With the pandemic and the inabililty to travel, we were not sure how to get some of our donations to The Gambia. We occasionally receive donated medical supplies for Bwiam General Hospital. In the past, with various student interns and volunteers traveling to The Gambia during the year, we have been able to send materials over in extra baggage. But with no travel in 2020, we had to think of…
Read MorePower Up Gambia Interns, “Our Memories in The Gambia!”
Richard Chen is a rising senior at the University of Pennsylvania and a 2019 Power Up Gambia intern. He worked at Bwiam General Hospital supporting nurses and doctors and provided outreach on diabetes prevention. Check out his YouTube vlogs from his time in The Gambia below! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ed59heLt7s My name is Fatima Al Rashed, and I am a rising junior at the University of Pennsylvania. I was born and raised in…
Read MoreProgression of COVID-19 in The Gambia
On June 24, 2020, there were 42 confirmed COVID-19 cases in The Gambia, 26 recovered cases, and 2 deaths. On August 3, 2020, there were 498 confirmed cases with nine deaths. Days after lifting the State of Public Emergency in the country, the government announced new regulations to stem the spread of the virus. Those regulations involve mandatory wearing of face masks with a few exceptions, closure of non-essential public…
Read MoreUpgrading the Bwiam Hospital’s Solar Power System
It is exciting to be finally upgrading the Bwiam Hospital solar power system from its original 12kW solar system commissioned in 2009. For this project, we selected the Gambian company Greenlink ( http://www.greenlink.solar/ ) to serve as our contractor. Critically, all three of the Bwiam Hospital’s electrical maintenance staff – Saikou, Sarjo and Omar – worked with Greenlink on every step of the process so that they could understand each…
Read More