Category Archives: Africa

Africa, Central America, Community Support, Education, Emergency Response, Environment, Events, General interest, Haiti, Health Education, Healthcare, Income generation, Nepal, People, Rose Charities People, Rose News, South Asia Region, Women focused programs, Youth programs

Rose Charities Canada – Outputs 2022-23 and letter from Chair Maggie Francis

Chair Year End Report

October 31 st ,2022 to November 1 st , 2023

We have come to the end of another year for Rose Charities Canada with many achievements and “good news”. Our projects have carried on amidst global wars and conflicts, earthquakes, fires, floods and the
ever-encroaching impacts of climate change.

The need for humanitarian aid is widespread and as a result it is sometimes hard to know where to help.

As an organization we do step in for emergencies but we prefer to support communities in the long haul. For this reason, many of our projects have been operating over a long period of time with a great
track record and, moreover, they are well established with very positive outcomes for individuals and communities. This often results in a “ripple effect” where the small seed of a project flows out to the
wider community and future generations. For example, indigenous midwives in Guatemala are given skills to promote better outcomes in childbirth; their knowledge is then transferred to future midwives
and thence safer births.


Another example of this is in the planting of tree seedlings in Zambia which over time help to mitigate against erosion and drought bringing agricultural opportunities and food security to local communities.
In my report this year I have chosen to include the results(outputs) that most of our projects have indicated in their annual reports. I have done this because it demonstrates the wonderful scope and variety of activities the projects provide on budgets that are low in comparison to the big aid organizations. The activities can, more or less, be categorized into education, health and community development. However, they seem to offer much more in terms of broader impacts such as hope and
opportunity for the future.


It is also interesting to look at the numbers of lives benefiting from each project. Some of these numbers are large for a relatively small organization. For example, the development of a Maternal Care
Centre in Ethiopia will provide services to a community of 157,00 people. Or the production of a music video raising awareness of sexual violence towards girls in Uganda has likely reached thousands of
people. But numbers do not tell the whole story. We work from the premise that every life matters. Our understanding is that “If you concentrate on small, manageable steps you can cross unimaginable
distances” (Hick)

If you look at the outputs from Nepal you will see that nine girls were helped with their education. One of these women, married at a young age, had been unable to finish her schooling due to responsibilities
at home. The scholarship enabled her to complete her high school with the chance of lifting the family out of poverty. In fact, she obtained her certificate alongside her daughter!


In addition to individual successes, we also support whole schools – Stand Tall (200 students); Volset (250 students) and the indigenous Mayan school (37 students) in Guatemala. And then there are theenrichment programs in Ecuador, Haiti; health education workshops in Uganda with Grassroot Doctors; educational supplies; food security support and the list goes on.


When I look at the year end annual reports, I am truly impressed and inspired by the work of all our projects. And I know the board joins me in thanking everyone – volunteers, donors, supporters – who
have helped to make them a success.


With very best wishes for another productive year ahead!

Maggie Francis
Chair, Board of Directors
Rose Charities Canada
January 23rd, 2024

Africa, Education, General interest, Healthcare, Rose Charities People

Rose Charities people…..Derrick Obin (Uganda)

Hello everyone. Am Derrick Obin a 25years old  Ugandan. My country is found in East Africa. It is such a beautiful part of the world to live in. My journey with Rose Charity has been such a life changing one. The organization stood with me from childhood through support in education till completion. The tuition, psychological and emotional support I got from my coordinators enabled me to complete my course and am now happily serving the health sector in my country with love and passion. The message I have for the world is that help rendered towards helping someone achieve their dream not only benefits the individual but it is service to the community and the nation at large. A small support could yield a great positive impact in the community and a nation. I am a living testimony of this. Much love from Uganda. 

Derrick Obin at work
Africa, Community Support, Education, General interest, Health Education, Healthcare, Rose Charities People

Rose Charities people….. ANDREW MACNAB (Canada)

Brighter Smiles Group. Unsurpassed understanding. Unparalleled friend to Uganda.

