Jeni Edme Cachicata

Jeni was born and raised in Lubango, in a Christian family. Her father is a pastor and with him she learned a lot about mission work. In 2008 her family moved to Menongue for mission work and there she started to work as a volunteer with several projects. When she returned to Lubango, she started her study in Management & Accounting. While taking an English course she got to know some missionaries and they introduced her to the fistula work in 2017. She loved it.

In August 2018 she became the team leader of the Fistula Rehabilitation Team. She is involved in teaching different skills to the patients and especially likes to help them regain their self-esteem, dignity and teach them about the love of God. She has big dreams for developing the program since there is such a great need, both in terms of the number of patients as well as the counselling they require.

Dr. Stephen Foster (FRCSC)

Dr. Foster received his surgical training through the Gallie Residency Program in general surgery at the University of Toronto. He has held such positions as: International Traveling Fellow, and Fellow in head and neck surgery and urology at McMaster University Clinical Associate Professor of Surgery at McMaster University. Dr. Foster was born in Brantford, Ontario, grew up in Zambia, and spent much of the last 30 years in Angola before returning permanently in 2000. Dr. Foster and his wife Peggy divide their time between CEML and the mission hospital at Kalukembe in the interior.

Norm & Audrey Henderson

Norm & Audrey Henderson have been serving in Angola since 2011. Norm is director of technology at CEML (Clinical Evangélico de Medicina do Lubango), a hospital in the south of the country; coordinates CEML’s visitor program; and is business administrator for SIM Angola. Audrey is a nurse and director for Quality at CEML. She enjoys working with the Angolan nurses, mentoring them and helping improve the quality of care. She provides patient education and spends much time with women with obstetric fistula, providing spiritual and practical counseling and support as they prepare for and recover from fistula repair surgery. The Hendersons assist a rural outreach of the local church, and Norm preaches monthly.

Dr. Annelise Olson, General Surgeon

Dr. Olson is a general surgeon, most recently from Michigan, before that from South Dakota and Portugal. She completed medical school at Loma Linda University in Southern California, and then went on to surgical residency at St Joseph Mercy Hospital in Ann Arbor, Michigan. There followed a fellowship in International & Rural Surgery, a unique program giving experience in all the surgical subspecialties. She completed a 2 year post residency with Samaritan’s Purse and now serves full time at CEML.

Dr. Rebecca Zachariah, Gynecology/Obstetrics FMH

Dr. Rebecca Zachariah attended Medical School at the Universities of Basel and Lausanne, Switzerland, followed by her residency in Gynecology/Obstetrics in Muri and Aarau, where she also completed a residency program in gynecological oncology. She had the position of an attending physician before coming to Angola. She also worked on a short-term basis in low-resource settings in Pakistan, Nepal and Bangladesh. She joined CEML in September 2016. She is married to Dr. Ralph Zachariah; together they have four children.

Drs. Priscilla and Daniel Cummings

Dr. Priscilla Cummings completed her medical education at the University of Michigan, with a residency in Obstetrics and Gynecology at Pennsylvania Hospital. She did her fistula surgical training in Angola with some of the world’s best fistula surgeons! Dr. Daniel Cummings completed his medical education at University of Rochester, with a residency in Emergency Medicine at Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. Drs. Pri and Daniel work as a team at Kalukembe Mission Hospital. They live with their three energetic children and a rotating cast of pets (currently an owl, rooster, and a cat).

Petra Jobse

Petra Jobse was born into a big family in Holland and has always loved to work with people from other cultures. Prior to moving to Angola in 2014, Petra worked with immigrants and with people in asylum-seeker camps in Holland. She most prefers to work in preventative care, teaching women about their own health, and that of their children.

Petra has loved working with the people of Angola. She described it as, “a country with many challenges and huge needs. It isn’t always easy, but it has been my favorite to work with people in the rural areas where there is still so much need. Angola is among the countries with the highest under-age-five mortality rates… [Additionally], poor maternal care is one of the contributing factors to the high numbers of women with fistula.”

Since the start of the prevention programs in 2015, Petra has felt joy and pride in being part of the HFOS team!

