#children | Salute e Sviluppo

DIAZOXIDE PROJECT: GOAL ACHIEVED!

Not long ago we told you the story of the little Edrick and Samueltwo very young children (1 year old and 4 years old), unfortunately suffering from congenital hyperinsulinism (HC)a very rare endocrine disease that develops in the first few months of life and can lead to severe health impairment in young patients, causing them severe neurological problems that cannot always be resolved.

They are cared for by the Asociacion corazones & Manos Solidarias San Francisco, which has been working in Peru for some time in an attempt to improve the health conditions of the most fragile, including the young patients of the San Bartolomé and Cevetano Heredia hospitals in Lima, who suffer from this neurological disease.

It was with them that we decided to launch the ‘Health for All: Diazoxide Project’ in March. In Peru, congenital hyperinsulinism is a particularly compromising disease due to delays in diagnosis and administration of the right drug, Diazoxide. The latter is not marketed in the country and is prohibitively expensive, not only for families, but also for the hospitals themselves who have no way of importing it from abroad.

For these reasons, the Asociacion corazones & Manos Solidarias San Francisco has for years been searching for both public and private donors who can espouse this cause, contributing to the purchase and shipment of the life-saving drug. At the beginning of the year, we at Health and Development decided to step in and inaugurate this project, which gave us the opportunity to purchase Diazoxide not only for little Edrick and Samuel, but also for all the other little patients in the two hospitals.

Now that the project is completed and the necessary Diazoxide supplies have been delivered, we can say that we are happy to have been able to contribute to this activity and to have intervened on behalf of the most fragile.

JUVENANT SAINT CAMILLE IS ONLINE

It has not been many months since we told you about the project ‘Construction of a well, installation of a drinking water pumping system and installation of a computer room with 24 computers’ at the Juvenant Saint Camille institute in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, now that the project has come to an end, we are pleased to update you on the milestones we have achieved.

The Juvenant Saint Camille is a school centre that gives many children in the capital of Burkina Faso – Ouagadougou – and in many neighbouring areas, the opportunity to have access to a comprehensive education, in a serene environment, despite the many shortcomings and difficulties of the country itself.

By the end of last year, the need for the facility to proceed with further modernisation had become apparent. In particular, the need for a well and a pumping system capable of providing enough drinking water for the needs of the children and the school was emphasised, and it also seemed essential to proceed with the installation of a computer room.

We at Health and Development were very happy to be able to contribute and from 1 November 2022 we decided to start work. Now the well has been completed and is functioning regularly, providing the school with drinking water, and the computer room has been equipped with no less than 24 computers and a projector.

The computer room was strongly desired by the school to give the children access to an almost infinite amount of knowledge, do in-depth research on school topics and develop manual dexterity and skills with technology, a fundamental component of our lives today.

Now that everything is complete, we are happy to have achieved our goals and renew our willingness to support and back all those projects designed to improve the living conditions of those in need in developing countries. We wish all Juvenant students good use of their new tools, improving and learning more and more.

SCHOOL SUPPORT FOR YOUNG PEOPLE IN OUAGADOUGOU

Burkina Faso is a very poor country where living conditions are even more precarious following the escalation of violence and attacks since 2014. In this context, the Camillians who daily try to intervene to improve the living conditions of the Burkinabé are many, including Fr Jean Paul Ouedraogo.

P. Jean Paul decided in 2006 to start a project for orphaned and vulnerable children in Ouagadougou and their mothers, which included one summer camp per year until 2013. From the following year, when the unrest in the country worsened, he decided to organise one meeting a month of sharing, play and dialogue. These occasions highlighted the urgent need these children had for help and support in their educational, human and professional development.

Thus, the Notre Dame de la Plenitude Association was born, with the specific aim of giving orphaned and vulnerable children the opportunity to resume and continue their education, from kindergarten to university or vocational school, providing them with the foundations to embark on a path of autonomy and self-determination.

We at Health and Development have decided to intervene in support of the Association’s activities: the project ‘School support for 20 orphaned children’ started in March this year and will last six months, in which Health and Development will undertake to financially support the education of 20 children – aged between 6 and 20 – who will be able to continue attending school and finish the school cycle they started.

We are very happy to be able to help these young people in need to continue their education and improvement. We will keep you updated on all developments and milestones that we – together with the Notre Dame de la Plenitude Association – manage to achieve.

MORE GREEN ENERGY IN GEORGIA

Georgia only gained independence some 30 years ago following the collapse of the Soviet Union, which for the entire previous century had subjugated it and made it a highly statist country dependent on Moscow. Since 1991, Georgia has been trying, with difficulty, to get out of the precariousness that the communist system and then its collapse caused, with a large part of the population still living in situations of severe socio-economic hardship.

Following the nation’s independence, the Camillians decided to set up a delegation in the country to help all those in need of socio-medical support: initially with home visits and later with the construction of a real specialist outpatient clinic in Tbilisi, to which – in 2001 – they also added the Day Care and Rehabilitation Centre, already dear to us having joined our AMOC Fund (Camillian Works Sickness Insurance).

