CACHA NEWS
In November 2021, a Planning Workshop was held over Zoom.
Objectives:
- To get CACHA’s work better known through social media and an active CACHA website
- To explore new avenues for fundraising
- To keep CACHA’s long list of volunteers engaged
Three new committees were formed to meet these urgent needs:
1. Communications Committee
Chair: Dr Don Kilby
Social Media Content Management: Chris Nolan, Jen Clow
Website/Social Media Uploads: Don Kilby/Elsayed Ali
Newsletter: Christine Soulière, Barb Gauthier
Purpose:
To promote the activities of CACHA volunteers with the goal of expanding CACHA’s reach including the recruitment of new volunteers, increasing funds raised by missions and projects, and helping with informing and reporting to CACHA’s partners and donors.
2. Fundraising Committee – More info to come
3. Volunteer Engagement Committee – More info to come
Appointment of Volunteer Medical Director
On August 10th, 2022, CACHA’s Board of Directors approved the nomination of Dr. Jen Clow as CACHA’s Medical Director. This volunteer role is new for CACHA. Reporting to the Board and to the Executive Director, the Medical Director tasks are centered on health related aspects of mission planning and implementation.
CACHA Audit
The audit of CACHA’s financial records, for the year ended April 30, 2022 (fiscal year 2021/22) was conducted by Frouin Group in July 2022. Performed in accordance with Canadian audit standards, the audit involved a detailed analysis of CACHA’s activities and systems of internal controls. Positive comments from the auditor confirmed CACHA office staff’s commitment and adherence to quality financial practices. A representative of Frouin Group presented the Financial Statements to CACHA’s Board of Directors in September and they were approved. The Financial Statements are posted on the CACHA website under “About Us” Financial Statement – for the year-end 2022
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CACHA OFFICE – Arusha Tanzania
Steve Saning’o – CACHA Tanzania Field Coordinator
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| Steve Saning’o with Dr Kilby, and Bebe and Justine from Ukerewe |
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| PART 2 (by Steve Saning’o – please see July 2022 newsletter for Part 1)
Historically, Maasailand was meant for wildlife life and wildlife corridors, so not much investment or development was projected during and after colonial regimes. The health facilities here were a concern, as there were very few health centers and facilities in Maasailand.
The wild nature of Maasailand was another issue when I was thinking about movement for the medical caravan. I was glad when Bistra (CACHA volunteer) and other team members suggested starting with one stationary location and people would come to the same dispensary for two weeks. People in the village did not believe us when we talked about possible mass health care. It seemed like a good dream.
It was when the very first team arrived in the village for the Terrat Mission that I actually realized that this was a huge project and I did not know how I got myself engaged. See the long queue of my fellow tribesmen and women lined up over 700 people? Two women gave birth on the ground under the big acacia tree near the out-patient department with the support of the Canadian doctors, nurses, and local nurses! I remember a volunteer brought a KLM blanket to cover one of the babies after delivery. Part of me was proud and the other part was scared, not sure if the team would be able to see all these people who came over 40 km to see a doctor and get essential medications. I remembered the Bishop’s words and tried to simplify things for myself.
CACHA recognized the need and committed to continuing with the medical mission. CACHA also discovered an outbreak of HIV/AIDS in Maasailand and the limited access to treatment and medication. It came up with a long-term solution for a CTC (care and treatment centre), which is currently working to support the community in the fight against HIV.
After this first work, I knew my job was done and that CACHA would continue as they got introduced to other partners, but they kept insisting I had to keep assisting to organize the mission. In the middle of 2018, I was encouraged by many friends to apply for an open competition for the position of CACHA Field Coordinator in Tanzania. With a background in media, I wasn’t sure if this was the right fit for me but since I had already been doing this medical mission work since 2014, I applied.
