Humanitarian Aid Gambia - NGO A27

Wednesday 21 May 2008 was the great day!  Many have worked hard to achieve the final result; many have supported it financially, and now during the festive inauguration, the Health Centre was handed over to the local community.

The Bakadaji St Vitus Health Centre is a very important factor in providing health care in the region around Bakadaji.  Situated at the edge of the main road, it provides an easy accessible facility for primary health care.  It is not only a desirable but a necessary Health Centre which is situated in a region where most still travel on foot, often in dire conditions such as extremely high temperatures during the summer months.

Within the next few weeks the Health Centre will be operational.  The main building and the annexes are ready.  The recruitment of a trained nurse and assistant nurse is taking place.  At the same time the NGO is purchasing medication and working towards the further development and improvement of the Health Centre.

Although much has already been achieved, this is only the beginning.   In an area which after twelve hours of daylight is plunged almost immediately into deep darkness, electricity in the Health Centre is an absolute priority.  Furthermore medication needs to be stored in refrigerators and therefore providing electricity is another item on the agenda.

The Health Centre also needs furnishing.  Again, this will greatly depend on sponsorship and other priorities.

Importantly the groundwork has been laid for further improvement of the living conditions in the region around Bakadaji.  Facilities which we in Europe consider to be the norm seem to be unattainable for the Gambian population in the rural areas.  With the construction and the start of the Health Centre we have realised a big step in the right direction.

Without your involvement and support as a sponsor this would not have been possible to achieve and therefore we sincerely thank all of you.  We hope that you will continue to support this project through the Foundation.

(For photos of the inauguration and transfer, please click here. You will be redirected to our Dutch Foundation's site)

The Foundation received a very generous gift made by the American Wagner family. This contribution has been raised at a fundraiser event in California, as a prequel to their oncoming trip to The Gambia.
 
The donation will be used to extend the medicin supply to Somita. Especially with a lot of malaria cases in the coming rainy season, these medicines are hard needed and very welcome.
 
Our special thanks go to Jake Wagner who made this all possible.

And of course a warm wellcome to the Gambia, where hopefully we will meet and visit the Somita project together.
 
Knowing people in all parts of the world care for each other warms our hearts and we are grateful for their support for our projects in The Gambia. Many blessings to all of you.