Friends of Monkole supports motherhood in the Congo with the movement ‘Por Arte de Madre’.’

The Friends of Monkole Foundation, which has already helped more than 150,000 people in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ivory Coast and Cameroon, mainly children and women in vulnerable situations, is promoting a new project, which has to do with safe motherhood.

It is called ‘By Mother's Art’and is an initiative of Friends of Monkole, on the occasion of Mother's Day. It seeks to transform Congo's extreme maternity into a living artistic current, and brings together artists who create works inspired by maternity in Kinshasa, in order to finance safe deliveries at Monkole hospital.

Importance of comprehensive medical care

100% of the proceeds go to this project. Every €500 enables a woman in the Democratic Republic of Congo to have access to complete medical care: prenatal check-ups, assisted childbirth and neonatal care. In the context of the country, this project is of vital importance as it has one of the highest maternal and infant mortality rates in the world.

The ‘Forfait Mamá’ Partnership Program 

To collaborate with Por Arte de Madre you can access to porartedemadre.org This website features the works created by the different artists participating in this edition: Coco Dávez, Matoya Martínez-Echevarría, Carmen García Huerta, Tania Cliffer, Loreto Innenarity and María Zavala. Each painting has a fundraising goal that translates into a number of mothers helped with a Forfait Mamá (500€ = 1 Forfait Mamá).

For each €50 you donate to the chosen work, you get one participation for the raffle of that specific work. That is, if you donate between €1 and €50 you get one participation, between €51 and €100 two and so on. The more you donate, the more chances that the artwork will be yours. Below each painting you will see a progress bar that shows how much is left to reach the Forfaits Mamá goal set by the artist. 

Whether the fundraising goal is not reached or exceeded, each work will be raffled among donors on Sunday, May 3, Mother's Day.

What underlies the project

Gabriel González-Andrío, Director of Communications and Content of the Friends of Monkole Foundation, based in Madrid, explains that “the maternal mortality rate in Congo is 427 deaths per 100,000 live births. Complications such as postpartum hemorrhage and infections account for 75 % of these deaths”.

Almudena Yebra, the foundation's education technician, comments that “this is not exactly a campaign. It is rather the creation of a new territory where extreme maternity becomes an artistic movement, a cultural conversation, a collective action.

Creativity at the service of those who need it most

Behind Por Arte de Madre are creative directors Gemma Llopis Gómez, Carlos Maiolatesi y Moira Casela Tamames, alumni of the Madrid Content School (MCS), who have been the architects of this project since its conception. We started generating ideas in October of last year and, after a lot of thinking, we created the Por Arte de Madre concept,“ explain Gemma Llopis and Carlos Maiolatesi.

This is an artistic solidarity movement and an innovative way to approach a fundraising campaign for an NGO or foundation. We are confident that this movement will continue to grow and create a large community of artists who join the cause. A proposal that demonstrates how creativity can become a powerful tool at the service of those who need it most.

At present. Friends of Monkole has 15 projects on the African continent, many of them through the Monkole Mother and Child Hospital in Kinshasa or the Walé Medical Center in Ivory Coast. These projects can be supported through Bizum 03997.