Archive for the ‘General interest’ Category

Libby Madden at Be Tho Orphanage

Rose Charities Vietnam is delighted to welcome Libby Madden to our Board.   Libby and her husband James live in Brisbane, Australia.  They work in the aged care sector to which Libby brings her considerable skills, including degrees in Nutrition and Gerontology.

Libby went to Vietnam for the first time in 2003 and “fell in love with the country and the people”.  She has been back seven times, visiting Rose VN projects in Ho Chi Minh City on a number of those occasions.  Libby has given Rose VN a great deal of support over the years.

In 2010 Rose Vietnam shifted its focus to Hue, where we now have a number of projects including building houses for the poor, education support, a school for blind adults and income generation. Libby plans to visit Hue in 2012,  (and is currently learning Vietnamese!)   While there she will evaluate a new community development project in Thanh Thien village.

Libby joins current board members  Mr. Phuoc Chi Nguyen, Louis Lap Nguyen, Hanh-Thuc Nguyen and Jan Johnston.

Rose Charities Singapore has established a transport link into Thailand. Through a network of volunteers, friends and affiliates, emergency supplies are being purchased in neigbouring countries and transported to the areas in need.

Donations in the past 3 days alone have enabled us to purchase 1000 tins of milk power which will be sent to babies in evacuation centers through local Thai TV station ThaiTV3.

We are now sending out the call for canned food for those stranded at the flooded sites.

For SGD3.00 / RM7.20, the flood victims will get a set of the following items:
1. Cinta Sardine in tomato sauce at RM2.75/425g/can (retail is RM3.25/can)
2. Rex Baked beans in tomato sauce at 1.95/425g/can (retail is RM2.25/can)
3. ‘Xiang Xiang’ brand crackers abt 420gm (similar to Ping Pong brand) RM2.50/pack

Donations are needed to assist program and will be very gratefully received.

As always with Rose Charities, the program is run 100% by unpaid volunteers so every cent donated goes…

Rose Charities Singapore (Lawrence and Mme Cheah on right)

A Rose Charities Singapore has now been formed, assisted by Mr Lawrence Cheah and others.  The whole Rose Charities network extends a warm welcome to our new organization !

Rose Charities Singapore has immediately sprung into action by helping raise funds for Baby Jeven who desperately needs a complex cardiac operation  this October.

Baby Jeven and mother

Edwina Bower

Some  80 people came to enjoy Rose Charities Australia’s ‘trivia-night’  planned and organized by Edwina Bower, and Penny Kendall and assisted by family members Will and Philip, on Friday 7th October 2011.  Held at the Willoughby East Bowling Club in North Sydney, participants enjoyed a lavish barbecue, and home made cakes and treats prepared by Edwina and her family.   Edwina visisted Cambodia last year and with brother, Will helped Joanna Thomson’s Rose Rehab project at Chea Chumneas hospital assisting with much valued administration.

Penny rolling comp in background

Apart from the meal, drinks and trivia quiz (around 50 questions), other competitive events were included, such as paper aeroplane distance flying, and penny rolling.   The evening was hugely enjoyable and raised several thousand dollars for Rose Rehab Cambodia

Penny Kendall

Paper aeroplane competition

Sarah and Gareth marry in the Adelaide Hills, South Australia, 8 Oct 2011

Following the marriage of Theresa (Rose Australia) and Cameron,  comes that of Sarah and Gareth. Both Sarah and Theresa are founder members of Rose Charities Australia and  board trustees.  Theresa is Current  Chair of the organization.

All in Rose Charities wish our lovely couples all happiness and congratulations !

‘Access-for-All”

On Friday the 31st of July 2011, Joanna Thomson and her team at Rose Cambodia Rehabilitation Centre (RCRC) are excited to be attending the signing ceremony to receive a $20,000 (USD) grant from the Disability Inclusion Assistance Fund (DIAF). DIAF is a funding mechanism supported by the Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID) and managed by the Australian Red Cross (ARC). The goal of the DIAF is to reduce the vulnerability of persons with disability including landmine and explosive remnants of war (ERW) survivors, their families and affected communities in Cambodia.

The grant will be used to support the “Access For All” project which aims to address the issue of women with disabilities in rural areas being unable to access secondary and tertiary education. The project provides a safe, secure housing solution for disabled women, allowing them to move into the town and live independent, fulfilling lives where they can access educational opportunities. Not only are the beneficiaries able to access formal education but they are also trained in project management and organisational development skills which will enable them to be leaders and manage the project independently long-term.

Through the learning of life skills, taught to them in the supportive home, they will be able to gain confidence and learn to participate fully in the community and to teach others about women with disability and raise awareness and advocate for disability rights. Through the long-term acquisition of skills and formal qualifications they will be able to earn an income and relieve the burden on their families of caring for a disabled daughter in rural Cambodia, increasing the living standards of not only themselves, but their whole family.

This project has been established by inspirational local Khmer man, Mr Ull Meng Hour. Located in Prey Veng Town, this project has been developed by a group of devoted local volunteers with Mr Hour’s leadership. While Jo Thomson is the Project Manager for this project, her role will largely be a consultative and advisory role as the day to day management of the project will be staffed by the women with disabilities who are the beneficiaries of the project. Mr Hour and his supporters will remain very much involved in the project acting as long-term project guardians who will provide training to the project team and will ensure that the project is being implemented in line with the identified objectives.

