Somaliland President wraps up Israel visit with stop in at Save a Child's Heart center

[00:00:00]Somaliland President Abdi Rahman Mohamed Abdullahi is wrapping up his historic trip to Israel by visiting the Save a Child's Heart Center in the city of Holon in the center of Israel where nine children from his country are currently receiving the life-saving cardiac treatment at Wolfson Medical Center.

[00:00:17]>> Only 11 days ago we conducted a screening mission to the Edna Adan Hospital in Somaliland having screened 20 children.

[00:00:25]We were lucky enough to receive nine of them here in Israel just this week.

[00:00:30]We're very thankful for Mashav for facilitating their arrival. This was possible due to the cooperation between Israel, Somaliland, Rwanda, and Ethiopia.

[00:00:39]>> Back in 2004, the two countries of Somaliland and Israel began their humanitarian cooperation when the Somaliland representative in Ethiopia requested the Israeli Embassy to help with his son who is suffering from heart disease.

[00:00:52]>> Save a Child's Heart relationship with Somaliland started way back in 2004 having treated then the first child from Somaliland. This is way before the establishment of the official relationship between Israel and Somaliland. Up to date we have treated 58 children from Somaliland.

[00:01:08]>> The children being treated are between the ages of 3 months to 18 years old.

[00:01:12]They arrived in Israel following a medical mission in Somaliland initiated and funded by the Israeli National Aid Agency.

[00:01:21]>> This is a great job.

[00:01:25]It is saving lives.

[00:01:28]And especially saving the lives of children all around the world.

[00:01:35]I'm glad that I have learned that 49 children from Somaliland have been treated in Israel and their lives has been saved.

[00:01:48]Hopefully uh Somaliland doctors is also will be trained here.

[00:01:54]>> The president met with the children, their families, and the medical team during his visit. He also heard about the organization's activities and the ongoing cooperation between Israel and Somaliland in the pediatric cardiology field.

[00:02:07]>> Following the establishment of relationship between Israel and Somaliland, we have already engaged in conversations in order to promote sustainable development and put some more flesh on the bones as for the relationship between Israel and Somaliland. In this regard, we have supported a delegation of children and their mothers coming into Israel in order to undergo heart surgeries through the NGO Save a Child's Heart, an NGO which the Foreign Ministry has been supporting for years.

[00:02:38]And in this regard, we are trying to promote various initiatives in in medical providing medical assistance, and also working on other themes, be it water, agriculture, and so on.

[00:02:53]>> Save a Child's Heart organization and the project of bringing over children in need of medical help from Somaliland has given life-saving medical treatment to 49 children from Somaliland since the launch of the cooperation in the field.