At the general meeting on Thursday, 2nd November 2023 in Gengenbach (Germany), the activity report of the Ortenau-Burundi Association for the 2022/2023 reporting year was presented:

In the past year, the support of the Kayanza Hospital has been unbroken.
The container, which was loaded on August 4, 2022, finally arrived on October 29, 2022. There had been an exceptionally long waiting time at the Tanzanian-Burundian border.

On 11. November 2022, a funding agreement (from CDU parliamentary group funds) of over 97,000 euros was signed. For budgetary reasons, the funding must first be approved by the State Ministry and then paid out via the Baden-Württemberg Development Cooperation Foundation (SEZ). That's why the managing director there, Mr. Keil, signed the contract.

The wish list from Kayanza was again very long. The wish list was negotiated with the Alchem ​​company in Bujumbura for 97,000 Euros. As soon as the funds arrived on the account of the Ortenau-Burundi Association, things that were in stock were ordered to be delivered right away. The devices that were not in stock were ordered to be delivered asap.

On 05.01.2023 Alchem delivered the first items ​​to Kayanza: an anesthesia machine with a monitor, 2 Birth chairs, 2 operating room lamps, and 1 incubator. Other components of the order are 1 washing machine, a total of 5 incubators, 1 sterilizer, 2 heat lamps for newborns, 5 perfusion pumps, 2 phototherapy lamps for Newborns, 1 laboratory device, patient monitors for monitoring. At the beginning of September this year, all devices were delivered, a briefing took place and they are in perfect operation. The remaining amount has been transferred and the process is completed.

On January 8, 2023, the second chairman, Franz Hahn, was honored with the Staufer Medal for his achievements of extraordinary volunteer commitment during a meeting of the Municipality of Hohberg through Mr. State Secretary, Volker Schebesta, on behalf of The Prime Minister of Baden-Württemberg.  In January, I contacted the director of Bujumbura's Tanganyika Hospital regarding the delivery of an oxygen production unit (container solution). We received a positive answer already at the end of January.

Burundi trip from June 25th until July 3rd, 2023.

Participants: Jürgen Hug, Elmar Bölinger and his wife Gabi, Josef Fürderer (X-ray technician).
From Frankfurt via Addis to Bujumbura with Ethiopian Airlines, overnight in Bujumbura
Mont Sion guest house. The next day we traveled to Kayanza (the journey was kindly organized by Dr. Georges Nsengiyumva).

Before we left we visited the Tanganyika Care Hospital in Bujumbura to get
to see the oxygen production unit on site and in operation. We also visited the company
Alchem, speak with the Managing Director, Mr. Brian Rasquinha, and his for Kayanza
responsible employee.
The next 2 days in Kayanza were busy: visit and tour of the hospital, visit
with the governor, drive to Ngozi to see the surgeon Dr. Jesus,
who is mainly employed in Ngozi, and to talk to him about his work in Kayanza. Josef Fürderer took care of the equipment. The hospital made a well-kept and busy impression with a high number of births (approx. 2,500/year) and a Cesarean section rate of almost 50%. All departments of the hospital are visited and the result was discussed with the director. For a new building that will have 2 operating rooms as well
a recovery room and a pediatric and adult intensive care unit, the foundation was about to be dug out. We were shown the plans and asked to look at them again and if necessary
to make suggestions for improvement. The visit was rated as highly informative an helpful by both sides. Back home we will analyze and revise the plans. Suggestions for improvement will be provided.

In the meantime, the building is taking shape. It´s supposed to be ready in about 1 year.
The area where the oxygen production unit should be placed was defined and the upcoming
procedures were discussed. The engineer who designed the system and also set it up
has meanwhile given his consent and instructions. The foundation has now been completed.

On the evening of July 1st, we were invited to a meeting in Bujumbura with the delegation from Baden-Württemberg under the leadership of State Secretary Hoogvliet and representatives from Burundi. We had valuable and important conversations.

An invitation has been received from the State Ministry for October 5th, 2023 to take part in a cluster meeting "Health in Burundi" as part of the cooperation agreement between the state of Baden-Württemberg and Burundi. Our commitment to Kayanza was highlighted at this meeting and further financial help has been promised. 
On October 18th, the funding decision for the oxygen production unit finally came from the SEZ. The project was immediately started on October 23rd. It is the club's largest investment sum for an individual project that has been applied for and approved. 160,000 Euros. 155,000 Euros comes from the state and the club has to raise the rest itself. A private donation of 2,000 Euros was already received.

After interventions at the State Ministry, a total of 10 ventilation machines were obtained from the country's stocks.  The machines were bought during the corona pandemic
by the Ministry of Social Affairs, but were never in operation. The devices were approved, serviced, and re-programmed to the French language and will be sent to Burundi via container. The chairman was thus commissioned to find suitable hospitals in Burundi that have a need for such devices of Chinese design and can deal with them. A total of 5 hospitals were identified. The devices are now on their way to Burundi as a donation from the federal state. 

End of the activity report.

Signed by Dr. Jürgen Hug idn October 2023.