As the official CACHA Field Coordinator in Tanzania I now have two different communities in my hands. I soon fell in love with Ukerewe Island and it became my important home. Even though Terrat village is a Pastoralist dry land and Ukerewe is a fishing community with a substantial amount of rain, the commonalities of these communities are the same. I have a strong wish to see a Maasai hospital in Terrat like Nansio Hospital in Ukerewe, and a community radio station in Ukerewe like the community radio in Terrat.
For both of these communities, CACHA is like clean drinking water; as soon as you start drinking it, you will regularly need to keep drinking it. |
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CACHA Ukerewe Tanzania Medical Mission Oct 17 – 28, 2022
https://cacha.ca/ukerewe-fall-2022/
Although CACHA’s first mission since 2020 will have left by the time this newsletter arrives in your inbox, we wanted to outline the objectives of the Ukerewe Mission to encourage readers to join their next mission.
Mission Leads: Cathy Cleary and Elizabeth Good
OBJECTIVES OF THE MISSION:
In this first post-Covid medical caravan, we have set the following objectives for the medical caravan, working with our Ukerewe partners to:
1. Provide health care services in a safe and effective manner taking into consideration Covid safety protocols (offering masks, social distancing, hand washing and hand sanitizing stations)
2. Provide access to high quality health care services and to support the local health care system including the sharing of information between Canadian and Tanzanian medical personnel
3. Offering services in four specific locations, meant to decrease the need for medical caravan to travel, as well as offering repeat locations where safety protocols can be set more easily in place at health centres, and hospitals
4. Contribute to the prevention and treatment of HIV/AIDS
5. Work with our partners to build local capacity such that they are in control of the medical caravan and able to take over any portion as needed or as they might choose.
CACHA Shirati Tanzania Infrastructure Mission Feb 1 – 23, 2023 (Extension to Mar 9)
https://cacha.ca/shirati-infrastructure-mission2023/
Mission Leads: Lloyd and Erla Koch
The CACHA Infrastructure Mission Projects improves the infrastructure at the KMT Shirati Hospital near Lake Victoria in northwestern Tanzania near the Kenya border in partnership with the Mennonite Church of Tanzania. The Hospital provides affordable health care to people living in the catchment area of Rorya district, which has a population of 265,000.
Canadian volunteers will renovate an existing building into a medical supplies and drug warehouse. This will increase the efficiency and security of this vital hospital service.
Canadian volunteers will work alongside local tradesmen as always to complete the project.
People with some knowledge of renovations would be welcome for this project.
Other volunteers with knowledge of computers, sewing, welding, painting, or business could contribute to other projects.
We will also continue providing teaching assistance (English, business, trades) to Kisare Secondary Technical School; continue to support, explore, and evaluate past and future business opportunities with women’s initiative groups and do village work with the HIV/Palliative Care team.
Erla and Lloyd hope you can join them on this infrastructure mission to Shirati to work on this project or be involved in the Help the Children of Tanzania projects that will also be going on at this time.
CACHA Terrat Tanzania Medical Mission Feb 1 – 17, 2023
https://cacha.ca/terrat-tanzania-winter-2023-mission
Mission Leads: Emilie Bordat and Tara Andrusiak
Volunteers Needed:
Physicians, Emergency physician, Specialists, nurses, nurse practitioners, paramedics, pharmacists, pharmacy technicians
logisticians (non-medical personnel who have an important role in organizing key elements of the mission).
OBJECTIVES:
- Provide health care services in a safe and effective manner taking into consideration Covid safety protocols (offerings masks, social distancing, hand washing and hand sanitizing stations)
- Provide access to high quality health care services and support the local health care system including the sharing of information between Canadian and Tanzanian medical personnel
- Contribute to the prevention and treatment of HIV/AIDS
- Facilitate and promote education with the local community concerning health, sexuality and puberty
- Support local pre-school by providing school supplies (donations from the participants and volunteers)
- Meet with the partners and beneficiaries of the Care and Treatment Centre project in Terrat to determine if services to the community have improved and to gauge the sustainability of the project
- Initiate discussions with local partners to determine the need and relevance for health improvement projects such as a project for cervical cancer screening and training for Terrat clinical staff and long range, the building of a maternity center.
