Alexander - July 1995

Alexander Edwards was an exceptional child. He was quiet and mature beyond his years and, unlike most twelve year olds, he was perfectly happy with his own company. He was also an exceptionally caring young person who was known for his love of animals and his willingness to nurture and comfort any creature in need. Tragically, he was also exceptional in that he had an undetected heart condition that ended his life one summer's afternoon in June 1997 as he played cricket for his school.

Following his death, Alex's parents launched an appeal in his name to raise funds for paediatric intensive care equipment that might save the lives of other children, continuing for him his philosophy of helping others.

Three thousand miles away in The Gambia, another little boy, Haroun, was born with a heart defect. He lived in Sambel Kunda, a remote village that borders the River Gambia National Park. Haroun was ill from birth but, with no medical facilities at all in his village, he had to grow up tolerating his symptoms. Then one day, when he was about seven, his health deteriorated to the point where his parents had to borrow a donkey and cart to make the hot, dusty two hour journey to the nearest clinic in Kudang. The doctor was away but the dispenser gave them some tablets. Five days later Haroun died. Had there been a clinic in his village, Haroun's condition may have been detected and treated much earlier and his short life would certainly have been much more comfortable or even saved.

Alexander's mother, Rachel, thought that the setting up of an Alexander Edwards Village Clinic, where a doctor may have been able to treat Haroun and alleviate the suffering of many other children, was just the sort of project of which her son would have approved, especially as he had anticipated a career in medicine. Rachel has therefore donated the funds needed for building the village clinic.

Rachel has undertaken to continue fundraising in order to staff and equip the clinic. Stella Marsden, who founded the Chimpanzee Rehabilitation Project (CRT) in the River Gambia National Park in 1974, will supervise its construction and administer the project in The Gambia to ensure that overheads are kept to a minimum, and that all funds raised by the Alexander Edwards Trust go directly to improving health and lives in this very poor rural community.

 

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