In the first year of having children at the Abri De L’Esperance (AE) orphanage, the name of the project in Muanda which means Hiding Place of Hope, one of the precious children tested positive for AIDS. She was a beautiful little girl called Abigail. Within a year, she had passed away from this terrible AIDS virus. When a medical team from Project C.U.R.E. visited the campus, they were told about Abigail’s plight and one of the team mentioned that there are medications now that can slow down or defeat AIDS. The problem is getting access to those kinds of medications in DRC. Another problem is the lack of modern medical equipment in the clinics that now exist in the area of Muanda. For example, one clinic that was visited had no electricity, yet the doctor performed operations by daylight. Not only do these clinics have incredibly substandard equipment, but they also lack basic medical supplies.
WEM intends to build a clinic on the land that we have across the river from the main AE campus. The village chief has promised the clinic access to 24/7 electricity when it is built. That side of the river has electricity supplied by the oil company. Secondly, Project C.U.R.E., a medical foundation in the US, has offered to ship approximately $500,000 worth of modern medical equipment and supplies to the clinic when completed. Thirdly, Project C.U.R.E. has offered to send a medical team to Muanda once the equipment arrives to train the locals on its use. Fourthly, two outstanding doctors in Muanda have expressed an interest in working at the clinic once it has been completed.
This clinic will be available for not only the children of AE, but also for the surrounding community as well. With these doctors and modern equipment, the health rate of the locals should be greatly enhanced.
How can you help with the clinic? A couple of conditions that Project C.U.R.E. has for WEM to fulfill to get the medical supplies shipped are the following. WEM needs to pay for a Project C.U.R.E. Needs Assessor to go to DRC to determine what equipment and supplies would be needed. That cost is about $4,000. Then to actually ship a container of materials to DRC would cost about $20,000. The goal is to build a great clinic. WEM already has $70,000 for the clinic, but the goal would be for $100,000.
You can find more info about our partnership with Project C.U.R.E. here: https://projectcure.org/serve/cure-clinics/drc