Laafila Bumbu deserves special mention and constant attention. To find out why it is so valuable, go to the page Support Laafila Bumbu
Below we summarise the project.
PROJECT STATUS
We have been working alongside the Laafila Bumbu clinic since 2016 and to date we have:
- replaced 15 old and precarious mud-brick-built houses with 15 brick-built cottages
- built 4 toilets adapted to the needs of handicapped persons
- purchased a building plot for the extension of the clinic’s services
- realised in photovoltaic system with storage in stationary batteries suitable for lighting the entire clinic including accommodation, yards, common parts, …
- donated various equipment for the handicapped such as wheelchairs and crutches
GOAL
In the project we intend to carry out some infrastructural works (housing, water, toilets, lighting) in order to improve the sanitary and living conditions in the LaafiLa Boumbou re-education clinic, which houses long-term patients and their families.
PROJECT DESCRIPTION
As part of the project, ancillary works (accommodation, running water, light and toilets) were carried out within an existing clinic dealing with the rehabilitation of handicapped persons.
In order to better understand the importance of these works, it is necessary to dwell on the treatment methodology that is practised.
Laafila Boumbou does not advertise at all and those who arrive learned through ‘word of mouth’ of its existence. Each new patient is welcomed, together with his or her family, with an official ceremony, where the entire resident community recounts their positive experience, instilling confidence and optimism. The welcome ceremony involves more than 150 participants, including former patients, the medical team, patients and their carers: it is a community approach to the disease that helps to alleviate the feeling of loneliness that newcomers bring with them.
The patients, when they enter, know that they will have to reside in the facility for the entire treatment period, which varies between 4 and 8 months. The patients’ relatives will stay by their loved ones’ side, providing psychological and practical support in moving around, but also helping with the centre’s activities; for months on end, the close interaction between physiotherapist, patient, team, family and external community creates the conditions for a community life that leads to exceptional positive results.
The reception infrastructure therefore plays an important role in the quality of life of the community who, for long months, stay in the clinic playing an active role in its general management and that of their family members.
