Frequently Asked Questions
At HEAL Africa, we make every effort to respond to every email and inquiry that we receive, but we're a small charity whose primary focus is on serving the local community. Hopefully the following answers may help you.
I want to volunteer to work at HEAL Africa in Goma, what can I do?
This is one of the most frequent questions we receive from doctors, lawyers, engineers, students, researchers, ministers, artists, which tells us that the work being done in Goma through HEAL Africa is important and that people are responding!
We do take on a handful of international volunteers to support our field work in Goma, including doctors, program support specialists and teachers. However, our staffing priority at HEAL Africa is to train and raise up indigenous Congolese people to lead our work. Volunteer opportunities are also always determined by the field staff need and capacity to supervise volunteers. Research and data analysis are skills we particularly need help with.
Some basic qualifications that are required to be considered for a field volunteer opportunity:
- Fluent spoken French and/or Swahili
- Ability to raise your own support for transportation and living expenses
- Willingness to make a six to twelve month commitment
- Qualifications as a doctor, nurse, teacher or other professional trade, and/or prior experience working for an African NGO?
If you meet all the above basic qualifications, please contact us to start a discussion about field volunteer opportunities.
I want to help HEAL Africa, what can I do?
Partnering with us through prayer and/or financial giving can make the biggest impact in the lives of women and families in Congo and ensures that our work continues. You can support our work by making a donation.
You can also broaden awareness of the work of HEAL Africa, for example by hosting a screening of the documentary, “LUMO” in your home or church to raise funds. As a friend to HEAL Africa, we welcome your ideas for fundraising opportunities. Due to our limited staff capacity, we cannot coordinate the effort, but we can provide you with brochures and resources about our work and we can connect you to others in your area who care about HEAL Africa as well. If you are interested in leading and coordinating a fundraising effort in your area, please contact us with your idea.
I saw HEAL Africa featured on the news and I want to learn more about the situation in Congo.
We are grateful to CNN and Anderson Cooper for highlighting and bringing more awareness to the situation in Eastern Congo. We also thank Nicholas Kristof of the NY Times for his article and coverage from others who bring the news from Congo to the world. For the latest information on the current political situation in Congo, please see our blog page.
I want to donate computers, medical equipment, or blankets to help the women in Goma.
We receive many generous offers for gifts-in-kind: but shipping costs, coordination and international taxes make this very difficult! The most effective way to ensure we have the equipment we need in Goma is to send us a cash donation, which enables us to buy things locally at the market and encourages the local economy. What is purchased will be replaceable. There are exceptions: if you can pay for shipping a container and have enough material to warrant a container, let's talk! We just don’t want to ship equipment that is unusable (which has happened) or that requires costly refurbishment.