Working Method

Workshops
In various cities in CONGO Brazzaville we founded “workshops”, where local people, who are educated by our aid teams, produce sandals (sabots) and orthesen.
There are three workshops in Brazzaville,located in Mongali, Bacongo and one within the Willem Struijs Centre.
Pointe-Noir, the second largest city in Congo, has one workshop, Nkayiand Dolisieeach have and one is located in the north, in Owando.
The materials needed for these workshops are sent from The Netherlands and are paid for by your generous donations to our Foundation.

FITTING and MEASURING
Each visit from the aid team is announced well in advance to the workshops. Patients are encouraged by churches and communities to go for consultations to the workshops.
On the day they arrive for a consultation (often after a walk of several hours or even several days), a "diagnosis" is made at once and measurements are taken.

Mrs. Marijke van de Wiel makes her prognosis and takes the necessary measurements.

GLUING and GROUNDING
From the detailed measurements, the sandals and the orthesen are produced in the workshops and the finished items can be picked up after only a few days.

These pictures show how the orthesen are produced.

See the result! Excellent!
The finished products are ready to be picked up.

REVALIDATING
Thanks to the help of the local employees of the Willem Struijs Centre and from the sisters of the mission posts, children are revalidated according to the instructions given by the aid team´s revalidation doctor.

Look at the beaming face of this woman, who is mobile again due to her new orthesen. That’s what makes this work so rewarding...

FITTING SHOES
Not only sandals and orthesen are tailor made here, but special shoes are measured as well.
These very special shoes protect the feet, so that it will be possible for the patient to walk again.

It goes without saying, that patient are very happy, when something can be done to eliminate their problem.

And if you are “the lucky one” to get shoes like this, future is so much brighter...!

DISTRIBUTING
After finishing the shoes, sandals and orthesen, the products are prepared for pick up.

Pick up and distributing is a secure job....!