Clinique Monique
  Kouri, Mali

In 2004, Maxime Dembele, a village health worker and Monique’s favorite cousin founded the rural health clinic Cabinet de Soins Monique, or Clinique Monique, in Monique’s honor. Angele, Monique’s sister and a midwife herself, hopes to eventually work here.

If you’ve read the book, you know that women in this region have a lifetime risk of dying in childbirth or pregnancy of 1 in 12. This part of the world also has the fewest physicians and nursing persons per capita.

Proceeds from sales of Monique and the Mango Rains will help expand the capabilities of this clinic, as well as provide school tuition assistance and health care for Monique’s children. You can also donate directly to the clinic at the address given below. As of June 2009, we have raised over $58,000!!

The clinic is located in Kouri, a small town in Mali with a population of roughly 5,000 people on the Burkino Faso border – just east of Koutiala, where Monique was born, and Nampossela (too small to be on this map!), where Monique worked.

The purpose of the clinic is to conduct prenatal consultations, perform minor surgeries, and provide gynecological and obstetrical care.

We are currently (Summer 2009) putting on the doors and windows and installing plumbing and electricity. Other needs include:

• Land to build a new clinic as the current clinic is operating out of a rented space. (this is now complete as of June 2007)
• Building materials for walls, floor, and roof. (this is now complete as of October 2008)
• Windows, doors, installation of electrical wires, plumbing, painting (to be completed 2009)
• Medical equipment for operations, such as operating tables, lights, lances, autoclaves, scissors, scalpels, and other instruments. (on-going)
• Medical equipment for prenatal consultations, births, and weighing babies, such as scales, obstetrical instruments, chairs, and beds for postpartum recovery.
• Solar panels to help generate electricity to sterilize instruments.
• Training and education for staff. (on-going)

Example of what your money can do:

• $5,000 – Furnishes one surgical room
• $1,000 – pays for one solar generator and back-up battery
• $300 – pays for one year of midwifery training
• $100 – sends a child to school for one year
• $50 – pays for a set of medical instruments

We are partnered with WomensTrust, Inc., a 501c3 nonprofit organization dedicated to empowering women in West Africa at the grassroots level.

Your donation to Clinique Monique is tax-deductible, and urgently needed to make Maxime’s dream of expanding this clinic a reality.

You can donate in two ways:
1) By donating securely online through Paypal:

WomensTrust, Inc.
P.O. Box 15
Wilmot, NH 03287

Our utmost thanks for your support.

If you’d like more information about this project, please email us at cliniquemonique@moniquemangorains.com