Dear Friends,
I am very proud to share this end-of-year letter with you detailing The Denan Project’s accomplishments in 2022. It was a difficult year; the Covid epidemic continued to impact all far-flung project locations and our largest site in Ethiopia battled a devastating drought and famine, described by some as the worst in 70 years. You, our donors rose to these challenges, and your generosity enabled us to provide assistance in all of our locations to battle Covid, fund critical medical services, AND furnish an emergency supply of food and water for the people of Denan…all while continuing our regular services and programs.
Incredibly, The Denan Project has now provided over 750,000 patient visits to our project sites in Ethiopia, Peru, and Mongolia.
The Denan Project continues to be run entirely by volunteers who receive no pay and are not reimbursed for their expenses when visiting our projects. Moreover, all of our expenses are covered by our Board of Directors, ensuring that every penny of every dollar you donate goes directly to the projects we support – some of the poorest and most needy people on this planet.
None of what we have accomplished would have been possible without your incredible generosity, thoughtfulness, and support. With your assistance we have made the lives of tens of thousands of the most desperate and needy people and this planet much better, their future a little brighter, and more promising.
We thank you again for your past support and we humbly ask that you consider The Denan Project in your end-of-year charitable giving plans.
On Behalf of All Our Volunteers, With Deepest Gratitude,
Dick Young,
President/Founder, The Denan Project
Ethiopia
- On average, we treated 2,600 patients per month in our hospital, which now has 34 rooms and a highly-trained local staff of nearly 40. As always, all services continue to be provided free of charge. To date we have provided free, quality medical care to well over 475,000 people in this all-but-forgotten Ethiopian region.
- In addition to medical care, we continue to support programs in agriculture, water, education, micro-loans, economic development and supplemental feeding.
- The hospital programs related to anti-female genital mutilation, anti-malaria, anti-polio, pre- and post-natal care, and in- and out-patient TB and vaccination all remained ongoing, in addition to a variety of health education programs.
- We repaired and refurbished our water tanker, allowing us to provide critical emergency water to the people of Denan during the drought, in addition to our hospital.
- We continued to provide ambulance service to those in remote locations, as well as patients needing specialized care at advanced medical centers.
- We ensured our entire hospital was vaccinated against Covid-19 and provided with personal protective equipment for the virus as well as 1,700 rapid test Covid kits.
- Our micro-loans continue to boast a perfect repayment rate and remain an important source of economic development for the community.
- While there is still unrest in parts of Ethiopia, we are grateful that it has not impacted our region and operations.
- In response to a severe drought affecting the entire region, our Board authorized an emergency supply of food consisting of one month’s supply of rice and cooking oil for 10,000 of the most needy.
Peru
- Our health center treated approximately 5,000 people during the year despite the area being under a strict quarantine for much of this time.
- We funded a much-needed new roof for our health center. All labor was provided free of charge by the community.
- Our health center was designated as the Covid vaccination center for the entire area and we ensured the entire staff was vaccinated and provided with personal protective equipment related to the virus.
- We continued to support economic development in the area, establishing micro loans in two villages for the raising of cuyes (guinea pigs) and for the growing of quinoa and tarwi (a local legume)
- Schools, including the boarding school we established, reopened in March and we continued to provide funding to ensure the availability of secondary education to students in the region.
Mongolia
- The hospitals we support serve remote areas with a combined population of 41,000 people.
- We finished completely furnishing the operating room in the Erdenemandal hospital including a portable x-ray machine
- We opened a dental facility in Chandmani in the Gobi Altai, the poorest province in Mongolia. We have now furnished dental clinics at all three locations, bringing dental care to these distant communities for the first time.
- We continue to provide fuel for doctors traveling to far-flung hospital outposts, enabling them to bring medical care to herder encampments and bring critical outreach for the dispersed and isolated population of the region