CACHA Kamengo Uganda Medical Mission March 27 – April 6, 2023
https://cacha.ca/kamengo-uganda-mission-spring-2023/
Mission Leads: Jimmy Sebulime and Christine Souliere
For our medical mission to Kamengo, we are looking for volunteers to join our team of 15-20 people.
Wherever you come from, whatever your profession and background, we would be delighted to have you join our team. We work closely together as a team of Canadian and Ugandan nurses, nurse practitioners, pharmacists, pharmacy technicians, physicians, surgeons, and logisticians* to provide the local people with free health care services.
*Note: logisticians are non-medical people who organize everything so that the medical people can see patients.
OBJECTIVES:
In this first post Covid medical mission we have set the following the objectives for the medical mission, working with our Kamengo partners to:
1. Provide health care services in a safe and effective manner taking into consideration Covid safety protocols (offerings masks, social distancing, hand washing and hand sanitizing stations)
2. Provide access to high quality health care services and to support the local health care system including the sharing of information between Canadian and Ugandan medical personnel
3. Offering services at the Ggoli Health Center, with surgeries being scheduled and performed in partnership with the Nkozi Hospital
4. Contribute to the prevention and treatment of HIV/AIDS
5. Work with our partners to build local capacity such that they are in control of the medical mission and able to take over any portion as needed or as they might choose
**For more information, please go to cacha.ca and visit the missions tab.
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A day in my life and also the life of team members who work with me:
After breakfast and/or after lunch we do a variety of these things….
Walk to a school or take a pikipiki to teach Tailoring, Auto Mechanics, English, Health, and Computer classes at Kisare Technical School and English and Health at other schools and to diocese staff at the community centre
Take a vehicle or pikipiki to go on organized village visits to see some of our neediest clients, to assess their living conditions, health, and educational needs. We drive until the road is unnavigable, then walk to the hut…always a fun adventure. Often, we find leaking roofs and crumbling houses, children and old women sleeping on mud floors, families who have no food, children at home because they can’t afford school uniforms, sick people, or those with open and infected wounds. These families are extremely poor and struggle to provide very basic care for themselves and their children. I see so much poverty and some days it’s an overwhelming, emotionally exhausting experience for me but also fulfilling.
Load up the vehicle with grinding machines, sewing machines chickens or hippo rollers and drive on challenging roads to deliver them to Women’s Groups who have requested them as their income generating project, arrive to singing and dancing, sit with the women to discuss their project, sometimes have soda or food they have prepared as a thank you. The impact of this support is life changing. For example, women who were walking up to 10 km to have their maize and cassava ground, now have a grinding machine in their own village AND the women in the women’s group are making money to support their families…a win-win project.
Go to Obwere Market to buy food, clothes, mattresses, mats, and seeds for planting for clients as a result of villages visits, deliver these gifts and see the smiling, grateful faces.
Meet children and/or parents at Obwere to buy uniforms so children can go to school.
Visit women’s groups who have received sewing machines from our fund to teach sewing classes or visit other groups to follow up on their projects.
Visit clients to see the progress of houses we are building.
Take a client to see a doctor, visit a client on a ward, pay hospital bills for surgeries, arrange to build a prosthetic leg or set up physio sessions, etc.
See the accountant to pay school fees for nursing, medical, pharmacy, technical and disabled students.
Sit with my colleagues, most recently Steven, to discuss needs of clients and how to help them, make plans for the week, organize transportation, and go over receipts, etc.
From the shipment, organize clothes, blankets, shoes, pails of dried vegetables, books, back packs etc. to take on village visits.
Take part in HIV/Aids clinic days for children at the hospital and provide dried vegetables, back packs, school supplies, etc. from shipment.
