KI Eliminate C&C Newsletter December

7/30/2019 KI Eliminate C&C Newsletter December

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December 2012 | www.TheEliminateProject.org

Worldwide fundraisingtotal (as of 11/16)

US$21,029,305More than 11,682,947

lives impacted

Eastern Canada and the

Caribbean fundraising total

(as of 11/16)

US$ 842,395More than 467,997

lives impacted

Western Canada

fundraising total

(as of 11/16)

US$ 498,394More than 276,886 lives

impacted

Number of Model/100K

ClubsEastern Canada & Caribbean:

7Western Canada: 15

Club coordinator

recruitment progress

Eastern Canada and Carib-bean: 18 of 142 club coordi-

nators (13%)

Western Canada: 0 of 58club coordinators (0%)

All donations to: Kiwanis Foundation of Canada

PO Box 5034

Brantford, Ontario, Canada

N3T 6J7

Office telephone: 519-304-3038, Fax: 519-304-3549

E-mail: Elaine Johnson, [email protected]

Canada and the CaribbeanCampaign Connection

Eliminate progress

This is the first of a three part article from the personal journal of Ki-wanis International President-elect Dr. John Button and Debbie on their

visit to Guinea Conakry with UNICEF for The Eliminate Project

The thing about Guinea is that it is all avoidable.

Julien Harneis, UNICEF Country RepresentativeDay 1

Our Eliminate Project site visit to Guinea Conakry in west Africa began with an uneventfuleight hour flight from Toronto to Paris. After a short layover, we departed for Conakry,Guinea. At least we were supposed to depart. Unfortunately, the baggage sorter brokedown and all baggage had to be hand sorted and loaded which left us sitting on the tarmacfor two and a half hours before our six hour flight. We arrived at Conakry, the capital, two

hours late and were met by our driver and Michael Grudzinsky, our US Fund host. Our tripto our hotel, the Miriador Palace, led us through the citys busy markets bustling with hawk-

ers, gawkers and squawkers, des femmes en promenade and running laughing children.

To get to the shops, you first had to negotiate the mounds of garbage lining the streets.

The hotel had a beautiful faade and lobby. Our room was a different matter: dirty, moldy,foul smelling, two functioning lights out of five, intermittent electricity and one worn towel.

We had supper with our US Fund hosts, Michael and Karen Turney, and Kiwanian BobAllen from Virginia. The meal was goodfrench fries to die for!and the companionshipwas great. Later, we met the rest of our Kiwanis group: Dan and Cheryl Connolly and JudyKramer, all from California.

Day 2Day two began with detailed briefings at the UNICEF National Office and the United Na-tions House. Both buildings were heavily guarded and barb-wired.

From UNICEF we learned: 10% of the population have adequate sanitation (Guinea is cur-rently in the middle of a cholera epidemic with over 6,000 confirmed cases and 111 deaths);65% of the population have access to clean water however mothers may spend 6 8 hoursdaily getting water, leaving their children in the care of older siblings who as a result willnot be in school; 96% of the female population have undergone genital mutilation at thehands of their mothers, usually occurring at a very young age; 30% of women between theages of 12 and 19 have already had their first babies; opportunities for education and train-ing are limited leading to anger and frustration among young people who eventually turn toanti-social behaviors; 84% of HIV positive babies do not have access to antiretroviral

(ARV) drugs; 83% of HIV positive pregnant women do not have access to ARV drugs; 35%of the nations children suffer from chronic malnutrition causing stunted physical growthbut more ominously stunted brain development.

UNICEFs response to these serious threats to the health and lives of Guineas women and

children has been campaigns that focus on the delivery of health care and health educationat the community and household levels.

Guinea journal

days 1-3

Continued on page 2


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All donations to: Kiwanis Foundation of Canada

PO Box 5034

Brantford, Ontario, Canada

N3T 6J7

Office telephone: 519-304-3038, Fax: 519-304-3549

E-mail: Elaine Johnson, [email protected]


cont. from page 1

We next moved on to the United Nations House where we were given a private briefing by the UNs deputy security chief on the

security issues facing the country. In the spring, Conakry was shaken by violent demonstrations as its citizens vented their frustra-tions over the long delay in promised elections. In the neighbouring countries of Sierra Leone, Burkina Faso, Senegal, Liberia andCote dIvoire there have been recent violent uprisings and warfare. Islamic fundamentalist fighters have been returning home fromLibya and have destabilized the countries of Mali, Niger and Mauritania. These threats, from within and without, have lead to achange of priorities for the national government and negatively impacted the delivery of health care programmes.

After our briefing, we left in a three-vehicle convoy for Labe, administrative center of the middle Guinea region, 450 kilometers tothe north. As we drove through Conakry, we were mindful of the very heavy police and military presence. Knots of soldiers, bris-tling with machine guns, patrolled the major intersections. Dan Connolly, of our group, had his camera seized by the military as itwas deemed to be a little too inquisitive. It was later returned due to the intervention of the driver after the soldiers had offered tosell it back. Our route followed the major highway accessing the north of the country. I gained a new appreciation for potholes as

we plunged from one crater to the next for the next eight and a half hours. Averaging approximately 50 kph, we arrived at our desti-nation, the Galaxie Inn in Labe. We arrived shaken not stirred. All in all, the trip was a great advertisement for the Toyota LandCruiser and a testament to the skills of our UNICEF drivers.

The Galaxie Inn made the Miriador Palace look like the Beverly Hills Hilton. Our ground floor room had no towels, no toilet seat,no shower curtain, no curtain on the window that looked out from the shower onto the kitchen porch and intermittent hydro. Oursupper was chicken, steak, onions and french friesall served ice cold.

