The dangers of going about the job in Congo

Travelling on roads in Congo is not always the safest. Kule, nurse coordinator for Boga region (seen here on the motorbike in the foreground) was taking supplies of drugs and equipment to newly re-opened Isura health centre in early March when he was shot at. Very fortunately he was not hit, but was stopped by the militia group and had to hand over all his identity documents and official papers for the motorbike, and his camera. The supplies worth several hundred dollars and bought with funds from Semiliki were not stolen so they have been delivered safely to Isura.

Kule lives constantly with this kind of risk, with militia still active in Boga region and near Bukiringi health centre where he is based with his wife Tauka. They have run Bukiringi for the past fifteen years, during some of the hardest times in Congo, serving the poor people living in the surrounding villages and those displaced by conflict. Every month Kule is on the road supervising some of the twenty health centres and hospitals in the area. Meanwhile in Bukiringi, midwife Aveghi is amongst the team who help women give birth safely, see sick people in consultation and on the wards.

Semiliki has sent out urgent funds to help Kule replace the vital documents, along with the regular money that helps him coordinate the health centres and buys much needed drugs and supplies.