The Christian Humanitarian Helpers Association (CHAA), a charitable association based in Germany, is currently offering free dental surgery to the people of Essau and its environs at Essau Health Centre in the North Bank Region.

In an interview with Daily Observer the president and founder of the association, Ingo Roth, revealed that this project was conceived since 1999 when he came to the Gambia on holidays and noticed that the community of Essau needed dental surgery among other forms of assistance.

He said that after returning home, he started sending educational materials and food items to Medina Kanuma Nursery School in Essau, GTTI, Koba Kunda Lower Basic School, Essau Lower Basic School and St. Mathew's. Roth added that, he and his counterparts are presently running five projects ranging from education to health and all is geared towards supporting the health and education sector.

Rev. Sister Christiana Fefegula of St. Joseph of Cluny who also doubles as the headmistress of St. Mathew's Nursery School thanked the association for the support they have been rendering to the community of North Bank Region and the school in particular.

According to her, the school has been soliciting support over the years but to no avail, noting that through the timely intervention of the association they were able to get assistance. She disclosed that, the association invited her to Germany last year in which the association organised a concert to raise funds for their projects, which the free dental surgery project is part of.

John Joseph Mendy, officer in charge of Essau Major Health Centre, said that free dental surgery was meant for children but now parents are benefiting from the services offered by the association. According to him, plans are underway for the dental surgery to be extended to the other regions in the country.