The Alcor Life Extension Foundation, the “world leader in cryonics, cryonics research, and cryonics technology”, is sponsoring a health clinic for orphans in the impoverished village of Nyakiyumbu, Uganda.

Alcor was originally incorporated in California in 1972, by Fred and Linda Chamberlain. The nonprofit performed its first human cryopreservation in 1976. The rapidly expanding group relocated in 1990 to its present day larger facility in Scottsdale, Arizona.

Alcor’s prestigious Staff, Directors, and Scientific Advisory Board include IEET Trustee Martine Rothblatt, IEET Fellow Aubrey de Grey, plus Max More (CEO), Ralph Merkle, Robert Freitas, the late Marvin Minsky, the science fiction author Gregory Benford, and many other techno-progressives. Mike Perry - Alcor’s Patient Caretaker - spearheaded the sponsorship of the Ugandan clinic.

Nyakiyumbu is in western Uganda, near the Congo (DRC) border, in a flat, banana-growing region populated by the Bakonzo tribe, that’s been regularly traumatized and massacred by invading rogue armies from the DRC. The village subsequently has a high rate of parentless children; approximately 13% of the population are orphans.

Classroom at Nyakiyumbu Widows Orphanage School

The clinic was originally established two years ago, but its endured a struggling history. The first sponsor was Biba Kavass, a Tennessee economics teacher who had to discontinue her support due to exorbitant medicals bills she owed in her own struggle against a brain tumor. When she pulled out, the clinic sponsorship bounced from a Silicon Valley sales manager, to an Oregon Christian, to Rachel Lyn Edler, Media Advisor of the Transhumanist Party.

Alcor’s goal at the Nyakiyumbu clinic is the same as its mission in Scottsdale: keeping people alive. Recent reports from the clinic’s certified nurse (Kambasu Zedekia) for June-August 2016, reveal a wide range of ailments: Malaria (14 cases in June), Ringworm, Scabies, Anthrax (from eating infected hippopotami), eye infections, Diarrhea, Influenza, and Peptic Ulcer Disease (caused by malnutrition). Not appearing in the report is a Nyakiyumbu child’s recent death from Sickle Cell Anemia, and three cases of HIV/AIDS.

Alcor’s partner in supporting the clinic is the Brighter Brains Institute (BBI), a nonprofit that set up 16 clinics in Uganda, plus it produced ten transhumanist conferences in the SF Bay Area and two transhuman debates. Alcor previously teamed up with BBI, the Mormon Transhumanist Association (MTA), and the Christian Transhumanist Association (CTA), to equip a “Science & Literacy Centre” for school children in Kyarumba, Uganda.

Guaranteeing health to the orphans of Nyakiyumbu is a daunting task. Most urgently needed are mosquito nets, , food, and additional medicine.

Donations to support the Alcor Clinic can be made at BBI’s “Marketplace” AfricaHumanists.org webpage HERE.