Kassagne Community Clinic
In November 2006 we came upon the Kassagne Community Clinic. Kassagne is situated off the southern highway around 70 kilometres from the airport. We could see that the clinic needed help to provide medicines etc since when we were there they basically had none. This is how Kalilou Kanyi, the community nurse, describes the clinic.
“Kassagne Community Clinic, as it is called, is a self-help project initiated by the community of this area in response to the need for a health facility in the area. The clinic itself was built as far back as 1942 during the colonial era and was operational until shortly after independence in the early 1970’s. It was abandoned on reasons hitherto unknown. Access to health facilities has been a huge challenge for the villages in the area. The nearest health facility in the area is up to 15 kilometres for some villages with the means of transport very poor. People have to use ox-carts or donkey-carts and some people even have to trek all the way to access this health facility which is located at Sibanor on the main highway. Primary Health Care (PHC) which was meant to ameliorate things was also teetering on the brink of failure. There are 6 PHC villages in the area with trained VHW (Village Health Workers) and TBAs (Traditional Birth Attendants) who are responsible for all the ante-natal and post-natal care at village level. The VHWs are trained on the treatment of minor ailments and health education. But the PHC alone can not meet the health needs of the community.
The community saw the need to revive the post-colonial abandoned clinic with an ambitious plan of government re-taking its affairs some time in the future. In 2000 the community initiated the self-help project by making mud blocks and constructed a local structure with the aim of attracting outside support.
The Christian Children’s Fund (CCF) through Ding Ding Bantaba Child and Family Support Association provided corrugated iron sheets. The Association in 2003 went on to employ a trained Community Health Nurse and a VHW to run the clinic. Ding Ding Bantaba Child and Family Support Association is a CCF Program Area covering three districts. DDBCFSA is running the administrative and other affairs of the clinic. All forms of support and gifts to the clinic come through DDBCFSA which is headed by a Program Area Manager who is based at its headquarters in Sibanor. In 2004, while on a countryside tour, the Head of State got a sight of a structure initiated by the community through self-help and generously donated a huge amount of money to construct more structures. The Head of State gave this money to DDBCFSA to monitor and supervise the construction of more structures in the clinic. The DDBCFSA also contributed hugely towards the construction of the new buildings standing proudly in the clinic precincts. The Association also made a big purchase of drugs for the clinic. Meanwhile, other forms of support and gifts in the shape of drugs have trickled in during the past couple of years form individuals and institutions.
The clinic is covering 31 villages in the area with an estimated population of 6,000. Its service goes beyond the communities of this area as people from the opposite bank of the river come to seek medical care. Patients are also coming from southern Senegal where fighting erupts intermittently. 60% of patients seen are children under five and are given free treatment. The other age groups pay a minimal fee.”
We have been given a donation of £1,000 for medicines for the clinic and this money was sent over in October 2007 to CCF. As you can see from the photos this enabled many medicines to be bought. These medicines will be distributed amongst all three clinics that CCF administers.
There was a celebration in December 2007 when we visited the clinic again with the villagers and CCF staff attending. It did give us a feel as to how difficult obtaining health care can be for the villagers since Karen had acquired a leg wound and we were walking in the hot African sun from the next village. As Kalilou and Tamsir have said, many patients will travel far greater distances than we did.
Our primary focus is, quite naturally, the Take Care Nursery School but we will try to continue to provide some assistance to CCF and Ding Ding Bantaba Child and Family Support Association for the great work that they are doing.
Kassagne Community Clinic
On 26th November 2008 items from the container shipment for Kassagne arrived. A very pleasant surprise for us as the ship only docked in Banjul on the 22nd! Items included mattresses, sheets, pillows, basic medical equipment and some items for cleaning. Below are some the pictures sent to us by Tamsir Ab Cham from the Ding Ding Bantaba Child and Family Support Association.