The second largest country of Africa, full of paradoxes. On one hand, it is rich in natural resources (including cobalt, copper, coltan, crude oil, diamonds, gold); on the other hand, its inhabitants are among the poorest in the world. For decades, the DRC has been suffering from prolonged conflicts that have led to one of the most severe humanitarian crises in the world.
17.07.2023
Esperance is only counting down to three before her eyelids close in blissful sleep. For her it will only be a few seconds, but the Ntamugenga hospital team will be fighting for her life for a long time that day.
“We haven’t seen something like this for a long time, she’s a very brave girl. Everything has gone well.” says our surgeon, smiling at Esperance’s father, who is probably taking his first deep breath of the day.
Wilms tumour is a malignant cancer of the kidney that can take up half of the abdominal cavity in a few weeks. It would seem to be a death sentence in the conditions of the Congolese jungle. Armed conflict is brewing all around, and diagnosis and treatment are expected to take months.
Yet Esperance’s father transports her through the battlefields, each time travelling more than two days one way, and it is hard not to believe that some tremendous force has been working in their favour all along. Each time they happily arrive at our hospital, where the doctors are waiting with another round of treatment.
By giving us high-fives, you have covered the costs of all the diagnostics, surgery and chemotherapy. You have also helped to provide the girl with food, money for return tickets, hygiene products and clothes. So that the little patient’s only concern was her recovery.
Today they returned to their home village so that Esperance could rest after the gruelling treatment. The prognosis is very good, but we will still perform the most necessary imaging tests to be sure. Without your help, this child would not have had the slightest chance.
Thank you that, thanks to your high-fives, we can produce so much good with you in such a remote corner of the world!
21.08.2024
A woman who loses her husband is called a widow. A child who loses their parents becomes an orphan. We have words for so many things, but there is no word for a parent who loses a child. Perhaps it’s because such a reversal of the natural order is beyond what our hearts, let alone […]
28.06.2024
When I was leaving for tests with other patients, I asked the physiotherapist to bring Dawid some juice – maybe he will wake up from this coma, maybe he will be thirsty? The news of Dawid’s passing reached Sister Agnieszka the same day. She had fought for him for many months, providing him with treatment […]
21.06.2024
Dawid‘s head is swelling from the tumor, and he doesn’t understand what’s happening. Thankfully, his dad is always by his side, explaining everything to him. We wish we could write a story like Dawid’s battle against Goliath, but life is also a story about loss. Sometimes heroism is about standing by those whom we are […]
