This is our first newsletter for Healing Hands. Our project is moving along wonderfully. While we are still waiting for our official paperwork to be approved by the IRS, we are by no means idle.

In February of 2007, we (our Vice President, Dawda Sidibeh, our Secretary & Treasurer, Ida Amaral, and myself) will fly to the Gambia where I am scheduled to give a lecture on “HIV/AIDS in Africa” to the medical students in Banjul. We have been fortunate to receive a donation of 70 copies of the “HIV Curriculum for the Health Professional” which was published by the Baylor International Pediatric Aids Initiative (BIPAI) in conjunction with the Baylor School of Medicine. We are extremely grateful for their kindness, and we are sure the Gambian medical students will be as well. BIPAI has further agreed to train several of our Gambian doctors in HIV/AIDS at one of their Clinical Centers of Excellence, most likely in Botswana or Burkina Faso, so that they can then bring their knowledge back home to the Gambia. This will be discussed further in a future newsletter.

During the same trip, I am scheduled to work at the Gambian public hospitals where I will be joined by my dear friend, Dr. Aida Becker, with whom I have worked for many years and who is one of the best people I know. The Gambia is truly fortunate to have Dr. Becker say “yes” to working with us!

Ingrid Feder Sidibeh, MD President