Samoa post-tsunami relief - Counseling and Medical Supplies

SAMOA OCTOBER 15 - 21, 2009. INITIAL ASSESSMENT OF THE PSYCHO-SOCIAL IMPACT OF TRAUMA AND GRIEF ON THE AFFECTED POPULATION IN THE AFTERMATH OF THE 29/09 TSUNAMI IN SAMOA.

On October 8th I received an email from Dr. William Grut, director of AMDA Canada and RoseCharities New Zealand and Canada with the initial question whether I would be available to respond to a request from the Samoan government for counselors to come to Samoa to assist in the aftermath of the tsunami. William had been corresponding with Ms. Adimaimalaga Tufuna'i, Executive Director of Women in Business Development Inc. (WIBDI) based in Apia, Samoa. From there on communication started with AMDA Headquarters Tokyo and Dr. Rasalingam from AMDA New Zealand.

On Thursday October 15th I met Mr. Nithian Veeravagu from AMDA headquarters and Reverend Kyosuke Hirano at the Airport in Auckland NZ. They were delivering a huge amount of medical supplies to Samoa. Air New Zealand at the check in counter generously waived all fees for excess baggage. Two women from WIBDI picked us up from the airport in Apia. From thereon the team of WIBDI has gone out of their way to accommodate me and their commitment to their work is incredible.

On Thursday 15th October Nithian, Hirano and myself were taken to the disaster zone by Tina from WIBDI. The devastation is huge and has left enormous scars in the landscape. The people of the villages affected by the tsunami have all moved to higher ground along the Plantation Roads where we witnessed firsthand the impact of the tsunami on the families in their temporary shelters.

The emergency relief agencies have been working very hard providing shelter, food and sanitation etc. I was struck by the expression on some of the faces, several times I witnessed the expression-less flat affect associated with shock and trauma.

The next 3 days- Friday, Saturday and Sunday, were filled with one on one counseling sessions at the request of Women in Business Development Inc. WIBDI. Most of the people who equested session time were staff of WIBDI and staff of Faataua le Ola(FLO) the lifeline counseling service in Samoa.

Since the tsunami the staff of these organisations have been working overtime in the disaster area assisting survivors and providing support to families. It became very clear that these professional carers have been affected both personally in their own families as well as are being vicariously traumatised by working constantly with, witnessing and hearing the suffering of families and individuals in deep shock and grief.

I conducted the sessions where-ever people felt comfortable or as safe as possible and we worked together in a home or office setting or in the special counseling room at the FLO office.

From these three days of hearing the stories of these people working in the fieldwork it has become quite clear to me that there is a strong need for ongoing follow up debriefing, support and training of professional staff in order for them to function well and be able to continue their field work effectively.

I was asked to conduct a workshop on the Monday for staff of the NGO,s mentioned above. FLO generously provided the workshop space. The topics were training in basic counseling skills and recognising the effects of trauma, grief and loss. The participants were all working professionally in the field in one form or another, eg. social work, counseling, pastoral care, fieldwork and management of NGO's. We covered topics like listening skills, gaining trust, recognizing signs of stress, what blocks trust and open communication etc.

Halfway through the workshop there was another earthquake. I witnessed firsthand the trauma reaction in the group. After every-one had checked whether family was ok and heard there was no tsunami warning, this amazing group of people came back together in the workshop and the rest of the time was spent in a talking circle where they shared some of their traumatic experiences.

I want to express my heartfelt thank you to this group for trusting me with their stories of loss and grief as well as showing their incredible resilience and courage.

From sitting with some of the Samoan people and hearing their trauma and grief, I would strongly recommend regular ongoing training workshops, debriefing and support. Not only for the families affected, but also particularly for the health-care professionals. The impact of this disaster will continue to be experienced over a long time, years rather then weeks or months.

Finally I would like to express my heartfelt thanks to William Grut from RoseCharities New Zealand, Nithian Veeravagu Dr. Rasalingam and Reverend Kyosuke Hirano from AMDA, Ms. Adimaimalaga Tufuna'I and her wonderful staff from WIBDI for generously giving me this opportunity to work in Samoa. Your care and attention has been wonderful.

Liese Groot-Alberts
Grief-Therapist MNZAC
Cairnhill Medical Centre
95 Mountain Road
Epsom, Auckland 1023
New Zealand.

Rose Charities New Zealand Aug 2009 Newsletter

New Zealand:

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.)