Every payday, Dorine Gono, a nurse working in Philadelphia, sends part of her paycheck home to Sanniquellie, Liberia — and a hospital rises, block by block. Yei Kaalu Memorial Hospital is 75% complete. Help finish the last 25%.
Photo: the hospital, both wings under roofNo corporation. No government grant. This hospital is funded by twelve-hour nursing shifts, worked an ocean away from the community it will serve.
Each line below is what those shifts have paid for so far — and the one line that still needs paying.
Phases as recorded in the board minutes of June 2019 and updated by the owner, October 2026; the 75% figure awaits the owner's confirmation.
Purchased and secured under Yei Kaalu's control.
Complete.
Complete, October 2026. The timber was cut and treated in 2019; a first batch, left untreated, rotted and was replaced.
Ceilings, hallways and plumbing under way, October 2026. Beds, equipment, staffing — the final 25% — still to fund.
In much of rural Liberia, the nearest reliable care can be hours away. That distance is measured in more than miles: it is a mother delivering without a midwife, a fever treated too late to be simple, a journey nobody can afford.
Yei Kaalu Memorial Hospital is being built in Sanniquellie, Nimba County, near the Mount Nimba Nature Reserve, to close that distance — and the road from Ganta to Sanniquellie, now being completed, brings the whole community closer to it. An advisory council and university partners are helping shape a plan for the hospital to sustain itself once open.
Our missionTo promote the health and well-being of the local Liberian population by providing accessible, high quality medical care for people of all ages.
Every wing is designed around the care people currently travel hours to reach.
The first clinic the board planned, and the hospital's first ward. Safe deliveries and care for mothers and children close to home.
First wardAccessible, high-quality everyday medicine for the whole community, from the mission statement.
Planned"My grandmother taught me that healing begins with service. Yei Kaalu Memorial Hospital is my opportunity to bring that lesson home."Dorine Gono, RN, Founder
Dorine Gono, RN, founder and executive director.A Liberian-born registered nurse, working full-time hospital shifts in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Working those shifts, she saw every day what her home community in Sanniquellie didn't have: a place to give birth safely and see a doctor before a small illness became a crisis. So she started building one — with her own salary. She named it for her grandmother, Yei Kaalu.
She sends part of every paycheck home to fund construction, and reports to the board after each trip to Liberia. She offered her own home in Sanniquellie as the first maternal and child clinic, a plan the board adopted in June 2019. The first 75% is her story. The last 25% can be yours too.
Yei Kaalu, Dorine's grandmother, for whom the hospital is named.
"My grandmother taught me that healing begins with service. Yei Kaalu Memorial Hospital is my opportunity to bring that lesson home."
As recorded in June 2019 and updated by the owner, October 2026. An advisory council, created by the board in 2019, and university partners are helping shape a plan for the hospital to sustain itself once open.
From the board minutes of June 2019 and the owner's updates.
Ceilings are going in and the hallways are taking shape; some rooms already have finished walls, tiled floors and doors. Outside, the plumbing is being laid and a new foundation is being dug beside the finished wing. From the owner's photos and videos.
Photo: the ceiling going inThe building now stands under its roof. Land, walls and roof are done; interior works, equipment and opening remain.
Photo: the new roofTimber is being cut and treated for the roof. An earlier batch, left untreated, rotted and has been replaced.
Photo: the walls, before the roofLand the project believed it held title to was found not to be, so it was purchased and is now under Yei Kaalu's control.
The board adopted Dorine Gono's plan to open a maternal and child clinic in an existing structure so care can begin while construction continues.
Video, coming to the siteAround 2026Nearly completed interior: finished walls and ceiling, 2
Video, coming to the siteAround 2026Nearly completed interior: finished walls and ceiling, 1
Around 2026Interior hallways under construction
Around 2026Interior ceiling being installed
Every dollar goes to construction and equipment. Every milestone is documented with photos and receipts, posted monthly.
Every gift, whatever its size, becomes part of the building.
Whole dollars, any amount from $1.
GiveThe remaining 25%, itemised. Pick a real line from the construction budget, and it is marked off publicly when it is paid for and installed.
Beyond money, these are the things the hospital needs now.
This list is kept current as needs change. Can you provide any of these, or something we have not listed? Write to us.
If yours isn't here, write to us — the answer will be added.
Yei Kaalu Memorial Hospital, Inc. is a U.S. nonprofit recognised by the IRS as a tax-exempt organisation (EIN 46-4233355) and files an annual Form 990-N. We provide a receipt for every gift; please consult your tax adviser about deductibility.
Sanniquellie, Nimba County, Liberia, near the Mount Nimba Nature Reserve. The organisation is registered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where Dorine lives and works.
Local nurses and visiting clinicians; volunteers can be lodged on site under the clinic plan. The staffing plan is part of the final phase.
Monthly photo and receipt updates, the itemised budget on this page, and a board of directors and an advisory council overseeing the project.
Yes. See What the hospital needs: medical equipment, medical supplies, medicine, and a surgeon. Two computers and ultrasound training have already been donated. Contact us.
Questions, equipment offers, a clinician's time, or simply a note for the site crew — every message is read.