Bootcamp for Africa – Let Malawi Move You
Please join us for the first annual “Bootcamp for Africa – Let Malawi Move You” on Sunday September 23rd, 2012.
This is a joint venture between SOLID (Salt Spring Organization for Life Improvement and Development), VIDEA (Victoria International Development Education Agency), Island Pharmacy, and Krista Erskine of Athletica BC to support Ndi Moyo Palliative Care Center in Salima, Malawi – an amazing center of excellence for Palliative Care in Malawi that currently provides medications, health care and support to over 340 active patients as they face the difficulties of the last days and weeks of life.
This year’s “Bootcamp for Africa” will be a fun filled two hours of endurance bootcamp activities, with a Marimba band to entertain, food, beverages and lots of great prizes for performance on the day, as well as prizes for the most successful fundraisers.
Pledge forms can be picked up at any Island Pharmacy location. Please raise as much money as you can for this great cause and bring the collected donations with you to the event. Tax receipts are available for donations over $20, and cheques should be made out to VIDEA (SOLID’s fiscal partner) with ADPP Ndi Moyo on the memo line). Please contact acallegari2003@yahoo.com to register for this event and we look forward to seeing you there!
Pledge forms can be downloaded here.
Ndi Moyo Palliative Care Center
Local Pharmacist Anna Callegari first volunteered for the Ndi Moyo Palliative Care Center in Salima Malawi in 2007 when she and a nursing colleague Beth Gessinger travelled to five African countries on a volunteer mission.
Ndi Moyo is an amazing center of excellence for Palliative Care in Malawi and it currently provides medications, health care and support to over 340 active patients as they face the difficulties of the last days and weeks of life. In addition the center has been reaching out to their clients’ vulnerable children, ensuring that as orphans they still have the support they desperately need and access to schooling.
SOLID has held a commitment to support Ndi Moyo for the past five years, providing a minimum of $3000 yearly for a comfort fund which supplies basics such as maize, sugar, soap, soy and toothbrushes, contributing to the health and well-being of families, and also lifting some of the social and economic burdens which illness can bring.
Over the past year generous donations have allowed SOLID to send $10,000 to the centre, supporting the critical work that Ndi Moyo conducts every day with the sickest of Malawi’s palliative patients. These donations funded the formal training of the centre’s Clinical Officer as he completed his Bachelor of Palliative Care through Hospice Africa Uganda. This training benefits not only the centre’s immediate clients but also provides the potential for training other local health professionals in the complexities of Palliative Care.
The donations have provided for transportation of very ill patients to the centre for care, allowing them to receive the required attention to ease their suffering and enabled Ndi Moyo staff to visit grieving families during their bereavement to offer counselling as well as contributing small sums to cover funeral expenses. This service provides much needed and appreciated comfort and support to the centre’s patients and their families. This year we hope to provide blankets , mosquito nets and maize to alleviate the social, economic and nutritional burdens that accompany chronic and terminal illness.
Life for local Malawians has become increasingly difficult with the devaluation of the local currency by more than 60% and poverty continues to be prevalent. For local people who earn their income in Kwacha this has had a staggering impact as of course people have not seen subsequent salary increases of 60%, nor have their salaries accounted for a 15% inflation rate. The cost of a litre of gas has increased by more than 90%, and the cost of transportation on mini-buses has skyrocketed. In essence the poor of Malawi have become poorer.
Ndi Moyo Palliative Care Centre has also struggled as the global economic downturn has dramatically affected donations received. In order to provide the necessary pain medications and other needs of their patients reaching the end of life $9000 monthly is required. SOLID will continue to raise awareness and funds for this important project and your generosity and participation in this fun event is most appreciated.
For more information – see Ndi Moyo Palliative Care Center in our Projects in Africa section.
Rocksalt Shoutout to Meron Moroz
The Rocksalt Restaurant & Cafe blog sent a shoutout to long-time SOLID board member and volunteer Meron Moroz, nominating her as an outstanding citizen in the community.
Check out the Rocksalt rave for Meron on their website.
