Restore an Abandoned Boat and Turn It into a Water Ambulance for Your Country
A six‑metre vessel that has been out of use in the port of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria is about to receive a second life thousands of kilometres away: it will become a water ambulance for medical emergencies in the Republic of Gambia.
The boat, provided by the Port Authority of Las Palmas, has been under repair and refurbishment since early February by students of the Carpentry and Woodworking module at IES Ana Luisa Benítez. The work is part of the international cooperation project Barra–Banjul Water Ambulance (BBWA), driven by the startup Corazón Solidario.
The aim is to transform the vessel into a unit capable of delivering medical care and transporting patients along the river that links Barra and Banjul. In Gambia, the river that gives the country its name is often the only viable route to hospitals, and reliance on river transport can cause critical delays during complicated births, severe infections, or accidents.
“In an emergency, time is decisive,” said Noah Turay, Gambia’s ambassador to Spain.
“This water ambulance will cut the travel time between Barra and Banjul from more than forty minutes to just a few minutes, which can mean the difference between life and death.”
Turay also noted that some of the students involved are young Gambians currently training in the Canary Islands.
The educational dimension is central to the initiative. Carolina León, Director General of Vocational Training and Special Regime Education for the Canary Islands government, emphasized during a visit to the school that:
“This project perfectly reflects what vocational training stands for: young people learning a trade while simultaneously adding value to society with their work.”
Betsabé Morales, manager of the Las Palmas Ports Foundation, explained that the boat had been left abandoned after a failed auction, and that thanks to the project it is returning to the sea with a far greater purpose: saving lives.
Sonja Arup, president of Corazón Solidario, affirmed that the primary goal is “saving lives” and recalled the on‑the‑ground difficulties people face in accessing hospital care. She added that the future water ambulance “aims to become a pilot experience in West Africa” for medical emergency response.
The project is integrated into the Gambia Emergency System (SEG), an international cooperation programme aimed at strengthening health and civil‑protection responses through equipment, training, and technical knowledge transfer.
When the boat is fully commissioned, the initiative seeks to improve pre‑hospital care during transit and increase survival chances in an environment where, in many cases, land access is limited or nonexistent.