Rose Charities Celebrates 2012 International Womens Day with...

Sri Lanka:   Young Women’s Clubs -  8 villages,   Girls sports programs ,  Women’s University Scholarship Program,  Women’s Livelihood Groups (Women’s Support and Women’s Vocational Training.     www.rosesrilanka.info

Pakistan:   Frontier Primary Health Care support of  Traditional Birth Attendant training program   www.hmef.info

Cambodia: ‘Access for All’  program for disabled womens education, support and vocational training   http://rosecambodia.org

Afghanistan:  Tabish-Rose Charities Training Women’s Health and Computer training program’s  www.hmef.info

Guatemala:  Safe Motherhood women’s birth attendant and women’s health programs   www.safemotherhoodproject.org  

Zambia:  Womens income generation programs   http://malambograssroots.ca

Haiti:  Women's neonatal nursing training  www.rosehaiti.info

World Birth aid pack
saves countless lives

We also wish to laud the women’s programs Rose  has been privileged to have supported, partnered  or planned with, in the past (and perhaps the future too!)  including  the Lumbini Program for training of Women Village Eye Screeners  www.lei.org.np   and the remarkable  ‘WBDI’ Organization in Samoa,  www.womeninbusiness.ws  the One in Three Women Organization (Seattle)  www.oneinthreewomen.com and  World Birth Aid (Seattle)  www.worldbirthaid.org

Haiti Cholera Relief 2010.
Dr Amy Osborne

The organizers of Rose Charities also pay tribute and gratitude to the professional women volunteers (nurses, physicians, counselors, logisticians etc) who have contributed over 50% of involvement, organization and sustainability of emergency relief and 'post-relief' operations Rose Charities and close partners AMDA have played over the years.  Their magnificent work has helped tens of thousands of victims in many parts of the globe.

Hurricane Katrina 2005
R.N.Kirsten Reems 

2004 Asian Tsunami Sri Lanka
R.N.Mary Spencer

Japan Eathquake/Tsunami 2011

Haiti Earthquake.  Linda Warner RN

Nurses graduate in Haiti

On Jan 5 2012, the first graduation ceremony, since the earthquake, took place at the State University School of Nursing in Port-aux-Prince Haiti. 
As each graduating student stood up to receive her award  she honored five of her class mates who had lost their lives when the school collapsed. 
Over 200 students were killed that day and the school completely 

destroyed.

 Just weeks later, in an act of extraordinary courage and perseverance,

 the surviving students and staff reopened the school 
 in tents and carried on as best they could.  
   
The graduation ceremony was a moving tribute that all the students, staff and dignataries from 
the Ministry of Health  felt honoured to make. The loss of so many young 
women and health professionals in a country that needs them desperately, was 
felt by all. Rose Charities was mentioned by Mme Nazaire in her gratitude to all who helped them over the

 last years. 

Rose Charities was  able to assist  by organizing counseling for the surviving nurses, sending new textbooks,

 teaching maniquinns and a container of equipment for the teaching lab. 

Rose Charities would like to honor the dedication of the staff and students and  wish them well in their future careers

Under one Umbrella Homeless Fair: Vancouver March 2012.

Rose Charities Canada co-sponsors this regular, popular annual event ...

(Click on image to enlarge)

New Zealand Eye Team help eye screen poor in rural Cambodia: Dec 2011

John Veale and Mike Webber (Optometrist Consultants, from Rose Charities New Zealand) went to Cambodia in mid-December, 2011. Their mission was to once again spend time at the Rose Charities Sight Centre in Phnom Penh with staff, training, ‘fine tuning’ and/or suggesting ways that could help in improving performance. The clinic now performs at a very high level of competence now in all areas of eyecare from surgery, medical ophthalmology and provision of spectacles after refraction, so the last six years of visits from the NZ team ( Dr. David Sabiston, John Veale and Mike Webber) , have proved very worthwhile.

Another aim of the work this visit was to attend and help at one of he outreach clinics undertaken by Rose clinic and staff. This is a strategy started this year to coordinate with a new Governmnent program for the rural poor. Seven NGO’s have signed up for the program, with Fred Hollows and Rose Charities being the first two groups to start outreach clinics and provide cataract operations to those to whom they never would have been previously available. The target is to perform 50,000 cataract operations by the year 2018 in Cambodia.

Rose Charities had planned for many years to commence rural clinics but in 2002 its vehicles and equipment were stolen by an crooked expatriate causing considerable delay to the program. Without this crime, The Rose Charities Sight Centre would by now have been able to assist many more poor Cambodians than the 100,000 it has assisted since 2002.

Mike Webber and John Veale attended the first Rose outreach clinic in the Kandal province and about an hour and a half drive from Phnom Penh. There was an official opening ceremony filmed by Tv news, and a high ranking Governmental official from the Ministry of Economic Affairs, before they we got down to business of screening.

They saw 253 patients, and of these about seventy were to be referred to the Rose Sight Centre for surgery for treatment at a later date. These patients were later transported down to Phnom Penh by truck (free), and taken home same way after treatment.

Dr. Hang Vra and his team conduct these outreach clinics once every two weeks at different locations in the provinces. The second outreach clinic saw 296 people and referred 125 referred to the Rose Charities Sight Centre for surgery.

Third outreach clinic saw 100cases`referred for surgery. The surgery in all these cases was predominantly for cataracts.

Mike Webber and John Veale also attended and helped at a program called Village Health And Community Development. This is a program run by Dr Veronica Ventura, an American gynecologist, who is based in Singapore. Both the Rose Charities Sight and Rehab/Surgical Centres cooperate with Village Health and Community Development programs where assistance can be given.

