Folks, one thing I realized in the Gambian struggle is that for every one
thing that we try to help with, there are countless others needing immediate
attention.  In the process, the few folks that help for the most part get
burnt out in the process.

The way to solve our national crisis is not to attempt to fight the many
fires that erupt, but to stop the system that creates the fires.  There are
many Campama's in the Gambia as I write, malnourishment, Kid scavengers at
dump sites, mothers dying or their babies dying at child birth, lack of
water for days, inadequate health care, hunger, garbage all over the place,
etc., etc.  It is when we change the system that we will be successful in
stopping the Campama's from happening.  Thus, I say, let's start with
ourselves and join positive forces to stop this hemorrhage.  It is noble to
attempt to help Campama, but that is not sustainable and Campama will return
to Campama the week after.

I know some might be saying that this is not the time to discuss the short
and long run strategy to change our lot, but I've been there too.  Moneys
were raised last year to help the same institution and we are here dealing
with the same issue all over again.  Few individuals that have life
struggles cannot do what a Government neglect and refuses to do for a
nation.  Besides countries like the Gambia are abound in the world today and
each is looking for the same scraps.  I work in a hospital environment but
each time I approach an administrator for help, they have similar third
world issues with their inner city neighborhoods and rural America.  The
operative word here is neglect.

Chi jaama

Joe


>From: abdoukarim sanneh <[log in to unmask]>
>Reply-To: The Gambia and related-issues mailing list
><[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Re: FWD:Campama "Madness" Reaches Crisis Point
>Date: Tue, 6 Jul 2004 23:59:08 -0700
>
>Matarr it did not surprise me too. Three years ago I wrote a piece on the
>Gambia-l title Gambia's forgotten citizens. Funds where raise in Gambia
>with Tijan Nyang and also one of my friends in Birmingham but the corrupt
>regime did not compliment such a good effort of concern individuals.The
>situation in Campama is dehumanising and more help is needed for the
>welfare of our brothers and sisters. The hardship in our country can even
>increase more mental disorder. Let us review from the literature of Frantz
>Fanon- The wretched of the earth on Algerian where he associated mental
>illness in that society with economic and psychological degradation in his
>capacity as a psychotherapist.
>
>Matarr Amadou Sallah <[log in to unmask]> wrote:Mo
>Thanks for this very important forward but honestly this doesnt surprise
>me.
>In 1999 when i was in the gambia i took a trip to Campama to see the
>working conditions down there. I am particularly interested in campama
>because since 1994 i have been working at a psychiatric hospital and for 14
>years ihave been working with mentally retarded people.
>I was in shock when i visited Campama, i was shown round by one Sister
>Tamba, the only psychiatric nurse in the Gambia by then together with two
>Nigerian ladies who were there for just a short period of time.
>The living conditions in campama is the worst i have ever seen. It is the
>first time in my life i see two patients of the same diagnosis or of
>different diagnosis sharing a single bed. They sleep in sardine
>position(one head up and the other head down) They smell each others feet.
>At the rehabilitation unit, everything was at a standstill due to lack of
>materials and tools. The patients were hanging around the big mango tree
>and
>some were just roaming about the backyard.
>If thing have been going according to plan i am sure they should be able to
>produce their own furniture or repair the little they have. Some of the
>beds
>were three legged and the fourth was supported but cement blocks.
>When i came back to Norway after my holidays i contacted the boss at the
>hospital where i work and explain the whole situation to her and expressed
>how desperately they needed help. Unfortunately there wasnt much to do
>because they have this agreement with the psychiatric hospital in st.
>Petersburg in Russia.
>
>I am at work now and i really have to go but i promise i will write more on
>this topic
>
>
>Matarr
>
>
> >From: Momodou Camara
> >Reply-To: The Gambia and related-issues mailing list
> >
> >To: [log in to unmask]
> >Subject: FWD:Campama "Madness" Reaches Crisis Point
> >Date: Tue, 6 Jul 2004 12:18:01 -0500
> >
> >---------------------- Information from the mail header
> >-----------------------
> >Sender: The Gambia and related-issues mailing list
> >
> >Poster: Momodou Camara
> >Subject: FWD:Campama "Madness" Reaches Crisis Point
> >-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> >Campama "Madness" Reaches Crisis Point
> >
> >The Independent (Banjul)
> >NEWS
> >July 2, 2004
> >Posted to the web July 6, 2004
> >Banjul
> >
> >Campama Psychiatry's dearth of medicinal drugs to treat its mentally
> >deranged patients has reached crisis point with violent inmates, being
> >allowed to leave the country's only mental home, which is at its wits'
>end
> >in dealing with the chronic shortage.
> >
> >Fresh reports reaching The Independent midweek allude to the fact that
>the
> >overwhelming majority of Campama inmates with varying degree of mental
> >imbalance have been released back to the community as Campama grapples
