There are resort hotels on the mainland, but few visitors are aware of the plight of people living on Funzi Island and the mainland village of Bodo. Funzi Island doesn't even appear on google earth.
During one holiday to the Island, Ashely and Sarah heard about a child who was constantly crying. No one could help the child, who was clearly distressed. The health clinic on the island had been closed for some years and the family would not be able to afford to pay for medical treatment on the mainland. As it turned out, the child had ulcerated ears and was in great pain. Full treatment for this would cost just £40 and Ashley arranged there and then to deal with this and cover the payment.
From this point, Ashley and Sarah began to learn more of the difficulties the Islanders faced. The main source of water for the village was from a well which was not sealed or clean. The water the whole community was using was infected.
The health clinic which had been closed was in disrepair, but one man had kept all the medical implements in his yard, in the hope it may one day open.
The primary school on Funzi was also in need of major building work. Education is only free up to the end of primary school, after which children would have to travel to the mainland and their parents would need to pay school and boarding fees. Without formal qualifications, adults struggle to find any employment, without employment, they cannot pay the fees for their children to attend senior school and thus the vicious circle of poverty continues.
Ashley's first priority was the well and the clinic. A call to England secured immediate payment for the necessary work to sanitize the village's water supply. Richard Cook of TransGlobe Investments pledged to cover the cost of this and this initial involvement led to Richard being a major sponsor of what was to become The Funzi and Bodo Trust.
If the clinic was restored, Ashley learned that it would cost just £4,000 to provide a full time nurse to staff this. The idea of the Trust was born and the tireless fund raising began.
The challenges encountered have been great. The world's unstable financial situation has led to massive fluctuations in costs for raw materials and fuel. Exchange rates have not been kind and have meant the push to secure long term funding has become acute. The project of the new primary school was put under enormous strain to be completed within budget and could only be achieved after negotiation and a lot of goodwill from the developer.
All this pales into insignificance when considering only a year ago, Ashley was held at gunpoint.
"I was staying at a lodge when, at midnight, I was held at gunpoint by 7 men armed with rifles and pistols. They beat up some of the others and dragged us around threatening to kill us. I was about to be beaten when suddenly one of the men came to my aid. He said that they would not hurt me, because I was a good man doing good work in the village."
Ashley continues. "That sort of thing can happen anywhere in the world, though it was hard going back afterwards, I would find it hard to walk away from the people who befriended us."
Ashley has built a house on the Island, which becomes something of a community centre when he is there, full of people keen to share their experiences and lives with him & his family.
There is a luxury hotel on the Island, which only highlights the massive differences between a world of excess and that of desperate need. There was a time when food parcels had to be sent to the village and some Islanders still cannot afford to feed themselves properly.
The Funzi and Bodo Trust has made amazing progress in just 2 years in supporting real improvements in the quality of life for the communities.
The next blog will outline just some of the projects that have been completed
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