SIERRA LEONE: Don Bosco Fambul provides life-changing medical care
Organization increasing medical outreach to the community
SIERRA LEONE
(MissionNewswire) Located in Sierra Leone’s capital city of Freetown, Don Bosco Fambul is one of the country’s leading child-welfare organizations. It has been on the forefront of efforts to help save young women who have faced abuse and prostitution and to rehabilitate street children and reunite them with their families.
Don Bosco Fambul operates a medical clinic that provides services to youth in its program and members of the community. The clinic was officially certified and verified as a hospital by the government of Sierra Leone. This enables the clinic to do even more for the community and expands medical services to those in poverty. Donors provided the equipment necessary to help the clinic pass the certification.
The organization has also increased medical outreach to the community. Don Bosco Fambul hosted two specialists who provided medical assistance to the new Don Bosco hospital. A partner organization, ACISS from Malaga, Spain, visited the Don Bosco Fambul hospital with a team of medical practitioners. They offered free medical surgeries, focusing on hernias, hydroceles, and lipomas, for 41 patients who are now fully recovered.
In addition, vision specialists and dentists provided a one-week health outreach at the Don Bosco hospital. They focused on giving community members free cataract operations and eye and dental exams.
In the last quarter of 2022, Salesians held a 10-day medical camp including eye screening, cataract operations and dental care. More than 300 people had tooth extractions and fillings, more than 1,000 people had eye screenings and 100 people received cataract operations.
A Salesian missionary said, “Medical outreach is one of our significant arms for reaching out to our communities as an institution. We are grateful for all the specialists who volunteered their time to help our community members.”
When Salesians are not able to provide the care needed at the hospital, they sometimes are able to connect with organizations in other countries to help those in need. This was the case for 11-year-old Emmanuel, an orphan with congenital knee dislocation. Because of his condition, his peers bullied and taunted him. This caused him to drop out of school and become a loner.
Don Bosco Fambul assigned him to a social worker who supported him in undergoing play therapy, counseling and informal schooling. During their counseling sessions, Emmanuel told her that people called him names because of his condition. Don Bosco Fambul, through Salesian Missions in Madrid, Spain, organized a medical trip to Spain for Emmanuel to have the corrective surgery he needed.
The Salesian said, “This was only possible thanks to our partners and donors from Clinica Centro in Madrid. He went through a successful surgery and is now in physical rehabilitation. We are so grateful.”
Salesian missionaries have been serving in Sierra Leone since 2001 when they began working to rehabilitate former child soldiers through Don Bosco Fambul. In the years since, Don Bosco Fambul, has been offering food, clothing, crisis intervention services, shelter, educational opportunities, long-term counseling and family reunification.
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Sources:
Photo courtesy of Don Bosco Fambul
Don Bosco Fambul Newsletter First Edition 2023
Salesian Missions – Sierra Leone
UNICEF – Sierra Leone
