Here's something about AidAfrique:
A Call to Action
Immediately, we took emergency action. We brought money and medicine, and purchased food, though in limited quantity. More than thirteen tons of help (medicine, blankets, vitamin products) were sent to Kigali, Rwanda, from Belgium and now wait to cross the border to be distributed. We organized the distribution of what we had. In Goma, this took place at the Kingdom Hall. Just as in the past, care was given to cholera victims. People received rice, beans and oil according to the size of their family.
Waiting was sometimes long. More often than not, it was the women who waited, sitting on the black pumice floor in their brightly-colored garments. They protected themselves from the intense sun under red, yellow or blue umbrellas. Sometimes, with their beautiful voices they would sing hymns. They spoke to Joseline, about their problems–of the too-frequent pregnancies that they do not know how to prevent. The distribution of food completed, we watched emotionally as the last woman left–beautiful, upright, her child wrapped in her garment on her back. She departed with a large packet of rice in the shape of a pumpkin on her head, a yellow tin containing three liters of oil in one hand, a blue bucket filled with a few precious goods in the other.
Anton, a young Swiss doctor, and Pierre, a graying French nurse, give essential medical help. Anton examines the sick either in private homes, such as the hotel waiter's home, or more often in the Kingdom Hall. Over a period of five days, he gave 400 consultations. For this also, the wait was long. The many children show what for us Europeans is remarkable patience. We have the needed medicine to treat common infections and money donated by the assemblies of Jehovah's Witnesses from Belgium, France and Switzerland to have more thorough care carried out. One example highlights the terrible consequences of our friends' destitute state. One man broke his leg. Nobody had the money for him to be treated so he went without treatment. When we were finally able to give the necessary money, the leg was infected and had to be amputated.
Our activity was often hindered by difficulties particular to the region. Distances are vast and lines of communication almost non-existent. The best form of travel, if not the only one, is the airplane. Often we used the H.C.R.'s (United Nations High Commission for Refugees) planes. Administrative formalities also held us up. Just getting a pass to go from one town to the next was quite a business. It was only granted for a limited period. The dispatching of our cargo suffered delays which the urgency of the situation made painful. However, we did not come up against an uncooperative spirit in our area. Once we convinced the authorities of the purely voluntary nature of our mission, they were quite cooperative. Claude met a senior official for the region's security. Interested in our activity he facilitated our work
For the Full article in English go to:
( http://www.temoinsdejehovah.org/aides_caritatives/aidafrique/actions/mission/eng/mission1.htm
I like this quote the best. This the first WTS run relief agency andthey can now claim"
The relief effort by Jehovah's Witnesses in Europe in behalf of the Zairians is a small part of a larger work of community service that Witnesses have performed in the past century. Jehovah's Witnesses are members of a worldwide Christian religion that has been active in Europe for about a century. Worldwide, they have helped many victims of natural disasters, hunger, famine, and war crimes.
'To avoid criticism, say nothing, do nothing, be nothing'
