WITH 30 € PER MONTH YOU'LL TAKE CARE OF A COUNTRY
OPAM gives his contribution in the effort to get out of the serious health situation in some African countries and in this regard has launched a pilot project in one of the poorest areas of the Democratic Republic of Congo; this is one of the countries in the world with the highestmortality rate. We are referring to the territory of Bokungu-Ikela in Equateur province, 42,000 sq km of rainforest, hampered by its severe geographical isolation.
Here is the Nursing School of Bokungu-Ikela, which utilizes the premises of a previous school restored by OPAM (see the insert on health problems and on the birth of the School)
The school is open to everybody without any gender, ethnic or religious discrimination. All the students come from very poor families. Nevertheless, families are strongly motivated to educate their children and run the school through a management committee.
Not all the students stay in Bokungu: many attend the school with great sacrifices, as there is no reception structure available. Some of them have to walk up to 24 km round trip every day. In consideration of the extreme poverty of families, to promote the enrolment of young people, the school must be admission-free. For this reason we decided to launch the sponsorshipof future nurses.
Supporting the training of an A2 student means covering the costs of food, teaching materials, textbooks and necessary equipment.
In addition, those already in possession of a diploma A2, will receive a scholarship to attend a two-years course in Kinshasa and obtain a health director licence; in this way he will be able to replace the current health director, a French volunteer who will end her mandate this year. In this case the aid covers the costs of tuition, teaching material, food, accommodation and transport.
Everybody gets a scholarship, commits himself to exercise nursing free of charge for at least 5 years in local health facilities. We are asking other international agencies for funds to renew the existing health centers and to get health equipment, so that in Bokungu-Ikela territory the population will be able to improve his health condition.
We invite you to promote this initiative among your friends. Please contact us so if you or your friends need further information.
In 2010-2011 school year we have to support 43 nurses.
Heartfelt thanks from Sr. Henrie Colette Nsongi, physician and director of BODM and from Mons. Fridolin Ambongo, bishop of Bokungu-Ikelite diocese; they will keep us posted about the helped people school progress.
