AMM was founded in 1981 under the direction of Dr. Chris McConnachie, a member of Hendersonville Orthopedics & Associates of Hendersonville, NC. With his wife Jenny, a registered nurse, and their five children, Chris went to Mthatha, South Africa in 1984. Dr. McConnachie passed away in 2007, and is survived by 7 children and 14 grandchildren. Jenny continues to serve the people of Eastern Cape.

During the period of apartheid in South Africa, the government declared seven black homelands as independent entities. Funding for basic government services had been limited before independence. During the 20 years of independence, health care facilities deteriorated while medical personnel, equipment and supplies went lacking. In 1994 the Transkei was reincorporated into the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. Today, Transkei is one of the least affluent areas in the entire republic. The South African government is working on improvements in the area, but it’s a very big, very expensive job and the wheels of government turn slowly.

One South African newspaper once described the Eastern Cape region as…on the brink of collapse and one of apartheid’s worst legacies and the Eastern Cape’s biggest nightmares…it is under funded, marginalized, has little infrastructure or communications, and its services are collapsing. In 1981, the demand for healthcare in the area was overwhelming. Identifying needs and developing solutions for them led the McConnachies to become Episcopal missionaries, and start the African Medical Mission.

Since then, AMM has added a new surgery theater complex and spinal unit to Bedford Orthopedic Hospital; trained hundreds of local healthcare workers, and established relationships with overseas nonprofits and medical schools which supply volunteer medical professionals; constructed a fully equipped radiology department; built and developed an outpatient clinic; created housing for volunteers and staff, and developed an outreach system for bringing care to those in outlying rural areas.

Through its Itipini Community project, led by Jenny McConnachie, AMM now provides medical care to a ‘shantytown’ of 3,000, including primary care, TB and HIV testing, counseling, and treatment, and nutritional aid. In addition to medical services, the project runs a preschool and a youth program, a hospice, and several small economic programs.

With supporters in the U.S., U.K., and South Africa, African Medical Mission is a truly a global organization that thinks on a local level. All of AMM’s programs are located in the Eastern Cape. Now in its 28th year, AMM continues to strengthen its impact, filling in the tremendous gaps in the region’s healthcare and social services, and working toward the day when the poorest of the poor will have equitable resources and opportunities.