Help Geofrey become a surgeon!

Hello! I'm Rieka, a sixth year medical student currently doing a clinical internship in the Department of General Surgery at Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Center in Moshi, Tanzania. One of my closest friends here (and best teachers of surgical knots and sutures) is Geofrey, a second year resident. He is the one this fundraiser is for: help him become a surgeon!

Geofrey grew up on the slopes of Mount Kilimanjaro. Observing a relative’s knowledgeable doctor's hands from between the banana trees on his father’s farm, Geofrey developed a keen interest in the workings of the human body. After graduating from medical school, he moved to the remote hills of southern Tanzania to work in the surgical department of a non-profit hospital in Ikonda. Geofrey quickly learned that care extends beyond the cutting edge of a surgeon’s blade into the very heart of human life, its great disasters and even greater joys.

His experiences in Ikonda strengthened Geofrey's desire to become a well-trained surgeon - a field in medicine that has many obstacles to overcome in Tanzania. Surgery is resource-intense, and many people in Tanzania lack access to affordable, timely and high-quality surgical care. In a country where the number one cause of death are motor traffic accidents, better availability of surgical services could save many lives.

That's why Geofrey is currently covering shifts anytime of the week, the day and the night at Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Center, where he is pursuing his residency - a four-year program necessary for specialization as a surgeon. In Tanzania, residency is considered an extended part of medical school. Residents are not paid any salary. Instead, they have to pay school fees: 6.5 Million Tanzanian Shillings per year, which estimates to about 2500 Euros/2580 USD. If not paid on time, Geofrey cannot continue with his specialization. He will have to put his residence on hold and find work as a general practitioner. Many work contracts, especially in public, government-funded hospitals, require mandatory service times that make a return to residency and specialization nearly impossible.

Geofrey's friends and family have been able to cover a part of the costs for his second-year fees. This fundraiser is designed to help pay the rest of his fees, which will account to approximately 1400 Euros/1440 USD. The goal of this fundraiser is set to 2000 Euros/2060 USD to cover the transaction fee of 2.5 % per transaction charged by the gofundme platform, and any possible losses due to exchange rates when converting into Tanzanian Shillings. As gofundme does not support money transfers to Tanzania, the money will be transferred to my German bank account and then forwarded directly to Geofrey's Tanzanian account.

If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask! Thank you to everyone who helps Geofrey become a full-fledged surgeon - for his own sake, and for all those in need of his skills and service.