CHRISTIAN FRIENDS OF KOREA INC
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Mission Statement
Christian Friends of Korea seeks to minister in the name of Christ to the people of North Korea. Since 1995 we have provided over $80 million in aid to tuberculosis, hepatitis, and pediatric care centers. We are presently working in 30 health care institutions scattered throughout North and South Hwanghae Provinces, Kaesong City and Pyongyang City.
About This Cause
CFK teams visit North Korea two times a year to confirm arrival, distribution and use of CFK donated goods, to encourage staff and patients, and to assess current needs. We visit two times a year for capacity building projects such as hospital renovations and re-equipping, clean water development and sustainable agriculture. These projects involve highly skilled volunteers who work side by side with North Koreans and contribute to trust building efforts that bring lasting change. Because each facility is unique with differing local circumstances and challenges, we provide support tailored to the needs of each individual location. Balanced nutrition, clean water, sanitary and comfortable patient rooms, well-trained medical staff, and functional medical equipment are needed for patients to recover from their diseases. We meet with the staff and directors of each facility to assess needs and plan solutions. CFK sends canned meat, vegetable soup mix, hygiene kits, nutritional supplements, medicine and medical supplies. We provide self-contained solar rechargeable systems that provide lighting to allow staff the ability to read, work and care for patients after the sun goes down. Most patients prefer to sleep on the floor Korean style, so we send warm blankets and interlocking, high-density foam mats to protect patients from hard, cold floors. We provide materials to replace 30 to 50 year old roofs, drafty windows and doors, and floor and wall tile for better sanitation. Our doctor's and nurse's kits include basic diagnostic tools (stethoscopes, BP cuffs, thermometers, otoscopes etc.) and basic first aid supplies. Greenhouses help create self-sustaining food production capacity, supplying year-round nutrition to patients and staff. Walking tractors with a trailer, tiller, plow and irrigation pump are used 5-8 hours a day, year-round and last up to 6 years before needing replacement. Cargo tricycles provide an efficient and practical means for local rest homes to carry goods and patients on narrow dirt roads that often wash out. We clearly see the transformative power of clean water to improve patient health and significantly expand local food production through enhanced irrigation capability. Working through Wellspirng for Life and the DPRK's Office of Ground Water Management, wells are drilled at CFK supported facilities. A deep well handpump is installed in a newly drilled well until the CFK team can return to install a solar powered/gravity fed water distribution system. The team installs water tanks, solar panels to power the pump, gravity fed distribution systems and frost free hydrants to supply clean water. Point-of-use water filters supply clean, safe drinking water at care centers until permanent systems can be installed. We completed a Medical Training Center in May 2014. Training brings together US experts with North Korean professionals to rapidly advance staff skills in tandem with infrastructure and equipment enhancements. Prior to our program that was initiated in 2016, there was no therapy available for chronic hepatitis B. CFK began working in 2015 with multiple partners to start a hepatitis B project giving long-term access to therapies to suppress the virus and prevent liver damage, preserving both health and life and alleviating considerable suffering. The program has required full renovation of diagnostic labs (including a full solar/battery/invertor system for long term sustainability), delivery of ultrasound and fibroscan equipment, patient information materials and extensive staff training. Other technical and development projects include: operating room renovations and re-equipping at 6 provincial hospitals completion of 13 water systems and deep water wells drilled at 17 care centers renovation of the National Tuberculosis Reference Laboratory and OR suite at the Central Tuberculosis Hospital in Pyongyang renovation of 2 hepatitis laboratories in Pyongyang and Kaesong ongoing training and education for medical professionals.