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The C.A.M.P. (Congolese Advocacy Memorial Project) Fund
Jim’s friends and family thank you for giving us your time, attention, and support. Please see the information below for details about this cause, or visit our partner site www.congostory.org Jim’s family set up this site to enrich the donor experience, and connect donors to the recipients of their support. Please share the link and the information below with others who might be interested in donating or learning about this cause.
Please continue to support us by clicking one of the online giving options on this page (Network for Good or Pay Pal) or send your check to:
FCMC Foundation, The C.A.M.P. Fund, 214 Peach Orchard Road, McConnellsburg, PA 17233
If you are able to give a $25 donation, we will send you a bracelet (good for either gender) made from African cloth as a token of our gratitude and a sign of your support for The C.A.M.P. Fund.
About the C.A.M.P. Fund:
Jim Camp spent his life ministering to the needs of others through his medical service. The C.A.M.P. Fund aims to carry on his work and build on his legacy. We wish to honor his memory and his promises, and to enable Congolese professionals to address local medical and educational needs.
Jim worked as both an anesthetist and a hospital administrator for a rural (DRC) Democratic Republic of the Congo medical facility from 1982 until 1990. He then moved his family to the USA, but he never forgot the medical needs of the Congolese; he sent equipment to hospitals there and supported several medical students’ schooling.
In January 2009, Jim traveled to the DRC, where he assessed some equipment needs and built cooperative relationships with organizations doing good work. Jim was providing support to a number of different medical personnel in DRC when he passed suddenly in March 2009. We have innovated some projects to help continue his support of the people he loved and institutions whose work he valued so highly
The C.A.M.P. Fund Supports the Following:
- NURSING STUDENTS (Support for Students of ITM Rwanguba)
 History of this support: In the 1980s, Jim helped start a nursing school in a rural part of DRC (Rwanguba), where educational opportunities tend to be very limited but medical needs very pressing. In January 2009, Jim visited the school and met with students worried about tuition inflation. He realized the high impact of having to pay an extra $50 in a place where there are no loans available, and $50 is greater than the average monthly salary (for reference: a city policeman makes $50 a month, so imagine the budget for rural students).
How donations will be used: This scholarship provides tuition assistance for the nursing school students in Rwanguba. The money will be given directly to the institution (ITM Rwanguba) and $50 applied to each student’s account, so that everyone will benefit equally. Our goal is to renew this tuition contribution annually, and keep the student support active and funded. The school currently enrolls 40 students, making the C.A.M.P. Fund donation $2000 annually.
Who benefits & how: Your support benefits underserved communities in the Congo, Africa. Your contributions mean that Congo's health system will have more qualified and talented nurses; your gifts of support:
- increase graduation rates and puts more nurses into circulation. Students can focus on studying rather than working to earn extra money, which would interfere with the time and focus they need.
- serve as a force of equal opportunity, because the financial burden of inflation normally puts extra pressure on economically disadvantaged students, forcing them out of the system, regardless of how bright and promising they are. You even the playing field by ensuring that all students have the chance to succeed.
- sustain educational opportunities for future students. Schools must cover the costs of teaching staff, materials, and general inflation, and this leads to rising tuition. By giving to the school, you ensure its continued operation.
- invest in the whole region’s health and wellness. This is the only nursing school for several hundred miles, so when you help these students, you are increasing the quality of health care in the whole region.
- MEDICAL AID (Support for Head Medical Technician at HEAL Africa)
History of this support: The Camp family has known Bizi for over 20 years and has long witnessed his patience, generosity, technical savvy, intelligence, and commitment to peaceful relations. Jim Camp supported Bizi by funding his medical engineering degree, and, after his graduation, advocated for him to attain a position with HEAL Africa, a locally-staffed medical aid organization in Goma that primarily serves children with orthopedic needs and women who have been victims of sexual violence. Bizi has since been promoted to serve as the technical director. He now heads a team that repairs and maintains almost everything at the HEAL Africa medical facility. Bizi and his crew must work with specialized equipment and technology in a country that has never experienced an era of industrialization. Parts are hard to come by, and things break often. Supporting his position is vital because it ensures that medical personnel can do their jobs effectively.
