The vision of FOA is to significantly reduce the incidence of preventable diseases in Africa through health education campaigns and provision of medicine and equipment for treatment of basic ailments. FOA envisions sending medical personnel and needed medical equipment to Africa on a yearly basis, working with local health workers and institutions to raise awareness on diseases and to establish free clinics. In August of 2006, FOA sent a medical team from Oakland, California to the West African nation of Cameroon. The medical outreach was a great success and significantly impacted many lives.
With over 10 volunteer doctors and nurses, the team educated the locals on nutrition, preventive healthcare, early identification and management of ailments such as diabetes, hypertension, HIV/AIDS, and malaria to over 300 people each day. The doctors attended to an average of 150 patients daily for five action-packed days.
The team was able to give free medicine, prescription eyeglasses, blood-pressure and blood-glucose monitors, and other medical supplies to patients and local clinics, and was very well-received by the people of Cameroon. In the course of the medical outreach, the FOA medical team visited some clinics in Yaounde, Cameroon, and determined that there was a dire need for basic medical equipment and supplies that could be easily assembled in the United States. After learning of the sucess of the 2006 program, WEHHS joined FOA to plan the Cameroon 2007 project.
To learn more about Friendx of Africa, visit their website at www.friendxofafrica.org.
Oakland School for the Arts' (OSA) mission is to "provide students with intensive pre-professional training in the arts, while maintaining high academic standards within a college preparatory curriculum." OSA integrates arts and academics, with a curriculum that includes English, Math, Romance Languages, Science, Social Studies, Arts Management, Dance, Literary Arts, Music, Theatre and Visual Arts. Dr. Bruce Lawrence is the past president of the OSA, and has maintained his connection to the school and committment to the arts by incorporating an arts and cultural exchange into WEHHS.
The goal of WEHHS is not only to deliver medical supplies to communities in need, but to also create a cultural exchange by hosting a local musician to perform at the OSA and other Bay Area venues.
World Exchange News