December 2008

Dear Friends of IHP, US & TZ,

 

Christmas is coming. Chanukah starts now. Kwanza is coming. People from every faith help with the miracle making at Nyakato. We wish to thank each and every one of you for your help, for your faith in the work, for the warm hearts of giving that reach out to the people of Tanzania. There are so many blessings to be aware of at this time of the year.

 

International Health Partners, along with the staff of Nyakato Health Center, with the support of each of our donors, strive to give quality health care in a safe, caring, setting. This is outreach, this is mission, this is doing evangelism one person, family, at a time. Our reputation is spreading and we're adding new staff as we can afford it. One of our biggest challenges at this point is housing for new staff members. It is tradition for hospitals in Tanzania to provide housing for their professional staff. A year's rent is about $2500 for a house. It costs about $20,000 to build a home with local materials. Den is designing a triplex arrangement somewhat like senior housing here in the U.S. We're not sure of the costs yet, but it's in the Top Priority bracket for IHP.

 

One of the benefits of doing this work is watching how the individual patients and their families care for each other. As with any of us, when someone in the family is ill, the family rallies to try to help that person. We consider our patients and their families to be extended parts of the IHP family, of the Family of Man as it were. We are sent here to care for each other and we're doing it on a most basic level. As our supporters, you are doing it, too. Thank you.

 

To join us, please send donations to:

 

International Health Partners, US & Tz

Joyce Zemel, Treasurer

1811 So. 39^th St. #36

Mesa, AZ  85206

 

The Isolation Ward is ready to open. As you know, we call this the Patricia Ward, 10 individual rooms, completely separate. Until we have other wards, we can use this building for any admissions we have.

 

The birthing center is about half done. A team from Christ Church Unity in Kansas City, Missouri is coming in June to finish it. This church is celebrating their 50th Anniversary. Rev. Will Bowen is asking the church to raise $50,000 to cover the expenses for finishing the building and for a team of 30-50 to come out and finish the building. They're first fund raiser has been to ask people to donate some of their Christmas giving money toward the project, with explanations to the recipient of where the other half of the money usually spent of gifts is going. How wonderful is this? Is this what Christmas is all about? Giving. Caring. Loving. Sharing. Following the example of Jesus Christ in the world today.

 

The eye center at this point is a slab. The team from First Lutheran in Newton, Iowa that came out to build it had to switch gears and work on the birthing center because their container was hung up by a dock strike in Mombasa. Now, a team from Atonement Lutheran in Kansas City is coming in July to build that building.

 

We need a radiology building for x-ray and ultrasound. We need a dental building. The Rotary is donating the equipment, and we'll house it in the lobby of the Patricia Ward temporarily, but we need a dental unit.

 

Another Rotary project we're beginning is for solar power for the entire hospital. The Rotary Club of Mwanza is very receptive to helping, complies with all the grant writing requirements, and is anxious to be part of the health center's service to the community.

 

A high priority is the need for an MCH – Maternal and Child Health Center. Drs. Petersen and Nanson are working hard on that fund raising in Arizona. The Family Planning unit will also be part of the MCH. The statistics for maternal and child death are appalling and we need to address that need head-on.

 

Attached are some pictures that you may have seen before. One is of Monica before radiation for the teratoma on her neck, and afterwards. The Special Needs Fund, also started by Drs. Petersen and Nanson made this treatment possible.

 

IHP tries to scholarship the children of our employees. The employees of International Health Partners, and of the Nyakato Health Center are very low-paid, but willing to do their very best to help build Nyakato into the hospital it needs to be. Because of this willingness to work at such low wages, we try to help them with what's most important of all to them, education for their children. Secondary school costs about $500-600 per year per child. If you can help; if you believe the way to change the world is through education, either for our nursing school or for the children of our employees, please write a check that will change a life for the better and send it to the above address. Please mark it for the scholarship fund. Right now it is empty and school fees are due in January. Without those fees, the children will not be allowed in school. Just $20.00 buys the school uniform for a primary school child so they can attend school. Two uniforms, one to wear and one to wash, will do it. A little extra buys pencils, exercise books, and other school supplies. Some of the older children are requesting laptops. So, if you have a used laptop that is still in good working order, and you would like to donate it, please let us know.

 

Do you know what Boxing Day is? It's celebrated in most countries (other than the U.S.) that had British influence. However, it's also celebrated in other European countries, and different places have different traditions.

 

Boxing Day is the day AFTER Christmas, Dec. 26th.

 

It does NOT mean the day you burn up all the gift wrappings and boxes. Instead, it is also a time of giving and remembering those who have less.

 

In some countries Boxing Day means that you give to others what your gifts replaced. That means, if you got new socks, you box up your old ones and give them to someone who needs them. If you got a new coat, then you pass your old one to someone too poor to have a coat as fine as the one you no longer need, and so forth.

 

In England it used to be that the alms boxes in the back of the church were opened on Boxing Day and the contents distributed to the poorest members of the parish.

 

Also, it used to mean that this was the day servants were given as a holiday since they had to serve their employers on Christmas. It evolved into being the day that yearly bonuses were given.

 

As we've traveled around the U.S., especially in cities hit very hard by the recent financial crisis, we're aware of the extent of fear, panic even, of those who are unsure that their income will last, will be enough to feed their family, will mean downsizing, will mean travails inherent in a lower income. Naturally, the first thing a lot of folks give up is giving.

 

We deeply thank each of you who have continued to give. Your gifts keep us going and keep Nyakato growing.

 

We thank each of our volunteers, each doctor, nurse, and student who have come to Nyakato and been changed by the experience. We thank God for each of you. We thank the construction teams for their willingness to do all the pre-planning, fund raising, organizing to get that container ready to come to Nyakato, and then for the team to come and actually build it. It's a Herculean task and you've told us you've gained more than you gave. We're honored and proud to be part of that.

 

Every family has a special Christmas now and then. We hope your holiday this year is extra special, filled with love, with caring, and with gratification knowing you're changing lives and helping others. Remember, too, that Boxing Day is celebrated by giving to those less fortunate.

 

May God bless each one of you.

 

Paula and Den

  Nyakato Health Center

 

  Patricia Ward and birthing center

 

  Monica before radiation treatments

 

  Monica before radiation treatments

 

  Michelle and Monica after radiation treatments