Distribute and teach the use of Days for Girls kits to secondary school girls.
Visit leprosy patients to bring them clothes and chat with them.
Arrange after work and week-end activities for the team, including a short safari.
This list is not complete but it gives you an idea of our busy, interesting, and rewarding days and some of my responsibilities. Steven and I are in touch year-round to continue our projects and I’m very grateful for his commitment, compassion, and reliability.
A huge thanks to all our donors, CACHA, my colleagues, especially Steven and our team members for making a huge positive difference in the lives of so many people at Shirati and region. I am grateful to our friends at Shirati who have taken us into their hearts and homes.
It has been a privilege to introduce many volunteers to Africa and see the impact the rewarding experience has had on their lives.
Tchukudu Kids Home Project (TKH) – Goma, DRC (by Heather Haynes)
https://cacha.ca/projects/the-tchukudu-kids-home-tkh/
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The humble beginning of the Tchukudu Kids’ Home (TKH) was in Goma in 2008, a small wooden hut on the outskirts of the city that provided orphans and vulnerable children with a safe place to live, health care, education, and training.
In 2013, international artist, Heather Haynes, worked with her community to find funding to build the Tchukudu Kids Home. Today it is a home base for 140 children orphaned by the ongoing unrest, violence, and poor socio-political situation in the DRC. Thirty of the youngest children live full-time in the TKH and the remainder live within the community in “Welcome Families” homes. The plan is for each child to be sponsored and $500/annually provides food, clothing, education and a safe place to grow. We have 100 sponsors and are looking for 40 additional sponsors to help.
In 2017, funded by Michael Holiday and family, the Jonathan Holiday School (JHS) was built and opened. This school provides a free education to the Tchukudu Kids primary students and also to children from the surrounding neighbourhood including children from “welcome families” and children from the women of TWTC. Heather Haynes manages the program from Canada supporting 23 people on staff and nearly 400 children who are being educated each year.
In 2020, 3 temporary classrooms were provided for grades 6,7 and 8, which also provided 3 new teaching jobs. Next steps include the construction of three permanent classrooms. The current point person overseeing these two projects on the ground in Goma, is 19 year old Lucienne Fazili (see Success Story below) who grew up as one of the original orphans of the TKH.
SUCCESS STORY
By Lucienne Fazili Luanda from Tchukudu Kids Home Project (TKH) – Goma, Democratic Republic of Congo (by Lucienne Fazili Luanda)
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My name is Lucienne FAZILI LUANDA from TKH
I am 19 years old
I was born in Idjwi Island, 01 / 04 / 2003
I am an orphan of father.
My father, who was a doctor, died in an accident when I was two years old. After his death, my mother had nowhere to go, and with no one to help her, we suffered a lot. A year later, I became very ill. I had scabies everywhere on my body and suffered from malnutrition. If our situation did not change my mother feared for my life. Being a very strong woman, she took me and we travelled to Goma town looking for a way to a better life. When we arrived in Goma we slept outside, as again, there was no one to help us.
The next day my mother left to look for any kind of job so that she could buy something to eat and take me to the hospital. She found a job cleaning a bakery, and soon after she started to bring the bread that the bakery was throwing away, and so we had something to eat and eventually we were able to get some medicine. My mother cried everyday because she was in fear of losing me, but God was there for us.
A year later my mother found another house keeping job. She worked there many months and one day she met someone who worked at the NGO. He told my mother that they were looking for a woman to prepare food and care for orphans. My mom liked the sounds of this job.
The next day she went to the NGO and met the founder of the NGO, and he hired her. She started working there and they took me into the orphanage at the age of 5. I started studying and I became healthy and was able to get something to eat everyday. It’s not really easy growing up in an orphanage, but I had no choice.
In 2015, (this is the part of my story that I really like) my mother got married to the founder of the NGO and this helped to change my life because I had finally found a father who loves me, protects me every single day; A father who makes my mother happy. I need a man who loves me like my father loves my mom.
