Help vulnerable women in the Congo

We are five friends preparing to send three ambulances to the Panzi Hospital in Bukavu, Democratic Republic of Congo. We will ship them to Dar es Salaam, Tanzania in September 2016 and then drive 1250 miles / 2000 km to the Panzi hospital. The plan is for them to work as mobile clinics to help vulnerable women who have been victims of sexual violence, both as the result of domestic abuse and from soldiers using rape as a tool of war.

According to a study from 2011, 48 women are raped every hour in Congo. "It found 1,152 women are raped every day – a rate equal to 48 per hour. That rate is 26 times more than the previous estimate of 16,000 rapes reported in one year by the United Nations." Read more here:

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/may/12/48-women-raped-hour-congo

A lot of these women suffer traumatic fistulas as a result of the attacks;

https://globalvoices.org/2009/07/29/drc-rape-epidemic-fuels-fistula-cases/

This leads to the women being incontinent and unable to bear children. As a result, they are abandoned by their families and become outcasts. Read more here:

http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2015/09/scars-rape-dr-congo-150913101349553.html

We are asking for help with the cost of shipping, which is £3,500. That covers three ambulances in containers from London to Tanzania. We have already bought the vehicles with our own money and we plan to cover all other costs such as modifying the ambulances to suit Panzi Hospital, our flights, fuel to drive these three ambulances the 1250 miles/2000 km from from Dar es Salaam to Bukavu and all other costs personally.

The team consists of Mark and Vivi Whitfield, Martin Christersson, Carina Stalgren and Julian Hobson. We are part of Global Aid Vehicles, a charity run by Mark. Read more here:

www.globalaidvehicles.com

Thank you.