WAVE - The Floating Clinic

I will be heading to The Congo once again this month for another medical assessment with Project C.U.R.E.  I’m looking forward to returning to and lending my assistance to this developing country.  To add to my trip this time around, I will also be working with the great folks at WAVE – Water Based Aid, Value, Engagement www.floatingclinic.org  WAVE is a water based aid floating clinic that has been helping the communities that live around the lake basin, Lake Tanganyika, Africa for over five years. 

Lake Tanganyika is the second largest late on earth.  It is surrounded by four countries, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Burundi, Tanzania and Zambia.  About three and a half million people live on the shoreline and twelve million live on the basin as a whole.  There is no viable healthcare system and the waterway is the only way that any goods or services move around Lake Tanganyika.

So, the only way that this can be provided is via the hospital ship that WAVE developed to aid that people - the floating health clinic.  It has two operating rooms, a laboratory, dental services and is able to respond to emergencies.  Now, due to the ship, in this neglected area WAVE delivers vital healthcare, distributes necessary medical supplies, establishes important communications, gathers essential medical data, and builds strong relationships with the people and government of the region.

Describing the work they undertake is a task in itself so instead they use three words to describe what they do.  Aid.  Value.  Engagement.  Because they use the lake itself as their highway, they call it water based thus the name WAVE.

You may wonder what water based aid is – they began by using boats to deliver medical supplies and transport people to remote lakeside health centers and soon realized how important the late was to the region.  So, they expanded their vision with intent to build a full size ship to act as a floating hospital and research facility – as well as a communications and training hub.  By doing this, their hospital will become the regional hospital for the basin.  In doing this it strengthens the capacity of local health centers and proves a teaching partner that is desperately needed.  It also provides supply chain support, diagnostics, treatment including surgery, as well as education for the care workers.  The late becomes a healthcare community!

Last year, WAVE impacted more than 75,000 individuals!  To continue extending their work on and around Lake Tanganyika, they need our help.  Each donation is used to improve the lives of thousands of people in the Lake Taganyika Basin.  Their work is making a profound difference on all levels and I’m looking forward to helping them in their continued success and growth.

Here’s how you can help too… Donate Here