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Vehicle Appeal
Posted on 2nd January 2017 by Chris Jones
Just imagine you've been driving 10 to 12 hours a day for three days solid on winding dirt roads. The last 50 mile stretch entailed navigating at less than 13 miles per hour through choking dust along cliffs with sheer drop-offs. You've just passed a section of the road where it narrowed into what seemed like less than a single car width and you're forced to make a quick manoeuvre around the remnants of another landslide.
Bouncing along inside the twenty-year old vehicle, which yesterday had to be repaired with parts made from bamboo, are your team who've placed their lives in your hands. They're joining you for a six week expedition.
Your mission: to deliver medicines and healthcare training to Community Health Workers, the only source of medical support to remote villagers within five days walk.
It's now an eight day trek to get back to base, there's no phone signal and you haven't seen another vehicle for the last three hours. As you shout to be heard over an unexpected downpour of rain, you hit a rock. You manage to control the car into the corner but an old man is in the road on the other side. You slam on the breaks but the car doesn't stop...
Dr Sasa was in a similar position to this recently, but miraculously, the old man suffered only very minor injuries. However, the car Dr Sasa is using, is now beyond worthwhile repair.
He needs our help.
In order to reach 100+ more villages in southern Chin State before the end of March, we need to raise funds for a new vehicle to help bring hope to communities who have no healthcare.
Can you help raise a target of £18,200 to cover the purchase and maintenance cost of a second-hand 4x4?
Over the next two months, a new vehicle would enable the team to:
- provide in-situ refresher training to 200 Community Health Workers
- distribute 1,000 dignity kits to vulnerable women
- run free medical clinics for an estimated 4,000 villagers
- support the distribution of multivitamins to pregnant women and children
And most importantly, bring hope.
Last year many villagers the team met were living in constant fear from outsiders. They had been turned away from clinics and hospitals in the past by medical professionals who had told them they were only unwell because they were 'poor and dirty'. These villagers were therefore blown away at the visit from our teams, who come to offer them something freely, caring for them with love and respect.
If you can help Dr Sasa and the team financially, please click here to give via our website.
Thank you so much for your continuing support of this transformative work.
CHW Training
Posted on 31st December 2016 by Chris Jones
In December we hosted over 70 of our Community Health Workers (CHWs) and Area Coordinators for refresher training in preventative healthcare at our base in Lailenpi.
There was an opportunity to review core topics as well as identify the top ten common diseases faced by villagers in rural areas of western Myanmar.
Time was spent at our training centre sharing experiences and documenting challenges faced in the field, including developing ideas for posters and leaflets for use in the communities.
The CHWs left incredibly encouraged and grateful to all who have supported this work and provided so generously for its ongoing development.
TBA Training
Posted on 15th December 2016 by Chris Jones
Over the last few months we've been busy providing training to Community Health Workers and Traditional Birth Attendants in Chin State.
We're really grateful for the support we have received from the wonderful team at Birthlink UK, for their hard work, technical expertise and incredible resilience in travelling out to Chin State.
The aim of the training is to safeguard the health and wellbeing of mothers and their new-born babies in the poorest and most vulnerable communities in remote rural areas through improving the skills of untrained birth attendants.
Many of the women walked up to 5 days through the jungle to attend the interactive training session and it was great for our team to hear how prior training had been put into practice to save the lives of numerous new-born babies over the past two years.