September/October:
Thanks to a generous anonymous donor, Rose Charities NZ sponsored the Nepali eye surgeon Dr Basant Sharma, a consultant ophthalmologist and Chief of the eye plastic surgery unit at the Lumbini Eye Institute, Nepal, to spend three weeks in New Zealand. Basant stayed with chairperson Trish Gribben in Auckland and observed surgical techniques with doctors at the Eye Institute, Auckland, every day. Basant, who trained in Kathmandu and did post doctoral fellowship work in Vancouver where he met Dr William Grut, the international secretary of Rose Charities, and at the Rose Eye Clinic at Phnom Penh, was recently awarded the prestigious Asia Pacific Academy of Ophthalmology Distinguished Service Award.
An evening with the award-winning cookbook writer Alexa Johnson, who taught Basant to make Nepali momos in Trish Gribben’s kitchen, sent Basant home with $US600 to fund cataract eye operations for Nepali villagers, mostly women, who are unable to afford the operation. By August, about 20 operations had been performed.
October:
A night-to-remember with an exuberant farewell to our Trustee, Dr David Sabiston, was held in the Hawkes Bay Club, Napier. About 100 friends gathered, many of whom have been very generous supporters of David’s work for Rose Charities NZ at the Rose eye clinic in Phnom Penh.
A continuous slide show and brief talks by Dr William Grut, secretary of Rose International, Trustee Mike Webber, “Sabo” himself and our visitor from Nepal, Dr Basant Sharma, led many people to say they had gained a much better understanding of the Rose Charities work that helps literally thousands of people gain better sight.
“Without vision the people perish” is the slogan writ large on the walls of the Napier airport. This is literally true for so many people, both young and old, in Cambodia and Nepal and our evening at the Hawkes Bay club left us all in no doubt about the value of our Rose contribution.
Palliative care and grief therapy:
Once again, Rose Charities has helped Liese Groot-Alberts, the psychotherapist who has an international reputation as a palliative care educator and grief therapist, to give workshops in Hong Kong and Malaysia.
Poonga:
The Tamil Community Education Group, which supports students from pre-school to high school in Auckland, has received $1200 to buy a laptop to co-ordinate their activities. The group meets in different halls and caters to a wide range of families. As chairperson of Rose Charities NZ, Trish Gribben wrote to Auckland City Council supporting the Poonga Group’s search for a permanent place to meet.
Ak Refugee Community Coalition:
Rose Charities NZ has been approached by the chairman of this coalition, for help with setting up a Trust to aid family reunification. The Auckland Trust would be modeled on a very successful Wellington Trust which, over the last seven years, has raised $500,000 and helped more than 135 families to reunite. The Trust particularly needs the skills of financial management and legal governance. Anyone interested in being involved should contact Trish Gribben, at: trishgribben@xtra.co.nz
Or the Chairman of the Auckland Refugee Community Coaliition, Kafeba Mundele at : P. O. Box 27 157, Mt Roskill, Auckland, 1440; aucklandrefugeecoalition@hotmail.com. Or kafeba96@hotmail.com
Nepal:
Training of volunteer female health workers
After discussions with Basant, Rose Charities NZ decided to support an educational training project as an outreach from the Lumbini Eye Institute in Nepal. Female volunteer health workers are to be trained in basic eye-care education, preventive work and early detection of eye problems. As well, they will help identify candidates for eye surgery or glasses before surgical outreach camps arrive in their villages. Eye problems occur with distressing frequency, even in the very young, in Nepali populations.
Generosity: The budget prepared at the Lumbini Eye Institute, where Dr Basant Sharma is a medical director, came to $9,000.
As a result of Basant’s stories and impressive professional status, a very generous Rose benefactor couple gave $2500 for the project in Nepal.
The rest of the money was raised quickly, thanks to the PIF Foundation who contributed $5000 and three Auckland donors who each gave $500.
Reports have been received from Basant, naming all the women who have received surgery or training. This makes the Rose philosophy of “People helping people” seem very real. There have been delays due to political problems, curfews and monsoon flood but by August more than 360 women had been enlisted and given basic training.
Basant says: “Politically Nepal is still in a state of conflict. It’s been nearly two years since we became a Republic but we neither have a new constitution nor a parliament yet. The country is being run by a caretaker government formed from a Constituent Assembly so there is constant civil unrest.
“This makes outreach work difficult but we are hoping to finish by the end of this year. At least the fighting has stopped and we can hope for a better future.
“Thank you all for your kindness and generosity. We look forward to future co-operation with Rose Charities.
Cambodia:
Our Trustee Mike Webber visited the Cambodian clinic in April and was able to host our patron Dame Silvia Cartwright for a visit to the clinic on Anzac Day.
Dame Silvia wrote: “I want to say how much I admire your commitment and want to thank you for the invaluable work you are doing to support the clinic.
“We both know that Cambodia is one of the most deprived countries in the world and anything we westerners who are so privileged can do will be of assistance. So many of us however, do little to make a difference. You and others in Rose Charities are the ones who do."
The Medical Director of the clinic, Dr Hang Vra, was been furthering his training, thanks to generous support from the PIF Foundation. It is paying his fees of $US900 a year for three years. It also paid for $NZ3500 worth of instruments for the clinic.
Mike Webber also visited the National Refraction Training Centre in Phonm Penh, which he was instrumental in having set up. The delivery of refraction training (the making of glasses) is considered to be one of the best ways of helping poor people with eye defects in Cambodia.
International:
Rose Charities originated in Canada and now has branches working with a wide variety of projects in the U.S. , U.K., Sri Lanka, Madagascar, Malaysia and Australia, as well as the Cambodian and Nepali programmes that are the focus of Rose Charities NZ.
Looking ahead:
Next year Rose NZ plans to develop local projects that support our refugee communities.
Some Rose Charities NZ Trustees will be visiting Cambodia in June next year and Nepal in late November. If anyone is interested in joining a group, please let Trish Gribben know. (All travel will be at personal expense.)
