The Mobile Hospital

The Mobile Hospital is TARGET's first large project. It is thanks to the people of Afar, because they were the first to declare female genital mutilation as a sin and embedded this in the rule of law.

A Mobile Hospital for the people in the desert. Where there are no doctors. Where it is hot - up to more than 50 degrees. Where luxury means being full.

A Mobile Hospital, because most of the Afar do not have fixed abodes. The 1.6 million Afar are mostly nomadic; you have to go looking for them. Their land is big: 800 kilometres from north to south. Therefore, a fixed location is less helpful than a mobile one.

Our vehicles:
The Unimog, a DaimlerChrysler donation, a Toyota four-by-four and tents form the basis.

The area of use:
The Danakil desert in Afar, East Ethiopia.

The team:
A German doctor, an Ethiopian nurse, an interpreter. They often have to help under the most difficult of circumstances with simple possibilities. The most important pieces of equipment are experience and improvisation, together with tenacity and a large, friendly heart.

The task:
To provide help for the affected girls and women. To educate about the harmful effects of genital mutilation. Everyone is treated according to the given possibilities - children, women, men. Health care, hygiene lessons, even using soap must be demonstrated.

Further protection for girls at risk as a consequence of the the Cairo Conference:
The Afar impose harsh penalties on Female Genital Mutilation
In July 2007, the Afar introduced exemplary tribal legal sentences following the decision against Female Genital Mutilation of the Scholars Conference in Cairo in November 2006.