Renovations to the Paymar rural health clinic are now complete, well ahead of the rainy season! This project is a powerful example of how long-term partnerships can sustain and strengthen community-led development.

Since opening its doors in 2020, the Paymar Health Clinic has facilitated 173 healthy births, including some of these children featured here!

Andando built the Paymar clinic in 2020. Since then, it has become a vital resource for this remote village of over 1,000 people. From the start, the local health committee has taken full ownership. As Mr. El Hadji Badou Sorna, the committee president, told us:

“When we started activities here, we had a well-constructed clinic but not enough staff. With the initiative of the village, we raised funds to recruit a [registered nurse] to serve our community.”

— El Hadji Badou Sorna, Health Committee President

All smiles! Members of Paymar’s staff and health committee inside the community health clinic.

Thanks to the village’s leadership, the clinic now has a registered nurse (ICP), a midwife, and a pharmacist, enabling them to offer critical services that were never available in the area before.

Paymar’s modest pharmacy will soon be expanded, drastically improving access to medications and supplies in rural villages.

But after several particularly harsh rainy seasons, the original roof needed to be replaced. Rather than using their limited funds for repairs, the committee hoped to focus on expanding the clinic with a new maternity ward, waiting room, and pharmacy. Andando stepped in to help.

The Paymar Health Clinic complete with a new roof and fresh coat of paint. To the left, the community has already started on their expansion.

We provided a new, reinforced roof (now part of our standard clinic design), along with essential medical supplies and equipment. This timely support is helping sustain the momentum the village of Paymar has built to improve healthcare access for their community and six neighboring villages.

Mariama with her healthy baby born right here in Paymar’s Health Clinic.

And just in time. On the very day the new equipment arrived, a woman gave birth in the clinic to a healthy baby boy — a powerful reminder of the vital role these clinics play in Senegal’s rural healthcare system.

People often ask us about Andando’s “magic formula”—how do we continue to succeed where so many development projects struggle? I wish I could say it’s pure talent, but in truth, more often it’s diligence. We are constantly listening, learning, and adapting.

The new aquaculture fish farming basins are complete in our Mboyo Walo partner garden. The women here are quickly mastering this difficult new skill.

Take our women’s gardens, for example. To ensure their long-term sustainability, we’ve recently focused on improving financial literacy and savings. Last year alone, these gardens collectively added nearly $8,500 to their savings accounts, bringing the total balance to an impressive $41,000. And that’s on top of individual profits! The addition of fish farming has helped contribute to these results, and we’re thrilled to report that our two newest aquaculture pilot gardens are thriving, with their first harvest just a few months away!

The new pharmacist at the Paymar rural health clinic proudly displaying their full stock of medications and supplies, ready to serve members of their community.

Another example of diligence is our partner health clinic in Paymar, where the community has pooled resources to hire a new nurse and pharmacist to expand services; however, their efforts are hindered by a damaged roof. By continuing to monitor past projects and listen to partners, we can now help to resolve this issue with a new roof and possible expansion of the facility as well.

The leaders of the Haffé women’s garden sitting on the newly constructed watering basin. Soon they will transform this degraded landscape into a verdant oasis to support their families.

Lastly, I’d like to introduce you to our newest garden partners in the village of Haffé, near Keur Socé. This community has faced immense challenges establishing their garden, from flooding that delayed the project to a well that partially collapsed right when production was set to begin. However, through close collaboration with the women, village leaders, and local government, we were able to assist them in overcoming each hurdle, leaving the group of 220 women more determined and empowered than ever to start their garden.

Your diligent support of Andando allows us to continue to do this work the right way and create lasting change.

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