I studied primary and secondary school until obtaining my state diploma in 2019 – 2020. I started working for the NGO as a photographer and reporter, providing valuable information and documentation on the lives and situation of the vulnerable communities. I am still doing this presently.
My biggest dream is to help support orphans because I know what it feels like to be one.
Tchukudu Women’s Training Centre (TWTC) – Goma, Democratic Republic of Congo (by Cathy Cleary)
https://cacha.ca/projects/the-tchukudu-womens-training-centre-twtc/ |
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Located in the city of Goma, Democratic Republic of Congo, the TWTC is a haven of learning, founded by CACHA member, Cathy Cleary working with a group of local women. Women who have been displaced as a result of the rebel attacks in their villages and the ongoing political instability have the opportunity to develop skills through 1–2-year training programs in sewing, basket weaving, and tie dyeing. The women also learn skills to start solo or cooperative businesses.
To date 65 women have completed seamstress training and have gone on to start up sewing businesses and cooperatives to generate income to feed their families and educate their children. Ten women have learned basket weaving skills. Clarisse, a graduate from our first training group, is now our Coordinator and manages all aspects of the program and projects. A total of 15 women (1 woman from each cooperative business) have gone on to microfinance training and tie dyeing. Five women have learned the intricate skills of sewing Days for Girls (DfG) reusable sanitary pads that will be sold to girls and women at an affordable cost, making them accessible and allowing them to continue their work and studies.
The training centre is funded through the generosity of many individual donors, who have been with us since 2014 when our first group of women began training, along with various wonderful Foundations and granting agencies.We are especially grateful to Gay-Lea Foundation for their generous support.
https://www.gaylea.com/news/foundation/cacha-3-3
With help from other non-profit organizations, a modern working shop is being built to house the Tchukudu enterprise where the sanitary pads will be sewn and other entrepreneurial activities will take place.
SUCCESS STORY
By Clarisse from Tchukudu Women’s Training Centre (TWTC)
I answer in the name of CLARISSE of the Tchukudu Women’s Training Centre (TWTC) in Goma, DRCongo. First of all I thank you very much for your heart of love towards us and for having helped us. May God bless you. I was neglected by everyone because of my miserable life. Again it is thanks to you that my children are not on the list of street children, they go to school here at home at the Jonathan Holiday School. Your love is our help. Today I have changed because I am courageous and I love my work. The whole Tchukudu family has changed our lives. This women’s training has helped us a lot. Before we joined, we were suffering but for today we are not. We can now take care of ourselves and our families despite the situation in our country. God bless you one more time.
RESULTS of Tchukudu Women’s Training Centre (TWTC)
- Current figure of Tchukudu women – there has been an increase in household incomes.
- The number of out-of-school children has been reduced in our families
- Reduction of malnutrition in TWTC households
- Reduction of mortality in the households of Tchukudu women
- Access to medical care for certain cases
- Reduction of mortality among people infected with HIV / AIDS who receive $11/month, an amount that allows them to buy certain drugs.
- Illiteracy, malnutrition and infant mortality, especially infant mortality, have been reduced but not eradicated because income within households is not yet sufficient because the modern working shop is not yet built. Also many women cannot read and write or calculate.
- There are no longer any street children among the Tchukudu women families.
SUGGESTIONS for Tchukudu Women’s Training Centre (TWTC)
- All the women of TWTC want the construction of the modern workshop to increase their income. All TWTC women who have learned cutting and sewing want to learn embroidery to increase their income and improve their learning in cutting and sewing.
- Creation of a literacy center because there are many women who cannot read and write when they want to improve the quality of their sewing products, this can also help them in terms of knowledge in Days for Girls (DfG) Reusable Sanitary Pad Project, and in primary health and family planning.
- Acceleration of cutting and sewing training because the list of women who want training in cutting and sewing is still long.
