Long-Term Engagement of “Aktion Kleiner Prinz” in Goma (DR of the Congo)

The Bethesda Hospital in Goma in the Democratic Republic of the Congo has been supported   by “Aktion Kleiner Prinz” for many years, but up to the present day there did not exist a   special children’s unit. When in October 2008 new riots broke out, the hospital became a refuge for numerous families who were ill, wounded, exhausted and entirely penniless.  “Aktion Kleiner Prinz” helped those desperate people with a spontaneously collected donation of 43.000 Euro, but this could not solve the long-term problem of the insufficient conditions for a pediatric treatment.

In February 2009 Dr. Kakule Molo, president of the supporting organisation of Bethesda-Hospital, the Baptist Church in Central Africa, visited the children’s aid organisation in Warendorf and convinced the board of the necessity of a children’s medical unit. The board decided to support the project and was glad to find a partner in the Johannes Beese foundation.
The engagement of “Aktion Kleiner Prinz” for the country (named Zaire at that time) had begun in the nineties of the past century: In Goma the lives of many thousands of children in refugee camps could be saved by financial and medical supplies. Goma, a frontier town of about 500.000 inhabitants in the East of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, has up to the present been afflicted by blood-stained wars and brutal massacres to an especially cruel extent. The traditional Virunga hospital to which medical aid supplies had been sent was destroyed by the eruption of the volcano Nyragongo in 2002. The Bethesda field hospital was   built instead initiated by the physician Dr. Berndt Otte and financially supported by “Aktion Kleiner Prinz”. Throughout the years the hospital became a set of compact buildings    including  an operating tract and in 2006 a maternity unit.

In 2008 by financial support of “Aktion Kleiner Prinz” a solar plant was installed. Dr. Bose, director of the hospital, in a phone call thanked the donator and expressed his enthusiasm that there was electricity now by day and night which enabled them to carry out medical treatment and operations even at night. The money spent for a diesel emergency generator before could now be used for the supply of patients.

Dr. Otte, who was born in Warendorf and now works as a medical practitioner in Wipperfürth, is a member of the Baptist Community in Goma. He had worked for several aid organisations in Africa. He visits Bethesda-hospital regularly and informs “Aktion Kleiner Prinz” about the state of development there. The director of the hospital regularly sends reports on how the donations have been used.

By the establishment of the new children’s unit another contribution will be made to diminish the misery of the people who for more than fifteen years have been afflicted by the most brutal civil wars. Those people are extremely grateful for our help. Dr. Otte is deeply impressed by their friendly and happy nature which, in spite of their miserable situation, enables them to laugh and to sing.