Helping Children

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“…I am not able to explain what I have witnessed here.”–Michael Lear, RMF Haiti

January 25, 2010 in Disaster Relief, Haiti, Helping Children, Providing Medical Support by Michael Lear | Comments closed

Michael Lear:
I sit here four days after arriving to Jimaní and am not able to explain what I have witnessed here. Perhaps I’m tired. Perhaps it is the staggering amounts of amputations, stories of being trapped, crushed, losing everything, family, friends or homes – seeing so many orphaned children lying scared and alone in body casts – oblivious to what awaits them back at home in Port-au-Prince – utter destruction, chaos and collapse.

While all of this has left me silent, nothing leaves me speechless more than the contemplation of how these people will recover – so many doctors, nurses, medical support staff are needed for the next months, probably years to come to ensure their recovery.
Funding is desperately needed to establish long term healthcare solutions, provide psychological support, housing and of course food and water.

Please help us to sustain our effort to aid the people of Haiti.

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Tags: Haiti

“You are my family now”–Stancia to Michael Lear, RMF Haiti

January 25, 2010 in Disaster Relief, Haiti, Helping Children, Initiatives, Rebuilding Communities by Michael Lear | Comments closed

haiti4 Michael Lear, Haiti, Jan 25th 2010

Upon returning from Port-au-Prince, Michael became friends with one of the many victims that experienced tragedies beyond measure: “I went to help with the relocated patients placed on the lawn in front of the post-op ward. It was there that I met Stancia. Stancia lost everything – her whole family, her husband, her children and her house.
She lay alone in the Dominican Republic with crushed legs, not knowing how to start over. Her first words to me are – “I am dead. I have lost everything, my family, my husband and children and my house. It is just me and God……..and you. You are my family now.”

Please help us to provide Stancia with hope and the support to start her life over.

Donate to RMF Haiti

RMF Haiti UPDATE: Earth Quake Relief, Port-au-Prince

January 25, 2010 in Disaster Relief, Haiti, Helping Children, Providing Medical Support, Rebuilding Communities by Michael Lear | Comments closed

Earth Quake Relief Port-au-Prince Haiti

January 25, 2010
Michael Lear and Dr. Martina Fuchs

Real Medicine deployed to the Dominican Republic on Wednesday, January 20, and began performing assessments on the Jimaní border hospitals, the Good Samaritan and the Hospital Melenciano, which have been receiving patients from Haiti since last week.

Both facilities have been overloaded as more patients arrive and the demand for post-operative care increases. Patients with pins sticking out of flesh, with amputations, and many children in body casts line every hallway and ground space. haiti2

All of the patients at both hospitals had arrived via ambulance (if lucky enough), or piled in the back of flat bed trucks in numbers as high as 30. The now congested 30-mile route between Port-au-Prince and Jimaní is taking up to an exhausting three to five hours.

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Real Medicine’s team is headed to Jimaní, the border town most overwhelmed by severely injured Haitians seeking medical help.

January 19, 2010 in Disaster Relief, Donate, Haiti, Helping Children, Initiatives, Providing Medical Support, Rebuilding Communities, Thank You by Allison Glennon | Comments closed

Real Medicine’s team is headed to Jimaní on the border between Haiti and the Dominican Republic.

We have identified two hospitals our doctors and nurses are able to work out of. Jimaní is the border town most overwhelmed by severely injured Haitians seeking medical help. Our contacts on the ground are reporting that severely injured patients are arriving in containers, often 30-40 persons in one container. Many of them requiring amputations.

We are accepting more doctors and nurses, especially trauma/ortho surgeons/nurses and anesthesiologists.

We will continue to report from the ground. Thank you for your ongoing support making this possible.

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Tags: earthquake relief, Haiti

Growing up scared in Peshawar (CNN World Report)

December 23, 2009 in Helping Children, Pakistan by Allison Glennon | Comments closed

From Growing up scared in Peshawar, CNN.com:

Peshawar, Pakistan (CNN) — Zara brushes her dark brown curls away from her face, nose scrunched up in concentration as she stares at the white board. She looks down to write and then pauses, placing her little finger on her chin in contemplation.

Like a typical 7-year-old, her favorite part about school is the games.

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Tags: Pakistan

Still building back better – preschool in Sri Lanka

November 21, 2009 in Helping Children by Caitlin McQuilling | Comments closed

DSCN1306

In early 2005, while the world was still in crisis mode after the Boxing Day Tsunami, I attended a lecture by Muhammad Yunus at Georgetown University in Washington, DC. Though star-struck, I managed to ask Professor Yunus a question during the Q&A portion on the lecture:

“Considering the short term nature of so much international aid after a natural disaster, Professor Yunus, what would you recommend that international organizations do to give their aid longevity and to live by the mantra of “build back better.””

Professor Yunus, excited about this question, responded: “Create an international educational trust for all tsunami affected youth, up through higher education, to enable the tsunami generation to not be one just living in the aftermath of a tragedy, but one which will change the future of their region by ensuring that each child in the affected areas is educated and empowered.”

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