Democratic Republic of Congo

SEE has been working in the Democratic Republic of the Congo since 2008, primarily in Boma, Diengenga, and Kinshasha (the country’s capital). In Boma, SEE partners with Joseph Konde, MD, at the Blindness Prevention Program (Prolhavic) at the Boma Eye Clinic. Each year, Dr. Konde screens about 25,000 patients and performs about 700 surgeries using the equipment and medical supplies provided by SEE.

In 2014, SEE began collaborating with Diengenga Hospital and Ohio-based nonprofit Global Ministries, to organize large-scale sight-restoring campaigns every 2 years. In the first year, more than 4,000 people arrived seeking care. In July 2017, SEE held an 11-day campaign in Diengenga, where in-country partner Roger Kapembu, MD, and visiting SEE surgeon Kris Karlen, MD, provided free sight-restoring surgery to more than 250 people with cataracts.

In June of 2015, a very special SEE program was held in Kinshasha, the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo. That year, SEE partnered with NBA Hall of Famer Dikembe Mutombo and the Dikembe Mutombo Foundation, to bring our first sight-restoring campaign to the Biamba Marie Mutombo Hospital. SEE’s surgical efforts were led by Helena Ndume, MD, of Windhoek, Namibia, and Scott Hickman of Lawrence, Kansas. On this trip to the Congo, SEE’s volunteer surgeons provided 107 sight-restoring surgeries to blind patients. Their efforts helped lay the groundwork for future expeditions and training so that local eye doctors can provide care in the region year-round. Read more about that campaign here.