Guinée-Ô is a young humanitarian association based in Godfrey, whose vocation is to supply equipment and materials to particularly deprived populations in Africa. It works mainly in the Republic of Guinea in the fields ofAgriculture,Education and Health.
It is made up of 202 volunteer members, donors and numerous partners and supporters.
It enables us to take delivery of materials, shorten transport times to Kilifandié and reduce the often exorbitant customs charges.
To facilitate supplies in Africa, AMT wanted to make a donation to the Guinée-Ô association, in a bid to help populations in need.
Mr. Bélikan, President of the Association, kindly answered a few of our questions:
What is your relationship with the commune of Gouvieux?
“When Guinée-ô was created in 2013, the Mayor of Gouvieux responded spontaneously and favorably to our request for the loan of a hangar to store our collections of various materials, often bulky, before shipment to the Republic of Guinea. This warehouse, which we share with the Town Hall’s technical services and with the Association des Vignerons de Gouvieux, has a loading dock which allows direct access to the containers and their loading using pallet trucks. Three hundred m2 are available to us free of charge. To date, we have shipped 17 40 ft containers of agricultural, medical and school equipment.
How did you get through this unprecedented health crisis?
“This year 2020 has been, paradoxically, a very fruitful one for our association. Indeed, Guinée-ô, which lives solely on membership fees and donations from individuals – 217 at the end of the year – operated as usual, in compliance with government health regulations. Association members were particularly generous and available. Exceptionally, we received a financial contribution from the Gonesse Rotary Club and the Chantilly Crédit Mutuel, as well as numerous donations of equipment from local authorities (schools and hospitals)”.
How do you plan to put AMT’s donation to good use?
“As you can see from the attached photo, our containers are transported by truck from the Port of Conakry to a training school for young carpenter apprentices, which has a large hangar where our equipment is unloaded and stored. All the school and medical furniture, dismantled beforehand in Gouvieux by us to optimize container loading, is reassembled by these young Guineans before being transported and distributed throughout the country.
Thanks to the forklift truck donated by AMT, our pallets, which weigh around a ton on average, can now be unloaded with greater ease and, above all, with less risk of falls or accidents. This hoist also has the advantage of being fitted with a diesel engine, which is easier and far less expensive to maintain than other equipment. It will be fully overhauled in our workshop before being shipped to Guinea.”
AMT is delighted to have contributed to improving the working conditions of the Guinée Ô Association.