We are currently active in three East African countries, Burundi, Uganda, and Tanzania. Our work is based around our cooperation partners Fondation Stamm in Burundi, who operate the Centre Médical Hippocrate (CMH) hospital in Bujumbura, and the the teaching hospital of the University of Mbarara in southern Uganda.
We are also deeply indebted to the support of bishop Severine Niwemugizi of the Rulenge-Ngara diocese as well as DCKH volunteer medical project guides Dr. Dr. Oliver Blume and Gunther Au-Balbach, who in addition to their organizational work also perform surgeries and train local medical personnel.
A transnational network
The three national projects work closely together. In 2017, when the political situation in Burundi made cleft treatment there impossible, five patients in especially urgent need of aid were brought to Mbarara for treatment with the help of Cleft Africa Burundian partner Fondation Stamm, and a recent surgical mission to CMH to treat patients from Burundi and the neighboring Congo was supported by a team from Mbarara including Ugandan anaestheist Dr. Emmanuel Munyarugero, surgeon Dr. Deus Twesigye, and intensive care nurse Caroline Nakyanzi.
In 2017, Cleft Africa's activities marked an important milestone with a surgical mission by the DCKH-trained Rwandan surgeon Dr. Laurent Sibourema to Rulenge in Northwestern Tanzania, accompanied by the experienced Ugandan anaesthesist Dr. Emmanuel Munyarugero. As the first solely local-partner-organized missions in the region, this mission, since repeated in 2018, demonstrates the growing capabilities of our local cleft treatment structures.
To learn more about our work in Africa please visit our dedicated country website CleftAfrica.org
Deutsche Cleft Kinderhilfe e.V. was founded in the autumn of 2002. Its goal is to help children with cleft lip and palate from all over the world to receive comprehensive treatment.
