Help LizzyKate Support Village Health Works in Burundi

Recently we attended a benefit dinner for an amazing organization called Village Health Works, a grassroots nonprofit in Burundi, one of the poorest countries in the world. VHW and their charismatic founder and CEO, Deo Niyizonkiza, are operating a health center in the remote village of Kigutu, Burundi, as well as building agricultural development programs, educational services and income-generating projects for women.

We are very impressed with the progress Deo and VHW have made in a relatively short time, and we invite you to help us support VHW with this discount code: DEO. 10% of your order will go to VHW plus you'll receive a 10% discount. After adding products to your shopping cart, you'll be able to enter the code when you checkout (note: this discount applies to the LizzyKate tea and accessories, but not the tea club subscription).

We also recommend learning more about Deo's life journey in Strength in What Remains, a New York Times best seller by Pulitzer Prize-winner Tracy Kidder.  You can learn more about the various VHW programs, view pictures and more on the VHW web site.

About Village Health Works: VHW operates the premier community health center in its catchment area in Bururi Province, Burundi, offering vital, life-saving primary care, emergency malnutrition care, maternal/child health services, and prevention and treatment of HIV/infectious and chronic diseases. Because of the interrelatedness of illness and poverty, VHW offers these services in conjunction with initiatives in nutrition, agriculture, economic development, education and women’s rights. The effective catchment area served by the VHW clinic has stretched beyond these six administrative zones, serving patients coming from the entire reach of the southwestern portion of Burundi (with over 250,000 residents, including ~50,000 repatriated refugees), with many traveling from as far as neighboring countries of Tanzania and DR Congo.

Founded in 2007, VHW currently provides over 22,000 clinical consultations a year, free-of-charge, to a mostly poor and destitute rural population, with 67% of its patients being women and their children. In addition, VHW’s corps of Community Health Workers (CHW or accompagnateurs) extend its reach into rural villages by providing education, consultations, treatment support, linkage to care and counseling to villagers living in distant, hard-to-reach colonies.