BRIEF UPDATE ON OUR EFFORTS FOR THE VICTIMS
NOTE: PLEASE READ INFOR. BELOW ABOUT THE CANCER
SCREENING MACHINE AND HOW YOU CAN HELP IN THE EFFORT
TO GET IT TO THE GAMBIA
Hey how is everyone? I've been real busy with work,
school and my quest to help the April 10 victims. On
that end, we (Yankuba Njie and I) have progressed much
more and the boys are now in some of the final stages
of their applications to a particular hospital (in the
U.S.). We have helped them to acquire certain
documents such as passports, and birth certificates,
and medical records (which sometimes proofed difficult
to attain from RVH), as required by the hospital. We
have added a fourth victim to our help list and have
also been assisting him, financially etc (Just as we
have been doing with the other three). His picture
and infor. will soon be added to our mygambia.org
website. We have also been networking with different
organizations such as ADNA, Doctors without Borders,
and Physicians for Human Rights, with the help of Mr.
Katim Touray, Ya Soffie Ceesay, and James Gomez, Jnr.
In fact, Ya Soffie, met with ADNA on our behalf,
after, Katim put us in touch with some key persons at
the organization. We still need your support, please
go to the mygambia.org and make a donation, even if
$0.50 trust me, it will help. The boys have been very
grateful for your donations which have gone a long way
in helping them acquire some of their documents. We
keep a detailed explanation from them about how they
utilize every penny we send to them. And we also keep
a detailed financial statement of every penny that is
withdrawn from the bank account, and it is all used,
only, in connection with the boys needs. Any of you
can request and see those documents. The boys
call/E-mail us almost every week about the status of
their documents, visas, hospital applications (to the
U.S., etc).
THE CANCER SCREENING MACHINE.... VERY URGENT!!!
I hope that you guys would please read this and do
whatever you can to help our country get this machine.
We all know that we need it.
While in Atlanta ( for the July fourth), I was told by
my nephew's wife, Amie secka, that a certain friend of
hers (Mariama Jallow) had attained a cancer screening
machine and a large number of medical drugs from the
Jewish Doctors that she works for in Atlanta. But the
problem was that she had been trying for months, to
get some one to help her get the equipment out of the
doctors office. She contacted some Gambians in
Atlanta, but for some reason, her efforts were
unfruitful. It seemed that the medical office she
works for - Atlanta's Center for Medicine - had
donated some medical equipment and drugs to different
African communities within Atlanta so that they can
send it back to their homelands. Mariama decided to
ask her bosses to add Gambia to the list of
communities receiving the donations, and they agreed.
All the other communities secured their equipment and
drugs from the medical center, as soon as it was
donated, except for the Gambian community. So the
stuff for the Gambia was sitting there for a while,
and Mariama's bosses had informed her that they needed
to use the office which was being used to store the
machine and medication. And therefor, she will need
to get the stuff out of there, or they will have to
give it to someone else. She took the boxes of
medication to her house to store, but the machine was
too big and too delicate for her to transport or store
at home.
When I was told about it, I got in touch with Ya
Soffie Ceesay, who, along with myself, was coming to
Atlanta, to give a speech at the symposium. She
talked to Albury Njie (Atlanta), who in turn talked to
a number of Gambians in Atlanta. I put them all in
touch with Mariama and it was agreed that Albury and
co will get the machine & medication to a storage area
until we can figure out how to get it to Gambia, and
which medical center to send it to. We took donations
at the July 4th picnic (at the park on the Sunday).
We then had a meeting (Albury Njie of Atlanta, Ya
soffie Ceesay - D.C., Maila Touray of Rhode Island,
myself, and about two more Atlanta-Gambians whose
names I cannot recall). We decided to use the money
collected for storage. So the money was left with
Albury and Sainey Faye.
