctors performed 40 screenings and 29 interventions. Since the beginning of the humanitarian mission with the Navy began last January 10 in Mombasa (Kenya), doctors performed a total of 82 screening and 64 operations, mostly interventions on cleft lips and palates and scars from burns or violence. “Within 24 hours, our patients are usually discharged, but thanks to the availability of the aircraft carrier Cavour we can offer them the opportunity to stay on board, providing comfortable accommodation with complementary breakfast, lunch and dinner,” says Maila Gatti, responsible for Operation Smile Italy. On-site operators will ensure post-operation care along with Mozambican students enrolled in medicine. This is the first time Operation Smile works in Mozambique. On board the Etna tanker, the entire crew assisted Italian Red Cross volunteer nurses and medical volunteers of the Foundation Francesca Rava NPH Italian in optometric eye examinations on 547 children aged 3 years and over. 42 personalized glasses were donated, while conjunctivitis and other pathologies were registered and treated. “The first visit assess the convergence and alignment of the visual axes, – says Lorena Russo, a volunteer optometrist – the second visit assesses the presence of any diseases and determines whether the patient needs prescription glasses.” Maputo is the second stop for the humanitarian interventions of the Francesca Rava Foundation and the naval campaign. As of today, they have carried out 939 visits in favor of children and donated 137 glasses. “It’s not just about surgery and eye exams, but also about giving a new life to those who, very often, are marginalized,” said Admiral Paolo Treu, , commander of the 30th Naval Group division. The Italian ships left Civitavecchia on November 13 and will continue sailing to Cape Town, South Africa, where they will arrive on February 5.
