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RHCI built & operates a self-sustaining campus in Tikonko Town on land donated by the local community and a smaller Birth Waiting Home in Gondama. RHCI employs 17 full-time and over 60 part-time employees who provide around the clock medical care as well as food, security, laundry, transportation and education services.

Founding History

Alice's Story

Alice Karpeh was born in Tikonko and trained as a midwife in Liberia. In 1993, at the outbreak of Sierra Leone’s civil war, Alice’s husband was ambushed and killed, and she was granted US asylum. Arriving with nine children, Alice made her way to Minnesota where she worked for many years as a nurse at University of Minnesota’s Boynton Health Service.

As the war raged on, Tikonko was not spared. In 1998, rebels burned villages including Tikonko, destroyed farms, and murdered residents. By the time the war ended in 2002, the county’s infrastructure was destroyed and over half of its people displaced.

In 2011, with the help of Minnesotans and Sierra Leonean Americans, Alice founded Rural Health Care Initiative (RHCI) as a nonprofit in Minnesota and a Nongovernmental Organization (NGO) in Sierra Leone. RHCI collaborates with with the local community  to advance community health and combat one of the world’s highest maternal and child death rates.

Alice has retired from RHCI’s Board but continues to promote awareness, and fundraise.  In early 2023, Alice moved back to her home in Tikonko permanently, where she will monitor RHCI’s life-saving work and progress on the ground.

Leadership

Back Row: Maggie Pilacinski (Secretary), Julie Hoffer, Neil Craigan, Peter Gogra (Treasury), Komba Fayia, Lamin Foray, Alice Karpeh (Founder)

Front Row: Marie Stodolka (Vice-Chair), Dr. Carol Nelson, Dr. David Parker, Riley DeLude

Not Pictured: Ajayi Ajayi-Nicol (Chair), Dr. Beth Detlie

Tikonko Staff

Isata Bah, Moses Carter, Allieu Jongopie, Mohamed Fatorma, Mohamed John, Mohamed Kabba, Mohamed Kalokoh, Bobson Koroma, Mohamed Momoh, Juliana Sagba, Umu Shour, Marie Songa, Shaka Stevens, and Patrick Vandy (pictured with Board Member, Marie Stodolka)

Gondama Staff

Lamin Abu, Sam Bindi, Saffie Jusu, Andrew Kemoka,i Dennis Moiwo, Joseph Sogbandi, Margaret Sylvalie, and Mariama Tarawally

Trans-Atlantic Partners

  • Pregnant women and their families
  • Tikonko RHCI project committee (10 local leaders)
  • Paramount Chief Macavoray and village chiefs that govern the Tikonko Chiefdom’s 50 villages
  • Local District Medical Officer, Dr. Ronald Marsh
  • Tikonko Community Health Center
  • Bo District Hospital
  • 3 Farmer-Based Organizations
  • Tikonko Agriculture Business Center
  • Bo Rotary Children’s Hospital
  • Remote village health units: Kassama and Sembehun Tarbay
  • Ministry of Health and Sanitation of Sierra Leone
  • Local community health workers
  • One Village Partners
  • Mercy Hospital and Helping Children Worldwide (located in Bo, Sierra Leone)
  • Midwives on Missions of Service (M.O.M.S.)  www.moms-midwives.org