In Diouroup, Senegal, access to healthcare is a daily struggle. Far from hospitals, the most vulnerable—elderly people living alone, children with disabilities, and those with chronic diseases, often go without any assistance. Faced with this reality, Sr. Georgette and her team strive to keep the small village health clinic and its surrounding area operational. 

The project “The guardians of care”  was intended to provide funding for one year to continue providing home care, purchasing medications, and offering appropriate care. 

A well-organized health clinic

Three days a week, the team sees patients for general consultations. 
- On Monday evenings, from 4:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m., people with hemiplegia or osteoarthritis come in for massages and rehabilitation exercises.
- Tuesdays are set aside for home visits in the surrounding villages to reach out to elderly people who live alone or are bedridden.
- On Tuesday and Thursday mornings, ten children with disabilities are welcomed for motor and sensory rehabilitation sessions: massages, early learning games, music, and physical exercises.
Des séances de sensibilisations («causeries éducatives») sont également organisées avec les femmes dans le cadre de la santé préventive, car elles sont vecteurs du changement dans les familles pour prévenir le diabète, l’hypertension, la malnutrition infantile.

Awareness sessions (“educational talks”) are also organized with women as part of preventive health efforts, as they are agents of change within families in preventing diabetes, hypertension, and childhood malnutrition.

« Nous avons acheté des produits naturels (huile d’arachide, beurre de karité, miel, savon de base et gingembre) qui permettent de fabriquer des pommades et des savons pour traiter les dermatoses, les plaies, et pour les massages.
L’équipe achète aussi des boissons sucrées pour certains malades affaiblis. Ces petits riens, offerts avec le cœur, font toute la différence ! » Sr Georgette

“We’ve purchased natural products, peanut oil, shea butter, honey, base soap, and ginger, that we use to make ointments and soaps for treating skin conditions, wounds, and for massages.
The team also buys sugary drinks for some of the weakened patients. These little things, offered from the heart, make all the difference!” Sr. Georgette

The Benefits of Home Visits 

Papa Aloyse, 82, lives alone. Unmarried and childless, he has been shunned by those around him, a rare but painful situation in this village. He can no longer work, nor can he get around easily. Thanks to home visits, Sr. Georgette and her team look after his health, his nutrition, and his dignity. He no longer feels “invisible.”

During the winter, heavy rains make some villages difficult to reach, but the team adapts. Nothing can stop the “Guardians of Care”! And this year, the winter was particularly harsh: malaria, respiratory infections, diarrhea, and skin diseases. Thanks to the project, dozens of people were able to receive treatment at a lower cost. Patients with chronic conditions, such as hypertension and diabetes, have had their treatment guaranteed without interruption. The patients’ quality of life has been transformed as a result!

Today, the Diouroup health clinic is up and running. Ten children with disabilities are receiving care, dozens of chronically ill patients have stabilized, and isolated elderly people are no longer left to face illness alone. But the project is not yet self-sustaining.
Yet a conviction is growing…

“Caring for the most vulnerable means building a more compassionate community. Through your donation, you have made this possible.
Thank you for being a ‘Guardian of Care’ yourself. Thank you for the smiles, the home visits, the ointments, and the medications. Thank you for restoring health and dignity to so many people in pain.” Sr. Georgette