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Baton Rouge organization does their part to help a country in need

2 years 1 month 2 weeks ago Thursday, January 27 2022 Jan 27, 2022 January 27, 2022 10:11 PM January 27, 2022 in News
Source: WBRZ

BATON ROUGE - Alexander Jackson is a nurse from Liberia fighting to provide people who live outside city limits with proper health care.

He serves an area called Bombi County with no access with no electricity or running water. The families that live there have no access to proper healthcare.

"We have a lot of things, a lot of problems in Liberia," Jackson said. "but this is my focus for now."

His focus is to build an adequate health center for the women and children who lack transportation.

"What he discovered was women having to walk twenty to thirty miles to have a baby and not make it," said healthcare professional Ken Alexander.

For two decades Liberia has found itself trying to rebuild from a grueling civil war that left millions dead. The Ebola epidemic displaced nearly a million people. Jackson was determined to rebuild his homeland and a clinic with solar power, medical beds, and supplies.

"Our vision is to have this facility constructed and operated for the people when it comes to healthcare," Jackson said.

Jackson's story was so powerful it made waves back in the U.S. Alexander, a Baton Rouge native, decided he wanted to pitch in and help.

"My wife and I are assisting with a fundraiser to help build a new modern medical facility to help Liberian women, children, and families have local access to modern healthcare," Alexander said.

With help from Shelly Spurlock, his friend and founder of the Raise Your Hand Foundation, he came up with the Raise Your Roof fundraiser. Just after a few months of speaking with Jackson, Alexander raised around $75,000 in donations.

"We started in the summer to raise funds," Alexander said. "On August 3 we broke ground on the new A to Z Health Center."

The clinic is still under construction and is a "compassion project" of the Raise Your Hand Foundation. The organization is primarily focused on providing young Liberians scholarships in fields of study that will help rebuild and grow the country. They will need around $27,000 more to finish the entire project.

"I am so happy to help my people and my community," Jackson said.

"He is a wonderful young man and he just inspires me," Alexander said. "We have a passion for that. The Lord gave us a heart for it and so I told Alexander in a brief message, 'We want to be able to help you.'"

The Raise Your Hand Foundation is still accepting donations for this ongoing project.

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