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| Dr Andrew Macnab. Expert on Health promoting schools
and founder Brighter Smiles Africa |
An amazing group of people attended the Jan 2013 Rose Charities Canada Project Forum of varied interests and backgrounds and organizations. A comment from one of the participants summarized it well ‘I cant believe the amount of shere competence and expertise present in this room this evening; The meeting was held again at Creekside Community Centre. False Creek, Vancouver
This year the format was slightly different. instead of fixed presentations the concept was to more to generate debate, comment and constructive participation. In the first half Will Grut of Rose International summarized the network in an individual presentation but invited the various project groups to update as their projects were presented. In the second half a panel consisting of Dr Andrew Macnab ( www.brightersmilesafrica.ca ) , Dr Ruth Brighouse and Annette Borkent (www.safemotherhoodproject.org ) facilitated discussion using aspects of their excellent projects to focus on particular issues.
Food, sushi, dips, cakes, cookies and coffee were kindly provided by some of the participants, notably Dr Diana Carter (UBC Psychiatry Dept)
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| Attendees concentrate on a presentation |
Notable attendees in addition to those mentioned above, were Ms Sue Ishii www.amdacanada.org , Nicole Schouela, Honey Halpern and a team from www.standtalleducation.org , Prof. Jane Roskams of the The Ha Mpiti Project/Mathabo Leadership Academy Project, Lesotho, Liz Moss of Proyecto San Gerardo Costa Rica, Luke King of Rose Madagascar www.rosecanada.info/madagascar/ Will Grut represented Roses Cambodia and Vietnam www.rosecambodia.org www.rosevietnam.org and Dr Yoga Yogendran of Rose Sri Lanka Committee www.rosesrilanka.info . International Counsellor (original organizer of 2005 Rose Tsunami post traumatic counselling program) Yaya de Andrade ( see http://rosecharities.blogspot.ca/2009/12/impact-of-disasters-on-children-by-dr.html ) attended as well as Emily McCance and
of the Rose Social Enterprise Committee (see https://rosecharities.org/2012/11/social-enterprise-seminar-vancouver/ ) . The Hillman Fund www.hmef.info were well represented by Dr Joanne Young and Mr Craig Keeting , as were International Health Initiatives, Juliette www.internationalhealthinitiatives.com . Dr Ellen Coburn of www.mayanproject.org Guatemala school project contributed an excellent update. Mrs Janice (and husband Dr David) Wensley of the Safe Motherhood Committee of Rose Charities came as did Rose Charities Canada’s Chair, Maggie Francis and Hon Treasurer Eric Vanderluit Accountant Kevin Simpson, (who carries out pivotal accounting work for Rose Canada) as did a fellow accountant and Rose supporter, Richard McCallum
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| Dr Ruth Brighouse and Anne Borkent of Safe Motherhood
Guatemala |
The atmosphere of the meeting was stimulating, creative and constructive. Discussions ranged around many areas though focusing on transfer of training and teaching schools. Such skills transfer is very much the focus of the projects (Birthing attendant skills Guatemala and Health Promotion in Uganda) . The Rose Charities network is now fairly broad as well as deep and the forum allowed organizers from dispersed parts of it to meet and exchange ideas.
A big thank you to Maggie Francis (Chair Rose Charities Canada) and Linda Roberts(Rose International Hon Sec) for much of the structuring of the meeting.
Kampala, Uganda, will see Rose Charities, partner organizations, supporters and anyone interested meeting to discuss and hear presentations on education and health training. Rose Charities organizations ‘Brighter Smiles‘ and Stand Tall Education will be the main organizers but input from others such as the Hillman Fund , HEADA , Greater Learning is anticipated. Topics will be widespread but cover such interesting areas as peer-to-peer education, health promoting schools (Dr Andrew Macab is an expert in this field), goal focus and enrichment of the education process, and new health promoting and training initiatives. There will be visits to the project sites of Stand Tall and Brighter Smiles, and (on Sat 9th) a strong discussion involvement by school children themselves. The goal is to educate and increase the practical knowledge base of participants, network and update on current areas of success in new health and education initiatives.
The conference is open without charge (up to a certain seating limit, after which a charge may be requested ) to an genuinely interested and/or group representatives.