>with
> >the chronically acute shortage of drugs to calm violent fits of patients.
> >Reasons being ascribed for freeing the inmates include the chronic lack
>of
> >medicines and what close relatives of some of the inmates called the
> >skeletal staff who have been "mentally and physically overstretched" to
> >look after over a hundred patients. According to these reports only a
> >handful of inmates are left in the mental home, whose personnel recently
> >made plaintive calls to the Royal Victoria Teaching Hospital for the
> >provision of drugs to treat its neglected inmates. Due to the frequency
>of
> >violence among inmates at Campama, the demand for nerve-calming drugs has
> >been of permanent significance.
> >
> >"We understand and accept these reasons for these inmates being let out,
> >but imagine the danger these sick people pose to the society, women and
> >children especially. Many of these runaway Campama inmates can be seen
> >roaming our markets and other public places. Are we to sit and wait for
> >another disaster like the one which happened in Bakau, where two people
> >were killed by a mentally deranged man just months ago" a concerned
> >relative of one Campama inmate who wished to remain anonymous lamented.
> >
> >According to him, his brother who was mentally imbalanced had escaped
>from
> >the Campama Psychiatric home months ago and was rehabilitated by his
> >family, since at the time he had not shown any propensity for violence
>and
> >was not therefore an apparent threat to anyone.
> >
> >"However, recently he has been quite violent and dangerous even for his
>own
> >relatives. He is capable of doing harm and we took him back to Campama
>for
> >him to be readmitted. To our utter surprise, we were told that the only
> >mental home in the country no longer takes in patients. It left us
> >completely flabbergasted," he explained, lamentably adding; "many other
> >mentally disturbed patients have been allowed to leave the mental home
>with
> >serious risks to society. Something must be done about it".
> >
> >He said the only positive response by the Department of State for Health
> >should be the requisitioning of medical materials and medicines, which
> >would see patients who have been allowed to rejoin society but still with
> >mental deficiencies to be readmitted at the mental home.
> >
> >This development comes days after The Independent reported what it called
> >the "cataclysmic" level to which the acute shortage of drugs to treat
> >patients at the Campama hospital has reached. This dreary situation had
> >prompted the psychiatric centre to stop admitting patients with advanced
> >stages of mental illnesses as the RVTH allegedly failed to respond
> >positively.
> >
> >Overwhelmed by the situation senior hospital staff thought the only
>prudent
> >measure at their disposal was to suspend the admittance of more patients
>at
> >the centre in the interim as they struggle to deal with the dearth in
> >drugs, which according to sources the Royal Victoria Teaching Hospital is
> >not in a position to provide. Sources claimed that the decision not to
> >admit patients was effected since May when the situation aggravated.
> >
> >A senior official at the psychiatric centre who wished to remain
>anonymous
> >told The Independent that they had written to the RVTH management,
> >communicating to them their concerns over the chronic lack of drugs
>there.
> >He said the dispatch had conveyed their request for the teaching hospital
> >to supply the psychiatric centre with drugs to deal with mental cases in
> >the short term. The conditions in Campama are getting worse every day,
>they
> >added.
> >
> >"A lot of patients are still being brought in although we are at pains to
> >let the world know that little or no drugs are available to treat them,
>and
> >we are facing problems to deal with them" he added. He also accused the
> >RVTH of being negligent about conditions at the Campama, with its
> >management team hardly even making routine inspections of the psychiatric
> >centre, the only mental home in the country. "This can only amount to the
> >fact that the RVTH does not care about what happens at the Campama" he
> >protested.
> >
> >Another anonymous Campama staff also decried the state of the food being
> >made available to inmates, which he described as "very poor and
>unhygienic
> >diet". He said as a result patients hardly eat. The anonymous official
> >further revealed that even the beds of the hospital were full of bed
>bugs,
> >which make it difficult for inmates to sleep.
> >
> >"When we informed the RVTH management about these things they were never
>in
> >the habit of responding positively" he claimed, adding that the doors in
> >the hospital rooms are not in good shape, making it easy for people with
> >mental problems to slip out without the knowledge of the hospital
> >staff. "Two inmates were killed in motor traffic after they escaped from
> >the compound this way" he explained.
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >----------------------------------------------------------------------------=
> >
> >Copyright =A9 2004 The Independent. All rights reserved. Distributed by
> >AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com).
> >----------------------------------------------------------------------------=
> >
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