Design 21: Social Design Network

Year of Education for an orphaned child from the War Widows’ Project $ 100 (Include tuition, clothing, educational supplies, 20 orphans in need)

Year of Education for a child of the Jui or Hastings Amputee Camp $ 100 (Include tuition, clothing, educational supplies, 120 children in need)

National Micro Agriculture Project :Stable food supply of rice for each region of amputee communities

$40,000 per region To include: Acquiring the land, Purchase of tools and seed and fertilizer, Technical assistance, Planting, Harvesting, Cement pad, Storage facility, 4 Regions of need

As the sun rose across the diamond-mining district of West Africa’s Sierra Leone, Suma awoke worried about his son. All night 8 year-old Kaikai had been breathing rapidly and unable to sleep. Kaikai’s options stood bleak after 2 weeks in Kono Government District Hospital without improvement. In despair, Suma flipped on the UN radio. The news levied moderate distraction. Thoughts drifted to his farm – to his family – to his… The radio caught his attention. “…Today, Saturday, March 24th, a mobile health clinic will be held at Kuyo Amputee & War-Wounded Community…” Suma lurched from his seat and left assuring his son. At eleven o’clock in the morning, Suma and Kaikai arrived to an overwhelmed clinic on foot.

After attending twenty-two patients, Dr. Mohamed B. Barrie, a Sierra Leone medical graduate, and Dan Kelly, a fourth year American medical student and founder of The Global Action Foundation (GAF), took a break in the unbearably hot outside waiting room to estimate the remaining patients. “Ten… twenty… thirty… forty… fifty… and they are still coming,” said Dr. Barrie. Dan responded, “Typical but we have that groundbreaking ceremony at two in the afternoon.” “Let’s get to work, man,” commented Dr. Barrie.

As they passed registration, Suma held Kaikai while providing routine details. Noticing quick and heavy breathing, Dr. Barrie and Dan ushered Kaikai inside. After the history, exam, and some discussion, Dr. Barrie told Suma...

XDR TB, extra drug resistant tuberculosis, is a problem in South Africa. Read the reality of providing health care for those with TB and Leprosy at Lakka Chest Hospital in Sierra Leone. What will happen if XDR TB invades the rest of Africa? Atrocities at Lakka Chest Hospital – National TB/Leprosy Control Program

July 28, 2006, 10:55 am

“When drawing sputum samples, hand the patient a cup to spit into, stand upwind, and then tell the patients to cough,” said the Tuberculosis (TB) Lab Coordinator in a monotone voice. I briskly responded, “Don’t you wear masks?!” Slightly puzzled, he said, “No.” More puzzled than him, I asked, “Aren’t you worried about getting TB?” He responded, “No, I just focus on staying healthy.” Without understanding, I ignorantly rephrased my question, “But don’t you worry about becoming infected?” He responded soberly, “I am infected. [Pause] We are all infected, except perhaps you...”

Staring at the dirt road from the window of the staff bus, I allowed myself to be jostled into resignation of TB infection. After years of negative PPDs and a culture enforcing such a result, I was assured to return PPD positive and be required to take nine months of isoniazid (INH) therapy. How many times in my life would I take INH therapy? While other menial questions passed through mind, my pondering settled upon the remarkably growing awareness between TB control in the Bronx, New York, and Lakka, Sierra Leone. However, my imagin...

Crossing the bridge to Koidu-Sefadu – home to the Sierra Leone blood diamonds – I stared at hundreds of people standing knee-deep in the river. I asked Dr. Barrie, “What are those people doing?” “Mining diamonds,” the Sierra Leonean doctor responded causally. An imprint immediately laid comparable to textbook pictures of the California gold rush in the 1800s.

Dr. Barrie continued, “People mine diamonds everywhere here, including their houses.” I noted their houses. Underneath a canopy supported by four wooden poles, three women and five children sat silently on one bench and two tires. We passed another. Underneath aluminum sheets tied to the mud bricks of a house foundation, a woman cooked over a wood fire.

“We have diamonds. We also have gold, bauxite, kayelite, iron-ore, and many other minerals. The people should not suffer like this,” said Shabab Sinnah, a Sierra Leonean native from Kono. I knew the statistics and history. They epitomized poverty in resource-rich countries, typically African countries with corrupt governments. In the 2005 Human Development Index, Sierra Leone ranked 176 out of 177 countries, and the devastating war from 1991 to 2002 highlights its recent, dramatic history. Quoted statistics and history lessons did not sufficiently illustrate grave reality. “This was the most devastated region in the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) War,” Dr. Barrie added.

While most follow the diamond trail to Kono, we were following the trai...

National Organization for Welbody's Dan Kelly...

At the recent Golden Globes, Design 21 Social Design Network gifted Allumonde rings to celebrities who designated their favorite nonprofit. Mr. DiCaprio selected Global Action Foundation.

John Daniel Kelly, Founder and Director of Global Action Foundation, responds:

Dear Mr. DiCaprio,

Thank you for considering to support the Kono amputees.

I flew to Sierra Leone with a dream to help alleviate extreme poverty. The poverty-stricken, abandoned amputees inspired me to support them.

Through the creation of Global Action Foundation (GAF) in the US and the National Organization for Welbody (NOW) in Sierra Leone, we have launched multi-sector initiatives engaging the Kono amputees in their self-reliance.

They deserve better. With your support, we can move mountains and give them what they deserve – an opportunity.

Yours,

Dan Kelly GAF Founder, Executive Director NOW Founder, Chairperson AECOM MS-IV If you would like to help us raise funds for the Lunsar Therapeutic Feeding Center and the Center for the War Wounded of Kono (Land of the Blood Diamond), please go to www.go-act.org