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Family Care Foundation Newsletter: Volume 3 -- No. 3 -- September 1999 Hope in the Wake of Hurricane Mitch By Dawn Forsberg FCF Executive Assistant "Many countries have helped with food and other aid," an official told volunteers from Cheer Up Missions after their inspirational show at a homeless shelter for Hurricane Mitch victims, "but what we needed was you!" In January, eight volunteers from the FCF project, Cheer Up Missions in Louisiana (two of whom are pediatricians), came to bring cheer, medical treatment and humanitarian aid to victims of Hurricane Mitch. In the Honduran capital of Tegucigalpa, four volunteers from the Guatemala-based FCF project, Casa de Corazones, joined their team.
Together they performed their clown and musical show 16 times in ten days, encouraging thousands of people, as well as counseling and comforting hundreds individually. They also distributed $10,000 worth of medical supplies and equipment, and thousands of dollars worth of clothing, food and toys that the team from the U.S. had collected and brought with them. At a local clinic and several of the shelters that the team visited, Drs. Bob and Margarita Guy provided free medical exams and treatment for hundreds of needy children. After seeing the need first-hand and being personally involved with the people of Honduras, Cheer Up Missions has continued to make further trips to Central America. After making an appeal on a New Orleans radio station for local businesses to help sponsor their second trip, the team was also invited to go to Nicaragua, which had been severely hit by Hurricane Mitch as well. I had the honor to accompany the Cheer Up Missions team on their second trip to Central America. We had the opportunity to visit Nicaragua, where we stayed for five days, performing and distributing medical supplies, clothing and food to many needy families. It was heart-breaking to see the conditions of the shelters where these families lived. Most of the shelters were wooden posts in the ground, covered with plastic bags. We visited two such shelters, where the little huts were in the middle of a dusty field with no running water or trees. The conditions were appalling!
You could see the joy emerge in the children’s faces as the clowns began performing. Most of the children had been very bored, with no other activities. Many of the youth had started joining gangs. We were able to bring a little happiness into the routine of their daily lives, which was very rewarding. Before leaving Nicaragua to continue our trip to Honduras, we visited a children’s hospital in Managua, the capital. We gave them some much-needed medical supplies that were donated by sponsors in the U.S. The director thanked us profusely and explained how much they appreciated and needed these particular supplies, as they were sometimes unable to perform certain medical procedures because of the lack of them.
After performing for the children who were able to leave their rooms, we then went to each of the rooms of the children who were bedridden and brought them cheer with songs, magic tricks and words of comfort. One particularly touching moment was when we were taken into the room of three-year-old Jolene. She was diagnosed as being malnourished, as well as having TB. She looked more like a six-month-old baby. Jolene looked very frightened, so we started singing for her. She calmed down right away and just sat there with a peaceful look on her face. When we tried to leave, she began crying. So we returned and continued singing for her. This happened three times, as she cried every time we stopped singing. We then prayed for her and she calmed down so we could continue on to the other children. The next day we left by bus to Tegucigalpa, the capital of Honduras. We were able to re-visit places that the Cheer Up Missions team had visited on their first trip, one of them being a home for abandoned children. These children were very responsive to the love, songs and clown show that we were able to perform for them. They have about one adult to care for every 10-15 children, who are very much in need of extra love and reassurance. Most of these children’s parents are still living, but were no longer able to take care of them for different reasons. Many of the children had been left on the doorstep of this facility to be taken in by the staff there. Since this is a home for girls, the older boys were separated from their sisters. One of the little girls there, Magdalena, who you see me holding in the picture below, had burn scars down the side of her body and just wanted to be hugged and didn’t want to leave my side, not even when the clowns started to do their magic tricks and jokes.
Later that day we had an hour meeting with the First Lady of Honduras, Mary de Flores, to explain the work we had been doing there, as well as present her with some medical supplies for the hospitals she works with there in Honduras. She is very concerned about the needs of her people, and is personally involved in many projects, including a cancer hospital for children. It was a great privilege to meet someone who is so dedicated to helping others.
On their previous trip, the Cheer Up Missions team had been invited to speak on a large Catholic radio program. We returned and were able to give a message of hope to the people of Honduras to not give up.—That even though things look bleak at the moment, with having to rebuild Honduras, and so many people having lost their homes and their families, if we all pitch in together, we can each change our part of the world, one life at a time, one heart at a time. The Cheer Up Missions team have since made their third trip to Central America, this time visiting El Salvador, as well as Honduras, distributing further medical supplies and humanitarian aid. They participated in a "feed the homeless" mission in San Salvador, preparing and bringing 250 meals to street people. They were able to personally deliver eight wheelchairs to very needy children. One girl named Marianna, was twelve years old and had polio since the age of nine months. She was severely handicapped and was unable to react to much outside stimuli. When the Cheer Up Missions volunteers placed her in her wheelchair and prayed for her, she began to smile—something which her mom told them was quite amazing, as she hadn’t seen her daughter smile in years. I feel very privileged to have been able to accompany the Cheer Up Missions team on this trip to Central America; and will never forget all I saw and learned from the sweet people of these beautiful countries. Family Volunteer Services in Nepal By James and Esta Smith Project Managers Family Volunteer Services (FVS), under the management of James and Esta Smith, has been active in Nepal for the past three and a half years. One of its primary mandates is to assist in meeting the educational needs of the disabled and disadvantaged of Nepal. To this end FVS helps administer several projects throughout the country.
