Protect 1800 people on Kokwa Island from Malaria

The year 2018 was good and we achieved in one way or the other, we appreciate all the support given by our Global Giving friends and partners and we wish them well in 2019.  Kokwa community is counting blessings despite the many challenges they faced throughout the year and they have high hopes that the year 2019 will be more successful.  As previously reported, we had a kid from the Island who required immediate medical attention and after various tests, it was recommended to have the kid operated in December 2018.  Am happy to report that the operation was successfully done on 12^th December 2018 and the kid responded very well.  It was a complicated matter which required physiologist intervention and we supported to sessions which were done successfully.  To shed more light, the kid had 2 sexual organs and since birth the kid was treated as a boy but when all the tests were done, it was confirmed that the kid was a girl.  It is still a hectic moment especially for the kid to understand and accept the changes, the kid is in nursery school and since he started schooling he has been in boys’ school uniform and now the kid is expected to report school in a dress as her school uniform.  We are trying to have the kid transferred from that school but unfortunately there is no other close primary school where she can go for schooling.  The alternatives we have are having the kid move from nuclear family and be hosted by other family members outside the Island but we are concerned of this option as the kid requires mother’s love and care especially after the operation.  The other alternative is having the whole family move from Island and settle somewhere else.  The family depends on fishing for food and some little income which means they are not in a position to start a new life somewhere else.  The option of relocating is much better but require support for the whole family.   We are working on possibilities of supporting the family start new living elsewhere and have an income generating activity for them to move on.   We call upon our friends and well-wishers to help us in supporting these needy families as we realize in the Island we have several families who are very vulnerable and they have very little for survival. 

In the previous reported, it was reported that the cases of malaria are still high and we need to find ways of reducing them.  Previously we distributed mosquito nets to all households in the Island but this is some years back and most of them are worn out while other families don’t have them at all.  In regard to this, we hope to do fundraising for more nets so that we can distribute them a fresh as a way of reducing the disease.  To achieve this, we call upon well-wishers and partners to help us raise funds to start this initiative.  The current temporally dispensary have some drugs for malaria but we still need to support the dispensary where possible.  Again we express our gratitude to all our friends and partners for supporting our projects and we wish them a fruit year as they continue extending support to our needy communities.  Happy prosperous New Year 2019.