Many of you have met my friend Esther who came here from the DRC, and for whom I have so much admiration. Her sister Solange in the DRC is hospitalized with a serious, even life-threatening leg infection. The doctor says she will need to be in the hospital for at least 2 months, costing around $3200.

Solange and her 3 children share a one-room home with 4 other siblings. (Esther had this home built for them through her savings working in a hotel laundry, combined with some help through a previous GoFundme.) They have some on/off income from selling the well-water on their land to neighbors (when it rains, neighbors collect the rainwater vs. buying their water). Another sister makes a small amount of money as a seamstress.

Solange's small business of making "beignets" (a kind of sweet fried bread) and selling them in front of their home has been a principle source of their livelihood. The family is now facing hunger, and Esther is struggling to help them with what she can save from her work in the hotel laundry.

$3800 will make a huge difference for Solange and her family, and especially for her 3 children ($3200 for the hospital stay, $100 for her transport from Kinshasa to where they live in a distant suburb, $200 as estimate for whatever follow-up antibiotics she may need when leaving the hospital, and $300 for her lost income while she can't work).

Any amount will make a difference. Thank you in advance to all of you who may participate in helping this family stay on track in spite of this sudden and costly emergency.