Marcel has always suffered from “something”. Visits to doctors and nurses were inconclusive. It was only thanks to you that we found out what was wrong with the boy…

While the whole world is quite rightly focused on what is happening in Ukraine, we do not forget about those in our care who, if it were not for us, would long have been forgotten.

Gosia Tomaszewska, our delegate in Togo and Burkina Faso, reports to us daily on her extraordinary encounters with people whose lives she has quite literally saved. A few days ago she returned from Togo, from a small rural pharmacy in the village of Saoudé in the north of the country, which we took under our wing many years ago.

The surrounding area is extremely poor – a grim reminder of the poverty in Africa. The mountains, the harsh climate and the proximity to the desert mean that, from December to February, the harmattan, the desert wind, blows here and covers everything in red dust. People can’t afford medicines, so they come to St. Frýdolin with prescriptions from feldshers. Sometimes they have to walk several kilometres each way. Here they get everything they need, and the standard payment is… a bowl of corn, sorghum or other grain.

We store this food and redistribute it to those who have nothing to eat during the dry season. The poverty in Africa is alarming. This year we are expecting an even greater food shortage in Africa, because as much as half of the wheat that the country imports comes from Russia and Ukraine.

The pharmacy in Saoudé operates 5 days a week and is open to everyone. Poor children in Africa, their parents and everyone who needs help will get it here. Gosia has just arrived here with a supply of medicines for the next six months. These include antibiotics, anti-inflammatory drugs, antimalarial drugs, and medication for those suffering from epilepsy, of whom there are many in the area. It is only thanks to your support that we are able to provide help to nearly 4,000 people a year. For them there is no alternative. They have nowhere to go, and they simply cannot afford to buy medicines.

Marcel is among those poor children in Africa under our care. You helped us to take the boy to the capital and get him a proper diagnosis. It turned out that he suffers from sickle cell anaemia. He is now under the constant care of a specialist! We send him to Lomé every three months for a check-up. His life has changed completely. He no longer suffers from acute headaches, and during the rainy season or when the harmattan blows from the Sahara, he no longer suffers from partial paralysis. He started attending school regularly.

Marcel is about to graduate from high school. He dreams about university. We really want him to be able to focus on his studies, especially now, at this crucial time for him. Therefore, apart from medication, we provide him with a diet rich in iron – red meat, liver, green vegetables, eggs and fruit. For Marcel, who has to survive on less than 10 PLN a day, this is an unimaginable cost. A balanced diet that would restore his well-being would cost twice as much.

This GOOD WORK that you have decided to do with the Good Factory really changes actual human lives. It has changed Marcel’s life for example. Help Marcel to stop the disease from getting in the way of his dreams. Provide Marcel with a diet which, together with medication from our pharmacy, will help him fulfil his dreams.