Portraits of Our Help: Holiday Edition

Throughout 2007, Malteser International has published remarkable stories of how we help people and communities in the countries where we work to rebuild and revitalize. We've met incredible people doing great work and making great strides and doing great services to help others. We've packaged these stories together for the holiday version of our On the SPOT newsletter.

These new Portraits of Our Help offer heartwarming and inspirational stories from people working in India, Dr Congo, Myanmar, Pakistan, India... everywhere where we help provide relief efforts and rebuilding projects. Download our On The Spot Christmas Edition to read our stories.

World AIDS Day: HIV Prevention in India

Today is World AIDS Day, a day for individuals and organizations worldwide to bring attention to the global AIDS epidemic. The Order of Malta Worldwide Relief -- Malteser International Americas commemorates the 20th anniversary of this historic day with three new stories this week that describe how Malteser International promotes HIV prevention in the countries where we work. Today’s story focuses on our work in India with HIV prevention and against discrimination of people living with AIDS.

2.5 million in India people are infected with HIV, primarily in the southern state of Tamil Nadu. Since the disease is most commonly contracted in India through heterosexual contact, an unusually high percentage of infected people here are women (38%).

One such woman, Helen Marie, only discovered she was HIV positive when her husband died of AIDS. She soon faced discrimination even from her family who was unwilling to associate with her.

Negative attitudes about HIV and AIDS in India are largely fueled by ignorance about the ways people can become infected. Discrimination often results in social isolation and economic hardship when people in their community sometimes become unwilling to hire them in their businesses, or forbid their children to play with the children of HIV infected neighbors.

The task of educating the public about the disease and fighting stigma is a large one. People like Pazhania Pillai, a local artist who has written over 80 songs about HIV/AIDS, have used their creativity to inform their community. Pillai remarks, "With my songs, I want to make sure that the healthy people show solidarity with the infected persons."

Malteser International works with the Center for Social Reconstruction (CSR), an Indian relief organization, in order to support AIDS victims and inform healthy people about the disease. CSR employees advise AIDS patients about their rights and conduct educational campaigns to fight stigma and discourage further infection.

There is a long way to go, but the efforts of CSR and passionate people like Pazhania Pillai are encouraging signs of progress.

On The SPOT: August Newsletter

This month, Order of Malta Worldwide Relief - Malteser International Americas pays tribute to two colleagues who recently passed. We mourn the loss of Dr. Yohannes Ligiam and Anne Broquet, two extraordinary individuals who made their life's work in helping others. We extend our condolences to their friends and families.

You can pay tribute to our colleagues -- or to your own family and friends -- by making an honor and/or memorial gift to Malteser International Americas. You can also notify friends and family of your gift with one of our eCards.    

Be sure to visit our social network pages on MySpace and Razoo, as well as our YouTube channel. Finally, you can help us today by forwarding this email to a friend and by making a donation to help support our efforts. Your support helps us continue our work to relieve suffering and make a difference in people's lives.

Dr.Yohannes Ligiam during an HIV/AIDS sensibilisation campaign

Malteser International Mourns the Loss of Dr. Yohannes Ligiam

Malteser International mourns the sudden and unexpected death of its highly esteemed staff member Dr. Yohannes Ligiam. Dr. Ligiam had been working as a HIV/AIDS-Project Manager for Malteser International in Wa/Myanmar. He died of a sudden heart attack on July 14 while on his way from his hotel to an internet cafe. He was 56.

Dr. Ligiam was a dedicated colleague who committed his life and work to helping others. His thoughts were always on the people he assisted and his co-workers. His death has hit us all unexpectedly. We will never forget Dr. Ligiam. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family, his colleagues and friends. We will commemorate him.

Anne Broquet discussing with a monk in Sri Lanka

Malteser International Pays Tribute to Anne Broquet 

Malteser International is grieving for its colleague and friend of "Ordre de Malte France", the relief service of the French Association of the Order of Malta. Anne Broquet died on July 16 in Paris after a long illness. She was 60. Broquet's last deployments took her to Sri Lanka and India for the emergency relief after tsunami.

