Community Support, Education, Health Education, Healthcare

A Tale of Two Women (and thousands of lives saved… !)


This is the story of two women.  One woman uses a piece of clean string and a clean razor blade.   With  it she saves,  scores, hundreds, probably thousands of lives. The people she saves are mothers and their babies. The mothers have given birth where there is no medical assistance.  Lack of hygiene, lack of knowledge, even some traditional practices in severing the umbilical cord provide the fertile conditions for infection. Sometimes mud or even cow dung are used to apply to the raw ends of the cord.  The clean string is used simply to tie the cord and the sterile blade to cut it. .

Now the woman makes up cheap kits. They simply contain instructions, soap, sterile string and blade and some.  All it takes to save two lives is a clean pad, soap, razor blade, a length of string and a set of illustrated instructions.  Each kit will save 2 lives.  The kits are quietly  distributed to where they are needed thoughout the world.

The other woman who follows the same path. She travels to rural Central America with a small team to carry the same simple message and taking also, birthing kits with her.   Year after year she returns and year after year she finds more women who, having seen the results of what she has been teaching others, wish to learn. Her course lasts 4 days. The woman  educates child birth attendants to wash their hands. Thousands of women die every year because of not doing this. She educates them in the simple things that will save.

Both women know that 820,000 women die because of  childbirth every year; 99% of them are in developing countries.  They know that, worldwide, a woman dies in childbirth every 40 seconds.  They know that three quarters of the 4 million babies who die every year could be saved by simple interventions. They know that so many women simply have no access to safe medical facilities (in Bangladesh for example only 9% of births take place in clinics or hospitals)   They know the grief and suffering of so many families through these events.

So quietly, simply, they have rolled up sleeves and helped.  No full spread media campaigns, no double-space TV ads, no fleets of white SUV’s, no first-class  ‘celebrity spokesperson’ visits. They just do it themselves, unsung heroes, quietly saving lives…

1)   http://wordbirthaid.org
2)   http://safemotherhoodproject.org

Events, General interest, Meeting updates, People

Rose Charities International Meeting 2012 – Penang

The Rose IV Meeting in Penang, Malaysia (22nd to 25th March 2012), and hosted by the Penang Rose Charities Association (Rose Charities Malaysia)  is shaping up to be an amazing gathering of both Rose Charities , and other people the world over.
*
Delegates representing projects or registered Rose groups from,  Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Malaysia, Cambodia, Vietnam, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Uganda, UK, USA and Canada and Guatemala  will be attending.
*
The ‘Hillman Fund’, a special group inside Rose Charities Canada which sponsors health education projects in Africa, Pakistan, and Cambodia will have a big presence including chair of the Hillman Committee, Dr Joanne Young of Vancouver,  Annette Borkent of the Safe Motherhood Guatemala Project, Dr Wagma Reshsteen of Primary Health Frontiers, Pakistan, and Dr Wais Aria of  The Tabish Social Health Organization, Afghanistan.
*
Dr Andrew MacNab (B.C’s Childrens Hospital)  founder of African Hearts and Brighter Smiles, Uganda will be speaking on his work with Health Promoting Schools, and Rachel Green of Rose Charities USA on the topical area of Social Networking.
*
AMDA International’s senior Emergency Relief Director (Mr Nithiananan) will be attending (AMDA and Rose Charities have worked very closely a number of  emergency relief operations and are very close partners) . AMDA has huge international emergency humanitarian relief experience, and is one of the foremost NGO’s in this area.
*
Joanna Thomson, founder of the Rose Cambodia Rehab Center will be discussing her amazing assistance to the disabled of Cambodia,  Mr Louis Lap Nguyen co-founder of Rose Charities Vietnam,  the impressive range of Rose Vietnam projects with include sight restoration, income generation and orphanage assistance
*
Rose Charities Sri Lanka with its spectrum of multi-sectorial projects, ranging from early childhood care and education, through education for all ages, including college support, micro-credit, sports for peace and vocational training will be represented by co-founder Mr Anthony Richards as well as Dr Yoga Yogendran.
*
From Rose Charities New Zealand, Mrs Anne George will be representing. Rose New Zealand works closely with the Rose Cambodia Sight Center providing expertise and resources. In 2011 the Sight Centre passed the mark for patients assisted (many with sight restoring operations). Rose NZ also assists eye programs in Nepal and work in NZ itself (Anne Georges specialty) with new immigrant program(s).  Rose Australia delegates will include Sarah Miller, an expert in Cambodia programs, Rose Austalia’s main focus.
*
Rose Charities Malaysia, the hosts will be very well represented, not least by Mr  Lawrence Cheah Chair of the Rose International Council.  Rose Charities Malaysia, running out of Penang assists Malaysias indigenous people (Orang Asli), help the aged programs and helth promotion in Penang.
*
The meetings will work at three levels.  a) sector focus groups on specific areas (Vietnam, Cambodia, Sri Lanka,  and Health Education/Safe birthing etc ) , round-table discussion for the whole Rose network and a more formal Conference component where persons from Malaysian (and other) NGO’s and interested parties will be invited.
*
Malaysia’s Penang Island, with its historic UNESCO listed George Town, is a wonderful location for the meeting, most of which will be held in the seaside Tanjung Bunga area at the Paradise Sandy Beach Hotel.
*
All Rose Charities persons and other linked or interested parties are welcome.
For details, please contact Mrs Sarah Miller (Australia)    sarah@rosecharities.org.au
or  Ms  Judith Peralta (Canada)     jbperalta@hotmail.com
*
** Note: with one or two exceptions where limited assistance has been offered, all attendees are self funding.  Conference costs have been kindly born by Rose Charities Malaysia from specifically donated sources.  No Rose Charities charitable donation funds have been used for the conference or meeting, unless specifically given by donor(s) for that purpose.

Sustainable and Local. No frills no admin costs…