RainShine Foundation Australia

Building opportunities for self-sufficiency in remote DRCongo (ACN 633 337 283)

Articles By amadi-rain

Access to Medical Care

Date: By: Comments: Leave a reply

The RainShine Foundation has been providing 1st level medicines since 2012 to the Epi Village. A medical package would include things like: various bandages, sterile water vials, various pressure pads, masks, gloves, swabs, panadol, worm treatment, antibotics, and Malaria test kits and treatment. All our medicines are distrituted between two health posts, one in Batuse close to Mamili, and the another in the actual village of Epi.

Medical supplies donated from Australia 2018
Typical medicines supplied annually to Epi and Mamili villages

In 2020 when we visited the Kembesia villages we were confronted with many people wanting medical care. Issues from simple to more complex and also life threaten. After that experience it was blatantly obvious that access to health care for people living in these areas is very poor, and that RainShine needed to direct more funds towards the provision of medical care. At that time we decided to provide a mobile doctor to the area 3 times a year to travel and stay in Mamili and Epi each for 24 hours. While we know this is still not enough, it is all our resources can provide.

Dr Didier – at the Epi Heath Post 2023
RainShine’s First Hernia Patient for the program 2023

On the upside we are slowly extended our medical provisions to these very poor rural communities. In 2023 we commenced our Hernia Program and also our Rural Nurses Training Program. In the last six months this year we have funded 3 Hernia operations and we now have two young people who have started a 4 year nurses training program.

Annualy this program costs $10,000 USD to run, which is approximately $15,000 AUD. If you would like to support this program then you can donate at our safe link below. All donation amounts in AUD.

Product
Payment details
 
 
 
 
 
Total  

 

Or click here to make it a monthly donation
RainShine Australia uses Stripe a secure payment system. For more information: https://www.stripe.com/

Duru Clean Water Project

Date: By: Comments: Leave a reply

The village of Duru is approximately 93 kilometers from Dungu where the RainShine office is located. The population in Duru is around 6,000 people. In 2023 RainShine was asked to assist this village to improve their access to clean water. While there is a significant river that flows through this village, people get sick because of water borne diseases. In fact the rate of sickness from water borne diseases in this specific village is recorded as being very high.

Church built during the Belgian Colonalism
The current well. Water is caught in a bucket

This type of project in our experience will deliver real benefits to the whole Duru community. When the local church was built many years ago, a water well was also installed in the court yard of the church. This well is accessed by lowering a bucket into the well. While the well has provided a never ending source of water, it is not easily accessible to the whole community due to its location, and it also does not have the capacity to service 6,000 people.

In February 2023 we did a site visit to Duru and spoke with the 2 chiefs of the village and other key members of the community. We also took a water engineer on this trip who divined for water and took a number of GPS co-ordinates. One location was agreed on by the Project Committee to dig the first water well.

The scope of this project is to construct 1 well and install a hand pump. The estimate to complete this project is $6,500 USD (conversion to AUD $10,000). Once we have established 1 well successfully then we will look at repeating this project in the future because 2 wells are still not sufficient for this village. We will also look at delivering an education program to the village on how to manage and treat clean water.

Duru Clean Water Project Committee

We are looking for a sponsor for this project so we can commence the 1st stage of the project in February 2024, which will be to dig and line the water well. The 2nd part of the project will be to install a hand water pump and to build a top cover and head for the well.

If you would like to support this project then you can donate at our safe link below. All donation amounts in AUD.

Product
Payment details
 
 
 
 
 
Total  

 

Or click here to make it a monthly donation
RainShine Australia uses Stripe a secure payment system. For more information: https://www.stripe.com/

Nurses Scholarship Program

Date: By: Comments: Leave a reply

The seeds that start all our programs come about because we identify needs in the rural communities we work in. This program is no different. In the Epi Village where we have been involved for a number of years, it became obvious that at some point in the future we will have no nursing support in our small medical post. The current nurse is a man who was born in the Epi village and he has been undertaking the role of a nurse to the village since he was in his early twenties. He is now in his mid seventies!!

Epi Nurse at the medical post in the village 2017

The Epi village nurse was given very basic training at a small hospital in Amadi about 70 kilometers away. He can do basic medical diagnosis and treatment, deliver babies, and give injections. He also manages and administers all of the medicine that RainShine provides to the Epi village. For more serious medical conditions a person will need to travel to Amadi, or wait for the mobile doctor service, which RainShine provides every 4 months.

This type scenario for medical services is reasonably typical for villages in Bas-Uele, some villages are lucky to have a nurse and some others aren’t. In another village called Mamili about 40 kilometers from Epi, that village does not have a resident nurse and people have to travel approximately 6 kilometers to a medical post located at Bautse. RainShine also provides 1st level medical supplies to the Bautse medical post and a mobile doctor service every 4 months.

RainShine saw the need to provide support to train future nurses for small villages like Epi and Mamili. This was discussed extensively with the Epi medical commitee and in 2023 we started the Nurses Scholarship program. Dr Didier the resident doctor in Amadi selected two candidates for the program. These two young men have moved from their villages to live in the medical institute in Poko to study for 4 years. In their school breaks they will go to their respective villages of Epi and Mamili and will help in the medical posts.

Meet the two students of our Nurses Scholarship program.

Kayeye – Epi Village
Maloyi – Mamili Village

RainShine launched the program by sponsoring the 1st year of study for both students. If you would like to sponsor a year of study for one student then $750 USD ($1,178 AUD) will support one of our students to complete their Nurses Program of Study. All donation amounts are in AUD.

Product
Payment details
 
 
 
 
 
Total  

 

Or click here to make it a monthly donation
RainShine Australia uses Stripe a secure payment system. For more information: https://www.stripe.com/

Herina Program

Date: By: Comments: Leave a reply
People are regularly seen driving on motor bikes with loads heavier than their own body weight, which can cause intense physical strain on the body due to the combination of trying to balance a loaded bike to drive it over very rough roads.

