Rose Charities Canada Jan 2013 Project Forum

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)

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 .  RN and Nurse Trainer Karen Schafer, one of the main organizers of the Rose Haiti initiative www.rosehaiti.info attended.  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 Pierre Etienne Banville of the Rose Social Enterprise Committee  (see http://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

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.

Cambodia medical elective program upgrades...

The PPSC Rose Medical Elective Program is newly established although Rose has had experience in providing a medical elective program in the past. Our star Surgeon, Dr Nous Sarom has moved to become the Head of Surgery at the Preah Mettokelea Surgical Centre (PPSC) at the Military Hospital in Phnom Penh. Dr Sarom has had a long history with Rose and we have adapted our program to follow this wonderful surgeon and teacher. The Program is now being administered by Ms Sophak Chim who has excellent organisational skills and fantastic written English. She is managing our complicated schedule and ensuring that students receive communication from Cambodia upon receiving their email enquiries. Obviously being a new program there will be teething problems but we hope that the program will evolve to be a leading elective program in Cambodia, especially with the assistance of great feedback from the students!  ... read more...

Afghanistan Safe Birthing Program gets underway

Northern Province IDP Camp

Organized  by Rose Charities  partners, the Tabish Social Health Organization the first short course in safe birthing has been conducted in Northern Province IDP (internally displaced person) Camp.

It is estimated (WHO) that a woman dies every two hours in Afghanistan as a consequence of or during childbirth. The Afghan Health Ministry  reports that about 18,000 Afghan women die during childbirth every year. According to a recent report by the NGO Save the Children, Afghanistan ranked as the worst place to give birth, followed by Niger and Chad. (2011) . On average, about 1 in 23 mothers are expected to die from pregnancy-related causes.

A birthing kit is demonstrated

The five day course, delivered to around 30 women had an agenda covering the following areas:  hygiene and legal issues, healthy pregancy, pre-delivery preparation, doctors and midwives visits, safe delivery with and without access to health center, high risk signs and symptoms, preparation of birthing materials. Further sessions included progress assessment and practicalities of delivery, risk assessment for mother and child post delivery and post delivery hygiene and care. In addition family planning and safe birth spacing were discussed, and other aspects such as nutrition and breast feeding. Basic first aid and general health were also covered.

Distribution was  made of special delivery kits and instruction given of the use of the content.

The course was largely funded by the Rose Charities Hillman Fund as part of its international focus on safe birthing education (other Hillman Fund safe birthing programs are currently operating in Guatamala and also Pakistan)

A people-carrier for Rose Cambodia Sight Centre !

Rose Charities NZ has donated the funds for a truck to Rose Cambodia Eye/Sight Centre for their outreach program.  Collecting for the truck was primarily orchestrated by Mr Mike Webber, Optometrist and Rose Laureate 2009,  of Wanganui  who worked tirelessly to see the project through. In Mach 2012 a fundraser was held  ( http://www.wanganuichronicle.co.nz/news/truck-in-sight-after-eye-fundraiser/1293047/) which hosted over 110 people and, thanks to the Wanganui attendees,  raised over $NZ5000. The remainder was donated with huge generosity by a private NZ Foundation which specifically targets international projects which have outstanding cost effectiveness (as the Eye Centre does) .

The Rose Cambodia Sight Centre / Eye Clinc has now been operating since 1997, some 15 years (at the time of writing). It has treated well over 100,000 Cambodians the majority of who have been extremely poor, giving them free or low cost blindness preventing treatments or restoring sight mainly through cataract operations.  

Many of the techniques for low cost eye surgery have historically been thanks to great New Zealanders such as Ray Avery or Fred Hollows so the centre carries on a  a long and distinguished NZ history 

Rose Charities New Zealand's relationship with the Cambodia Sight Centre was initiated by John Veale (Optometrist Christchurch) in the year 2000 who then introduced Mike Webber and Dr David Sabiston (retired). The three have spent over a decade working with Drs Hang (clinic co founder) and Natalia Vra suppling materials, equipment, and most importantly of all, their considerable expertise to help bring the clinic to the leading eye Centre it is today in Cambodia.

