Health Care (Africa) Inc., hereinafter HCA, is embarking on an exiciting new program to bring about major changes in the public's attitude towards the visually impaired population of Liberia, where they are greatly shunned by society. Because the visually impaired are considered eyesores and public embarsessments, they are mostly left to beg on the streets, within one of the world's poorest countries.

HCA is now working towards giving visually impaired individuals access to computers and training, using the software JAWS (with voice recognition). Through JAWS training those with visual impairments would be empowered to get an education, and become self-sufficient. They would be helping themselves to earn recognition by society as equally intellegen human beings.

The founder of HCA, Dr. Emmanuel S. Kai-Lewis (pictured left in photo 6), worked as an ophthalmologist in Liberia and surrounding countries for thirty years. He originally launched HCA in 2003,  in order to help the blind populatin with health problems; however, the escalation of civil war in Liberia necessitated the organization’s immediate evacuation from the country in early 2005. Thus, Dr. Kai-Lewis travelled to the U.S.A., where he earned another degree in education.

Approximately three years ago, Dr. Kai-Lewis had the misfortune of completely loosing his own sight, yet it did not prevent him from reinstating HCA, and returning to Liberia. Although he is still concerned about the total health of visually impaired individuals in Liberia, he has the additional new focus of using high technology in order to further enable their well-being.

The reinstatement of HCA was completed August 2010, as a legally registered 501(c)(3) tax exempt organization, in good standing with the IRS and in the states of Maryland and North Carolina. It is presently working within the triangle of Chapel Hill-Durham-Raleigh, North Carolina, with its head office located in Raleigh, collaborating with the Lions Club.

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Dr. Sakui Malakpa (pictured left, photos 2 ), a close colleague of Dr. Kai-Lewis, and one of the co-founders of HCA, is featured in the  New Liberian Newspaper,  July 26, 2007:

Liberia’s Independence Day Orator Says Change Inevitable in Liberia

…“Dr. Malakpa thanked President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf for a once in a lifetime opportunity, and said that she was “first among equals.” He also paid tribute to the late President William R. Tolbert for sponsoring his education after the death of his parents and the development of his blindness at the tender age of 16. Dr. Malakpa, proudly representing the Union of Liberians with Disabilities, said that an able bodied person is someone who is just not disabled yet, encouraging everyone to be mindful of the nation’s collective responsibility to Liberia’s disabled communities.

In the end, his message resounded with phrases about national reconciliation and unity, as he reminded Liberians “we must see ourselves as one family.” Meanwhile, President Johnson Sirleaf has conferred upon Dr. Malakpa the award of ‘Knight Grand Commander in the Humane Order of African Redemption (KGC/HOAR).”…

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HELP VISUALLY IMPAIRED INDIVIDUALS IN LIBERIA TO EMBRACE THEIR FUTURES BY:

• Communicating knowlege or events that relate HCA's mission through use of facebook & twitter (See Health Care (Africa)'s facebook page and twitter account);
• Volunteering to instruct JAWS in Liberia;
• Volunteering to work in medical eye clinics in Liberia.                                                                                                                                                    For more details please contact Elizabeht Oudejans, Treasurer of HCA  at : hcafrica2010@gmail.com