At The Heart of Congo Kids

Dear backers,

Yesterday (Oct. 12, 2018) we reached the second place for the Best Reward (Drawings from Kinshasa kids) in the crowdfunding campaign «At the heart of Congo kids»! See https://www.sciencecrowdfunding.ch/

We are very proud of it, but we also think about our young colleagues in Kinshasa (Dr. G. Mubungu and Dr. C. Kayembe) who are struggling to make the smallest advances in their research and educational projects. They need more than awards!

Kind regards, Hugues Abriel and Patricia Teixidor

Dear backers, dear friends,

For those of you who signed in the «Meet the Congolese community» reward, we have good news!

Next January 26th, 2018, at 16:30, you are invited to join us at the Institute of Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine (IBMM) in Bern in an Apéro with two very special members of the Congolese community living in Switzerland – Safuka Kambudji and Badile Lubamba – and with one of the paediatric doctors that participated in our first wemakeit campaign, Gerrye Mubungu. You may share their experiences as Congolese in the country and learn first-hand from Gerrye about her latest research on cardiac mutations in Congolese kids.

Safuka Kambudji: father of Mujinga Kambudji, one of the best sprint runners of the world, based in Switzerland since many years!

Badile Lubamba: founder of the BK.Lubamba Foundation. Courage et dignité pour la jeunesse de la RDC , in Switzerland since he was a kid.

Venue: Institute of Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine Bühlstrasse 28 3000 Bern 9

Contact person (for assistance confirmation before January 15th): Patricia Teixidor Tel. +41 (0)78-684 4626 patricia.teixidor@ibmm.unibe.ch

Dear backers, We are very pleased to inform you that the kids participating in the ECG study at Kinshasa (DRC) have finished their drawings! You can see how proud they were about participating in this artistic activity in the photos and video below. Those of you who backed the project with «a congolese kid drawing» as a reward will receive it in the next days by post.

Thanks for your constant support and stay tuned for more news.

All the best, Hugues Abriel and Patricia Teixidor

Dear Friends and Bakers,

Thank you so much for the generous support of this project. Here is a brief update about our next steps. The campaign ended with a total of CHF 16’183 being raised! That’s 231% of our target.

In September the kids participating in the study will go back to school and Dr Kayembe will be collecting the drawings. We will send these in Autumn.

We will keep you posted on the next visit of Dr Kayembe to Switzerland, so you can attend a report session. As for the Apéro with members of the Congolese community in Switzerland, it will take place also in Autumn, and a special guest will be the host: Safuka Kambundji.

Hugues Abriel will be going to Kinshasa next December for the follow-up of the collaboration with Dr Kayembe.

Until then, we wish you wonderful and resting summer holidays. Thanks again.

Patricia Teixidor & Hugues Abriel

Dear backers,

On June 23rd, Dr Claude Kayembe obtained in the University of Kinshasa his title as Board Certified Pediatrician. He defended his work on «Congenital Long QT Syndrome in Deaf Congolese Kids», one of the syndromes that he will continue to explore with the funds raised in the wemakeit project you backed. The campaign is about to close with CHF 16.183 raised! All a success thanks to you and other 69 donators! If you selected a reward, we will keep you posted about it. Thank you very much for supporting this long term University of Bern/University of Kinshasa collaboration,

Hugues Abriel & Patricia Teixidor

Dear backers,

Last Monday night (June 26, 2017) we reached the target of CHF 7.000!

Thanks to all of you, we made it! In addition, the even better news is that because we succeeded in reaching this goal, Science Booster (the Gebert Rüf Stiftung) has doubled the amount! We want to share this with you and let you know how grateful we are for your trust and support. With this extra money, we may be able to buy further equipment for Dr. Kayembes’s research project in Kinshasa.

There are still 9 days left, so you may want to let your friends and acquaintances know about our project. We will keep you posted on its progresses.

Thank you!

Hugues and Patricia