HelpMadina is a charity that was co-founded by my friend Dr Rohit Sethi. Since 2011 it has been helping people that live in Madina, Sierra Leone. Projects include a Feeding Centre for malnourished children; Outreach Health Clinics; Eye Clinics and Cataract Surgery; Hernia Repairs; Care of the Elderly; Water Wells and Toilets; and they have just completed a fantastic Learning Centre for children to use after they finish the school day.

In March eleven of us are traveling to Madina to help support the charity. My particular interest is the building of toilets. HelpMadina has already organised and funded the building of over 150 toilets which are known as Ventilation Improved Pit (VIP) latrines. These toilets were requested by the local community and they are a great improvement over the existing shallow pit latrines. As well as improving health they offer privacy and safety. Each VIP toilet costs approximately £85 and should last up to 15 years.

The Charity has done a great job building these toilets, but there is a long waiting list of families that need them. When we are in Madina we will be seeing how we can increase the rate at which these toilets can be built and setting a realistic target for the next 12 months. This will require considerable funding. Any donations made will be used by HelpMadina to build these toilets with the ultimate aim of having a VIP toilet for every household.

Our trip to Madina is totally self funded so 100% of your donations will be used to build the toilets. It is a tradition for the toilets to be named by the donor with the name stenciled onto the door. See the image above. So for any donations of £85 or more let us know what name you would like for "your" toilet.

Thank you for your donations and supporting this incredible charity.