One of our more significant partnerships is with the Nepal Disabled Association (NDA), based in Kathmandu. FVS workers provide free English & music/drama classes for approximately 100 disabled children from low income families. We repair and maintain classrooms, as well as contribute sponsored school supplies, uniforms, and educational equipment. FVS also works in cooperation with the Community-Based Rehabilitation Village Programs in the Kaski District, administering school programs, as well as providing special education scholarships for the deaf, and vocational training equipment. A year ago FVS became aware of the plight of the Nepal Orthopedic Hospital (NOH). This small, newly constructed hospital needed orthopedic equipment and supplies. FVS felt called to help. Staff members contacted FVS in Kaohsiung, Taiwan for assistance, which resulted in the formation of the Nepal-Taiwan Cooperation Project.
Initial endeavors from this project have been very successful. The Po Cheng Orthopedic Institute of Kaohsiung donated nearly $25,000 worth of orthopedic instruments and equipment. Airlines have generously transported it all to Nepal without cost. The Nepal-Taiwan Cooperation Project is presently collecting another $50,000 worth of orthopedic instruments in Taiwan. The directors and staff of the Nepal Orthopedic Hospital are very appreciative of this assistance. Dr. Anil Shrestha, the Medical Director & Orthopedic Surgeon writes: "As you must know, our hospital is very small, a twenty-four bed hospital catering mostly to patients in the lower socio-economic class. We have very limited staff and trained manpower. We feel very encouraged by getting support from organizations like yours, and we do hope that the support will continue in the future." Family Volunteer Services continues to assist the NOH. The Nepal-Taiwan Cooperation Project is arranging a fully supported medical fellowship that would enable one of the doctors from the Nepal Orthopedic Hospital to go to Taiwan for further training. FVS also plans to help establish a computer network system for the NOH, which will be donated by Taiwanese companies. Upon completion, it will be the first hospital in Nepal to have a computer network. This initial shipment of equipment has been an important step, but it is only a small beginning; there is much yet to be done. We recently returned from the Everest region of Nepal, the Okhaldhunga district, and found the people living there sadly in need of all types of health facilities. This area, consisting of a population of over ten thousand, receives a total yearly health budget equaling a mere $150 for its six to nine villages! Not surprisingly, this amount is nearly depleted in the first month of the year. We quickly became aware that even basic health education was lacking in the areas of personal hygiene, food preparation, sewage disposal, etc. Many of the children had infected burns as most cooking is done by wood fire. Serious cuts and gashes, many of which become infected, are also very common, as most men carry large knives used as all-purpose tools. Being a mountainous area, falls resulting in broken bones are commonplace. Sadly, most of the time the families are unable or afraid to take their child to a hospital, resulting in deformities and disabilities. The nearest health facilities are a one-day walk. Dental health care is only available in a nearby mission hospital which is a two- to four-day walk, depending on the strength of the individual, and if he or she is being carried. The only eye check-ups available, should anyone from the area have the time and money to travel, is all the way in Kathmandu, the capital.
The infant mortality rate in the villages that we surveyed is between fifteen and twenty percent. These dear folks lack even the most basic training in pre-natal care and delivery. For example, we interviewed some women who were walking around months after delivery with the placenta still in their womb! We interviewed concerned village people who had the desire to undertake medical training, so we will be linking them up with medical centers in Katmandu, the Red Cross and various NGOs to facilitate this much needed training. We are presently trying to raise funds to build them a simple healthcare building where medical supplies could be stored and dispensed, and patient examination and treatment could take place, as well as health classes be given.
This facility can be built for only $3,000 using local materials and local labor. For another $3,000 we can stock this facility with basic supplies and medicine for a one-year period, plus set up a medical training and health education program and pay for the training of local volunteers to man this health facility. One very important advantage that we feel will make this proposed Village Health Center a success is that we have the full cooperation and participation of the local community. In presenting this project we have stressed the need for the locals themselves to make commitments and be willing to do what they can to make this happen, as well as to ensure its long-term success. If you are interested in contributing toward the Village Health Center or in helping the disabled in the disadvantaged population of Nepal, kindly contact Family Care Foundation. Designate checks or money orders for FVS/Nepal Project, payable to "Family Care Foundation." Thank you for your concern. USA NEW TV PROGRAMMING Treasure Attic is broadcast Saturdays at 7:30 AM EST on Angel One, which partners with the Dish Network. Treasure Attic is now also broadcast on KTV, a new children’s channel, via satellite, four times weekly: Monday at 5:00 PM EST Tuesday at 8:30 AM EST Wednesday at 2:30 PM EST Saturday at 5:00 PM EST Family Care Foundation has also recently licensed the rights to Huggabug Club, which will likewise be aired on both Angel One and KTV. Huggabug Club is a live-action show geared to younger children promoting lifeskills such as integrity, flexibility, perseverance, problem solving, responsibility, cooperation and caring. Huggabug Club has enjoyed a successful run over the past four years on public television. SOUTH KOREA The Ton-A-Month Club The Korea Herald published a full-page article about our on-going relief project, featuring my eighteen-year-old daughter, Rachel, and myself, Tim Peters. Our Ton-A-Month Club has shipped 38 tons of food to famine-stricken North Korea and gathered about $10,000 in direct donations. This may not seem like a lot, but if you consider that we are one missionary family with a few helpers, it’s an example of what ordinary people can do with God’s help if they put their minds to it. Imagine if hundreds or thousands of families or individuals did the same thing. GUATEMALA CASA DE CORAZONES Cheri is teaching a course to forty local midwives, which is sponsored by the local government. The standard of care given by many midwives needs improving as they have had little formal instruction. BRAZIL AID TO THE NEEDY Working together with The Rock in Rio Café, we organized a task force that creates social awareness among the wealthy young people to the needs of the poor in Rio. The collaboration was kicked off by a special lunch for 400 orphans, including live music shows.
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