My name is Nick Gaines, and I am a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer that served in Sierra Leone from June 2019 to March 2020, at which point we were evacuated due to the Covid-19 pandemic. I was an Education Volunteer and taught English and Math at FAWE, the all-girls Junior Secondary School in Tikonko. My partner, Riley DeLude, and I applied to the Peace Corps as a couple, and she was a Public Health Volunteer. Much of her work involved working closely with Rural Health Care Initiative (RHCI) on health initiatives at partnering clinics and outreach programs.
FAWE students
Having witnessed the lifesaving work RHCI does, I’ve been eager to help support their mission where I can. After learning about a biking event called RAGRBRAI (Register’s Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa), I thought it would be a perfect way for me to fundraise for RHCI. I quickly recruited my dad and Riley’s dad to do it with me. This July the three of us will be biking 500 miles across the state of Iowa. RAGBRAI is the oldest, largest, and longest multi-day bicycle touring event in the world. We will be stopping in various towns and camping in tents along the way and hope to spread the word about RHCI with the people we meet.
Nick with a newborn at the Birth Waiting Home
For those who are first finding this page through me, and don’t know much about RHCI, let me give you a quick overview of some of the transformative work they do. RHCI founded two Birth Waiting Homes, designed to provide a safe place for term pregnant women to stay that allows for timely access to medical care and delivery assistance. At the Birth Waiting Homes, RHCI staff provide food, security, transportation, and education services. RHCI also runs Mobile Outreach Clinics to improve access to care in more remote villages. These clinics are crucial for treating malaria, enteric fever, identifying malnourished children, and providing prenatal care. RHCI has a nutrition program through which they provide malnutrition treatment and education. They recently began a home health follow-up program aimed at improving vaccination compliance. RHCI employs 18 full-time and over 60 part-time employees. On top of providing free lifesaving treatments to the community, they are also creating jobs and employing local community members. A handful of these employees are our friends and these jobs have changed their lives and the lives of their family members. Riley and I went back to visit Tikonko in February 2023 and were impressed at how much RHCI’s impact has grown.
This is just scratching the surface of the impact RHCI has, and I am excited to continue supporting the work they do. Together, we are aiming to raise $5,000 and need your help! If you feel inclined to support increased access to healthcare in rural Sierra Leone, I encourage you to donate! You can do so directly through RHCI’s website, just make sure to mention the race in the comments!
Here are ways to support my race:
$10.00 –Malaria medication for 10 children OR one day of hospitalization for a mother or child
$45.00 – Lifesaving nutritional supplement (“Plumpynut”) for one child for 3 months
$70.00 – Nutritious food for one week for 5 women at the Birth Waiting Home
$150.00 – Diesel for one month to transport women in labor and critically ill children
$250.00 – Hospital care for 5 women with Obstetric complications
$400.00 – Malaria medication for 400 children at Outreach Clinics
$600.00 – Salary support for Nutritionist for 3 months
$1,000.00 – Operations for Gondama Birth Waiting Home for one month
$3,000.00 – Medications and supplies for 2 months of Outreach clinics to 16 villages
$5,000.00 – Staff salaries and stipends support for two months
Nick and Riley biking in Tikonko, Sierra Leone
Thank you for supporting this fundraiser to support Rural Health Care Initiative’s mission to ensure healthy pregnancies and children in Sierra Leone!