More than 3 million people live along Lake Tanganyika in Africa. The majority of the people in this remote area have no access to medical care. An amazing woman named Dr. Amy Lehman plans to build a floating health clinic that will travel up and down the lake and provide treatment for the people who live along its shores.

Please click on the film clip below about Dr. Lehman’s incredible project. It was made by Fisher Stevens and Mark Monroe—winners of the 2010 Oscar for feature-length documentary for their film The Cove. They have chosen Amy’s project as the subject for their next feature film. I SWEAR you’ll want to help support this cause after seeing this clip.
You can also find out more about the project at http://floatingclinic.org/

WHAT IS MY STORY:
My name is Julia and I am 12 years old. I just had my bat mitzvah in January, and part of the process is to find an issue you really care about and do as much as possible to help that cause. I’m really interested in medicine and want to become a doctor. I wanted to do something that would help people in places where there is little or no medical care.

My mom had listened to an interview with Dr. Lehman on the radio, and then showed me the Lake Tanganyika Floating Health Clinic’s website. After watching the short film on the site, I knew I wanted to help. In the film, there was a baby who had a serious condition called hydrocephalus, where there is extra fluid inside the skull. He had no way of getting treatment. With Dr. Lehman’s help, they were eventually able to get him to a hospital and he had surgery to fix it. But soon afterward he developed a fever and the hospital had so few resources that they couldn’t do anything about it, so he died. If that baby had lived in a place with decent medical care, he would have been fine. It just doesn’t seem fair that people in some places should die of relatively mild illnesses, while people like me are getting top-notch care.

This is an incredible project that could help hundreds of thousands of people. I realize times are tough—even $10 would help. I’m setting a goal of $5000, but more would be even better! This really means a lot to me and to the people of Lake Tanganyika, so I hope you’ll help. Thanks!