In just over 20 years since its inception, the Day Care Centre has managed to become a health centre of excellence, not only for the population of Tbilisi, but for the entire nation. Specialised care and rehabilitation cycles help those with severe disabilities – not only physical – to embark on courses of treatment, followed by medical and health personnel specialised in physiotherapy, speech therapy and psychology.

If it is already one of the most advanced facilities in the entire country from a sanitary point of view, it now also wants to become a pioneer in the field of eco-sustainability: the ‘Solar energy for a GREEN mission!’ project involves the construction of a carport within the car park area and the installation of no less than 90 solar panels of about 300 watts each, with the associated energy production and storage system.

We at Salute e Sviluppo have accepted the project’s application for funding and have just inaugurated the activities that, within seven months, will lead to the installation of the required solar panels and the full operation of the green plant. The Centre will be able to produce much of the electricity it needs in an autonomous and eco-sustainable manner: a clear advantage not only from an economic point of view, but also with a view to safeguarding our planet, as Pope Francis invites us to do in his encyclical Laudato Si’.

We are very happy to be able to participate in this project, which sees us at the forefront, not only in supporting an excellent health centre, but also in promoting the green culture of sustainability.

THE BELL RINGS IN GARANGO, CLASSES BEGIN!

Our project ‘Construction of a kindergarten in Garango’ funded by the Italian Bishops’ Conference (CEI), which we have told you about several times over the past year, has recently come to an end.

Garango is located in Burkina Faso – in the central eastern zone – within the diocese of Tenkodogo, one of the poorest areas of the country, with numerous health and educational deficiencies. We decided to intervene in an attempt to fill some of these gaps and in the hope of helping the local population to achieve a higher standard of living.

In particular, we were told of the absence of a kindergarten and – consequently – the impossibility for children in the area to be able to undertake a normal schooling and education preparatory to primary schools. To make up for this shortcoming, we decided last year to submit a project to build the school facility.

From the outset, it seemed an ambitious goal, considering the situation of political and social uncertainty in the entire country in recent years, but fortunately the project did not encounter any difficulties: the construction work on the structure was carried out swiftly and Within a year, we have not only seen this school come into being, but we have seen it filled with desks, chairs, games and everything necessary for the proper development of the young pupils.

The children were divided into three large classrooms according to age, creating a Petite Section, a Moyenne Section and a Grande Section. The first section consists of 27 pupils, 10 boys and 17 girls, while the second consists of 26, 14 boys and 14 girls, the last section has not been formed, but as early as next year it will be enlivened with all the children of the current Moyenne Section.

Numerous activities are planned each day: colouring, drawing, learning the basics of maths, starting to read, spending time on physical activity and, of course, playing. The facility has a large enclosed courtyard where the children, in complete safety, can spend carefree hours and, in addition, hosts a canteen that guarantees one meal a day for every pupil at the school.

If the primary objective was to build, furnish and activate the school, the secondary objective was to raise the awareness of the local population on the importance of education: in fact, it seems essential to get children started on a proper learning path from an early age to ensure their proper development. Thanks to the local staff working within the facility, even though our activities have ended, the school will continue to be a reference point for the entire community.

We are very happy to have completed the project, contributing to the realisation of this school that will give many children the opportunity to laugh, play, colour, and experience a peaceful childhood, understanding the value of sociality and sharing, in the light-heartedness that that age deserves, but that often – in similar contexts – cannot have.

HEALTH FOR ALL IN LIMA

Salute e Sviluppo has a clear mission: to improve the living conditions of every individual, especially the most vulnerable (children and women), by promoting fair and sustainable development processes in access to health and education services, social and economic empowerment.

To carry it forward, there are many projects that we inaugurate each year with prestigious partners and donors, but there are also many initiatives that Salute e Sviluppo pursues on its own, funding support activities for those in need who ask for help.

A few months ago, the Asociación corazones & Manos Solidarias San Francisco, which has long been working on Peruvian soil to improve the health conditions of the young patients of the San Bartolomé and Cayetano Heredia hospitals in Lima, proposed to us to contribute to the ‘Health for All: Diazossido Project’.

Edrick and Samuel are two very young children (1 year old and 4 years old respectively) suffering from congenital hyperinsulinism (HC), a very rare endocrine disease that develops in the first months of life and can lead to severe health impairment in young patients, causing severe neurological problems, in some cases irreversible.

This disease in Peru is particularly compromising due to delays in diagnosis and administration of the right medication – the Diazoxide – which is not marketed in the country and which is prohibitively expensive, both for the hospitals themselves and for the poorest families, who do not have the possibility of importing it from abroad. The administration of the drug, in most cases, has to be long-lasting in order to ensure the children’s recovery, which makes it even more difficult to maintain a sufficient supply.

To make up for this serious shortage, the Asociación corazones & Manos Solidarias San Francisco has for years been searching for public and private donors who can contribute to the purchase and shipment of the life-saving drug. Salute e Sviluppo decided to respond affirmatively to this request and purchase the Diazoxide needed for the current and future care of little Edrick, Samuel and many other children who will need it in the next two years.

We at Salute e Sviluppo are very happy to be able to intervene in the first person, helping those in need, and in this case we hope that – also thanks to our contribution – the little patients in the hospitals of Lima suffering from this disease and their families can finally find hope again.

Tag Archives: #children