With Anne Broquet, Malteser International does not only lose a highly esteemed colleague and important team member, but also a very close friend and convincing example of Christian faith and living. Our thoughts and prayers are with her and her family.

AFRICA

Testing for sleeping sickness in Yei South Sudan

Sudan: Health Care Now in Prisons

Malteser International is working on behalf of local health authorities to assure health education in prisons of Yei in South Sudan. Beginning in July, in cooperation with representatives of the health authority, Malteser International organized health education and training for about 100 prisoners and prison staff and informed them about frequent diseases like tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS, sleeping sickness and leprosy. Treatment of these diseases and the visit of other prisons in Yei are planned in cooperation with the local hospital.

Sudan: Raising Awareness for Malaria Season 

Malteser International conducted malaria awareness-building sessions in June for 225 community health volunteers in North Darfur. These volunteers received comprehensive training to educate in their respective villages on malaria prevention and control: the destruction of breeding sites for anopheles mosquitoes; identification of symptoms; and the importance of seeking malaria treatment promptly. The goal is to improve awareness and knowledge and also to promote community participation on malaria prevention.

These community health volunteers also throw light on the danger of malaria for pregnant women and the benefit of sleeping under long -lasting mosquito nets. During the peak of the malaria season, Malteser International distributes mosquito nets to all pregnant women coming to the health centre for pre-natal care.

Malteser International realized measures of compound sanitation in all supported health facilities by installing water tanks, building incinerators and planting a total of 80 desert trees.

Uganda: Community-Based Health Teams in Kaberamaido

In June 2008, Malteser International started a new flood relief project following the severe floods in September, 2007. We aim to build awareness for the community-based health system in the district of Kaberamaido. Citizens will be taught the dangers of an outbreak of epidemics, for example, after flood disasters. The health situation in Kaberamaido remains critical after being severely affected by the floods last year. 

ASIA

During the computer software training in Aceh Besar

Indonesia: Implementation of Health Information System Reaches New Level

Since 2005, Malteser International has been supporting the public health authority of the district Aceh with the implementation of a computer-based health information system, where all the relevant data of patients are saved. After the tsunami, such a system was urgently needed. The software training for the staff in the health centers will be completed in the end of July. A new phase of the project is beginning: more and more specialized staff from the local foundation Air Putih will assure the sustainable use of the programs in the health centers. 

Myanmar: Relief for the Survivors of Cyclone Nargis; Proceeds Basic Health Care and WASH Activities on Middle Island

In addition to the relief measures in Labutta in the severely affected Irrawaddy Delta, Malteser International now also takes care of health care and water supply for about 62,000 people in the northern part of Middle Island, located about 40 kilometers from Labutta. After cyclone Nargis hit the coast of Myanmar this past May, the government of Myanmar requested medical teams of the International Hospital Yangon provide assistance to the population of Middle Island. The International Hospital is now handing over four health centers on Middle Island, providing medicines, staff and equipment.

Four medical teams -- consisting of  five doctors, seven nurses and one pharmacist -- distribute insecticides to prevent an outbreak of infectious diseases like dengue or malaria. "The insecticide will be put in all cisterns and water tanks because dengue and malaria are transmitted by mosquitoes breeding in the water", Dr. Marie Theres Benner, Senior Health Coordinator of Malteser International reports from Yangon. In the worst case, the diseases lead to death if no medical support is given. The insecticide avoids the breeding of the mosquito larvae and minimizes the number of infections. "Before the start of the campaign, we have trained the health workers in the use and handling of the insecticides. We have informed the people living here on Middle Island how they can protect themselves against infections and how they can identify them in an early stage," Dr. Benner explains. Malteser International will build 75 rain water harvesting tanks as well as 2,000 fly proof latrines and rehabilitate 100 water sources on Middle Island that have been flooded by sea water during the disaster.

