The combined treatment/accident & emergency room at the Bukavu clinic - MORE PHOTOS in the picture gallery below - click here!

Bukavu - on the eastern edge of the vast Democratic Republic of Congo

oor communities in the town of Bukavu now have access to medical care they didn't have before. Working with Bishop Sadiki Zacharie under the auspices of the Confederation of Family of God Churches in Africa and Great Lakes (Africa) Mission GLAM), Pastor David Nestor Rumama and his wife Christine have transformed what used to be a two-star hotel into a clinic providing basic medical care to the surrounding residents.

The clinic is situated in Panzi-Essence, a poor suburb in the south-east of Bukavu that houses over 65,000 inhabitants. The clinic is working with 15 staff - 2 doctors, 10 nurses, 2 cleaners and the administrator. The prayer is for the clinic to be developed into a hospital to provide wider-reaching health care in this very poor suburb.

Pastor David and Christine Rumama - the husband-and-wife team administrating the Bukavu clinic

The building has 15 rooms, not all of which are being used at present. 8 are being used as wards, with 3 or 4 beds in small wards and 14 in large ones. There is one treatment room, which doubles up as an accident and emergency room.

he clinic is supplied with water and electricity, although Pastor David would welcome a generator for times when the electricity supply fails. Patients needing advanced treatment are transferred straight to the general hospital.

It is so encouraging to see the donated equipment being used to bring relief and healing to those who need it. The donations from the UK were a great help in getting the clinic off the ground, but the clinic got help from other sources as well - a good deal of equipment (especially furniture) was obtained locally with the help of the local churches.

There is still a great need for more equipment, particularly for an operating theatre, a maternity ward and a dental treatment room. If you are able to train staff in any aspect of running and maintaining a hospital or clinic, there's a need for you - see below for more details!

our help can make a difference to this clinic, and others which are looking to start up in other parts of Africa. You can help with:

(Left) In December 2002, this room was a derelict storeroom - now (right) it's a small ward sleeping four patients.
(Above) Pastor David Rumama (left) with clinic staff	(Above) The combined treatment/accident & emergency room
The clinic reception area - (left) eight months ago, and (right) as it looks in August 2003
One of the large wards that can hold up to 14 patients - (left) as it was in December 2002; (right) as it is now
Pastor Jacques Mushaka (on left) with his wife and Bishop Sadiki. Pastor Jacques is a level 1 qualified nurse - a qualification allowing him to work at the clinic as a doctor.	The clinic laboratory - small, basically equipped, and a great advance on what they had eight months ago!
The mud streets of the Bukavu suburb served by the clinic