While this grant covers the basic costs of the project for the next year, more funds will be required to sponsor the beneficiaries’ educational requirements, in particular their University fees. As well, more laptops are required.

If you are able to help with these needs, please contact Rose Charities Director, Sarah Miller – sarah@rosecharities.org.au. For more information on Rose’s Educational Sponsorship program and to see the student profiles of those involved in the Access For All project please see http://roseeducation.wordpress.com/cambodia

I loved my medical elective at Rose Rehabilitation/Rose eye clinic in Cambodia! I sit in clinics now wondering what I would be doing if I was still out there and reminiscing about this unique experience.

Cambodia as a country is amazing, it is full of the friendliest people I think I’ve ever met; everybody is keen to help you and make you feel welcome.  This was no different at Rose Rehabilitation Centre in Takhmao.  It was a slightly awkward moto journey arriving there from Phnom Penh (capital city) but all the angst quickly disappeared once I saw Joanna, Sophak, Rith and the rest of the team.  They were extremely welcoming, friendly and inclusive; even when there were no medical issues for me to be getting on with – Joanna always invited me to visit the rehab patients in the community to take histories, examine them etc and even teach me.  She (and the rest of the team) answered my questions; always allowing time for me.  It was truly extraordinary to see the healthcare running successfully with limited resources and the variety of patients that Rose Rehabilitation deal with; the immense clinical signs really tested my (limited!) medical knowledge and allowed me to see the aftercare involved in a surgical patient – something I rarely see in hospitals back at home.  This was such a great opportunity to really test my clinical skills too and offer some medical tips back to the team.

I have to stress though that this is not always the case for visiting medical students – it just so happened that my visit coincided with Dr. Sarom’s (the head surgeon) visit to Australia and so I was only able to spend about a week with him.  I had applied for this elective because I am highly interested in surgery and did get to see some cool cleft palate repairs, plastics and grafts but never got a chance to assist unfortunately as I believe Dr. Sarom was training a Khmer doctor at that time.

It was lucky for me that I have a keen interest in ophthalmology and so I split my time between takhmao (Rose Rehabilitation) and the eye clinic (based in Phnom penh) where I sat in the clinics for the morning and then assisted – that’s right – ASSISTED in ophthalmology surgery in the afternoons!  The eye centre is run by Dr. Vra (who predominantly performs cataract surgery) and his Ukrainian wife – Dr. Natalie (oculoplasty etc) – the rest of the team are lovely however, language is a major problem.  If, by chance, you speak Russian or Khmer – then great!  You will be fine – but if however, you only speak English – it makes life somewhat interesting…. Of course you pick up little things here and there but you can’t really run the clinic or ask the patients much yourself – without a translator.  I was lucky that Dr. Natalie was so keen to teach and wrote everything in English.  She was also very eager for me to practise my surgical skills and although I’m sure I was the local attraction/entertainment at the clinic – her teaching was invaluable.  The very first day there, she made me do an interrupted suture with tiny thread on a blepharoplasty . It soon progressed to me doing complete operations on my own – supervised of course.  If you’re keen or even interested in ophthalmological surgery – this is the place to be, there is nowhere in England that you will get such experience at our level – it is impossible so I am truly grateful for the opportunity I had to complete my elective here.  However, if you are squeamish, then I suggest maybe just attending morning clinic (start at 8am-12pm) as all the patients are under local anaesthetic only for their surgeries!

Bits of advice/ things I wish I’d known before I came:
-    Bring your own scrubs especially for eye clinic and id suggest taking your own crocs too but they all wear flip flops.
-    If you can get sterile hats then bring them too.
-    I’d suggest staying in Phnom Penh – purely as there’s so much more to do there, and it really caters for westerners.  I stayed in Europe Guesthouse on Street 136, which had the perfect location and was run by the loveliest family!
-    Take a book with you to read if you’re spending time in Takhmao as everything runs on “Cambodian Standard Timing” and you do end up waiting around for patients etc.  There is a medical ward there but the doctors speak only Khmer or French.  Dr. Sarom is excellent and speaks good English however.
-    Getting to Takhmao – if you can arrange for the directions to be written in Khmer and find yourself a nice tuk tuk driver that will do you a deal – take it! I went with a friend of mine (Physio volunteer) from Phnom Penh via tuk tuk there and back and it came to $7 a day but I’m sure it can be done cheaper.
-    At the eye clinic – there is a nice canteen around the back where doctors and other volunteers from the opposite surgical centre eat – lovely dinner ladies and you can eat as much as you want for 2000 riel – that equates to around 25p!
-    Definitely try sugar cane juice when the lady comes around on her moto too.
-    Uniform – it’s so hot (esp. during march-may) that I wore cropped trousers, shorts, and decent tops – there’s no need in dressing too smart as everybody is pretty laid back.
-    Be prepared for things to “go with the flow” – it is not a regimented elective – which I think is good as it really allows you to immerse yourself in Cambodian nature.
-    Ooh if you’re vegetarian – learn the words in Khmer for “no meat, no fish” etc and just re-iterate that when you go to eat. I found it difficult to find vegetarian food – esp. in Takhmao but it’s understandable as it’s not in Cambodian nature to not eat meat!  However, Sophak, Sokney and Joanna all made sure the dinner ladies at Takhmao had some vegetables for me; they really look after you during your elective so just remember to have fun!