The hospital on Middle Island has been completely destroyed by the cyclone

Families on the island who have lost all their belongings during the cyclone receive cookware, soap, plastic sheets, rain coats and other urgently needed relief items. Malteser International trains community health workers in order to enable them to inform their communities about infectious diseases and how to avoid them. 

In Labutta, a heavily destroyed coastal town in the Irrawaddy Delta, the aid measures of Malteser International still go on. Staff members provide medical care for 16,000 internally displaced persons and 24,000 inhabitants. Malteser International is also supplying about 100,000 people in Labutta and its outskirts with safe drinking water. More than 15,000 mosquito nets and 2,700 "family kits" with cookware, hygiene articles and water cans have been distributed to the neediest families. 

Visit our website for more information or to make a donation to our Myanmar fund.

Women during the CEFE Training

Vietnam: Business training for the Poorest Women in Hoa Quy

Malteser International is using business skills training to respond to an alarming situation for many women in Hoa Quy in the district Ngu Hanh Son. These women suffer from a lack of almost everything required in daily life and are not able to comply with the basic needs of their families. In this training, named Competency-based Economies through Formation of Enterprise (CEFE) training (http://www.cefe.net/) the women get basic economic knowledge and learn selling skills. After the training, they are able to set up a small business, earn money and thus sustain their families. The project is financed by the German consulate in Ho Chi Minh City.

Rehabilitation of health facilities in Kashmir

Pakistan: New project supports disaster prevention

Malteser International will begin comprehensive measures for disaster prevention in areas that are regularly threatened by forces of nature like Azad Jammu and Kashmir in Pakistan. Due to the geographic conditions, these regions suffer regular earthquakes and other natural forces. Long-dated disaster prevention is necessary as the effects of the October 2005, which killed an estimated 73,000 people.

Nobody should fall in the water pond anymore…

Esther Suchanek is working as a project assistant for Malteser International and currently writes a travel diary from the disaster region.

How people in remote areas contribute to improve their living conditions Today, I leave the disaster region for a visit in one of the other project regions of Malteser International in Myanmar. Very early, in the pouring rain, we start our trip to the Mayu Kan peninsula close to Sittwe, in the north west of Myanmar. Here, Malteser International has been implementing a project to improve the water and sanitation as well as the health situation in 26 villages since 2006.

Two years ago, all started with a survey amongst the people in the villages to see what exactly their needs are. Then, together with the  inhabitants, the plan was made about how to go on. For example, the survey had shown that the construction of latrines should be a major point on the agenda: Malteser International was going to provide the materials for the construction, but the villagers themselves had to decide how many latrines they needed and where they wanted to build them. Furthermore, staff members of Malteser International distributed mosquito nets (namely 5165 – every household in the project’s catchment area received one) and  water filters. In addition, health promoters educate the people about risks of diseases like malaria and the importance of clean drinking water. Water ponds are being cleaned and rebuilt so that they will stay clean in the future.

In That Yet Chaung, a small community with about 145 households, we meet the village leader who proudly presents us his new latrine. Here, the people are very engaged and committed to make a change. “Before we started with the construction of the latrines, we had a meeting, every household had a vote. The result: every household wanted to get its own latrine”, the chief says. And so it was done. Where before there were only five latrines for 128 households there is now one latrine for each family.

Malteser International provides a basic set for the construction, the people often bring additional material to make the latrines more stable and look better. “The inhabitants of this village take such good care of their latrines that they will easily last ten to 15 years”, Julio Sosa, project manager at Malteser International in Sittwe, says.

Laughing, the village chief tells us how before, people often fell in the water pond because its edges were muddy and slippery, making the water dirty. This can’t happen anymore since Malteser International built a new concrete stair for the villagers to reach the water.

Furthermore, the villagers together with Malteser International plan to construct a fence so that animals won’t go drinking from the pond anymore. That will make the water even safer for drinking. The construction of the new health centers goes on at full speed.

We walk back through the village to the boat. Everything is very clean and in order. The rain is still heavy and the paths turned into little rivers. Before the arrival of Malteser International and the installation of the latrines, the waste water of many families flew across here...

