The Kambia Appeal - Sierra Leone
Online fundraising
In December 2007, Clare Reddington, Greg Browning, James Dowling and
Toby Smith will visit Sierra Leone to work on a project for James’
charity, The Kambia Appeal. Being rather unsporty and lacking
dare-devil tendencies, we’re never going to ask you to sponsor us to
run a marathon, complete a triathlon or jump out of an aeroplane for a
good cause. However, we are off to West Africa to make a health
education film to encourage remote rural communities to use a new
network of motorbike ambulances.
The main focus of the charity’s
work is to improve maternal reproductive health in Kambia District, a
region of Sierra Leone with a population of 300,000 people. The
motorbike ambulance project is a pilot scheme designed to provide a
cheap and effective means of transportation for pregnant women to get
from their villages to the nearest health centre or, in emergency
circumstances, the district hospital. In Sierra Leone one in six women
die during pregnancy and childbirth, often because there is no way of
getting to health facilities in time. Families can face a walk of up
to 10 miles to reach a clinic.
So we hope you will also
consider making a donation to support The Kambia Appeal, or at least
find out more about its work. Donating through this page is simple,
quick and secure and if you are a UK taxpayer and give Gift Aid
consent, Kambia will receive an extra 28% at no cost to you.
What your support will go towards:
Maternity House Lodging | £12
One week stay at the maternity house before giving birth
Emergency caesarean | £40
A procedure which is likely to save a mother’s life and the life of her child
Delivery Kit | Cost £350
Equipping one midwife with a delivery kit which will last for a year
Motorbike Ambulance | £700
Running one motorbike ambulance for a year to link a rural community with a health centre
Community Health Nurse training | £1,000
A year's tuition fees and living allowance for one student to train to become a Community Health Nurse for Kambia District
On our return we will publish photos and video so you can see what your money is going to support.
Thank you and Happy Christmas.
- Total raised online
- £1,788.00
- view donations
- Total Gift Aid reclaimed
- £448.74
- Total raised offline
- £442.00
- Grand total
- £2,678.74
A message from The Kambia Appeal
The Kambia Appeal is a UK medical charity that has been working exclusively in Kambia District in Sierra Leone since 1992. Our assistance is needed because Sierra Leone is still rated by the United Nations as one of the poorest countries in the world, with the highest maternal mortality rate in Africa. Although the civil war in Sierra Leone ended in 2002, post-conflict recovery is extremely slow, with central infrastructure and basic services still in need of major renovation and investment. Health services in particular are severely depleted, with chronic staff shortages and inadequate facilities. Such circumstances hit the poorest members of society the hardest, and Kambia, a rural district in the north of the country, is one of the poorest regions.
The Kambia Appeal needs your help to fund a number of new actions specifically designed to reduce the number of women dying during pregnancy and childbirth. Our projects include:
- a pilot scheme to provide motorbike ambulances to transport pregnant women to their nearest health centres so they can give birth in a safe environment with a qualified midwife
- a maternity hostel close to the main hospital where women at risk of difficulties during labour can be looked after prior to giving birth
- the provision of free emergency caesareans to the poorest women
- a community health education programme, using film screenings, drama and radio broadcasts, to encourage women and their families to seek professional medical care.
Your donation enables us to help change people’s lives for the better. Improving the health of mothers in Kambia not only ensures the health of individual women, it also improves the long-term health of their families, and a healthier family has a better chance of becoming a more prosperous family.
