The International Association of Powerful Cars

Help us help them

Immediately outside the city of Kinshasa, in the direction of the River Congo, in Mont Ngafula, the paediatric hospital of Kimbondo has been there for the last twenty years, the only institution that admits the most unfortunate children of all completely free of charge in a country that is renowned for the atrocities of its wars. The founders are enlightened people. Dr. Laura Perna, widely known as Mamma Cocco created the hospital at the age of sixty nine. Before that there was nothing. She chanced to be in Congo just after her retirement and she was shocked by the humanitarian tragedy of the place. She obtained funds from Italy and was able at once to set up a small building fitted out as a hospital. She went on asking for funds and little by little the paediatric ward took shape. Then a department for patients with TB, radiology, and after that houses giving residence to children that had recovered but no longer had a family. At present the hospital has beds for 540 children and the waiting lists of those in need get longer every day. There are about 200 orphans who have recovered in the hospital, and they are guaranteed schooling.

La pediatria di Kimbondo

 


Today, the supporting column of the hospital is Father Hugo, from Chile. He is a Catholic priest with a degree in medicine who makes no compromises. Years ago he refused to become a bishop because he wanted to go on treating children. It is not easy to keep the hospital on its feet. Now that Dr. Perna is 90 years old, everything falls on his shoulders. The money does not always arrive and the babies often die. It’s difficult to get your hands on medicines and you often have to make do with shortages. Everybody turns to Father Hugo for almost anything. And yet, even in this state of constant emergency he manages to keep his supernatural inner sense of peace. He is truly a man of God. His philosophy is disarming: welcome everyone, all the time. Each and every mother that knocks on his door must be given food for hope even if he just doesn’t have the means to help. Something will happen. Someone will come along and give a hand, will offer money, medicines, labour – instruments will arrive somehow. ‘We have to give back dignity even to those who are condemned,’ he says. If there a baby to be saved, he spends everything he has without giving it a second thought. More money will come. God will have pity on His creatures. All this makes some of his more ‘Institutional’ supporters very angry. They would like him to plan things out, and they do not want him to admit new little patients if there are not enough resources.

Kimbondo


Despite all this, the throng of friends of Kimbondo, is growing all the time, but still Father Hugo hurries to ask for more and more commitment and attention. A farm set out beside the hospital building in 2004 manages to cover 60% of the needs of the structure in terms of food. With the money saved it has been possible to increase admissions. New pavilions have been added and the number of beds has been trebled in the last four years. A larger number of volunteers come and go helping Father Hugo in the daily struggle to bring the little patients of Kimbondo back to life. But more and more children are always in need of help and the demands become more and more acute. Saving human life has nothing to do with statistics and percentages and Hugo has never left anyone on his doortep. Every year, in relation to cash resources, the most desperate cases are sent to Italy so that the children can undergo the surgery they are in need of but which is not always enough to guarantee their survival. The Regions of Lombardy and Tuscany contribute funds for surgery and the stay in hospital and private individuals help with travel expenses. But there are always too many children in serious need of surgery and Father Hugo always has to make a terrible decision about who he should give a chance to. He has nothing else to give except his whole life and all his time, his love and his great faith. A couple of months ago his mother died far away from him, in Chile. With his inheritance he bought some land alongside the hospital. From that stems his new commitment: to build a surgery department in Kimbondo so that he will no longer have to decide who to give life to and who to let die. Many surgeons are ready to fly off to Congo and work there during their holidays, the instruments have already been donated – and the rest is up to us. A pavilion needs to be built to house the operating theatre. That will cost at least fifty thousand euros. We owe it to Father Hugo and his children. We owe it to our dignity.

Anyone can contribute sending a donation direct to:

Beneficiary: PADRE HUGO RIOS
Bank account Details (payment in euro):
BANQUE INTERNATIONALE DE CREDIT SARL
91 AVE DE L’EQUATEUR – KINSHASA/GOMBE
account: 840.3853151-53
Important: direct through Belgolaise Bank
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FONDATION PEDIATRIQUE DE KIMBONDO
B. P.: 7245 Kinshasa I
Route Telecom parcelle n°6661, Mont Ngafula Kimbondo, Paroisse Mater Dei,
République Démocratique du Congo
Téléphone: (00) 243816907184