From the 20th-27th of November 2016,  I will be visiting The Gambia with a team of doctors, dentists and engineers on behalf of the charity Humanity First (HF) to help with a number of charitable projects within the country.  We pay for our own flights, accommodation and boarding;  your contributions will go directly to help those in need.

Currently, the medical system is restricted to very basic services, we will be looking at ways of helping local dentists, doctors and nurses to treat patients in cost effective ways using local skills and resources. The focus will be oral medicine and surgery, community dental care, vascular surgery, neonatal intensive care training, pre hospital care, medical education and infrastructure.

Whilst there, we will help children who desperately need a good start in life. In many parts of The Gambia, children go to school hungry; in the village of Murreh Kunda, children would resort to foraging food from trees on the way home. Through HF, we are providing porridge for breakfast and beans and rice for lunch. The effect of this has been phenomenal! The meals improved concentration and receptiveness to learn and made the children less susceptible to diseases such as Malaria. 

We want to replicate this in other villages, so that more children can have at least one meal a day.

• £800 helps to provide 200 children with 2 meals a day for 6 months; that’s just £4 a child for 6 months!
• £1000 will create a bore hole in a school to provide toilets with running water and effective sanitation needs for kids

We will also be working with Hart House, the first and only residential school in The Gambia, set up for children with profound special needs.  Founded by fellow Brit, Mr Geoff Hunwicks, who sold his family home in the UK to set up the project and run it, the home caters for children with profound learning difficulties, helping them develop key life skills. 

Help us do more for some of the most vulnerable children in the world.

• It costs £240 a year to sponsor a child with severe learning difficulties, at Hart House. 

Anything you can contribute, no matter how small,  will be greatly appreciated!

Thank you,

Dr. Kalim Sadiq