The African Medical Mission 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 and has been in residence there ever since. Their family has grown to include two Transkeian boys. As of 2004, they’ve added four in-laws and four grandchildren.

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 Transkei 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.