NZURI PROJECT - ELIZABETH
ENDEMIC GOITRE CONDITION
The beginning of this Beautiful Project is with the story of Elizabeth, a 40-year old Congolese widow from war ridden Masisi, Eastern DRC, who has been living with Endemic Goitre condition for the past 25 years. Endemic Goitre Condition affects thousands of women in Central Africa and the main cause is the traditional eating of cassava & cabbage and deficiency in selenium & iodine.
Janet Potgieter, Mrs Africa 2014 and Dries Coetzee, owner of Latlong International joined forces with Dr Luc Malemo from HEAL Africa and this woman’s life was changed forever when she underwent surgery for her condition, funded by Latlong International.
Every woman, doesn’t matter in what conditions she has to survive in, has the right to feel pretty, loved & dignified. To have such a gruesome growth on a place you can’t hide is not only physically, but also emotionally devastating while it is slowly busy suffocating and making swallowing almost impossible. Some of these women are left by their husbands and rejected by their communities and as it is, these women trying to survive and to raise their children in war ridden Eastern DRC is a daily challenge.
“Nzuri” means “Beautiful” in Swahili and the aim with this project is to reach, perform surgery, heal and beautify thousands of women who live with this terrible condition which is actually easy to rectify with surgery.
For more information or to assist financially, contact Janet Potgieter:
janet@africapageants.com / +27 83 270 4701