This is Pastor Bonjo Venant. He evangelizes for the Panzi community in Eastern Congo, but he also evangelizes for Asili…he is a very big fan! Since first visiting the clinic as a patient almost two years ago, he’s brought his friends and family for regular check-ups, and encourages his church to come too. “Asili is different because they actually take care of patients here,” he said. “They take care of people.”
It’s safe to say that Bonjo is over the moon about Asili’s new services at the clinic. In fact, he arrived one day before the prototypes launched to check things out and talk to the team about the changes. “This is not a small thing!” he said.
One of the reasons Bonjo knows about Asili’s new overnight stay and over the counter medication service is because he lives so close by, and has been following the Asili story closely. But what about those who don’t live as close, or who don’t know as much about the social enterprise?
“It’s really important to make sure that the people are aware that we’re launching these new services,” said Dr. Johnny. “We want them to know that we thought it was important to go to them and explain why we’re doing this.”
So the team wanted to organize a marketing campaign, involving the nurses, community health workers, and holding open houses for everyone who wanted to take a sneak peek.
That was something 365 could help with!
Equipped with support to hire this short term team, they went to churches, door to door, and used speakers and megaphones to spread the word. “We told them that there are new things to come and discover at the clinic.” Even curious kids were invited to see what it was all about!
“We’re excited to tell people that we’re listening to them, and responding to the demand for these services,” said Dr. Johnny. “They’ll know that we take their ideas seriously.”
For Bonjo’s part, he’s particularly excited about the over the counter medication service. “It’s a question of access. People come here because they know the medications are quality. They want to be taken care of by the nurses.”
Photos by Lens on Life photographers, Operation Goma (DRC): Kennedy Ngoa and Michel Basizi