The purpose of this program is to provide medical assistance to identified inguinal hernia patients in the rural communities of Epi, Mamili, Kembisa and Mangoro in DR Congo.

Hernia is a most common pathology in general surgery, especially in Africa where it affects about 4.6% of the population. The treatment of inguinal hernias is essentially surgical. In the Kembisa, Mamili, and Epi communities, in the territory of Poko in DR Congo, the majority of patients affected by the hernia are 90% male.

People doing intense physical activities (farmer, housewife, worker) have mainly inguinal swelling and pain. The shapes encountered are either right or left. Some patients also have bilateral inguinal hernia. Contributing factors are often intense exertion, increased pressure within the abdomen, straining during urination, constipation and obesity. The types of preoperative complication are hernia strangulation, followed by hernia recurrence and swelling.

The people who are impacted by hernia do not have access to hospital care because of their inability to pay hospital fees, and sometimes will access traditional healers (bush doctors) mainly because it is cheaper. The treatments done by bush doctors in many cases exacerbate the condition and/or the condition is not fixed.

This is a self-funding program where donors are matched to recipient hernia patients who need operations. For a patient your donation will fund the necessary surgery to repair the hernia, antibiotics, and after care. Our first patient for our hernia program was a lady who was suffering from a complicated hernia and she would not have recovered without an operation. RainShine funded her hernia repair in February 2023 and she has now returned to Epi and resumed her life with her family. In October 2023 we funded our 2nd Hernia patient and are now making arrangements for our 3rd reciprient for the program.

When a person suffers from a hernia they are unable to go to work in the fields and a woman is not able to effectively look after her family. Becoming a sponsor to a person so they can have a hernia operation will change the direction of their life as it will enable that person to resume their life to its full potential.

You can read more about this program as this link: English version Or click on this link for the French version: French version

A donation of $250 USD (all donations are shown in AUD) will fund a hernia operation that will change the direction of a person’s life. You can donate here to support our Hernia Program.

Product
Payment details
 
 
 
 
 
Total  

 

Or click here to make it a monthly donation
RainShine Australia uses Stripe a secure payment system. For more information: https://www.stripe.com/

Honey Bee Program

Date: By:
Image created by Epi Primary School student 2023

The purpose of this program is to conduct two trial projects in the Epi and Mamili villages to train people on how to establish, raise, care, and to farm honey.

Following the training six families and/or individuals in each village, under agreement with the Amadi Saint Augustin Mission these people will establish, care for, farm honey and transport honey to Amadi for sale to the Amadi Mission.

This project has been initiated to provide people in these villages with a source of income from the sale of honey. This project will also provide an income producing activity that is supportive to the Epi forest, reduce destructive harvesting of forest hives, and provide pollination to agricultural plants in the villages.

A healthy hive after six months has the potential to produce approximately 15 litres of honey every three months. Financial income will be produced for each bee hive keeper by the sale of honey according to current market prices. Five litres of honey can be sold for approximately $45 USD.

The Saint Augustin Mission located 30 kilometres from Mamili already has a bee program operating which is maintaining a number of bee hives, and harvesting and process honey for sale. The Saint Augustins have agreed to buy honey from the bee keepers in the RainShine program. Because of this arrangement there is no requirement for the bee keepers in Mamili to buy additional equipment to heat treat and bottle honey, and to also have technical skills to know how to process honey, this program is viewed as an ideal approach for people in these rural villages to begin working with bees and to earn some income for their efforts. If you would like to read more about this program then click on this link:English version Or click on this link for the French version: French version

Please support our Honey Bee Program to provide the education and equipment to people in rural villages to establish a bee keeping program that will support the forest and improve the local economy. You can donate at our secure payment gateway below. For Australian residents your donation $2 and over is tax deductable. All donation amounts are in AUD.

Product
Payment details
 
 
 
 
 
Total  

 

Or click here to make it a monthly donation

RainShine Australia uses Stripe a secure payment system. For more information:https://www.stripe.com/

Yangi – Grade 6, Mamili School

Date: By: Comments: Leave a reply

Yangi is currently in Grade 6 at Mamili Primary School Democratic Republic of Congo
She is 12 years old and her favourite subject is French Receitation. Yangi has 2 brothers and 2 sisters. She enjoys eating Cassava, rice and fish.
Yangi told RainShine that when she grows up she would like to be a seamtress.

Batsere – Grade 5, Mamili School

Date: By: Comments: Leave a reply

How old are you?

13 years old

What is your favourite subject at school?

French Grammar

What is your favourite food to eat?

Banana, legumes and fish

How many people in your family?

Two brothers

What job do you want to do when you grow up?

Construction engineer

Angotolua – Grade 4, Mamili School

Date: By: Comments: Leave a reply

How old are you?

9 years old

What is your favourite subject at school?

Mathematic Operations

What is your favourite food to eat?

Fish and rice

How many people in your family?

Two brothers

What job do you want to do when you grow up?

Headmistress

Fiezalo – Grade 3, Mamili School

Date: By: Comments: Leave a reply

How old are you?

8 years old

What is your favourite subject at school?

English

What is your favourite food to eat?

Fish with rice

How many people in your family?

One brother and one sister

What job do you want to do when you grow up?

Secondary school teacher

Latiwa – Grade 2, Mamili School

Date: By: Comments: Leave a reply

How old are you?

6 years old

What is your favourite subject at school?

French Conjugation

What is your favourite food to eat?

Banana and fish

How many people in your family?

Two sister

What job do you want to do when you grow up?

Headmistress

Translate ยป
Powered by Ultimate Auction