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Eastern DR Congo
NEBOBONGO EVANGELICAL HOSPITAL is owned and operated by the Evangelical Community of Christ in the Heart of Africa (COMMUNAUTE EVANGELIQUE DU CHRIST AU COEUR D'AFRIQUE).
Nebongo Evangelical Hospital is a 100 bed hospital providing services in surgery, obstetrics and gynecology, pediatrics,
internal medicine and dentistry.
It is situated in the Pawa health district, population 114,000, in the northeastern corner of the
Democratic Republic of the Congo. The Isiro health district, pop. 150,000 and other nearby health
districts also send patients to Nebobongo.
In 2009 (the most recent year with complete statistics) the Nebobongo hospital with only one
recent medical school graduate and nurses treated:
11,000 outpatients
2,600 hospitalizations
402 deliveries
478 major surgeries
306 minor surgeries
All patients are invited to attend at least one service where they can hear about the Lord while they
are at Nebobongo Hospital.
389 people received the Lord as their Savior while being treated at Nebobongo Hospital last year
Though this is a major part of our mission, medical care is provided regardless of race, ethnicity or
religion.
The area served is among the poorest in the DRC. The hospital has existed for the last 45-50 years as
an orphan ministry with only intermittent outside support. The fees the patients pay do not cover
the basic needs of the hospital. So more often than not, the staff does not receive a full salary. Yet
the indigenous Christian community remains dedicated to the mission of keeping the hospital open.
The pharmacy is never fully stocked and many repairs are deferred for lack of funds. The lab lacks
most basic testing equipment.
The hospital is off the national power grid. So aside from the operating room which has a solar
electric unit on the roof, the rest of the hospital has no electricity. They cannot afford the repairs or
the cost of the diesel fuel to run the generator they have.
There is no running water outside the operating room. The steam to sterilize instruments is
generated by wood fires. There is no sewage disposal system, so the hospital uses outdoor pit
latrines.
Dr. Jean Claude Bataneni is in his last year of a general surgery residency at Bongolo Evangelical
Hospital in Gabon. This is a Pan African Academy of Christian Surgeons Residency. It is a five year
program for training as a surgical specialist coupled with a Christian Discipleship program.
He will graduate from the residency program in July 2011. As part of his agreement with PAACS
and his sponsors while in his residency, he has made a minimum five year commitment to work at
Nebobongo Hospital. He was born in this hospital and his family and his wife's family work in this
hospital and he would like to work there beyond his four year commitment. He will be the first
residency trained surgeon to ever serve at Nebobongo (almost all of the surgery at Nebobongo for
the last 47 years has been done by nurses trained by the hospital's founder). He was sponsored in
his residency by the hospital's founder, Helen Roseveare.
Jean Claude's wife, Dr. Christine, is a general practitioner working toward a specialization in the
treatment of AIDS. She has been working in the outpatient department at the Bongolo Hospital and
starting a family, while Jean Claude has been doing his surgical residency.
Nebobongo Evangelical Hospital, was started in 1950's by British missionary, Helen Roseveare,
under WEC International (Worldwide Evangelisation for Christ). In 1964, rebels attacked the hospital, and
Dr. Roseveare was arrested and brutally raped. Years later, she was able to return to the DRC and
forgive those who had physically violated her, without touching her soul.
Dr. Helen Roseveare was an English Christian missionary to the Congo from 1953 to 1973.
Helen Roseveare went to the Congo through WEC International and practiced medicine
and also trained others in medical work. She stayed through the hostile and dangerous
political instability in the early 1960s. In 1964 she was taken prisoner by rebel forces and she
remained a prisoner for five months, enduring beatings and rape. She left the Congo and
headed back to England after her release but returned to the Congo in 1966 to assist in the
rebuilding of the nation. Taken from Wikipedia