Somali Diaspora women are funding the renovation of Gedo region’s largest hospital in Garbaharey. Lul Mohamed Aden, the spokesperson of a group of diaspora women who hail from the region, said about $400,000 would be spent on construction and renovation work at the hospital, to enable much needed medical services to be brought to local people.
“Gedo region which consists of eight districts is a very large region and has a big population. We want to help our people back here,” Aden told Radio Ergo’s local reporter.
Building work began on the hospital 23 years ago, but was stopped because of the civil war. Between then and now, the only services available at a smaller facility in the town were mother-and-child health and TB services. Aden has recently returned to Garbaharey for the first time since fleeing the country at the start of the civil war in the early 1990s.
She lives in Britain, while other members of the group are from USA, Finland and Australia. They raised funds among their friends and families.
The women said as the security in Somalia had been improving they felt it was a good time to help their people back home to get the services they desperately need. “The health needs here in Gedo are overwhelming,” Aden said. The plans are to construct 40 wards in the hospital in order to cater for the various medical needs.
