11/18/2025
Mrs Erica Lucinda Kehinde Richards-Ohwotu, the woman who planted the seed of SRMM, the mother of our Executive Director, ALWAYS taught her students this ' nobody can or will tell your story like you would. You must put yourself in the position of being in charge of controlling the narrative'.
Here is OUR story and narrative.
There it is. ..the dream started
6 years ago....We said we were going to help bridge the gap. We didn't know how or when....too many false promises and missteps but, we kept on pushing through because OUR faith and belief kept us going!
Fast forward 2021, we stepped out with just one person.
During our February 2024 medical mission with 10 clinicians, our path and ZFA's path crossed. By July 2024, our Executive Director was invited to give a presentation at the ZFA HQ in Chicago. It was immediately after that presentation at the HQ, that Zakat Foundation of America officially stepped in.
What started as a child's play through a chance meeting during our Medical Mission in February 2024, when the daughter of our Executive Director met the daughter of ZFA just by ' heyyyy you sound American , you too...I'm from Delaware and I'm from Chicago' .ZFA and SRMM paths crossed in The Gambia . What happened since then has nothing been short of God/Allah.
For a $20 million International humanitarian organization to even look at us, was a testament of HIS miracle. Zakat Foundation of America has been our backbone, gently guiding us and quietly pushing us to not give up. They not only co-sponsored, the co-founder/Health Advisor Mrs Donna Neil-Demir came with us during our February 2025 mission trip. In October, the Founder Mr Halil Demir and Mrs Donna Neil-Demir visited The Gambia again, and they went to the Edward Francis Small Teaching Hospital for a meeting because they knew firsthand that the hospital was SRMM's focus...it was during that visit that OUR dream finally came true. A 40 FT container was approved by ZFA....Here we are living proof that God doesn't come down to help, instead HE sends his foot soldiers to make things happen.
When the inventory was sent to our Executive Director to look through, she couldn't believe that it was really happening...All we can say is Thank you to ZFA for making this dream come true.
Zakat Foundation of America
EFSTH TV
Embassy of the Republic of The Gambia in the United States of America