How the donations will be used: In support of both HEAL Africa and Bizi, Jim set up a regular contribution to HEAL Africa dedicated specifically to providing his technician position with a fair salary, donating $300 per month or $3,600 yearly. Our aim is to maintain this salary contribution through HEAL Africa to assist Bizi and his work.
Who benefits & how: Your support benefits HEAL Africa, a high-traffic and high-quality medical NGO in Goma which deals daily with the effects of longstanding political instability and war; your gifts of support:
- keep Bizi's vital medical engineering/technical position well-funded. Since he is responsible for trouble-shooting and repairing any problems of technical maintenance that arise in the medical aid facility, both patients and medical personnel rely on his expertise and good management to keep things running smoothly.
- grow technical expertise and medical equipment repair at HEAL Africa. Bizi has recently expanded his role, which now includes teaching. His teaching role enables others to repair equipment. As medicine advances to rely more and more on specialized technology, the need for technicians like Bizi is growing.
- improve the quality of medical care in the region. HEAL Africa is generous with its resources, and Bizi occasionally does trouble-shooting, equipment repair, and installation for other facilities in the area looking for experts.
- enable Bizi to help a variety of people in need. The more resources Bizi has, the more he uses them to improve the lives of those around him. Genuinely community-minded, Bizi understands the needs around him and addresses them capably, supporting many in turn.
3. TEACHING SERVICE (Support for Volunteer Instructors at a DRC University)
 History of this support: In 2009, Becky and Jeff Cech (Jim’s daughter and son-in-law) visited DR Congo and worked as volunteers at HEAL Africa, assisting them with non-profit literature and media production. Through this medical aid organization, they learned of UCBC (Christian Bilingual University of Congo), an institution of higher education in DR Congo that is doing admirable work, but currently remains underfunded and reliant on volunteers and donations. When they returned to the US, Jeff and Becky contacted UCBC and applied for positions as volunteer instructors in the areas of English and Communications, where they intend to serve for the 2011-2012 school year if they can raise enough support. They are calling this special effort “The Jitoe Project.” In Swahili Jitoe means “give of yourself.” It’s an expression often used in DR Congo to describe gifts that are not monetary, but instead reflect time, service, and talent. Becky and Jeff wish to give their time, service, and professional expertise in their early careers to fill staffing needs at UCBC.
How the donations will be used: According to a budget provided by the university (UCBC), support for two instructors will total approximately $25,000 for a year, including cost of living, travel, and books and resources for students. This means initial payment of $10,000 for one-time preparatory fees (travel, medical insurance, training, teaching materials) to be disbursed in the summer of 2011, with the remainder paid in equal monthly installments of $1,250 over the course of twelve months (August 2011-August 2012).
Who benefits & how: Your support benefits UCBC (Bilingual Christian University of Congo), a higher learning institution in Beni; your gifts of support:
- empower the Congolese to thoughtfully address the challenges around them. The university helps produce not only thoughtful but principled leadership to help break cycles of violence, combat corruption, and swell the ranks of problem-solvers.
- support equal opportunity. UCBC practices non-discriminatory policies in accepting students. Currently, there are 350 students enrolled at the campus, in a broad range of ages, and 44% of those enrolled are women; many women and mothers who would otherwise have limited opportunities to continue in higher education have found them at U.C.B.C.
- encourage civic responsibility. With its conscientious role in producing good, ethical leadership in DRC, the university actively promotes students’ involvement in local community needs, so that .
- increase the region’s security and stimulate its development. UCBC is positioned to stimulate development and security in a place particularly beset by political unrest. In the four years since the university was founded, Beni has become significantly safer and more stable, while the surrounding areas continue to be problematic, a strong indication that it plays positive role in stabilization.
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