In 2000, Blaise used his vacation time to fly to Mozambique to coordinate relief efforts after major flooding. What he experienced shocked him into action: poor roads and overloaded agencies had great difficulty in reaching citizens who needed the most help. Blaise saw the need to address the country’s infrastructure as a way to make a difference, and he started VillageReach. As a result, VillageReach, a nonprofit organization, serves to help developing nations, Mozambique in particular, deliver vaccines and medications to their most remote rural communities.
Imagine the task of delivering temperature-sensitive vaccines in a country twice the size of California, depending on only dirt roads to reach the remote villages in need. In a developing nation such as Mozambique, VillageReach can make all the difference for children, women and men living in far-flung villages.
For example, VillageReach works alongside the Mozambique Ministry of Health to create a sustainable medical delivery system that local partners can maintain. In the past, people would walk up to two hours, often with their babies on their backs, and arrive at a clinic only to find that it could offer no vaccines or medicines of any sort. To date, VillageReach has helped ensure that ninety clinics have the full provisions to serve 1.5 million people.
Blaise’s humble and rigorous upbringing in Cameroon, combined with the generosity and resilience of Mozambicans during the floods, inspired him. He worked with communities that had lost everything and yet had the courage to create new beginnings for themselves and their country. Inspired by the courage he saw and experienced, as well as the tremendous needs, Blaise Judja-Sato quit his lucrative telecommunications job to dedicate his time, energy, and skills to improving the health and quality of life of the poor in Mozambique and other developing nations. Due to his commitment, VillageReach has indeed reached millions, making life better, healthier, and safer for families in need.
To learn more about Blaise and his cause, and how you can make a difference, please visit:
www.villagereach.org.
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