We recently visited our daughter who lives as a Peace Corps volunteer in Buduck Village, The Gambia. The Gambia is a very small country on the west coast of Africa. Buduck is a small rural village located in the poorest district, in the poorest region of the country. The community is one that is incredibly rich in culture and hospitality yet lacks resources to improve the infrastructure to support the residents. We hope to work with our US communities to help with four small development projects to elevate access to food and water, reproductive healthcare and general education.

Buduck is home to the only health clinic in the area. The clinic serves more than 7 villages, with

hundreds of pregnant women, young mothers, and infants relying upon the clinic for their basic

healthcare needs. The building that used to house the clinic has fallen into extreme disrepair – it now

consists of a few walls with a concrete pad and no roof. In addition, there are benches outside the clinic

that serve as the waiting area for the women, their children and babies. These benches are uncovered

and exposed to direct sunlight, leaving women and children sitting in heat up to 107° waiting to be seen.

Renovation of this reproductive health clinic is vital to help reduce mortality rates of mothers and

children. Our fundraiser seeks funds to build a roof and walls for the clinic and to build a roof over the

waiting area. Moreover, the clinic does not have electricity so there is no refrigeration and vaccines are

unable to be stored at the recommended temperature which effects their efficacy. We hope to raise

enough money funds to add a solar panel to the clinic allowing for refrigeration in which to keep vital

vaccines for babies and children.

Buduck does not have a working community garden in which vegetables can be grown, leaving most

residents of the village with inadequate nutrition. Additionally, women in the Gambia have limited

opportunities to earn their own money and growing and selling vegetables is one way that they can gain

financial autonomy. Land has been set aside in Buduck for a community garden, but the plot is missing a

well to be able to bring water to the garden. Funds raised will support construction of the well to

establish a working garden for the benefit of women, children and the rest of the Buduck community.

The school in Buduck serves more than 10 villages with up to 1,000 students attending each day. Many

of these students walk up to 6 miles each way to attend school. Yet the school does not have funds to

provide lunch for the students. Therefore, many children don’t eat from the time they leave their home

early in the morning until dinner in the evening. Meals in the Gambia are consumed from communal

dishes and families have limited resources available to them so, unlike the United States, children don’t

have ‘sack lunches’ that they are able to take with them to school. This fundraiser would help develop a

school lunch program for children to receive adequate nutrition throughout the day.

Finally, the water pump for the well at the school, which well is used by all of the children for drinking

and cleaning, is broken and needs immediate repairs. Funds raised would go to repair the children’s well

at the school.

During our visit to Buduck we were humbled by the kindness and grace of the residents of Buduck in the

face of extremely challenging circumstances due to a lack of resources and money. While these projects

are relatively small when compared to the public works projects we are all used to here in the United

States, these projects will greatly improve the lives of the families in Buduck and the surrounding

communities that have embraced our daughter as one of their own.