I flew to Africa last summer and designed a hospital. It was going to care for a region in Africa where thirty million people can’t even get an aspirin let alone a doctor. The location was perfect, a flat site on the shore of Lake Tanganyika in the peaceful city of Kigoma, Tanzania. Four mineral rich countries ripped apart by war could have been served by this oasis of healing. Democratic Republic of Congo, Burundi, Zambia, and Rwanda. We had a team of over a hundred volunteers including doctors, nurses, surgeons, architects, builders, engineers. This hospital was granted a square mile of land, all official, all in writing. Then someone with money decided Kigoma needed an expansion to their port facility. Warehouses would be needed to handle the inflow/ outflow of goods. Meetings were held, officials were bribed, and the hospital’s permission was canceled. Forget about the fact that Tanzania has no natural resources to export. That is why it is so peaceful.
Norman decided I needed some fresh air. We braved the minus 2 windchill while he did figure eights in the riding corral, looking for the perfect place to plant.
I am really down about this hospital. Here are some photos of the street children in Kigoma:
These kids live in the streets. Most of their parents are dead or dying from aids. They were starving to death until my friend’s daughter started a feeding program with leftover lunch food from the missionary compound. Now the program is fully funded and feeds hundreds of street kids three times a week.
The children will continue to be fed by this program. But tragically, if they get sick or injured. No one will be there for them.
This is going to take some time to get over. I was working on this for a year and a half. Sorry. I will get back to the Atlantis thing tomorrow.
Dear Writer,
I understand your frastration of what happened with the cancellation of the hospital permit. I’m from Kigoma myself, and knows well a lot about Kigoma.
My feeling is that the expansion of the port is not linked to anybody with money.
It is linked to overall effort made by the central gorvernement and a co-ordinated effort by Kigoma locals, to significantly boost the development of Kigoma.
I learned most of those efforts myself from here:
It is sad that your efforts to help had met a great setback.
If you still meet problems, I would advice to involve Kigomafund, because their ultimate goal is amoung other things, to improve health services for the locals.
Thank you for your kind comments Thadeo. We have taken the hospital design and adapted it to a site in Haiti for development. If and when the Tanzania project restarts, we will have developed drawings for the hospital in Kigoma ready to go.
Thanks for writing.
JF Althouse