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Inside This Issue
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MRDS Online Newsletter:
Second Quarter 2005
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The Art of Healing Aceh
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Pediatrician Dr. Peter Murphy and his wife Debrale, a nurse, had
lived for several years in Lombok, Indonesia. After the tsunami
struck they were among the first to contact Millennium
volunteering to go and help tsunami survivors. We were excited
to have them join our group in Aceh for three weeks in
February. With their medical expertise and knowledge of the
Indonesian language and culture, Peter and Debrale were able to
get right to work helping children to heal.
The little boy was from the
island
of Pulau Raya. He came each morning to draw pictures with the
other children. The workers noticed a small bald spot
developing on the top of his head. Dr. Murphy explained this
was a symptom of emotional trauma.
In a world turned upside down it is good to have something
familiar. Children everywhere like to draw. It is a view of
their world, an outlet for their growing imaginations and it is
a way to share thoughts and emotions that a young vocabulary
cannot express.
Millennium provided places and the materials for drawing and the
children came. Every day more would show up. At first there
were more girls but later the boys began to participate as
well. The children were from 5 to 17 years of age.
Some of the children worked at big tables or on the floor in
groups, others went off by themselves and secretly put their
feelings on paper. They would drop these precious pictures on
the workers’ laps and leave without a word.
More and more of the children began to draw their tsunami
stories. Afterwards, they would approach one of the MRDS
workers who gently took the picture. Quietly and patiently they
asked questions about what the child had drawn. As they told
us, they were “allowing silence so that more could come to the
child’s mind as they explained their drawings.”
As the children started to open up, the slow process of
acceptance and healing began. Although there was a crowd of
young onlookers, there was never any pushing or shoving. There
were never any interruptions as each child opened his or her
heart and explained the poignant pictures of suffering and
loss. |
A young boy colors a poster specially
designed for tsunami survivors by one of our partners in Aceh.
Over the weeks the drawings were collected and displayed in a
central location and the children were commended for their
artwork. As a balance to the sadness they were encouraged to
talk about the good times they remembered, especially those good
memories about the people they had lost.
Debrale said “In week two, there were many repeat drawings (of
the same scenes) but soon there were more colors and pictures
including flowers, ships and homes. When we asked about the
drawings, the children responded that these pictures depicted
what used to be -- before the tsunami”.
This activity is best viewed as part of a process of healing.
Often our workers would involve adults who were in the area and
teach them simple trauma care techniques. They were encouraged
to give assistance to each other, to their children and also to
the children who had lost their parents.
Having good tools and skills in any given situation will lead to
a feeling of confidence and hope. Our teams will continue to
share tools and skills with the Aceh people and walk with them
as their confidence and hope
are renewed. |
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Festivities Signal a
New Era For Afghan School Children
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These young Afghan girls
are very excited about their new school
It is a joyous occasion when Afghans put on their finest clothes
and gather to dedicate a new village school. They are keenly
aware that as a result of this new 13 room school building,
their children will walk into a brighter future. The excitement
is palpable as a new era begins.
For three years, Millennium has partnered with local communities
to build schools in Northern Afghanistan, one of the poorest
places in the world. If the village was fortunate to have a
teacher most children attended classes in abandoned houses or
fields. Instead of a playground they played on broken, rusted
tanks. The families made due with what they had but they never
ceased hoping for a real school. |
Julie Bolz, a Millennium volunteer and Journey with an Afghan
School visionary, has traveled to Afghanistan to attend most
of the school dedications. Two schools were dedicated in 2003,
one was dedicated in the fall of 2004, and the most recent
ceremony is scheduled for May 2005.
The effect of a new school on the lives of the villagers is
something we may not be able to fully understand. Over 20 years
of war and oppression have decimated the school system but not
the heart of the people. The desire for education is very
strong.
Adhering to Afghan Department of Education specifications and
using his knowledge of the language and culture, our MRDS
project director meets with the village elders to discuss
partnering with them. Drawing from the Afghan proverb, “It
takes two hands to clap”, he clearly outlines both our role and
that of the community. If the leaders demonstrate willingness
and unity, the partnership begins and a school is on its way.
Over the last few years we have had the privilege of seeing
ethnic groups unite, hundreds of girls attend class for the
first time, and boys begin studying in rooms with real doors and
windows. We have seen hope restored to village leaders as their
school building took shape. Even as expenses increased and we
had to ask the villagers to take on more responsibility, their
response was overwhelmingly enthusiastic.
Americans are also enthusiastic about the school projects. A
Houston based corporation generously donated the majority of the
funds for the school that will be dedicated this spring. At
last fall’s dedication, an entire playground set was donated by
another group of supporters in Austin who were also major
contributors to the construction of that school. We are
fortunate to have various donors partnering with us to provide 3
years of annual operating funds for supplies and maintenance of
the schools. Giving the schools a solid start will help give
the children a solid start as Afghanistan rebuilds. |
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All You Need is
Love: Transformation in an Uzbek Orphanage
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When Marcia entered the room, Alisher would reach for her arms
and start crying if she did not pick him up. Marcia, an art
teacher, and her husband, Vince, an occupational therapist, have
been working in Uzbekistan with the Orphan Care Project. Able to
take a new direction in 2002 with the assistance of a grant, the
project is improving the care of disabled orphans. “We just go
in and love these kids and try to do whatever is needed,” Marcia
explained. “The results are amazing.” Just recently, Alisher
was seen sitting contentedly on his bed hiding behind a scarf,
ready to play peek-a-boo. A testament to our workers, he was
initiating spontaneous play for the very first time.