In recent years, outreach programs for village level screening and eye care promotion have played an increasingly important role. Some of the roads to the villages become almost impassable in the wet season so a strong vehicle is needed, both for access and to be able to return patients to the clinic. 

The truck is a fantastic gift, so needed: it will be pivotal in the continuation and expansion of delivery of high quality eye care to poor Cambodians.   Thank you Wanganui and other generous donors !

Education without Borders links with Rose Charities USA

Education Without Borders links with Rose Charities USA
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 Education without Borders (EwB) aims to foster educational opportunities and provide facilities in disadvantaged regions of the world.
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 Formed in 2002 in Vancouver and granted charitable status in 2003, EwB operates on the principle that the development of knowledge and skills gives individuals greater control over their lives and more possibilities and choices for their future. Enhanced educational opportunities build communities from within and facilitate bridging between communities.
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The Education without Borders organizers seek to fulfill this mandate through their own initiatives and fundraising, as well as through grants and partnerships with other non-profit organizations in B.C., Canada, USA and abroad.
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 Notwithstanding its overall mandate to work in different parts of the world, the Board of Directors has decided to focus primarily on two schools in Gugulethu, South Africa.
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 As a relatively small charity with limited resources, we believe that , at this stage of a specific focus will produce quantifiable results that would not be forthcoming from spreading ourselves too thinly. We see this as a strength as well a necessity as it allows us to really know the community, to work profoundly and deeply with problems on site, and to use this experience (as we develop and get more resources) to serve additional communities in South Africa.
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The two schools we are currently involved with are Fezeka Senior Secondary and Songeze Middle Schools. The video on this page highlights some of EwB's achievements to date.
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Rose Charities Singapore comes to 4th Rose Meeting in Penang, March 2012

Jonathan Riley (UK) and Dickson Ho 

 Rose Charities Singapore debuted at the Rose Charities IV Penang International Meeting and Conference in George Town and Tanjung Bunga from 22 to 25th March 2012.   From the moment of arrival they made their instant mark by contributing ideas, thoughts, wonderful humor and constructive plans and suggestions

Christina Leong, Dickson Ziwei Ho, and Jessica Toh flew in for the first day and were among the most enthusiastic  in attending every presenation, workshop and semin of the entire meeting.  These sessions included sector meetings on Sri Lanka, Hillman Fund (Africa, Pakistan, Cambodia and Afghanistan projects), Vietnam and Cambodia Rehab; workshops on the Logical Framework Approach (Ms Chim Sophak, [Cambodia], Josephine de Freitas and Mrs Maggie Francis [Canada])  and Social Networking .[Ms Rachel Greene USA]

Ms Jessica Leong, Dr Will Grut  (Canada)
Ms Jessica Toh 

The Singapore team also contributed greatly to a special panel looking at restructuring of the Rose Charities International board and many of their ideas will be implemented in the coming year.

Rose Charities Singapore's  wonderful generosity was experienced by most of the field projects in the donation of 11 used laptops and a desktop. 9 of these were brought to Penang and presented to the field project representatives of Rose Charities Sri Lanka, Cambodia (including one for the Cambodia Physical Therapy Association), Vietnam, Pakistan (who took one extra for Afghanistan)

Rose Charities Singapore, no only 'hit the ground running' when it came into the network last year, but running at 'supersonic speed'.  Immediately on formation, emergency supplies (a container) were arranged for Thai flood relief, old peoples homes have (and continue to be) visited, parties arranged at childrens homes, and even local animal care assisted.

Clockwise: Christina Leong, Dickson Ho
Ung Sambach (Cambodia), Lee Parker (Aus)
Louis Lap Nguyen (Vietnam) 

The group consists currently of an informal core of friends and colleagues all caring to make the world a better place. While they may apply for formal Singapore registration in the future they will in the mean time simply continue to do what they can for who they can in the spirit of pure charity.

Rose Charities Singapore is an amazing group of people of formidable talent, charity and generosity.  By the end of the meeting they had  made friends of everyone and formulated plans to help several of the field projects. The City State should be very very proud of them indeed...

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