Genieri is a place that a large number of residents of Yate will have heard of, or will have seen it on road signs around the area.

The village is in Gambia and has a link Yate that was established in 1986.

It is the wet season in The Gambia, when the number of people who suffer from malaria is at its highest. This year malaria is affecting more people than normal and we have received the very sad news that an 18 year old in Genieri has died from a serious form of the disease with complications.

This young man had a promising future and was one of the students sponsored all the way through secondary school by the Yate and Genieri Link.

Yate has been twinned with the small village of Genieri in The Gambia for more than 30 years. The 'Community Link' was set up following an initial visit from students of Brimsham Green School to The Gambia in 1986 and has since become a registered charity.

Malaria is a life-threatening disease. Symptoms include intense headaches, very high fever, vomiting and muscle pain with possible life-threatening complications including organ failure and anaemia.

Over the years the Link has provided hundreds of mosquito nets which have reduced the incidence of malaria in the village, but clearly the nets can only protect against the parasite-carrying mosquitoes at night.

The British High Commission in The Gambia has advised us that Coartem is the preferred treatment, and we discover that it is now available at a pharmacy in the nearby town of Kaiaf. The treatment is simple - just 24 tablets over the course of three days. However, there is no free healthcare in The Gambia and although a course of Coartem only costs £9 for an adult and £4.50 for a child, this is way beyond the means of villagers in Genieri.

The Chairman of the Link Committee, Cllr Marian Gilpin said ‘We have reacted as fast as we could, and sent money to treat those currently affected, but the dangerous malarial season will not end until December, and we anticipate at least 30 more cases to be identified’. Details of how you can help are on the website, and if more funds than we need for this year are received they will be ring-fenced for future years. yategenierilink.org.uk or on the Facebook page ‘Yate Genieri Link'.