Bukavu Burn Center

JWW partnered with Moriah Africa and the Bukavu Provincial General Reference Hospital to fund eastern Congo’s first-ever Burn Center! Through a unique partnership between Congolese and Israeli hospitals and American and Israeli NGOs (Moriah Africa and JWW), Congolese surgeons were trained in plastic surgery and skin grafting techniques in Israel. Israeli doctors returned to Congo to help train even more Congolese surgeons and install Congo’s first skin-grafting equipment at the Bukavu Provincial General Reference Hospital.

Community and Psychosocial Services

Escaping violence leaves refugees traumatized and unable to engage in the simplest tasks of daily life, with their coping and survival skills largely spent during flight. In the wake of fleeing their homes, refugees struggle to build new lives for themselves in the refugee camps – a struggle that in itself can be traumatic. JWW sponsored a grief counselor to work with Darfuri refugees in the camps. This initiative, implemented in partnership with HIAS and IsraAID, provided activities that empowered Darfuri refugees with knowledge and life skills in order to promote their active participation in community development activities and ensure an equitable access to services. This in turn provided overall enhancement of their psychological well-being.

Dillon Henry Health Clinic

Dillon Henry (z”l), a leader amongst the many dedicated JWW youth activists, tragically died in the summer of 2007. Dillon’s leadership and passionate activism on behalf of those suffering n Darfur inspired all who came into contact with him. In his loving memory, the Dillon Henry Foundation has worked with JWW to build the Dillon Henry Health Clinic in the Central African Republic, serving over 30,000 Darfuri refugees and local inhabitants.

HEALing Arts: Empowering Survivors of Sexual Violence

Women and girls bear the brunt of the conflict in Congo – their bodies have become the battlegrounds on which a bloody conflict over Congo’s rich mineral wealth is being waged. And the trauma of rape and sexual violence lasts long after physical scars may have healed – women seeking medical treatment for rape face stigmatization, see their savings depleted and may not be able to return to their traditional livelihoods – often intensive agricultural labor.

The HEALing Arts Program, in partnership with HEAL Africa, gives survivors of sexual violence a second chance. By teaching women vocational skills such as sewing and tailoring, the program offers them both a chance to pay for their medical treatment and a way to restart their lives when they are well enough to return home. Once trained, the women receive a small grant to help them start their businesses in their home communities, helping with their reintegration.

Major Milestones Achieved:
• Formed 13 solidarity groups of 10 women each in 3 learning centers (3 in Goma, 8 in Kibumba and 2 in Ndosho);
• Trained 262 women on various vocational skills – 64 women in baking, 53 women in sewing, 12 in banana leaf art, 15 in paper bead making, 15 in flower pot making, 35 in tie dye, 75 in detergent making and 28 in gardening techniques;
• 12 community awareness training sessions about sexual and gender based violence and women’s rights and leadership were held, including 6 in Goma, 3 in Ndosho and 3 in Kibumba;
• 12 health, hygiene and family planning awareness sessions with 342 participants (fistula patients, survivors of sexual violence and other women with disabilities living in HEAL Africa transit houses) held;
• 30 women received business start-up materials and loans (through revolving loan program) after surgery and rehabilitation;
• 30 other women of solidarity groups received seed funding for businesses, to be repaid over 6 months at 2% interest;
• Regular supervision meetings by HEAL staff in all project locations (Goma, Ndosho and Kibumba) scheduled and implemented.
• Support an additional 13 women in receiving vocational skills training;
• Disburse materials and small seed loans to remaining women funded through the project;
• Complete monitoring and evaluation of graduates.

Medical Clinics in Deleij and Al Geneina

Working with the International Medical Corps (IMC), Jewish World Watch funded the construction of two permanent medical clinics to serve both internally displaced people (IDPs) and resident conflict-affected populations of Darfur. The medical clinics funded by Jewish World Watch are permanent institutions that will continue to serve people for years to come, long after the emergency has ended and NGOs have left. These completed facilities offer comprehensive services, including: outpatient consultations; pre-and post-natal health care services; family planning; health education; Expanded Program on Immunization; malaria testing; disease surveillance; Oral Re-hydration Therapy (ORT); minor surgical procedures; and growth and nutritional monitoring.

The Al Geneina clinic serves 18,000 people – 13,000 conflict-affected IDPs from Abu Zahr and Madina IDP camps and 5,000 indigenous inhabitants from the adjacent Jebel area. The clinic in Deleij provides service to more than 20,000 beneficiaries, both IDPs and area host populations, and has greatly improved the health circumstances of the community it serves.

Opal Green King Maternity Ward

In partnership with International Medical Corps, JWW has rehabilitated a maternity ward in Sam Ouandja, Central African Republic. The ward serves both Darfuri refugees and local inhabitants in Sam Ouandja. Rehabilitating the maternity ward was an urgent project – nearly 40% of the births in this area involve prolonged labor or complicated deliveries and the closest functional hospital is approximately 90 miles away.

Water and Sanitation Projects

JWW provided funding to the International Rescue Committee (IRC) for an environmental health program to improve the water supply in refugee camps. Funding from JWW enabled IRC to improve the provision of water in three main locations: Nyala and Kass (South Darfur) and the overpopulated and under-resourced Hamadiya camp in the Zalingei region (West Darfur).

Water Wells in the Refugee Camps

One of JWW’s key early efforts was to supply water wells in the refugee camps. Many schools participated by raising funds to supply a water well, each a life-line for 500 refugees. The wells are built with local supplies by local labor, organized and led by International Medical Corps, JWW’s implementing partner on the project.