Established in June 2004, the UK-based charity Friends of CME Trust seeks to relieve sickness and poverty in the north-eastern region of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
The primary focus of the support is the Centre Medical Evangelique (CME) in its medical and educational work. The needs are vast, the resources are few, yet comparatively little can have a significant impact on the lives of many.
40 years of work was seriously threatened in 2002 when the Christian Medical Centre (“CME”) in Nyankunde was caught up in the long-running war (which has claimed 6 million lives) and was attacked. Following dispersion to 3 other sites in Aru, Beni and Bunia, CME has been building new hospitals in Beni/Sose and Bunia and re-building its original hospital in Nyankunde.
The 3 CME hospitals care for around 100,000 patients with around 400 beds.
CME also trains around 100 medical students at its higher education facility, IEM, at Nyankunde in nursing, dentistry, pharmacy and laboratory technicians.
In Bunia, CME runs a University, ISTM, with over 1,000 students taking degree courses in medicine.
In more recent years, we have been supporting the education of children in the area many of whom have been orphaned as a result of the wars.
Where we work
DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO: FACTS
- Capital: Kinshasa
- Area: 2,345,409 sq km
- Population: 108.4 million
- Languages: French, Kituba, Lingala, Swahili, Tshiluba
- Life expectancy: 59 years (men) 62 years (women)
The recent history of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo) has been one of civil war and corruption.
It is rich in natural resources but has suffered from political instability, a lack of infrastructure, centuries of both commercial and colonial exploitation, and little widespread development since independence.
During the two Congo wars, from 1996-2003 the country was at the centre of what some observers call “Africa’s world war”, with widespread civilian suffering. The war claimed an up to six million lives, either as a direct result of fighting or because of disease and malnutrition.
Since the late-2000s, there has been continuing fighting in the east where a United Nations force is struggling to keep the peace.