SUCCESS STORY – Agnes Zibali Boys and Girs Club (AZBGC) – Kamengo, Uganda
Esther Namugwe
Kamengo Uganda: Agnes Zibali Boys and Girls Club (AZBGC)
(by Jimmy Sebulime)
(Please see Jan 2022 issue for article about AZBGC)
https://cacha.ca/projects/agnes-zabali-boys-girls-club-of-kamengo-uganda/
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Below is an article written by our very own AZBGC member, Esther. Esther is a supremely talented young lady. She is an outstanding committee member of the Boys and Girls Club, and she is an exceptional student. Below are words she wants to share about her dreams shaped by her experience at AZBGC.
Esther Namugwe is an 18 year old girl and a member of Agnes Zabali Boys and Girls Club. As I grow up, I have always been dreaming of one day becoming a journalist. This is a career that deals with research and presentation. I am aggressively yearning to achieve it. The AZBGC mission that “Dreams can come true” is what inspires me to work hard to make it true.
To set the stone rolling, being a journalist requires a lot of handwork as I am trying every day to think of anything possible for me to learn new things and critically observe them well. Volunteering at the club as the Assistant Girls Affairs, I had the responsibility of establishing corporate leadership for girls, promoting girls’ equality and finding out the challenges they face. This has greatly helped me learn reporting skills, identification skills and problem-solving skills which further I am positively a changed woman with the urge to advocate for girls’ affairs in my community. Serving as the secretary at the club has also equipped me with listening and writing skills, thus preparing me for this course. The responsibility of writing minutes for the meetings is preparing me to be confident and responsible. I introduced an activity to interview kids after community meetings and ask them how the Club has supported them and why? I also take pictures of the events that occur at the club, which has taught me how to approach different groups of people while learning their behaviors and while responding to the asked questions.
AZBGC library has greatly supported my research and exposed me to the global world because the books are providing relevant information which has opened my eyes and mind. I am gaining computer skills such as typing, sending emails and connecting me to different people so I will be glad to get a job while having the basic skills of a computer. At my school, I have involved myself in leadership as the information prefect. This has made me confident, I have been given a chance to address the students’ community. I act as the voice to the voiceless through driving the complaints among the students to the administrators so they are worked upon.
I hope in the future I will be better able to deliver information concerning the community to those concerned. Not to say that I do not face challenges, I do! However, I am fighting tooth and nail to find possible solutions to the unending challenges a girl like me faces daily and I think sharing them will draw better lessons together. The challenge of school fees which may not be available at times is so bad for every student. We were all affected by Covid-19 and our parents are telling us not to go back to school because they have no jobs, their businesses were heavily affected.
In my society, we lack experts in the journalism field which limits me from seeking guidance about the career. As a matter of fact, the only two journalists we have in the community are male, this creates a gap which I must fill through becoming the first female journalist in my community. I also face a challenge of not having a phone to interview people and a camera for photos so when I get these gadgets I think they can support me so much. To uplift my status as a girl, I must study hard, be active, volunteer in the club because when a girl studies, she will in the future have a good job, laugh, eat, play and will also have a voice to advocate for girls’ and women’s right in the community so I will continue finding alternative solutions in my community and at my club.
Very sincerely yours, Esther Namugwe AZBGC Youth Committee member
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WHO’S WHO IN CANADA
Pramil Premjayanth – Finance and Administration Coordinator
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| Pramila Premjeyanth is CACHA’s Finance and Administrative Coordinator. Pramil joined the CACHA team in 2018 and is responsible for day-to-day operations involving donations and other revenue, banking, financial reporting and reconciliation, and project management. Pramil’s education in accounting and executive business administration coupled with her previous work experience bodes well for her work at CACHA. She has a strong work ethic and a keen interest in all the CACHA projects she manages. Pramil has built strong connections with local partners and is always willing to go that extra mile to help CACHA’s volunteers.
