The Congolese Community of Hamilton and Area was created urgently to respond to the social challenges facing Congolese women and men in the city of Hamilton and Area.
The members’ cohesion and solidarity were strengthened during a case of malaria in the community, whose signs, symptoms, diagnosis and treatment were unknown to Canadian medical staff, who simply labelled it the “Ebola virus.” The patient, of Congolese origin, was placed in quarantine, leading to a period of intense investigation of international proportions. The Congolese community, now in the spotlight, was in turmoil.
The situation was narrowly resolved thanks to the expertise of a Congolese doctor, a member of the Congolese community of Hamilton, who was able to diagnose the illness and inform his Canadian colleagues about the real disease afflicting our compatriot: malaria, a potentially fatal disease transmitted to humans through the bites of certain types of mosquitoes.