Dr. Myron Glick

Dr. Myron Glick is the founder and CEO of Jericho Road Community Health Center, which manages The Wellness Clinic in Goma. Dr. Glick grew up as the son of missionaries in Belize and knew even then that he wanted to become a doctor and care for the underserved. He is a Board Certified Family Physician and graduate of the University at Buffalo School of Medicine. He completed his residency training at Lancaster General Hospital in the Family Practice Residency Program and was awarded a fellowship at the University at Buffalo’s Department of Family Medicine in Faculty Development and Primary Care Research. Dr. Glick also holds a faculty appointment at the University at Buffalo in the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences.

In 1997, Dr. Myron and his wife, Joyce opened the doors of Jericho Road Family Practice (JRFP) at 184 Barton Street on Buffalo’s West Side. Today, Jericho Road is a federally qualified community health center. The purpose was then, and still is, to provide excellent medical care to all who come, regardless of one’s insurance status. In addition to serving patients who are native to Buffalo, Jericho Road Community Health Center also serves a large number of refugees, many of whom have never seen a doctor or received proper medical care before coming to the States. In 2013, the organization began to expand globally and now operates health centers and programs in Sierra Leone, the DRC (The Wellness Clinic), and Nepal.

Dr. Glick lives in Buffalo with his wife. Together, they have four children. He visits Jericho Road’s global health sites multiple times a year and enjoys playing soccer and watching football (Go Bills!).

Chantal Dz’da Mandro

Chantal Dz’da Mandro is the manager of Jericho Road Community Health Center’s Wellness Clinic in Goma. Born and raised in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Chantal attended the Institut Supérieur de Techniques Médicales [ISTM Goma] and received her degree in Health Institution Management. When she is not at The Wellness Clinic, Chantal enjoys cooking, teaching, and spending time with her family, including her husband, six children, and three grandchildren. When asked to describe her favorite part about working at The Wellness Clinic, Chantal says, “The Wellness Clinic provides us with the means to help vulnerable people by providing quality medicines, hospitalizations, and free or reduced-cost surgeries. Without our help, many people would just die due to lack of healthcare. It is a rewarding experience to see vulnerable people relieved of their suffering.”

Dr. Ghyslain Ndakola Maniraguha

Dr. Ghyslain Ndakola Maniraguha is one of two doctors at Jericho Road Community Health Center’s Wellness Clinic in Goma. Dr. Ghyslain was born in Goma, received his medical training with a surgery and obstetrics specialty at the Université de Goma [UNIGOM], and worked in Rwanda from 2010 until 2015. At The Wellness Clinic, Dr. Ghyslain provides prenatal care and performs some surgeries, including C-sections. He is married with two children and enjoys sports, music, and ministering.

Rumbidzai Pairamanzi

Rumbi, as she is familiarly known, is a citizen of Zimbabwe and has more than 16 years of experience and extensive skills in leading teams in Program Development and Management/Implementation, Program Effectiveness, Strategy Development & Resource Acquisition in both Development and Humanitarian sectors. For six months she served World Relief in the capacity of Director of Programs in Goma and previously supported programs in the DRC with World Vision UK. She currently serves World Relief as their Country Director for the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Rumbi is the mother of two grown children and a very proud grandmother of two wonderful grandchildren. She enjoys serving and singing at Church and spending time with her family.

Dr. Shirley Heywood

Dr. Shirley Heywood hails from the United Kingdom, where she also has completed all of her Obstetrical and Gynecological training: She attended MBChB Liverpool through 1979, MRCOG through 1985 and FRCOG through 2000.

Working overseas for 25 years, in Pakistan and Papua New Guinea, with the last 14 years in Nepal, Dr. Heywood says she will remain in Nepal until she retires. She first arrived in the country as a volunteer with International Nepal Fellowship, an International, Interdenominational Christian INGO working in Nepal since 1952 and registered in Australia since 2005. INF mainly provides medical services and community development in the western half of the country.

Because Dr. Heywood was working mostly working in western Nepal, where obstetric fistula was a largely unknown problem, with many unmet needs, Dr. Heywood looked east to where treatment was available in Kathmandu. To better serve those of her region as their countrywomen were being served elsewhere, she underwent training in Fistula surgery in 2008 with Andrew Browning in Bahidar Hamlin Fistula hospital in Ethiopia.

In her time, Dr. Heywood has seen INF raising fistula awareness and providing prevention training to government health workers in the three Western Regions. A fistula repair service began in 2009 though camps in partnership with Mid Western Regional Hospital Surkhet. A designated Fistula treatment and training centre is under construction in the Mid Western Regional Hospital complex in Surkhet and from 2018 will open and provide fistula treatment throughout the year.