Dr Ventura has four such projects going in Cambodia. Her method it to target a village off the beaten track in Cambodia and takes in teams of various medical specialties, including ophthalmic, and to survey the health and needs of these isolated people. The program that John and Mike attended was in a village some one and a half hours drive from Kompong Thom, a town on the main road north to Siem Riep and geographically in the centre of Cambodia.

On this occasion The Singaporean team consisted of Dr Veronica Ventura, four Ophthlamic registrars in various stages of training, two optometry students, a lecturer in Optometry from the Singapore School, a group of medical students, and the Rose Charities NZ team (Mike and John). It was effectively a vision outreach program. The registering of patients, and various examinations were undertaken in classrooms in the village school. Over four days, 702 people were` seen for full health checks, and eye examinations. Of these about eighty required surgery ( 77 cataracts), and 220 pairs of ready made readers were supplied. A few required custom spectacles to be made up at Rose clinic in Phnom Penh. The surgery patients were to be
be transported free to the Rose clinic by Village Health, and receive their surgery free under the Government program a the Rose Sight Center. The Government program is generously sponsored by ABC Tissue.

Gratitude and Appreication: John and Mike would like to acknowledge PHF Foundation for their financial support in purchasing a Keeler Hand Held slit lamp for Dr Vra, Belinda and
Kevin Way (OIC) for their gift to Rose clinic of two Neitz ophthalmoscopes, Dr. Geoff Duff for his donation of a Perkins hand held to tonometer,
Alison Hall for donating a supply of mydriatics and cycloplegics,

Rose Charities would like to acknowledge the generosity and charity of ABC Tissue for their sponsorship through the Rose Sight Center (and other ngos) to help eye care, blindness prevention and sight restoration to the poor of Cambodia

2nd Rose Charities Project Presentation Forum, Vancouver, Friday 18th Nov. 2011

The 'BC Place' Sadium formed an
impressive backdrop to the meetin

The 2nd Rose Charities Canada Project Presentation Forum held at the Creekside 'Olympic Village' Community Centre in Vancouver attracted around 80 persons and represented a spectrum from those with close Rose involvment to those just curious to know more about Rose projects. Food was 'pot-luck' which resulted in a groaning table of delicious food and an drinks were available at a small donation bar.

Topics demonstrated the wide range of Rose Charities Canada involvment areas, both geographical as well as sectorial. Sadly, time, and the quantity of projects permitted only short 5 minute presentations, but this tight schedule also allowed a mid period for refreshments and all-important networking .

Rachel Greene (Rose Charities NY)
presents on Social Networking

Special guests were Rachel Greene and Clare Seekins of Rose Charities USA, who presented the work of Rose Charities NY with their digital art program for reservation youth in Idaho, as well as a talk on social media. 

The evening was deemed interesing and enjoyable by all.

Presentations consisted of ..

• Rose Charities Canada Admin (Maggie Francis, Josephine de Freitas) http://rosecharities.ca

• Rose Charities USA project (Idaho First Nation Youth Project) and Social Networking (Rachel Greene, Clare Seekins - both Rose Charities USA) http://rosecharities.us

• Mayan Project (Education) (Dr Ellen Coburn) http://www.mayanproject.org

• Safe Motherhood Guatamala (Annette Borkent) http://www.safemotherhoodproject.org

• Malambo Grassroots (Jocelyn Banyard) http://malambograssroots.ca

• Rose Charities in Haiti (Linda Warner) http://rosehaiti.info

• Brighter Smiles Uganda (Drea Burbank) http://africanhearts.ca

• Rose Charities Vietnam (Louis Lap Nguyen) http://www.rosevietnam.org

• Education Generation (Mila Lukic ) http://www.educationgeneration.org

• Rose Charities Cambodia (Dr Will Grut) http://rosecambodia.org

• Volset Uganda (Roger Huyghe)

• Stand Tall Education Uganda (Nicole Schouela) http://www.standtalleducation.org

• Hands up for Africa Kenya (Colin Harivel) http://www.handsupforafrica.org

• Rose Madagascar (Dr Emma Noble/Luke King) http://rosemadagascar.squarespace.com

• Rose Sri Lanka (Mike Ramanaden) http://rosesrilanka.info

Rose Charities Canada's Louise Aaronson and Pricilla Yogendran
take refreshments between presentation

Thai Flood relief: Rose Charities Singapore and Malaysia spearhead Rose relief efforts..

Led by Ms Christina Leong of the newly formed Rose Charities Singapore and assisted by Mr Vince Yeoh (Secretary, Rose Charities Penang, Malaysia), relief supplies are being arranged to assist the victims of Thailand's worst flooding on record.  Thousands of people are stranded and over 300 people have lost their lives.  Food and supplies are being purchased in Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore for distribution from donors from the Rose Charities network and contacts on the ground implementing the distrubution. 

The Rose Charities network is grateful for the initiative taken by Rose Charities Singapore and Malayisa.

All donations are gratefully welcomed. Please see   www.rosecharities.org for ways to donate. Depending on your country of residence,  your donation will either generate a tax receipt or your donation go further with 'gift aid (UK).'

A big welcome to Rose Charities Singapore !

Rose Charities Singapore (Lawrence and Mme Cheah on right)

A Rose Charities Singapore has now been formed, assisted by Mr Lawrence Cheah and others.  The whole Rose Charities network extends a warm welcome to our new organization !

Rose Charities Singapore has immediately sprung into action by helping raise funds for Baby Jeven who desperately needs a complex cardiac operation  this October.

Baby Jeven and mother