Prof. Andrew Macnab (Brighter Smiles ) and Ms Joanna Thompson (Rose Rehab Australia) receiving the prestigious Charity Rose Awards for outstanding charitable service to their fellow women, children and men.
Andrew in Uganda 1960s

Andrew first went to Uganda 60 years ago (image) and has returned an almost uncountable number of times since. As a paediatrician, Andrew has over half a lifetime been able to improve child health in Uganda by employing school-based health promotion. a concept that he originally developed in collaboration with Canada’s First Nations for their school system. The model seeks to creatively engage school children and their teachers to enable each child to acquire knowledge and practical life-skills that benefit their long term health. It is an approach now endorsed globally by WHO.

Tooth examination for a Ugandan child

Andrew’s approach met its first success in the dramatic improvement of oral health among Ugandan children. Andrew points out that .. It is notable that number one reason a child in Canada requires a general anesthetic, with all its risks, needs for specialized staff and equipment and its fear for a child, is for badly decayed teeth !.

Andrew, a Consultant at UBC both in Pediatrics and Urology founded his ‘Brighter Smiles’ organization to promote and implement his programs from a Canadian base and in the early 2000’s merged it as a member program of Rose Charities (bringing a huge panoply of experience, innovation and scope to the latter) and remains one of the most distinguished, internationally focused members of the Rose family

Health Promoting Schooling Uganda. Andrew Macnab’s and Brighter Smiles great success.. !

Andrews Africa programs (both Uganda and elsewhere) are, significantly, collaborations with local communities. Oral health (as mentioned above) led on to nutrition. Andrew promoted school health-nutrition plants plots and now many Ugandan schools now plant gardens and use the produce to benefit malnourished pupils through lunch programs. Malnutrition weakens children’s resistance to common infections and restricts their ability to learn. Andrew points out how much anemia and delayed reading age are remediable by the addition of vitamin A and iron to children’s diets, which in Uganda were regularly deficient in such. Researching this, his teams found that the innovation of combined planting in school gardens of a new, vitamin A and iron rich yellow sweet potato rootstock with the maize and beans traditionally grown was a highly effective solution.

Malaria in Schools program. One of Andrews major successes to date has been his malaria in school alleviation program. Seeing the problem of endemic malaria as much as an education as a health problem (days missed with stress on child and family superimposed on the danger of the illness) Andrew introduced highly monitored and personally researched program of early diagnosis and treatment, actually carried out by teachers, specifically trained to do so.

Andrew writes.. ‘The solution offered, although simple, was novel at the time. Supported by the Hillman fund (another Rose Charities member group) , our teams taught teachers how to ‘test and treat’ malaria by using a rapid screening test on a drop of blood and artemisinin combination therapy. This safely makes available WHO advocated tools to fight malaria available in rural areas with limited or no access to clinics. A two year evaluation documenting the change in duration of absence from school due to malaria has shown that this school-based approach significantly reduces morbidity – the prevalence of disease in the school area. . Pre-intervention, children used to miss an average of 6.5 school days with each bout of infection, but this has fallen to less than 1 day where teachers are able to screen all the children found to be sick at school (photo 3), and promptly treat those testing positive.’

The extent of Andrews charitable achievements considerably go beyond those above and include urological assistance to rural Uganda seniors (and in Canada, technological invention), promotion of anti-violence-on-women. ( an ongoing campaign has seen a partnership with one of Uganda’s leading popular song studios with their star performers in the development of a song ‘Tekawo Enjawulo’ – We can make it better). Andrew is constantly researching data to find novel or unrecognized ways to improve the wellbeing of communities and the women, men and children who constitute them.

Andrew Macnab, is a truly outstanding member of the Rose Charities ‘family’ who devotes vast experience, academic and practical ability for the benefit of others and has, and continues to both save and improve the lives of tens of thousands, directly and by linkage, to millions. He makes the world a better place