Day 3

In the morning, following an equally cold breakfast, we made a courtesy call to the Regional Governor. The Governor was a mostgracious host. He was surprisingly well informed about maternal-neonatal tetanus and is a very strong advocate for the campaign.He told us that he would be making the four and a half hour trip to Mali to participate in the ceremony marking the kick-off of a four-day tetanus immunization blitz in the prefect of Mali.

Neil Hudelson, Kiwanis International Foundation Area Director for The Eliminate Project, recovered from his visa difficulties andjoined us in Labe.

Afterwards, we set out in our convoy for the town of Mali, the administrative center of the prefect of Mali in the far north of Guinea.Once again, the dirt highway was studded with potholes but with a new twist wash outs. The 200-kilometer trip took four and ahalf hours making our total trip of 600 kilometers from Conakry to Mali in over 12 hours.

Along the way, we saw small groups of young boys standing at the side of the road with their palms outstretched begging. We laterlearned that these boys had been recently circumcised and following the procedure begged at the roadside for 2 weeks after whichtime they were deemed to be sufficiently recovered and able to resume their normal little boy activities. They were a poignant pic-ture.

In Mali, we checked into our accommodation, the Residence which in turn made the Galaxie Inn in Labe look like the Beverly

Hills Hilton. We were sharing a house with the Connollys and Michelle (UNICEFGuinea). The house was inside a walled andlocked compound. There was no running water, no towels, no toilet paper, the toilets did not flush and the hydro was less reliablethan in Labe. Our bed was the only piece of furniture in our room. It was covered by a plastic sheet, which was in turn covered by aworn, filthy woolen blanket. We bathed in the dark, standing in the bathtub pouring buckets of cold rainwater over our heads, theultimate act of courage. To clear the toilet bowl, we poured in buckets of water, which was not always successful.

Continued on page 3

Notes from Guinea Conakry


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Notes from Guinea Conakry

100K CLUBS


MODEL CLUBS

Cont, from page 2

After settling in, we visited the local hospital which was furnished and equipped circa 1940 50. We met a 17-year-old girl whowas recovering from a Caesarian section. The hospital has approximately 630 deliveries/year estimated to be a fourth of the births inthe Mali prefect.

In the pediatric ward, we saw three young childrenone recovering from a bout of malaria and two admitted that day from the samevillage with malnutrition. The saddest was a four-month-old baby weighing less than seven pounds. The mother had lost four previ-ous babies presumably from malnutrition (the number one cause of pediatric deaths in Guinea). The village women had told thisyoung mother that her breast milk was responsible and so she had stopped nursing and the downward spiral began. The baby wasprofoundly dehydrated, listless, and poorly responsive and did not interact spontaneously. It had been in the hospital for most of theday and did not yet have an IV running. The pediatrician was a recently graduated physician who had no post-graduate training. Ihad a bad feeling about this infant, which was subsequently borne out, as the baby died two days later.

Afterwards, we visited a private home and met with 15 young mothers. Their knowledge and understanding of MNT was remark-able. They all received their health care and health education at the local health center. They insisted on having tetanus vaccination

and access to iodized salt. They also asked for school supplies for their children. As we left, I wondered if the level of knowledge

and understanding regarding MNT would be as great in the women living in the countryside.

Eastern Canada &

The CaribbeanBrantford Kiwanis Club

Cambridge, Ontario Kiwanis ClubChatham Kent Golden K Kiwanis

Club

Ridgetown Kiwanis ClubSarnia Lambton Golden K

Model Clubs are clubs thatpledge $750 per member over

five years

Western CanadaBattlefords Kiwanis Club

Brooks and District Kiwanis Club-Calgary Kiwanis Club

Fort Frances Kiwanis ClubGimli and District Kiwanis Club

Lloydminster Kiwanis ClubMedicine Hat Kiwanis Club

Moose Jaw, Sk. Kiwanis ClubQueen City, Regina Kiwanis Club

Regina Kiwanis ClubRiversdale Kiwanis Club

South Edmonton Kiwanis ClubWascana, Regina Kiwanis Club

Eastern Canada &

The CaribbeanForest City London Kiwanis Club

Toronto Kiwanis Club

Western CanadaEdmonton Kiwanis Club

Northmount, Calgary Kiwanis Club


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How to access the Cam-

paign Resource Center on

The Eliminate Project

website:

Website:www.TheEliminateProject.org

Log in:Campaign2015

Password:

Elimin8MNT

Eastern Canada and

The Caribbean

District Coordinator

James GareyPhone: 519-670-7088

Email:

[email protected]

Western Canada

District

Coordinator

Ralph LiepoldPhone: 306-789-8045

Email:

[email protected]

British Columbia

District

Coordinator

Patrick EwingPhone: 250-995-1362

Email:

[email protected]

Canada and The

Caribbean

Region Coordinator

Chuck McIlravey120 Wildwood Trail

Barrie, Ontario, CanadaL4N 7Z6

Home telephone: 705-252-1115

Email: [email protected]

Where do I send my Eliminate

Project donations?

Send your donations to the

Kiwanis Foundation of Canada

to match every $3 with $1

from the foundation.

Kiwanis Foundation

of Canada

P.O. Box 5034

Brantford, Ontario

N3T 6J7

Make sure to write

The Eliminate Project

in the memo line!

Countries that have eliminated MNT

Burkina Faso

China

East Timor

Ghana

Guinea-Bissau

Liberia

Senegal

Tanzania
http://sites.kiwanis.org/Kiwanis/en/theELIMINATEproject/newresources/Members_copy1.aspxhttp://sites.kiwanis.org/Kiwanis/en/theELIMINATEproject/newresources/Members_copy1.aspxhttp://sites.kiwanis.org/Kiwanis/en/theELIMINATEproject/newresources/Members_copy1.aspx

KI Eliminate C&C Newsletter December

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