About The Gambia
The Republic of the Gambia is a long (530 km), thin (55 km) West African country defined by the Gambia River, and except for where the river meets the Atlantic Ocean, it is almost fully enveloped by Senegal. As personified by Kunta Kinte in Alex Haley's "Roots", The Gambia bears a sad burden of history: more than three million Gambians were victims of the transatlantic slave trade (visit www.kintehaley.org for more information).
To distinguish it from the Gambia River, the name of the country is most often written as "The Gambia." We suggest that you visit http://www.africa.upenn.edu/Country_Specific/Gambia.html for more information.
English is the Gambia's official language, a relic of British rule through the mid-1960's (Gambians fought for the Allies in WWII). Today, the Gambia holds free elections, and the 1.6 million populace of the Gambia (90% Muslim, 10% mostly Christian) practice religious tolerance. Their market-based economy is 80% agrarian, almost all focused on subsistence farming. Per capita income is US$350 per year. Education varies by gender: boys attend 6 years of school, girls attend 4 years. Literacy rates run 47% for Gambian males, and only 32% for Gambian females.
The Gambian healthcare system struggles to meet the needs of the Gambia's people: five hospitals currently serve the entire Gambian population! Their needs are daunting: though fertility rates nearly triple the US, 45% of the population is under Age 15 and average life expectancy is only 55 years. The adult prevalence rate of HIV/AIDS is nearly twice that of the US. Infant mortality rates are 12 times US rates, and the under-5 mortality rate is fifteen times the US rates.
The Gambia prides itself in its integrated health care system. Its philosophy is that its health care is available, accessible, and affordable. Gambian health care professionals strive to provide health care to Gambia's 1.6 million people with markedly fewer resources than the US and other Western nations.
The system is organized in three tiers.
- The primary system is focused on disease prevention and includes the services of midwives and traditional birth attendants in each village and a community health nurse who serves a cluster of villages. These nurses are trained by the government and supplied with motorbike transportation to monitor their group of villages.
- Secondary healthcare is provided by health clinics. These include small health clinics staffed by nurses specially trained for this station and larger health centers which are staffed by nurses and a general physician, when available. The larger centers will have an operating theatre and the ability to do simple surgeries.
- The final tier of the system is the regional hospitals. There are five such hospitals in the country: Royal Victoria Teaching Hospital, Farafenni Hospital, Bansang Hospital, the Jammeh for Peace Foundation Hospital, and Sulayman Junkung General Hospital. These are meant to be full service hospitals staffed by a group of specialists and nurses, however three of these hospitals do not yet have reliable electricity. That's where Power Up Gambia comes in.
Visiting The Gambia is a great idea! See Power Up Gambia's work with your own eyes and enjoy Gambian beauty and culture. The Gambia has been a tourist destination, predominately for Europeans, for many years. Ecotourism vacations, luxury resorts, or traditional experiences are all possible. The official site for Gambian tourism has lots of useful information - see www.visitthegambia.gm. We've discovered that the best way to get to the Gambia is through Europe. An English tourism company, The Gambia Experience, is a great place to start researching your travel – see www.thegambiaexperience.org.
About Power Up Gambia
Power Up Gambia is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to providing electricity and water to healthcare facilities in The Gambia through the use of solar energy. Founded in 2006, Power Up Gambia is an all-volunteer organization founded and inspired by Kathryn Cunningham Hall.
Kathryn is now a medical school student at the University of Pennsylvania. She grew up in Southeastern Pennsylvania, earned the Girl Scout Gold Award and traveled extensively with her parents. Her father, Scott, volunteered with the Peace Corps in Togo, West Africa and now works as a manager at a multinational conglomeration. Her mother, Carol, leads a cross-cultural consulting business and has been instrumental in the success of Power Up Gambia. Her brother Daniel is focusing his college studies on nutrition.
While an undergraduate at University of Pennsylvania, Kathryn spent the summer after her sophomore year volunteering with Operation Crossroads Africa in The Gambia. Kathryn was so moved by the effects of unreliable electricity at the Sulayman Junkung General Hospital that she founded Power Up Gambia. For her leadership, inspiration and hard work with Power Up Gambia, Kathryn has been recognized by DoSomething.org and was one of ten finalists for the 2008 Teen Choice Awards (see www.dosomething.org).
