We know how lucky we are to have access to doctors and medicine when we really need it. But for the children and communities of Magbenteh village, Makeni and Lungi, this is not the case.

The Swiss-Sierra Leone Development Foundation (SSLDF) opened the Children’s Ward at Magbenteh Community Hospital in 2007. The hospital has a clinic to provide the free health care for children under five but the reimbursement from the Ministry of Health and Sanitation is not always available and therefore paediatric cases need to be funded by donors.

Magbenteh Community Hospital currently receives up to 150 mothers and children each day waiting in the triage tent. This increasing number since December 2016 and the beginning of 2017 is due to a lack of drugs and medical supplies in the Northern District’s Regional Hospital. Not all of these patients can be seen as a result of lack of resources and funding, forcing SSLDF to limit the clinic to 50 children per day.

Richard's niece, Genevieve (see photo), is a doctor who has been working there recently and she describes some of the issues in her own words.

"We've recently had to start charging under 5 year olds for medication which was before free, a huge shame especially as this means that those that can't afford it just go back home or turn to traditional medicine. Last week I actually went to visit one of our patients - a 7 year old called santigie who fell out a mango tree and is now paralysed. On this visit to the village I saw 2 year old twins whom we had treated before. One of them was really sick with a fever (likely malaria). They'd come to the hospital but because they couldn't afford it they went back to their village. With an U5 mortality rate of 120 per 1000 their odds are pretty bleak."

SSLDF provides both long and short term support with the continuing aim of self sustainability. So we would love it if instead of buying us wedding gifts, please donate to this cause so their work may continue. Thank you.