Dear Friends,
THANK YOU. In 2019, your support of The Denan Project made a difference; you helped to change the world for the better, one community at a time. Because of your generosity, we have been able to enhance the quality of life of some of the poorest and most isolated people on our planet. Through improved medical care, education, agriculture, and water accessibility, as well as economic development through micro-loans, our projects made meaningful advances in 2019. The information below gives you an overview of some of the amazing work that has taken place at each of our project sites this past year.
We are incredibly proud of what we have achieved so far. Our ultimate goal is to help communities to become permanently self-sustainable. At each of our sites, we work closely with on-the- ground partners and with the support of the local communities to achieve long-term success. We remain committed to careful financial oversight and frugal planning, and we personally make regular site visits each year to ensure that every dollar is being stretched to its utmost. And importantly, because of the incredible generosity of several Members of our Board of Directors who cover our overhead costs, we promise that 100% of every dollar you donate will go directly to the people and communities we support.
Changing the world often seems like an impossible task. But we believe that when friends and neighbors come together, we can make a difference. We thank you for your past support and humbly ask you to consider The Denan Project in your 2019 charitable giving plans. Your gift will continue to bring real, positive change to some of the poorest people on our planet.
On Behalf of All Our Volunteers, With Deepest Gratitude,
Dick Young, President/Founder, The Denan Project
Ethiopia
The strong reputation of our hospital, now with 34 rooms, continues to spread throughout the Ogaden region. This is both a blessing and a curse, as we now have more than 3,000 patient visits each month, stretching our resources to the limit. All medical care continues to be free, which is important in this poor area of the world. In March, we were honored to be awarded a Certificate of Appreciation by the President of the Somali Regional State, “in recognition of commendable work and contribution for providing comprehensive primary health care services to the Denan community for the last 15 years.”
We are hoping to recommence our medical outreach program and have been promised additional support from the President, with whom we continue to meet on a regular basis.
Our micro-loan program continues to bring important economic benefits to the community. We have distributed 41 micro-loans to date, benefiting approximately 350 families, and all continued to be repaid in full. The impact of this economic development continues be seen in many ways: new kiosks in the market, tuk-tuk taxi services, a new hotel, and new construction in the town. It is heartening to watch the standard of living within this community improve.
Unfortunately, drought continues to be a problem in this corner of the world, and despite improved water supplies and agricultural planning, when rains do not come it is devastating to crops, animals, and the health of the local people. Last year, your generosity allowed us to provide an emergency food shipment to approximately 12,000 people, as well as to expand water distribution to outlying villages.
Peru
In 2019, we grew from our initial outreach in the small village of Uratari and now provide medical services to a number of other distant villages in the High Andes, including the communities of Pampahyulla, Pivil, Chonta, Churo, and Choquemarca. This allows us to bring medical and dental care to about 400 patients per month, often enabling the diagnosis and treatment of illnesses before they become life threatening.
In addition to health care, our focus on education continues. Working with local officials, we are enabling students from remote villages with their first opportunity to attend high school and are providing support for housing, meals and administrative staff for those who live too far to return home each day. For many of these students, this is their only chance for a higher education. We also work with high-school students through our Golden Condor Awards, which are given to the top three students in the equivalent of the 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th, and 12th grades. These awards consist of a certificate and $50 cash, a significant amount of money in this corner of the world, giving an economic incentive to stay in school to students and parents alike. In addition, our partial-scholarship student continues to excel in her advanced studies.
Our economic development programs are continuing nicely. Most of our micro-loans are given to women’s groups and focus on the raising of cuyes, a delicacy of the region. One of the benefits of the program is that it brings in much-needed currency as well as a source of protein to the people in the area. Other microloans focus on bee-keeping and the growing of quinoa. All current micro-loans are scheduled to be repaid in full and on time.
Mongolia
The two hospitals we support in the remote towns of Tariat and Erdenemandal currently serve approximately 40,000 patients a year. We also provide essential equipment to traveling doctors who use mobile medical tools. The combination of these two approaches is proving very effective, as it enables members of local communities, and those in distant herder settlements, to receive earlier diagnoses and receive critical treatments in their homes. This is particularly true for young people and herders in these remote villages who have not traditionally received regular medical checkups.
In 2019 we furnished dental facilities at both hospitals and also provided state-of-the-art surgical equipment and testing devices. We continue to support higher education for our medical staff and provided tuition fees for doctors to receive advanced degrees in Cardiology, Pediatrics, Internal Medicine, Anesthesiology, and Dentistry. The dental student we supported in her studies has started working in the Tariat hospital as a dentist. The need for this support is clear; 97% of the children who have received dental checkups show dental problems. Our two hospitals are working together with schools to better educate students about dental health.
This past year your support enabled the construction of a heated garage for our hospital. Unbelievably, the medical staff used to have to spend nearly an hour de-icing the hospital’s ambulance when it was needed for a medical call, burning firewood to generate the necessary heat. Now, with a heated garage the vehicle is immediately available for emergency calls – undoubtedly a life-saving difference.
