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.
In the village of Ntamugenga in the province of Northern Kivu, we support a hospital. For years, this region has been particularly dangerous: bandits, rebellions, social unrest and a constant threat of a war. The number of patients is growing constantly.
For tens of thousands of people, we are the only health care institution in the radius of several dozen kilometers (patients are carried all the way here even from Uganda).
The hospital is run by the Polish Sisters of the Angels. It would appear that to them no situation could be deemed hopeless, although they know all too well what the rumble of exploding mortars is like. In the last months of 2022, armed clashes broke out again, with the front line passing through our hospital. Thousands of refugees took shelter on the hospital grounds and in the Sisters’ mission. Today, the hospital is located in territory currently under occupation, yet it continues to operate and provide life-saving care to the local population.
As hard as it is to believe, in this small village in the mountains, where you can only get if you have a four-wheel drive car, a bunch of experts have met, who not only save lives, but serve as an example to others, showing them that hope dies last. The hospital is their entire life.
We have 90 beds at the hospital. Every year, we provide over 12 840 outpatient visits, 3 570 hospitalizations, over 820 labors (including 1/3 Caesarean sections), treatment of 6 200 patients with malaria, over 375 blood transfusions. Every year, these make up around 26 000 medical procedures.
We pay salaries to the personnel, we buy therapeutic milk, medications, equipment. All this is taking place under conditions that European doctors would find hard to imagine. Every day, we save tens of lives.
02.10.2018
Tatiana is a happy mother of three children: 12-year-old Alina, 10-year-old Christina and little Amos. She lives with her husband in Bugina, about a two-hour walk from Ntamugenga. Like most residents of the surrounding villages, the family lives off a small field, located far away. Every day is the same: a two hour walk to […]
17.05.2019
According to the head of the World Health Organization (WHO), the Ebola epidemic that has been spreading for months in this part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s North Kivu Province, where one of our hospitals is located, cannot be stopped. More than 1,700 people have already been infected, 1,100 of which have died. […]
04.07.2019
Esperence means hope. It is also the name of this two-year-old girl, who needs hope more than anything else. She was born in the midst of turmoil. Neither the government nor her parents, who were constantly arguing among themselves,were able to protect her. In the end, her parents parted ways. Cutting himself off from his […]
