Celebrating CNN Hero Dr. Georges Bwelle

Let us join to celebrate Dr. Georges Bwelle selected as one of CNN’s Top Ten Heroes for 2013.

Dr. Georges Bwelle, a general surgeon at the central hospital in Cameroon’s capital, assembles a team of medical volunteers, buys medications, equipment, and surgical supplies for weekend missions throughout the dry season. He plans out the entire year with specially selected destinations where he and his team set up a field clinic, operating room, and pharmacy for the villagers and neighboring people. At these clinics he provides free consultations, examinations, medications, and operations if necessary.

After studying medicine in Cameroon, Georges-Roger Motto Bwelle spent 15 months in Brussels, Belgium to further his knowledge of vascular surgery. When he returned home, he ran the medical center in Bengis, a small, impoverished community in southern Cameroon. Then he got the idea to build a global network of medical professionals and student interns to provide free health services to poor regions throughout the African continent. In July 2008, Georges created the non-profit organization ASCOVIME which focuses on health and education issues.”

What is ASCOVIME USA?

ASCOVIME is a small, grassroots volunteer organization committed to fight illiteracy and disease in Cameroon and eventually greater Africa. The humanitarian missions of ASCOVIME have been going on since 2000. However, the organization was formally established in 2008.

Our Mission:

The mission of Ascovime is simple: provide free medical care and education supplies to marginalized, destitute populations in the rainforests of Africa. In the bigger picture, education and health are the vital elements that are keeping Cameroonians from true independence and democracy.

What Do We Do?

Every Friday during dry season in Cameroon, Ascovime loads up a hired or borrowed van with a team of volunteers and a bunch of medical supplies, and hits the road. The team heads for some of the poorest and remote villages in the country where people may have never seen a doctor before. They set up a makeshift “hospital” and first provide locals with personal consultations, then prescribe treatments, and even surgeries under primitive conditions – all of this at no charge. Our mission was to travel to rural jungle villages and set up improvised clinics, pharmacies, and operating rooms to provide free health care to the locals. In addition, the teams bring school supplies to all of the primary school children and teaching supplies to the instructors.

During the fall months, Ascovime again loads up their vans with volunteers, but this time with mostly educational supplies and materials.  Books, pencils, chalk, notebooks, backpacks, and anything that can help a teacher or a student to get a better education is distributed for free by Ascovime.  Currently, Ascovime is leading a project to give more children the opportunity to attend high school.

Courtesy of Ascovime.org, CNN.com/heroes,