Pramil and her family live in Greely Ontario where she enjoys long country walks, has a huge vegetable garden in the summer, and a spectacular rose garden! |
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WHO’S WHO IN AFRICA
Mercy – nurse in Terrat Tanzania
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| Mercy calling out a patient’s name in front of the Terrat dispensary |
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Hello everybody, I am Mercy from Terrat, Manyara, Tanzania. We miss people from CACHA, our friends from Canada. We know it is because of COVID-19 but people from Terrat and the near villages are usually asking why CACHA didn’t come to us. They miss your mission and your help in the community so they wish to see you again. Instead of having COVID and whatever but some of them received the vaccine and some of them they don’t like but we continue to give health education so that all people can be vaccinated against COVID-19. We hope to see you – and the women are also waiting for you, dying people, and all the community, they need to see you again. Welcome. Thank you.
Otto – logistics, driver, translator in Terrat, Tanzania
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| Otto at work with Moshi Travel Services |
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| Otto (Babu Catherine) with first granddaughter Catherine |
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| Otto (Babu Catherine) with second granddaughter Clara |
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I started Volunteering with CACHA around 2009. It was a time when the organization was outreach in providing health support to the community together with supporting and providing care to vulnerable and orphans and widows in Vunjo province on the foot hill of Mount Kilimanjaro. CACHA has been doing this for quite sometime try to make the difference till found out there a need to go scout other villages where there is a need. That’s when CACHA moved to Maasai steppe.
Since CACHA moved to Maasai land (Terrat) as always we team up with the (Tanzania) Government and all health officials to make the mission successful. CACHA has touched so many lifes by supporting community, from changing life of one person to whole villages, from time to time.
There some programs CACHA has been working close with some school to help to provide puberty and maturity education with hygiene pads (washable).
Since 2019 fall (Covid 19) year, now is easier for many of organization and people too to travel as Normal. So as everything was standing still, it has been hard all during the corona pandemic without CACHA mission down here … sad. All villagers who were scheduled to be seen are in limbo. It’s my trust and hope everything with back to Normal and resume our daily activities.
Apart from Volunteering I do Safari and Mt Guiding/Organizing.
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TESTIMONIALS FROM CANADA
Laura Kollenberg – Nurse Practitioner
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From 2012
Prior to leaving, two friends had given me some cash and told me to do “something interesting” with it. I explained to Jimmy that I had this money and asked for suggestions on how to use it. He suggested a family with a single mom and four kids, very hard working, very involved in the community but never ask for help. The kids study by the light of a smoky oil lamp or outside shops by the light of the display.
He suggested I buy a solar powered lamp. This has a little port in it for charging a cell phone. The kids can study, no one has to choke on oil fumes, and they can earn a little money getting people to pay them to charge their phones It was $65.
I took the lamp over on Wednesday night. The mama burst into tears and everyone was hugging. I have some good photos and the kids wrote a very sweet thank you note to the donors.
From 2014
What I won’t do to keep up with my choral group… was practicing on the hill next to the guest house. Had to move when I realized I was sitting on the lid for the septic tank. Thought someone was sneaking up on me it was just a cow!
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| Louise Deslieres – Physiotherapist |
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My name is Louise Deslieres. I have worked in the health care system as a physiotherapist for 44 years and I love to travel! During my career, I have participated in twelve humanitarian missions with the most recent being with CACHA in March 2020 to Uganda. Unfortunately, the mission was cut short due to global outbreaks of Covid-19 and with little notice, we had to return to Canada. Throughout it all, the CACHA mission lead did an amazing job and I appreciated the support, the organization, and the experienced CACHA personnel.
And Guess What?! As you read this October Newsletter, I will be participating in another CACHA medical mission, this time in Ukerewe, Tanzania.
Dear readers: do you have any questions about
CACHA, is there anything you’d like to read about in
the next newsletter, or an article you’d like to
submit?
We would love to hear from you !
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