Monthly Archive for April, 2002

April 2002 – Hilary Price

Published by Hilary Price on April 2, 2002 in Diary Updates. 0 Comments

It’s hard to believe that it’s time to check in again! And considering I’ve just lost my update and am having to start again….

HUGE month – phew!! Majors were – the painting of the house, and the completion of our Standards for Approval. These have run concurrently and so, yes, it’s been a BIG month!! Boy did we breathe a huge sigh of relief once we couriered the 250+ page document on all our policies and procedures, management, organisation and financials, to the CYFS Rotorua HQ for assessment. Once (when!) we have approval we will be classified as a Level One Child and Young Persons and their Families service provider under Section 396 of the CYFS Act 1989! Dah dah! What this actually means is that we will be able to open our doors and receive some government funding!! First comments of this official process have been really favourable and we meet with our assessor on 20 May. Watch this space!

So to the paint…paint…paint. The more we painted the happier we got! The fumes were intoxicating! Days and weeks and weekends and we’re just about there. Great to have the funding for the paint from Pub Charity – thank you! The volunteers have been incredible – it’s just SO team here – So team! The pics tell it better than words! Well done everyone.

Another biggie this month was our first training course for Caregivers. 14 hours hands-on – facilitated by Val and Denise, massively experienced social workers from CYFS, who are responsible for training. What stars you are people. (They were a little nervous of the camera – have a look!) With huge hearts and having captured the vision of what we are doing they led us, with much laughter, through the programme. This is the first time this training has been done outside of the official CYFS structure – ground-breaking stuff – all thanks to these fine ladies – Ki kite! Of a potential 18 participants, 14 successfully completed. Further training is now available on an on-going basis and will ensure delivery of a quality best practice service to our children and their families. What is SO exciting about this is it reaffirms to me the power of partnership and the power of the possible. With positive and proactive communication, partnership will bring about new paradigms – please pass on! No, seriously, that’s what gives me such a HUGE buzz as we progress and process.

What else? Have had funding approval from Perry Foundation who have awarded us $10k towards salaries, also Pub Charity has approved funding for awnings and canopies and a sandpit cover. Huge thanks to these trusts.

So here we are – wonder why I’ve popped out of the other end of April looking smudgier, paint-spattered, bleary-eyed, but nevertheless ecstatic, energised, and firing on all cylinders! Chat to you next month!

Hilary

April 2002 – Graham Nobbs

Published by Graham Nobbs on April 2, 2002 in Diary Updates. 0 Comments

On 10th April I left for Lokichoggio in Northern Kenya, an overnight stop en-route Boma in SE Sudan (about 8 hrs from the Ethiopian border.) ACROSS (the organisation I supporting me whilst I’m here) use charter flights over a 2 day period to ferry workers and provisions into their 6 operations bases in Southern Sudan. Workers only spend 4-6 in the tough conditions before flying out for rest and recreation to Nairobi. The flight to Boma was 50 minutes through cloud and rain. The wet season has arrived and the land is greening up but land transport is becoming difficult – even trucks and four-wheel drive vehicles get stuck in the mud.

Boma is a beautiful area set amongst ancient rounded volcanic cones. The vegetation is mixed trees and grassland used mainly for cattle grazing though people grow corn, sorghum and cassava in the wet season and mango trees are common in the villages. The people belong to the Merle tribe with some cattle herders, the Jia, living nearby. The people are very friendly and always greet you with a “ Bonanu Yeere” and shake your hand. All Sudanese shake hands when they first meet someone or pass by. The area has been largely neglected but Health work , Education, Well Drilling, feeding of school children and training of pastors is taking place.

The climate is cooler in the evening with breezes and few mosquito’s. There are 15-20 Sudanese helping with the construction of the new compound. Samuel a Kenyan carpenter and Across worker supervises the construction and workers are paid in salt, soap, clothing and sometimes money. Six “sleeping” houses have been built along with a cookhouse, watchman’s house, radio room, eating room and storerooms. The three of us on the base slept in tents. We have a temporary long-drop toilet, our washing is by using a bucket of water as our shower and a high brush fence surrounds the compound. Despite this, a wild cat scared me one night by climbing into the kitchen and eating meat scraps. Scorpions are common too under rocks and gazelles have passed near the compound (though many are shot for food – every young man seems to have old army-issue rifle.

Stephen Luga also a member of the Education team drove me north to visit 3 schools towards the Ethiopian border at Pakok, Nyat and Nyaongoro. We spoke to the chiefs, community leaders, women and teachers. All are so keen to educate their children – they see this as essential to the growth and development of their community. The teachers are all volunteers who keep on teaching despite having no exercise or textbooks and in one case not even a blackboard. They desperately need training and are so enthusiastic about us starting work with them. Our vehicle got stuck in axle deep mud and we had to clamber out in our good clothes and rescue the car with branches and sharp sticks. We now have a spade on board.

On Tuesday the 14th we attended the first of two full days of Peace talks between the Merle and Jia tribes each of which has abducted children and cattle. Children are taken as they can be sold. The talks lasted two full days with the result children and cattle are to be returned, otherwise fighting could break out.

