As part of their ongoing two-week summer volunteering services that was recently launched, some youths of The Gambia and their United States counterparts, under the banner of Service For Peace-Side By Side, recently converged on the country's only teaching hospital in Banjul to render voluntary services in the form of a massive clean-up exercise.

The volunteers were led to the Royal Victoria Teaching Hospital by the head of the team, Beverly Berndt, fondly called Aunty Bev and Hatab Fadera, Side By Side Organisation The Gambia's national coordinator. Numbering more than 80, the volunteerswere received at the entrance of the hospital by the chief medical director, Dr. Ousman Niane, who assured them that all the logistics necessary for the exercise were provided to ensure a successful clean up.

Dr Niane also expressed his appreciation over the move taken by the volunteers. Shortly after that brief welcoming, the volunteers, who were divided in two groups, did not waste much time before embarking on an intensive cleaning exercise at the hospital grounds, including the Paediatric wing of the hospital. Joined by the RVTH cleaners, the volunteers spent two uninterrupted hours thoroughly cleaning the wards and surgical unit, much to the satisfaction and appreciation of the authorities at the hospital.

Even though the entire exercise was to complement the efforts of the authorities, the move was equally viewed as a great show of solidarity to the hospitalised children and other patients at the hospital. Cleaning the wards and the bedside cupboards of the patients was a compassionate move to boost the morale of the sick ones, who needed much care and attention as they hope to get rid of their predicaments.

Character education

In a separate development, as part of the ongoing activities, the volunteers were engaged in voluntary teaching of character education or extra moral classes at selected schools in the West Coast Region and Kanifing Municipality. Among the schools that benefited from this initiative were Sukuta Lower Basic School in Kombo North, West Coast Region, and Latrikunda (LK) Upper Basic School in the Kanifing Municipality.

The rest of the activities will be carried out in the coming days ahead.