A friend of ours decided to take his medical skills to one of the poorest, sickest and obscure countries: Burundi in Africa. He’s spent the last five months in the country, working with Village Health Works to provide health services to the community. The stories he sends back about the harsh conditions that the people have to live through are intense to say the least.
Last week, one of the community health workers he works with was killed through an incident of violence. Below is what he wrote and then a link to the New York Times article:
On my way home from Burundi. Last week, the vehicle that takes our village health works truck back and forth from the capital city up to Kigutu was ambushed.
Everyone I worked with Elvis(our translator), Melino(the doctor), Peter’, Claude, Gerard for the last 4 months were robbed and Claude, our awesome, humble
driver was killed. Shot in the right eye and killed instantly.
Have sat next to Claude and taken that road countless times over the last few months. Tracy Kidder published an op-ed in the NY times that pays a little of the respect Claude deserved.
The response from everyone to dig in, support Claude´s family, defend the clinic and continue to work towards health and hope for Kigutu have made me proud to be part of the org.
We are trying to piece together support for Claude´s family. He has three young daughters and a wife. I will write again when I know the details so any of you that want to can lend a hand.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/22/opinion/22kidder.html