We have been attending the local Church. It’s amazing to watch local people sitting on log seats, listen to their clapping and watch as they jig to the beat of the drums and Calashes. There are large numbers of babies sleeping in soft cloth bags on their mothers’ backs and many small children.

There is so much sickness and suffering here. On Easter Sunday our watchman John had a epileptic fit which went on for a long period and caused us concern. We had to seek help from the local Sudanese doctor who knew his problem. There are numerous others who experience this type of genetically inherited problem. Malaria is common and Amoebic dysentery too.

We left for Loki again on Wednesday afternoon with an extensive shopping list for some of our Sudanese contacts in Boma and spent the night there visiting UNICEF for stationary and educational material. I will probably return again to Boma in the next fortnight if I can obtain the stationery and textbooks for the schools. I am hoping to deliver these and spend time in each school watching and helping the teachers while other members of the Education team have a month’s break. We hope to start training the Head teachers and their deputies as soon as possible followed by training courses for all teachers.

Thank you all for your continual support and interest. I really feel in a way fulfilled in Sudan and can’t wait to get the Education programme started. People in Boma believe education is so important to their future as a society and community. One man even said he would rather his daughter was educated than marry her off for a dowry of 50 cows!

Graham

April 2002 – Annette Culpan

Published by Annette Culpan on April 2, 2002 in Diary Updates. 0 Comments

The count down is on. In three days we fly to Bali to begin phase two of my World of Difference Assignment. This month has been full on. Amazing. Thank you Vodafone and the Foundation for supporting me in this. We at Bali Community Health Trust are making ground, building strategic alliances & bouncing forward.

The great news for the month is we have had a physiotherapist volunteer to spend a month in Bali working with us from May to June. Sue Cowie (currently at Starship) has offered to pay for her own flight to Denpasar if the Trust covers accommodation. Of course we jumped. I love my job. You get to meet the most incredible people.

Having a physio on board is a godsend for the Trust as they are in very short supply in Bali and are desperately needed not only for rehabilitation of Kuta bomb victims but all types of patients. One young girl who is a Trust patient had a car accident last year in which she lost her father, suffered head injuries leading to lost movement on the left side of her body and also impaired speech. She desperately requires physio attention and Sue will be WARMLY welcomed. It will be a busy month. Our Clinical Nurse Leader Julia is coming back up to Bali at the end of May for six months. She will be in her element and has been well missed over recent months.

I kicked off April on the talking circuit starting at Sunrise Rotary in Manukau. What a warm reception. I never realised Rotary Clubs had so much FUN. I’m not so sure about that 7am kick off, red eye to be sure, but the bacon made up for it. I have more talks scheduled for October when I return to NZ for Kuta Remembrance Week, which will commemorate the Kuta Bombings last year. While I’m up in Bali the Trust Manager will continue on the talking circuit & other NZ based volunteers will lend a hand with newsletter distribution etc. Over the last month there has been an awakening interest in the Trust’s work from Australia and in particular from a well-known Wollongong artist. Interest is popping up all over the show and it’s very heartening indeed.

I met with our Trustees this month (many thanks to the Claridges for hosting and especially to Barry for the cups of tea) and at some time around 10pm presented the Marketing and Fundraising Project Plan for the year (ever noticed how when you get a large group of people together how tough it is to stick to a meeting agenda). The Case Statement was also tabled for feedback and continues to evolve nicely. The ‘who, what, how and why’ of our Trust becomes clearer every day. As an output of the meeting some of the Trustees were motivated to make contact with our key contributors. These relationships are crucial. I also visited one of our top contributors Doreen who funded a desperately needed operation for a young Indonesian woman. It’s fantastic to meet all of these philanthropists who are truly focused on making a difference.

My Indonesian language lessons have been going great guns. I was sad to farewell my teacher (Guru) Vicianta Hedger last Sunday & have promised to write to her with regular updates from Bali – in Indonesian! Great practice. It’s a beautiful language, just so many words to learn. I’m going to set aside 30 minutes every night in Bali to focus purely on the language.

In terms of preparation I’ve had most of my shots, got my international driver’s license and picked up my Garuda tickets. That was a great afternoon and I finished it off by taking John out to Bali Restaurant in Mt Eden for dinner. Two very excited beans, only one problem – I don’t eat rice. Looks like Scrounger might be going on a diet in Indonesia.

After making contact with the NZ Indonesian Association some weeks ago (feels like a lifetime ago when I was on the hunt for a language teacher) our Trust was invited to a dinner to share our work in Bali. It was a brilliant evening and a really strong strategic alliance has been formed. We walked away with many stories of expats in Indonesia and a host of new friends and contacts all with one thing in common – a passion for Indonesia. The network grows. Now the search for a high profile patron begins, already seeds have been planted so it is simply a waiting game.

Earlier this week I created the basis for a media contacts database and drafted my very first press release, which went out last night. I’m hoping someone will pick up the story. Rest assured I am keeping a close watch on my mobile phone for prospective media calls. Surely someone out there wants to report the GOOD NEWS!!!

Last Friday I farewelled the family at Mum and Dad’s, then on Saturday the mates at Piha (and also said goodbye to John’s house which is right on the water behind Lion Rock and which we are both extremely sad to be farewelling … what a spot) and now today said goodbye to my old team from Vodafone. KIA KAHA guys the Scrounger will be back.

Annette