About our project
Our project – Build Hope – aims to build a health-clinic in a rural war-torn community of the Democratic Republic of Congo, in partnership with a local hospital and other Congolese actors.
This health clinic forms part of a larger vision to holistically tackle the health challenges faced by women and children in particular there, who remain targets in the ongoing Congolese conflict.
Why the Congo?
Ongoing conflict and violence has killed millions in this country, displaced many more and has torn at the very fabric of society. Congolese women and children endure some of the most inhumane forms of gender-based violence that the world has ever seen.
Those living in rural areas in particular, bear the brunt of Congo’s social woes. Rural communities are generally unable to access crucial social services, like healthcare, education and justice.
Where We Are Going — The Mwenga Territory
The Mwenga territory in the South Kivu region of Congo, is a known stomping grounds for several rebel groups, and has a violent history of massacre, mass rape and pillaging.
Along the road there, are rebel strongholds, where murders occur frequently and women are raped, or taken into the jungles to be kept as sex-slaves, or “war-brides”. As a result of all these factors and many, many more, women and children in Mwenga die wantonly each and every day.
The effects of conflict, lack of formal education or proper sanitation and extreme poverty, make communities like Mwenga a comfortable breeding ground for death and disease.
These issues are further exacerbated in the absence of trained medical professionals, resources or a primary health-care facility that is readily accessible or affordable.
“The people of Mwenga live in a state of continuous despair. Unable to overcome their post-conflict trauma, they seem to only expect misfortune and are unwilling to fight to reclaim what they have lost. This is a people in desperate need of health-care and the hope that comes with it”.
Why women?
Congo has been named “the worst place to be a woman”.
The international community has adopted the term ‘conflict-based gender based violence’ as a euphemism to refer to the violent, militant and extremely inhumane rape that affects approximately 36 Congolese women and children EVERY day.
This form of rape can be accompanied by mutilation, dismemberment and extreme forms of torture. Death is usually a welcome reprieve.
Many Congolese activists believe that rape is used as a cheap and effective weapon of mass destruction to systematically destroy communities and break the will of the Congolese people by targeting its most vulnerable and yet most valuable population – women.
Conflict rape is just the tip of the iceberg, however. Now, the militarization of civilians has resulted in escalating rates of rape committed by husbands, community leaders and other civilians, known and unknown by the victims.
The rape crisis in Congo has resulted in a multitude of health complications for women and girls:
Why?
1. Most rape survivors do not seek treatment immediately, and live with infections and other conditions that eventually debilitate and can kill them
2. STD’s like HIV/AIDs and other treatable infections spread like wildfire when rape-victims are unable to access care.
3. Serious gynecological conditions like fistulae, prolapse, and untreated vaginal infections can cause unthinkable pain and fertility issues.
To read more about the plight of the Congolese women, read our founder’s blog.
Why Build Hope?
There is a desperate need for women in rural communities to access life-saving medical care without putting themselves at risk of rape and death by traveling to urban clinics.
In February 2013, we will begin our project to address women’s health in the Kilungutwe village in the Mwenga territory, under the umbrella of projects operated by the prolific Panzi Hospital.
Together with Panzi’s team of highly qualified social workers, gynecologists and leading gender-based violence experts, we will work within the Congolese public health system to build a clinic that will provide much-needed general medical services and care to mothers and rape-survivors in this traumatized community.
The first phase of this vision is our return mission in February 2013. We need YOUR help to get this Startd.
What does the 1st phase consist of?
This return mission consists of the following elements:
1. Providing traditional birth attendants with basic training on maintaining a sterile birthing environment. We will resource these important players in Congo’s health infrastructure with fellow Medstartr Maternova’s Clean Birth Kits.
2 We will also be hiring one community health-worker who will act as our local point person in the village and stand in the interim while the clinic is developed.
3. Begin forming very important relationships with our future care-seekers – women. We will return with 300 of our home-grown Building Moms kits and conduct seminars with these women on reproductive health and basic health-care issues that they SHOULD know.
4. Conduct a comprehensive needs assessment and survey into maternal and child health in this region. This assessment will help us create a strong evaluation tool to determine our impact and come to a deeper understanding of the complex medical and health realities in Mwenga.
5. Align ourselves within the Congolese health system. We need to meet with certain key provincial health authorities in Congo and local partners to get the clinic underway.
Why Panzi?
We will be working with Panzi Hospital and its founder and Chief of Medicine: Dr. Denis Mukwege to make Build Hope a reality.
Dr. Denis Mukwege is a highly skilled gynecologist, the recipient of several international awards, and a three time nominee for the Nobel Peace Prize. He founded Panzi Hospital with the assistance of UNICEF as a response to the health-challenges facing Congolese women.
Today, the Panzi Hospital is an internationally renowned health-care facility that has revolutionized gynecological care for rape-survivors and other women in Eastern Congo. It is one of the few health-facilities in the entire country with the capacity to perform fistula-repair surgery, and is responsible for several large-scale women’s rights and public health campaigns in the region.
What are these BUILDING MOMS KITS?
Our home-grown packages kits are comprised of simple items that mothers in Mwenga NEED — they are the CRUX of this return mission. Each one is a response to a need expressed by these women.
Here’s what’s in the BUILDING MOMS KITS:
What are the Maternova Clean Birth Kits?
We do not want to only train midwives on how to make the birthing process safer for women. We want to resource and empower them to ACTUALLY MAKE the birthing process safer. Theory means nothing without practice.
The CLEAN BIRTH KIT targets the “six cleans” recognized by WHO: clean hands, clean perineum, clean delivery surface, clean cord cutting and tying instruments and clean cutting surface. The kit itself contains the following items:
- A sterile surface
- Sterilizing hand wipes
- Clamps for the umbilical cord
- Scalpel blade made of bamboo
These kits will accompany our training seminars on how to change birth from one of the most dangerous experiences a Congolese woman can survive to one of joy and promise.
Where’s your money going?
All the funds we raise will go toward fully funding this first phase of our project (details above) to build this rural health clinic in Mwenga – an undeniable need that we CAN address.
Here’s a general breakdown of the costs we’re looking at:
- Return Airfare: $2000
- Congolese Multiple Entry VISA: $300
- 6 Months Stipend for Community Health Worker: $1200
- 20 Clean Birth Kits: $100
- 300 Building Moms Kits: $1500
Interested in Partnering With Us?
We are all in favor of partnering and collaborating to come up with the best possible solutions for the people most in need of it. We’re looking for 2 things in our partners: expertise and funding! If you have any ideas of want to collaborate, get in touch with us at: buildhopedrc@gmail.com. Partners will receive a number of benefits and opportunities. Check out our special PARTNER REWARDS on the right!
Partner Rewards
We want our partners to feel intimately connected with the plight of the Congolese woman and the help we are offering her. As one of our partners, you will receive access to data, video and email updates, AND the opportunity to speak directly with Dominique, our founder who will be on the ground in Mwenga. When she returns to the States, she would also be happy to meet with you face-to-face! Additionally, we want to show you loads and loads of public displays of gratitude. As an official partner, you will be recognized on the footers of our official documents, our annual report and publicly on our website. Check our special PARTNER REWARDS on the right!
Lastly, who are we?
Channel Initiative is a newly formed nonprofit organization, pending registration in the state of Virginia. Channel’s mission is to respond to desperate needs in un-served communities around the world. Channel’s pilot project, is called Build Hope.
-
Have a question?
If the info above does not help, you can ask the project creator directly.
-
-
){kind=link}
){kind=link}