The ground breaking exercise was well attended by officials of the central bank of Nigeria, His Royal Highness the Sakaruyi of Karu, a Professor, medical practitioners, religious leaders , as well as other dignitaries.

The proposed Sickle Cell Hospital is an 11 room structure located at Karu, Abuja. When completed, equipped and staffed, the building shall serve as a specialised Sickle Cell Hospital. Suffice it to state that no such Hospital exists anywhere in Nigeria.Reason being the under reportage of the disease prevalence in the Country.

This project is one of the major capital projects of the smile sickle cell foundation and is still under construction up to date as a result of insufficient funds from donors.

In the third quarter of 2019 the smile sickle cell foundation took their medical outreach to the indigenes of karu village. This village is one of the villages located within a 5 km range of the city centre of the federal capital territory. With a population that has a very low level of literacy, conducting our enlightenment was a herculean task, however with the assistance of one of our volunteers comrade Uche , who is well versed in the local Gwarri dialect, as well as our founder who is also fluent in the Hausa language this seemingly great mountain was skilfully surmounted .

The outreach was conducted jointly with one of our partners and sponsor, the Primus Specialty Hospital, one of Nigeria’s most advanced medical outfits based in the FCT, enlightening the populace on the importance of knowing their genotype before marriage, also steps were taken to demystify the myths surrounding the sickle cell disease and finally strategies on managing the disease and reducing crisis.

Thereafter we conducted a free testing of the participants, this is a strategic move because the level of poverty in this rural community makes it almost impossible for most people to subscribe for the blood test which most say is too expensive and not on their priority list as they would rather buy food and other household items with the money. All participants that were diagnosed with the genetic condition were gifted with free insecticide treated nets(to reduce malaria and other pathogenic infections which could complicated the condition and also trigger frequent crisis), medical supplies and nutritional supplements.

Karshi village is one of the few, fast becoming extinct villages on the border of The federal capital territory and Nasarawa state north central Nigeria that is battling to maintain their original cultures and traditions, as urbanization beckons. Even though the Karshi Medical centre is one of the most equipped in its environs yet there is no single medical supply in this health centre that can used in the preventive management of the sickle cell crisis.

In the first quarter of 2019 the smile sickle cell foundation took their outreach to the indigenes of karshi, enlightening the populace on the importance of knowing their genotype before marriage, we also carried out enlightenment measures to demystify the myths surrounding the sickle cell disease.

Thereafter we conducted a free testing of the participants, this is a strategic move because the level of poverty in this rural community makes it almost impossible for most people to subscribe for the blood test which most say is too expensive and not on their priority list as they would rather buy food and other household items with the money.

A lot of activities were carried in that event including talk shows, drama, as well as a enlightenment lecture which highlighted the following key areas; sensitization on the knowledge of their genotype as it relates to key decision making process of marriage, the importance of blood compatibility test be you say ‘’I do”, management of the sickle cell crisis for those who suffer from the genetic disease and also demystifying the myths surrounding the sickle cell disease. The event culminated in a grand close with the administration of free genotype screening.

It must be stated that the huge success of this events as well as the euphoria which this event produced many years later was one of the key factors that later motivated the founder of the sickle cell foundation, abandon her paid employment as a manager in a leading financial service institution in the country to pursue her dream of putting a smile on the faces of sickle cell disease patients, establishing this NGO in nostalgic memories of the huge impact of this singular event.