Hello and thanks for visiting my fund raising page. 

 

The Makunduchi Project is a really excellent charity that I've supported for a couple of years now. It's a small charity with big ideas on how they radically change the lives of the people of Zanzibar. 

Zanzibar is known as the ‘Spice Island’ and lies in the Indian Ocean, 6 degrees south of the equator. The white sandy beaches are magnificent and the coral reef creates stunning lagoons – there’s a real sense of paradise.

The reality is stark however. Average life expectancy is a staggering 47 years. One in 180 women die during delivery of their child and 1 in 6 children die under the age of 7 with the majority dying when aged less than 2 years.

The Makunduchi Project is changing this. 

Ru MacDonagh and John McGrath are both consultant surgeons in the UK and have worked for many years in Zanzibar and Tanzania. They have established strong links with the Health Sector and the government over this time, in particular with The Principal Secretary to the Minister of Health in Zanzibar - Dr Mohamed Jiddawi. Dr Jiddawi has worked tirelessly throughout his career to advance healthcare on the island and has earned the highest respect from government, aid organisations and the islanders.

The island has one main hospital (Mnazi Mmoja), which acts as a referral centre for a population in excess of 1 million people. There are two smaller district hospitals – one in the north (Kivunge) and another in the south (Makunduchi - our hospital).

Their vision is to develop high quality, accessible and trusted healthcare facilities and clinical services to the people of Zanzibar and the neighbouring island of Pemba, and in doing so develop a model of healthcare provision which can be replicated in other countries

They've already done loads of great work rebuilding and equipping the Makunduchi hospital, but they have lots more to do to keep the project on track and keep improving the lives of the people living on the island.

With this in mind myself and 40 others are embarking on a 10 day cycling trek around the island, cycling up to 100km a day to help keep the funds coming in and the project moving forwards.

Please can you donate to this very worthwhile cause, please give as much or as little as you can - every penny counts :) 

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving – they’ll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they’ll send your money directly to the charity and make sure Gift Aid is reclaimed on every eligible donation by a UK taxpayer. So it’s the most efficient way to donate - I raise more, whilst saving time and cutting costs for the charity.

Many thanks
Barney