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.
14.06.2023
Marguerite contracted malaria. The parents sought the child’s salvation from local shamans. The result? The girl came close to death. She was taken to our hospital in an alarming state. This is not the fault of backwardness or attachment to local traditions. It is desperation and the result of a war that makes access to medical care difficult.
Treating this condition already required blood transfusions – Marguerite received several units. She is coming back to life. You have something to celebrate because this is another child you have saved. Last year you saved almost 8,000 malaria patients. 4143 of them were children under the age of five. Almost 700 would not have survived if the hospital had run out of blood for transfusions.
Last June, we reported to you on the dramatic events that unfolded in Ntamugenga. 5,000 people sought refuge around our hospital, aware that it was the only safe place they knew. At the same time, bullets and mortars were swishing overhead.
But the occupation of North Kivu in the Democratic Republic of Congo is not over. Our hospital is still cut off from the world. The silent victims of the war are children.
We work in Congo under extreme conditions, but the same area is home for thousands of people. That is why we want to be here with them and we want them to feel that they are not alone.
Thanks to the wonderful team from Ntamugenga, a great many miracles are happening before our eyes. Thanks to you, there can be even more. For a transfusion to save someone’s life, we must have blood. Why do we pay for it? In Congo, blood is bought because, although blood donors give it for free, it has to be collected in the right conditions, tested several times, transported and stored properly. Blood donation centres are not subsidised – they are maintained by hospitals, which pay for each bag of blood. Prices fluctuate, sometimes taking us aback, sometimes dropping to USD 20, which is still a big expense, but one to which we have become accustomed.
We ask you for at least one such life-giving bag of blood, which has already saved Marguerite! Today is World Blood Donor Day. Many of you are unable to donate your blood. By funding it for our charges, you can save their lives.
11.09.2024
Little Fabien needs urgent help! Congenital hypertrophic pyloric stenosis sounds mysterious, although it’s estimated that this anatomical defect occurs in as many as 8 in 1,000 children. For Fabien, born in the heart of the Congolese bush, this diagnosis could mean a slow death from starvation and dehydration. His mother was at a loss—her son […]
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 […]