They have since then secured all the boxes of
medication and have put it in storage. But the cancer
screening machine could not be transported because due
to its delicate nature and its size, it requires
special transportation to ascertain that its integrity
is not compromised. So Albury and Sainey searched for
someone capable of moving it. And were finally
referred, by the doctor who donated it, Dr. D. Timothy
Daugherty, to the company that his facility uses to
transport sensitive medical equipment. After getting
in touch with them, the company initially charged
about $700, but Albury was able to get them down to
$350. The doctor has now given us a final notice of
10 (ten days), from Tuesday August 21, to get the
machine or he will get rid of it. Because the machine
have been occupying their office space for months,
since they first donated it. Albury have been talking
to the United Gambia Organization- Atlanta- (UGOA) to
get the necessary amount from them. They have
promised to supply the $350, but he has been having
difficulties getting in touch with them. SO IF ANY OF
YOU ARE MEMBERS OF UGOA, PLEASE GET IN TOUCH WITH HIM
AND ALSO URGE THE ORGANIZATION TO COME THROUGH (SEE
ALBURY'S PHONE NUMBER AT THE BOTTOM)
I have proposed a second plan to him just incase the
UGOA plan does not work. Since our deadline, from the
doctor, is August 31 (next week Friday), I proposed
that if by Tuesday, August 28, he still have not been
able to get the money from UGOA, I will raise the
money. I have pledged to donate $100.00 and I hope
that members of the "L" will be ready to come up with
whatever little they can so that we will get the rest
of the money ($250) to secure this machine. But I, in
particular, have pledged that by hook or crook, I will
make sure we get the whole $350 before next Friday.
Because we simply cannot let this machine be taken
back from us. We do not even have a CAT Scanner (to
scan brain, etc) in the Gambia. Gambians with cancer,
are being misdiagnosed all the time, because the
doctors do not have the right tools to work with.
Early and proper cancer diagnosis can save many
Gambian lives. We need this machine. It may save one
of your relatives', or my relatives' lives in the
future. Albury's number and mine, are at the bottom
of this mailing. Contact him, or me. Even if it is
$0.25 (I mean it) at least you donated something. And
just think, if all the members of the "L" donate 25
cents, don't you think we will have far more than
$350? And remember, even though the immediate
problem is getting the machine out of the medical
office. We will also need to keep it in storage,
where the medical drugs are currently being kept, and
also eventually ship it to the Gambia. So in the long
run, we do need more than the $350. This is an
equipment costing hundreds of thousands of dollars and
we got it for free. We will be fools to loose it over
$350.
IN ADDITION.....
We also need suggestions as to how to ship it to the
Gambia. If anyone owns, works for, or knows some one
who can ship the machine and drugs for free or at a
reduced price, please let us know. In addition, we
need contacts for who and what medical facility to
send it to. Ideally, we would like to send it to a
public facility such as the Royal Victoria Hospital
(RVH), where the majority of the poor Gambian
population can access it without bias. And we will
want the facility to not charge any extra fees, or if
that is not possible, to charge a very minimal fee to
persons requiring cancer screening. We also do not
want the machine to be used in affiliation with any
political groups. In short, No POLITICAL GROUP WILL
BE ALLOWED TO CLAIM IT AS THEIR OWN CONTRIBUTION TO
THE GAMBIA, ETC. Mr. Albury and Co, in Atlanta, have
spoken to Dr. Palmer (of the Gambia while he was on a
visit here. And he has given suggestions as to who
the machine should go to (For example the Ahmadiyya
Center in Greater Banjul, the Evangelical Center in
Sibanorr). He also advised us to put it where it will
be of most usage to the general poor population. And
to put it in the hands of honest and reliable people.
But we would also like a wider input. If you have any
contact information of persons in the Gambia who can
help us get it into the right hands, please let us
know. We would also like to make sure that once in
the Gambia, there will be persons with the required
skill to operate the machine. Mariama Jallow, is
capable of operating the machine. So maybe we can
convince her to travel to Gambia to train some
personnel, or she can train someone else, who will in
turn go to the Gambia and train the personnel there.
All this will require planning and financial
commitment on our parts as Gambians. Let us know what
you think and please make your contributions.
Especially towards making sure we get the necessary
money to get the equipment from the facility before
the Deadline. You can contact Albury at 404-517-4377,
404-752-1253 or Cel: 404-759-4982. You can contact me
at Home 502-875-9499, or Work 502-564-3070 extension
271 (I will be out of town Friday afternoon (August
24th) up to Monday (August 27th). But will be back on
Tuesday.)
=====
"NO ONE CAN MAKE YOU FEEL INFERIOR WITHOUT YOUR PERMISSION"
ALSO
"NOTHING IS UNACHIEVABLE, THE ONLY QUESTION IS, WHETHER ONE IS WILLING TO DO WHAT IT TAKES TO ACHIEVE WHAT IS DESIRED"
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