WorldView Magazine - Fall 2009 - (Page 8)
Around the NPCA GROUP NEWS HIGHLIGHTS A look at what NPCA member groups are up to by Erica Burman FRIENDS OF ECUADOR Friends of ecuador is assisting RPCV Ouida Chichester in her ongoing work with the Simón Palacios Intriago Foundation for People with Disabilities at her former Peace Corps site in coastal Ecuador. Members of the Foundation are mostly uneducated and impoverished mothers of children with varying disabilities. Despite their lack of personal economic resources, these women have worked together to establish, maintain and improve the services offered by the Foundation since it was established in 2001. In the US, Ouida has been able to connect high school students in the US to the Foundation’s work and to date the students have raised over $10,000, which has gone to help build a rehabilitation center, purchase medical and physical therapy equipment, build a wall and gate to protect the center, and construct an additional classroom and therapy space for the adolescents with disabilities. By offering its website and e-pay functionality to Ouida to help coordinate fundraising, Friends of Ecuador, has been instrumental in getting these funds to Ecuador and in the hands of the Foundation. To support this project, visit www.FriendsofEcuador.org. FRIENDS OF LIbERIA Twenty-seven Friends of liberia (FOL) members traveled to Liberia for three weeks this May—the largest number of FOL members traveling together since the group’s 1997 electionmonitoring delegation. After greeting old friends and hosting a reception in Monrovia, the group divided into medical, educational and environmental teams and headed up-country. The medical group consisted of one doctor, three nurses, a medical librarian, a medical technologist and two social workers. In one week, Dr. Fall 2009 Pam Branning delivered five babies by Cesarean section with the Ganta Mission Hospital team. Nurses conducted numerous classes and inservice training workshops with nursing students and hospital staff. The medical librarian and social workers hosted courses on using computers and the Internet and dealing with mental health care issues. Five FOL members worked with the hospital administrator to evaluate safety and environmental issues at the hospital. The medical team, led by FOL Membership Coordinator Jim McGeorge and his wife, Pat, brought drugs and medical equipment for two hospitals valued at $200,000. The seven-member education team worked in two elementary schools in Ganta, observing, coaching and teaching. They brought dozens of books and a variety of school supplies to share with the teachers. On the last day of the teachers’ week, the group conducted a training workshop and hosted a lunch for all the teachers at the two schools. FOL President Stephanie Vickers, a retired reading specialist, has led several teacher-training workshops throughout Liberia since 2001. FOL Webmaster and career forester Mike Waite coordinated the environmental team’s work with the non-governmental organization Skills and Agriculture Development Services (SADS). Together they traveled to the East Nimba conservation area to survey the surrounding villages and determine whether they understood the potential benefits of preserving the forest. In the final week, the entire group had an hour-long visit with President JohnsonSirleaf, where they discussed future plans for FOL to work in and assist Liberia. FOL has created a photo gallery and blog site about the trip on its website at www.FOL.org. FRIENDS OF THAILAND Since 2002, Friends of Thailand (FoT) has funded 60 Peace Corps Volunteer-generated projects ranging from the creative and unusual (Astronomy English Camp, toothbrushing and hand-washing stations, and the Thai Youth Theater Festival) to the more traditional teacher training, library development, HIV/AIDS training and English clubs. Funding for projects is capped at 50,000 Baht, or about $1,470. Some of FoT’s most successful projects have been small business development and income generation, including income generation via mushroom cultivation. Details about FoT and the projects it funds can be found at www.FriendsofThailand.org. RETURNED PEACE CORPS VOLUNTEERS OF MADISON, WISCONSIN Over the last decade, classroom teachers have asked Returned Peace Corps Volunteers of Madison, Wisconsin for poster-size versions of the beautiful photos in the RPCV International Calendar. The group has now produced a set of five posters ready for purchase, with plans to create two more sets of five by 2011, the 50th anniversary of Peace Corps. The first set of WE ALL International Posters illustrates basic common needs that people share across the globe: the needs for food, water, housing, work and clothing. Like the calendar, they have the dual purposes of sharing what Volunteers have learned with the people back home, as well as raising money for grassroots projects in the countries where Volunteers served. The posters, measuring 24˝ 2 36˝, are packaged in a mailing tube and sell for $30 per set, plus shipping and can be ordered at www.RPCVMadison.org.
http://www.FriendsofThailand.org
http://www.FriendsofEcuador.org
http://www.FOL.org
http://www.RPCVMadison.org
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of WorldView Magazine - Fall 2009
WorldView Magazine - Fall 2009
Contents
President's Letter
Your Turn
Are You Connected Yet? Join Africa Rural Connect
Group News Highlights
Why Investment in Health Is Critical Now
New Hope and Lessons from Rwanda
Turning a Blind Eye
A Question of Capacity
CN U HLP ME? I HAVE A ??
When Water and Sanitation Are a Priority
Could “Peace Care” Lessen the Global Burden of Disease?
One, Two, Three
Translating International Health to Health Care at Home
Turning Tragedy to Opportunity
Costa Rica: Finding My Religion
St. Lucia: Learning about Hunger
Seven Dusty Notebooks
Peace Corps Service 2.0
The Peace Corps Community Making a Difference
Community News
Advertiser Index
WorldView Magazine - Fall 2009
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