Kathryn married her long-time love, decathlete and fellow medical student Michael Hall in June, 2008 and is living in Philadelphia
We believe that grassroots efforts that stay connected to their projects for the long term are the most effective. We keep our operating budget small to maximize the impact of your donation. We believe in solar power and equity in medicine – and we volunteer our time to make the biggest impact that we can.
About Solar Energy
Check out these links! It takes this very complicated technology and breaks it down.
Introduction to Solar PhotoVoltaics - Youtube Video
Solar Power 101 - Youtube Video
Solar panels last upwards of 25 years. The panels that Power Up Gambia selected for our first project, the Sulayman Junkung General Hospital, have a 2-year warranty. Quality matters – we only use top-of-the-line panels.
Because they work! Power Up Gambia considered many energy options, and selected solar panels after a long technical review. Here are our reasons:
- The Gambia is sunny
- Solar energy is free – fuel is really expensive
- Solar technology has been used for a long time with a great record of performance
- Solar panels are reliable, and have few moving parts. Maintaining them is easy and inexpensive.
There are several companies in The Gambia who install solar system. GamSolar Ltd. is the contractor that we employed for the Sulayman Junkung General Hospital project. It feels right to us to use a local company – one that can go out to the hospital quickly and repair the system if need be. Also, we are employing Gambian engineers and workers. That suits our mission well: grassroots involvement with little overhead.
Power Up Gambia researched many types of solar panels and considered many suppliers. To date, the panels we have installed were manufactured in Germany, and the other components to the system come from other places in Europe. We are using high quality panels, inverters, and batteries – we're in this for the long-term. We are open to having panels come from the United States or elsewhere, and we are continually evaluating our options. Email us with suggestions.
This is important to Power Up Gambia and a vital part of our mission. We know that many projects fail (not just solar ones) because there is no support after the initial installation. We refuse to be one of these failures, and so included in our funding analyses the need for ongoing maintenance.
Solar power facility maintenance varies depending on the site – it has to be individualized so that it works. The Sulayman Junkung General Hospital, for example, has two maintenance personnel trained to care for the panels. If anything happens to the system that is beyond their skills to fix, they contact the installation company, GamSolar Ltd., for follow up. The hospital is paying for maintenance costs. Power Up Gambia is ready to provide whatever support is needed on an ongoing basis.
About Getting Involved
There are lots of ways that you can help!
We keep operational expenses low, so your donation goes to providing solar systems to improve health care in The Gambia.
Yes it is! You will receive a letter from the Power Up Gambia's fund management organization, The Delaware Community Foundation that will serve as your tax receipt.
These are fundraisers that you host, usually in your home. You invite friends, family, neighbors and coworkers, serve light refreshments, and give a short presentation about Power Up Gambia. We've had Power Up Events for as few as five and as many as eighty guests.
Power Up Events are a great way to raise awareness and raise funds all while keeping operational expenses low. This way, donations can go directly to helping in The Gambia. These small events get people excited about Power Up Gambia and our projects, and help to spread the word about solar power and healthcare in Africa.
We have a whole kit available to get you started. Click here for more info.
Absolutely. One of our board members, Lonnie Angstadt, visited Sulyaman Junkung General Hospital and has since founded a volunteering organization for medical professionals. Check out Lonnie's site here.
Yes you can. Check out Operation Crossroads Africa, the program that Kathryn went with to SJGH for the first time at www.operationcrossroadsafrica.org.
If you have new or good-as-new medical equipment which you would like to donate for use in the Gambia, check out Del-Med Aid for Gambia at www.delmedgambia.org. This great non-profit not only gives US medical professionals and students the opportunity to volunteer for short periods of time in the Gambia, but is also working to outfit Gambian hospitals with the equipment and supplies that are so badly needed.
We are a really small organization and rely on our volunteers for pretty much everything. If volunteering appeals to you, then send us an email!
We always appreciate help. Currently we are looking for grant writers, solar engineers, and marketing professionals. Contact us and tell us what your strengths are and how you would like to get involved.