(Pictured: Women and their children with nurses at the Mokoba Health Center)

Thanks to the supporters of Bread and Water for Africa®, some 5,600 Sierra Leoneans, including 2,200 boys and girls, received healthcare services at the newly-renovated Mokoba Health Center in the past few months alone. Last year, we called upon our supporters to help us raise the $5,500 necessary to fix the damage to the more than 20-year old building which had fallen into disrepair. There was fear that government authorities would close down the clinic, leaving the residents of the rural village of Mokoba with no healthcare services in the vicinity. But they came through, and as you can see in these photos the building is beautiful and looking as good as new.

Front view of the newly-renovated Mokoba Health Center in Sierra Leone funded by Bread and Water for Africa®

A child being tested for malaria at the Mokoba clinic.

Clinic manager Joseph Ngoniyela Kobba, right, addressed the nurses and members of the community at a recent re-dedication ceremony for the health center.

The residents of the village, particularly expecting women and mothers with young children, as well as the elderly, are especially grateful and relieved. Clinic manager Joseph Ngoniyela Kobba reported that with the rehabilitated clinic the health status of those in the village and surrounding communities has already showed remarkable improvement.

The rehabilitation of the Mokoba Health Center went on well because the community leaders coordinated the whole process including the work of youth and women to fetch water and provide bush sticks and movement of the rehabilitation materials for the contractor,” says Joseph. “Involving the Mokoba community and the Ministry of Health and Sanitation in the project from the start, and facilitating their engagement enabled the rehabilitation of the health center to be carried out on time because both took responsibility for the process.

Although it practically goes without saying, Joseph noted that the “new” clinic has been received by the local community “very positively, particularly by women, community partners and the Government of Sierra Leone.” And as Joseph stated so eloquently:

A healthy rural community is a wealthy nation. Investing in women’s and children’s healthcare laid a better foundation for development and prosperity.