March 8, 2011

See Ben Affleck and Cindy McCain Discuss their visit to DR Congo and HEAL Africa on ABC News and Nightline, and Ben Affleck testifies before congress about the situation in DR Cong and discusses the work of HEAL Africa. ABC News: and Nightline:

Ben Affleck’s full testimony to Congress Committee on Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, and Human Rights can be found here and an excerpt below:

"It is ECI’s goal to ensure that more “Laba” successes happen and, more importantly, that more young women never have to experience the hardship that she endured. ECI provides grants to individuals like Dr. Denis Mukwege, the head of Panzi Hospital in Bukavu, and to Jo and Lynn Lusi of Goma’s HEAL Africa Hospital. I would like to share with you the nature of some of the groups that ECI is privileged to work with on behalf of Congo.

HEAL Africa reaches tens of thousands of people each year through community action, and works to transform local communities through: Health, Education, community Action and Leadership development. Founded in 1994 by an orthopedic surgeon and his wife who wanted to train health care workers, it has promoted safe motherhood in the region since 2003. It is the cornerstone in eastern Congo for promoting the right of women to deliver safely at a health facility.

ECI also provides hundreds of rural women with the opportunity to create their own income generating business plans through micro-grants. One inspiring group created their own maternal health insurance collective to provide financial support to safely deliver their children at health centers. As a complement to this initiative, ECI also provides emergency obstetric training for nearly 100 health professionals and midwives working from 15 health centers in remote areas of North Kivu."