Mobile clinic (2019-2026)
When Urs Burki decided to close his private clinic in order to devote himself entirely to his artistic practice, he already had a “Plan B” in mind. His vision was to design a state-of-the-art mobile clinic that would travel across Swiss cities to offer simple and affordable aesthetic surgical procedures to individuals of modest means — people who hoped that correcting a facial disharmony might bring them renewed self-esteem and joy. By the time this ambitious project was ready for production, his longing for unrestricted artistic creation had become so strong and clear that he ultimately chose to hang up his beloved profession for good.
When Rosmarie Burki-Weibel later learned from Dr Paolo Narcisi, founder and first president of the Italian NGO Rainbow for Africa, that the organisation Missionland was building a mobile clinic for the Republic of Chad in Carrè (Italy) in the summer of 2019, she decided to cover the entire cost of its construction and medical equipment. In doing so, she hoped to see her husband’s unfulfilled dream come to life after all. No one could have foreseen the difficulties that would accompany the planned journey to Chad.
After the country’s president was deposed, the containers’ destination changed to Togo at the end of 2019. Owing to political instability in Nigeria and Burkina Faso, and later the Covid-19 pandemic, the transport was repeatedly delayed. In 2023, the containers were finally moved from Burkina Faso to Togo. Due to on-site complications, Rainbow for Africa’s technicians were only able to begin assembling the mobile clinic this year (2025), mounting it on a specially designed, reinforced platform. Sadly, much of the original equipment and medical material had become defective or unusable in the meantime. Their replacement is scheduled for 2026.