Kalenda, 1975
Home for Peace Corps Volunteers. Kalenda, Congo.
Jerry spent much of his time in the Peace Corps, along with his colleague Tony Klaassen, developing a project called CEBEC (Centre de Bien Etre Communitaire) or Community Wellness Centers. In 1975, they were working at a remote hospital and nursing school in Kalenda, which is in the Kasai Oriental province. The photo is the house they lived in.
Mark Robbins was the Associate Peace Corps Director of Health in 1976. He wrote that the CEBEC project was a plan to bring basic primary health care to rural communities. This would be done by establishing self-help clinics. The plan called for the Congolese government (formerly Zaire) to provide the nurses to staff the centers. The villages would provide the building. The Peace Corps would get start up grants for equipment and supplies for the center. The patients would pay a small fee to help fund replacement medicines and supplies.
Mark recalled that Jerry and the doctor in charge at Kalenda respectfully called each other “confrere” (brotherly colleague). Mark advised that during this time medicines were very hard to get in the remote areas of the Congo. The reasons were due to shortages, lack of funding, theft and corruption. As director, Mark spent a lot of his time supporting this project. He believed it was a good model for rural villages, and he wanted to help make it sustainable.
You can see photos and learn more about the work the Peace Corps did in the Congo by visiting their Facebook page – Peace Corps Zaire / Democratic Republic of Congo
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