Last week, Forbes published its list of reputable nonprofit organizations working to end the spread of Ebola in West Africa. The list includes many names you will recognize, among them Doctors without Borders, The Red Cross, AmeriCares and Unicef USA. I want to draw your attention to Emergency USA, an international organization I personally know from my due diligence work with The Khaled Hosseini Foundation. Due to the Ebola outbreak, Emergency USA is operating the only fully functional hospital in Sierra Leone. They have also opened a treatment center in Freetown and are currently raising money to fund a larger 90-bed facility in the same location by November 2014. Though they are dwarfed in size by some of the others on this list, they deliver measurable impact and have proven themselves to be efficient and accountable with donations. At a minimum, $20 pays for a set of disposable Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) to help protect Emergency’s staff so please spread the word.
Help for Sierra Leone
Meet Gino Strada
As a foundation advisor, one of my greatest joys is being introduced to the work of individuals who defy great odds to accomplish truly great things. Gino Strada is such a man. Sixty-five years old, Strada is an Italian surgeon who has spent more than twenty years “living uncomfortably in some of the worst places on earth.” He has carried out 30,000 operations in conflict zones such as Afghanistan, Sudan and Cambodia. And Emergency, the NGO he founded, established and operates 47 healthcare centers worldwide to provide free, high-quality medical care to “desperate people caught in the crossfire of war, 90% of whom are civilians, and the majority of whom are poor and have nowhere else to go.” A documentary short about Emergency’s Salam Centre, Open Heart, was nominated for an Oscar this year and a recent article in The Guardian offers insight into the humane philosophy that motivates and sustains him in his tireless work.