We have an ambulance boat!

Most of the villages are also concentrated on the shores of the lake. Many of our patients live in these small towns and often arrive by canoe to be examined by our doctors, as there are no qualified facilities in the region. Certainly many visits can be scheduled and for this reason our patients can choose the most suitable means to get to the Center, but emergencies are not: for this type of intervention it is not possible. It has happened more than once that young mothers gave birth during the crossing before reaching the Center or that they arrive in desperate conditions after hours of sailing on the lake aboard a paddle-driven dugout.

For this reason, we decided to offer an extra service and so, to our ambulance van, which already performs “emergency response” functions, we wanted to “accompany” an ambulance boat that could shorten the time taken to cross the lake (2-3 hours in the canoe) and intervene in case of emergencies.

The boat is now on its way to Ampefy and will soon be launched at Andasibe-Ampefy and equipped to rescue patients “across the lake”.

A less' noble 'but equally important task is also expected for the boat. Our land for the cultivation of moringa is more than 10 kilometers from the Health Center, but it is also on the lake shore. To reach it by car, you have to travel more than 20 kilometers of impervious roads that, during the rainy season, become impassable. The harvest of moringa leaves dried in our hangar takes place during summer, a season of absolute impassability on the streets. A couple of hours of sailing are enough to reach the Health Center by canoe, but you can only load a few bags of dried leaves. With the new boat, on the other hand, it will be possible to carry out a much larger load and, thanks to the motor, cover the distance in about twenty minutes. This will make it possible to supply our mill regularly and not let our children, who often suffer from malnutrition, lack the rations of moringa powder that we must distribute.

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A sincere thank you to everyone who made it possible to carry out this project!

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