In total, we visit three villages in which Malteser International works in the sector of WASH (water, sanitation and hygiene). But this is not all: the organization is currently also constructing five health centers in this region where before there was not even one. Up until today, the medical care is being taken care of by midwives that are each responsible for up to seven villages and work from home. A new health structure is therefore urgently needed. When the construction of the health centers will be finished, the Ministry of Health will take over and sustainably operate them. Of course, they are all provided with latrines and rain water harvesting tanks. And they are cyclone-proof, which is very important in this region where cyclones regularly strike in the beginning of rainy season, destroying many buildings. The construction is going on at full speed; the hand-over will take place soon.

It is good to see how the people here on Mayu Kan are happy about the assistance and how they commit themselves actively in the planning and implementation of all project measures.

They even founded committees to take care of their new facilities like the ponds and fences when they were built. In addition, the access to health care will be secured. This combination will hopefully change the situation of the people for the better in the long term, even after Malteser International will have left the area. The stone just needed to start rolling.

Esther Suchanek

Daw Khin Mya’s nightmare of May 2nd: How a grandmother in Thin Gan Kone on Middle Island lived the cyclone

Esther Suchanek is working as a project assistant for Malteser International and currently writes a travel diary from the disaster region.

Today I met an elderly lady. I was very impressed by the story she told me. She lost her husband and her house during the cyclone. But she does not give up. I cannot forget her and though I decided to write down her story:

Daw Khin Mya (her name has been changed for this story)  is smiling while she’s telling her story. This happens frequently after people experienced something horrible; it is kind of a self-protection-mechanism to deal with the memories. Day Khin Mya will never forget her memories of the night of May 2, 2008, when cyclone Nargis hit the coast of Myanmar, killing ten thousands of people and destroying hundred thousands of homes.

"First came the wind," the 63-year old woman says. "A very strong wind with a deafening noise. Then came the water." Daw Khin Mya is sitting in what she has reconstructed of her former big wooden house on the banks of the river in Thin Gan Kone, a little city on Middle Island, in the western part of the Irrawaddy Delta in Myanmar. Now she is living in a little hut, repaired here and there with plastic sheets provided by humanitarian organizations.

Thin Gan Kone is divided into two parts by a river. During the cyclone, the bridge was destroyed, cutting off the southern part of the city to the somehow safer northern site, leaving the people in the south without many ways to get out. Daw Khin Mya lives in the southern part of the town. When she wanted to flee form the water, she realized that the bridge had broken and that she had to find another way out. Together with her husband and some neighbors, she took a small boat. The wind was still blowing at full speed and the water had gained strength persecuting them. When her husband tried to save other people from drowning, he fell in the water and could not make it back in the boat. He died in the floods. Shortly after, the boat fell over, leaving all passengers at the mercy of nature. Fortunately, all 16 passengers survived and found refuge in a storage house far away from their home village. At this point of the story, Daw Khin Mya pauses. She holds one of her grandchildren sitting on her lap, still smiling.

The next morning, when the storm had continued its way towards Yangon to then disperse, she came back to Thin Gan Kone. Everything she once owned was gone. With the help of her five children, she reconstructed her little hut. During her escape, she hurt her knee and she was also suffering from diarrhea. So she went to the health center in Thin Gan Kone. This center as well as further four other health centers on Middle Island are now being operated by Malteser International. But the physical pain Daw Khin Mya is feeling is not the worst – she also suffers from anxiety and depression. These wounds are not that easy to heal. Malteser International is therefore going to send lay-counselors to Middle Island to assist the people to cope with their experiences and memories.

But after all she has been through Daw Khin Mya does not give up on life. Her husband and she used to work in the fishery industry. And even though the water has taken everything she owned and her husband, she still wants to live close to the river and start fishing again. Daw Khin Mya walks through the streets of her village. She stops to talk to her neighbors who have all experienced similar tragedies that night of May 2, 2008. Then she turns to the little hut where her daughter and grandchildren live. Smiling, she waves me good-bye as she takes of her shoes to enter the small home.

Esther Suchanek