Help Us Build a Health Center for Ave Maria Parish
My name is Father Avelino Bassols. I’m from Barcelona, Spain, but have been serving overseas missions for over 25 years. Ever since I was a child, I’ve wanted to serve God’s people this way. Before I came to South Sudan, I was a missionary in Turkana, Kenya. While I was on a retreat in 2017 and asked to imagine my mission, I immediately thought of South Sudan and its people. So I have served here since 2018, and I have never been happier. To find out more about me and my mission, click here. Sudan Relief Fund said that I may write you a letter about our needs to build a health center to save the people in my parish.
My small team and I serve Ave Maria Parish in Ngboko Village, Source Yubu, Tombura County. The healthcare situation here is a crisis.
Formerly, a small hospital built in the 1950s served a population of more than 30,000 people. However, the recent warring in South Sudan has reduced it to ruins. Since 2019, we’ve used a makeshift emergency room in my parish to treat people. We have only one nurse who works at this station, seeing about 50-70 people a day.
As the Covid-19 pandemic and other diseases send more people to our emergency room, it has become much more difficult to provide necessary care to the sick and dying. The only other hospital that can treat major complications is in Nzara, a 9-hour drive away.
It breaks my heart to see so many people die senselessly due to lack of even basic medical assistance.
That is why I am looking for help to build a fully functioning healthcare center and medicine dispensary. This new facility will be equipped with a lab as well as operating rooms and emergency rooms. With the added dispensary and pharmacy, people will have access to much-needed healthcare and medicine.
Currently, our running water comes from a borehole and well since we do not have regular plumbing. Unlike first-world countries, we do not have regular electrical lines, and our only electricity comes from gas generators, which are expensive and unreliable. We wish to instead use solar power, which is free and safe to use for many years.
The project costs are broken down below:
- Construction of the dispensary and health center: $82,000
- Installation of the lab: $6,500
- Solar refrigerator for medicines and vaccines: $3,000
- Solar power and water connection to well: $4,500
Every dollar we raise will go toward creating the best health center we can for the thousands of men, women, and children in Tombura County. We can only fund this project with the help of donors. Without this health center, people will continue to die due to lack of care and medicine.
As you consider helping us, I kindly remind you what Saint Paul said: “God will not forget your work and the love you have shown him as you have helped his people and continue to help them.”
Please consider donating today and making a major impact on this nation’s battle against disease and sickness. You can help by covering one of the entire projects costs above, but even a donation as small as $25 a month can make a world of difference.
