WHY DID WE SET UP THIS CHARITY?

In February 2019 we visited two hospitals in The Gambia, one in Banjul the main city and one rural hospital in Bwiam. People are usually quite sick before they present themselves at the hospitals for treatment, as there is no NHS or equivalent over there.

Very few people have or can afford health insurance, therefore, all medication and most treatments needed, are funded by family members of the ill person.

The Gambia is a very poor country within the African continent, the average monthly wage is £50. Consequently, a lot of ailments and symptoms are ignored by the residents of the country, because they simply cannot afford to pay for the treatment required.

Usually people do not seek medical help until the symptoms are too hard to ignore, which unfortunately is often too late for the problem to be treated.

Many people in The Gambia die far too young, because of illnesses which are relatively easy to treat, but expensive for the individuals themselves to fund.

Life expectancy, according to WHO (2016) is 61 for males and 63 for females. Access Gambia states that most of the population of The Gambia is under the age of 50. People die of illnesses such as Malaria, which if detected early enough could be treated.  Other common illnesses could also be successfully treated if detected at an earlier stage.

My husband and I have decided to set up this charity to collect equipment for hospitals and raise funds to provide healthcare for those who need it within The Gambia. We also aim to support those children who are orphaned, due to the short life expectancy of their parents.

Shirley Bojang
Chairperson

THE PURPOSE OF THIS CHARITY

We want to help to improve healthcare facilities, which in turn will lead to better healthcare for the Gambian population.

The main focus for our first major project is the General Hospital in the rural location of Bwiam. The hospital provides care for the surrounding population of 10,000 people. They are desperately short of all equipment.

Myself and other committee members visited the hospital last year, and were shown around by one of the administrators.

I was expecting them to be in need of complex equipment, however, I was stunned to realise that the hospital does not even possess the most basic equipment needed on an everyday basis to aid Doctors and nurses to make even the simplest of diagnoses.

Such things as lancets to prick a finger, the test strips to test blood glucose levels and the glucometer themselves were simply non-existent. Even the most basic test strips to test urine were not available to the Path Lab, never mind the more complex equipment needed.

The maternity unit does not have resuscitation equipment for babies, the morgue does not have any refrigeration and there is only one oxygen concentrator to serve all of the wards and departments! If more than one person needs oxygen, the staff have to choose the youngest or the person most likely to survive.

There are no packs of sterile tubing and no single use items. Tubing is washed and re-used, however, there is no steriliser or autoclave to clean items thoroughly in order to prevent cross infection.

Because the Doctors and nurses have no diagnostic equipment, many of their cases need to be referred on to the main hospital in the city.

I asked them to provide our charity with a list of what they would need in order to function more efficiently as a hospital. They produced four A4 pages of necessary equipment needed.

They did state that if they had all of the equipment that they have requested, their referral rate would go down to zero, as they would be able to treat all of their patients themselves.

I met with some of the nurses, who were doing a fantastic job in helping people without having any access to basic necessary diagnostic tools. There are also some doctors from Cuba working at the hospital site.

Outside in the car park the Ambulance was in a poor and dilapidated state, following an accident, and in the meantime they had borrowed an ambulance from another hospital.

One of the aims of our charity would be to provide much needed ambulances for Bwiam hospital, as the patients often require transportation by ambulance to receive the care that they need.

WE BELIEVE IN CHANGE

SW BOJANG CHARITY FOUNDATION — Is a charitable and non-profit making organisation, we wish to mobilise resources through concerted efforts putting skills development, community services, peace building and unity amongst others as a bedrock for community empowerment.

The FOUNDATION in collaboration with donor agencies and development partners will be committed to complementing the government efforts through establishing platforms to direct various development programmes in a bid to collectively address issues affecting children, less privileged and communities within the Gambia.

The FOUNDATION among other activities will also create linkages with similar FOUNDATION’S nationally and internationally with the aim to transfer knowledge, skills and experiences for socio-economic development. Therefore, the FOUNDATION will extend its operations to regional and sub-regional partnership aiming at building strong economic, diplomatic and cultural ties appropriate for self empowerment and sustainable community development.

Notwithstanding, the FOUNDATION is equally conscious of the fact that no single person can solve the problems of the public, except and until we come together in unison. We uniformly recognized that the efforts of a union in trying to pursue or undertake development is far more effective, efficient and well monitored than an individual effort.

Therefore, the activities of the FOUNDATION shall be purely and wholly based on collective efforts as an engine for implementation of development activities.
In a nutshell, the FOUNDATION is ready to contribute its quota to the attainment of the national and global development blueprints.

The FOUNDATION however, shall be independent from ─ RELIGIOUS, ETHNICS, RACE AND ANY FORM OF SOCIAL STATUS.