Two Members of Parliament from Sierra Leone have
expressed their thanks to
the people of Cheltenham for helping rebuild their
hospital.
Hon. Col. Murray Conteh and Hon. Ibrahim Sorie from
Kambia, north-east of
the capital Freetown in Sierra Leone, met Cheltenham's
Member of
Parliament Nigel Jones during their visit to London this
week. Mr Jones
is a Patron of the Kambia Hospital Appeal which links
Cheltenham's and
Kambia's hospitals.
Two years ago Mr Jones monitored Sierra Leone's first
elections following
their devastating ten-year civil war. While in the
country he pressed EU
officials to help fund the rebuilding of the hospital in
Kambia, which was
devastated during the war. Now, two years later,
the 100,000 people of
Kambia District are coming to terms with having access
to healthcare they
could previously only dream about.
The two MPs, who are visiting the UK as members of a
Commonwealth
Parliamentary Association delegation, said the new
hospital was wonderful.
They added that the people of Kambia would always be
grateful to the
people of Cheltenham for supporting them over the last
ten difficult
years.
Nigel Jones MP said: "Murray and Ibrahim are
so pleased with the new
hospital. And they were thrilled that I took time
out to talk to them -
they had been hoping to meet someone from Cheltenham to
say ‘Thank you'.
"It is so important that we in the rich world
support countries where
people live in grinding poverty. The Kambia
Hospital Appeal was set up
ten years ago by some visionaries from Cheltenham
General Hospital. It is
a great success."
NOTES FOR NEWS EDITORS
1. For more details of the Cheltenham link with
Sierra Leone and the
Kambia Hospital Appeal, contact Richard Kerr-Wilson on info@kambiahospital.org.uk
2. Nigel Jones MP visited Sierra Leone as a
European Union election
observer in May 2002. His predecessor Sir Charles
Irving also visited
Sierra Leone before the civil war.
July 2004
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