Muruvvat Orphanage is home to 324 handicapped children,
one-third of whom are unable to walk. These children have
serious psychophysical diseases like spina bifida, infantile
cerebral paralysis, hydrocephalus and oligophrenia. In January
2005, a Millennium team from the U.S. documenting the project
at the orphanage encountered children tied to their beds and
others afraid to interact because of abuse or neglect. What is
most disturbing, Vince explained to our team, is seeing children
who could be normal but have developed physical and mental
deficits because of their environment. In hopes of changing
this, the Orphan Care Project has hired its own workers to
supplement the state workers. Unfortunately, our staff of 30 is
only able to work with 50% of the children.
Since three of our staff began working with a group of bedridden
children, the whole atmosphere in this part of the orphanage has
dramatically changed. Where children were once restricted to
their beds for days or months at a time, you now see them moving
around in wheelchairs. Our staff is finding that many are even
able to feed themselves. The general mood at the orphanage
seems to be changing as children are getting the level of
attention they need to thrive. One staff responded, “It’s like
they are being ‘awakened’ to feelings that have been repressed
for so long. Kids are smiling, laughing, playing, crying, and
even pouting to get their way.” |
An Orphan Care Project
worker plays with children on a big swing
In 2004, the Orphan Care Project renovated the entire laundry
service area, building an additional drying room, and repairing
and replacing the pipes, floors, and equipment to finally
provide the orphanage with clean laundry. They have also
renovated two corridors, 5 bedrooms, and one classroom, toilet
room and bathroom. A local doctor, two therapists and three
teachers were also hired through the project last year.
The operating cost to employ 30 of our workers at the orphanage
is about $60,000 USD a year, but funding from their last grant
will run out in June 2005. In addition to salaries, project
funding is needed to build a therapy facility. With our local
staff now seeing results from their work, they are motivated for
training, but there is simply no room to provide that much
therapy. The US Embassy is considering funding this facility,
but the decision has not yet been made.
When praised for their work, local Uzbek staff respond shyly
with a common Uzbek phrase “Sekin, sekin,” which means “Slowly,
slowly.” The children are not the only ones “awakened” by the
project. Workers are slowing changing attitudes and taking on
more responsibility as they catch the vision and see the
powerful effect that love and attention can have.
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Touching
the Untouchables
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Imagine a child considered such an outcast that when he is sick
his doctor will not touch him. About 5,000 people living in the
Greendome slum in Sana’a, the capital of
Yemen, have been shunned by all
levels of
Yemen society for hundreds of years. Most have never had even
the most basic necessities of life.
So
marginalized are they that doctors keep their distance during
“examinations.” A doctor will look at a child, diagnose,
prescribe medicine and send him on his way without ever touching
him. The people have learned that seeking help from a doctor
can be an exercise in futility.
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The new clinic brings much needed health
care to Yemeni children like these.
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On March 1, 2005 all this began to change. After receiving a
three-year grant, Millennium and two partners renovated the
largest house in the middle of this impoverished area and opened
a medical clinic.
But this is not just a revolving door clinic where people are
examined, illnesses are treated, and prescriptions dispensed.
This clinic will certainly improve the health of those it
serves, but it will also train the local people to continue
helping their community long after the three-year startup
program is over.
Millennium is training men and women who will be responsible for
their community’s clinic. They will be able to deliver basic
medical care, nursing, vaccinations and other medicines. They
will also learn administrative skills to enable them to keep the
clinic running smoothly. These workers will in turn train
others. The long-range goal is for workers to then open more
clinics in other shantytowns.
Besides attending to basic medical needs, the clinic is
educating people on disease prevention and teaching them how to
plant and sustain “kitchen gardens” to grow vegetables to meet
nutritional needs. Another program will teach basic
cleanliness both in the home and in the community to help
prevent common illnesses.
This kind of sustainable development is what Millennium is all
about. Not just giving help, but offering a healing hand
to the unwanted and isolated, teaching them how to help
themselves. |
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Easing the
Burdens of Iraqi Midwives
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Before throwing her instruments into the sterilizer, she wiped
off the plastic mattress cover and called the next mother-to-be
to climb up on the empty delivery table. In the course of
delivering around 700 babies a year, the thought never occurs to
Fatimah to give new mothers breastfeeding advice. She barely has
time to jot the baby’s basic info in a logbook large enough to
hold last year’s 10,000 records before moving down the line. She
knows her profession is not highly appreciated, but she has no
time to think about that. After dipping her gloves in a bowl of
disinfectant to make them reusable, she is only concerned with
how to survive the day’s demands.
Medical care in northern Iraq has been losing ground due to
decades of instability. Fatimah and her 10 delivery nurse
colleagues did not choose the nursing profession-- it is
assigned to those with the lowest test scores. Furthermore,
faced with the pressures of a culture in which many feel it is
shameful for a woman to work outside the home, they have never
felt very respected for their work.
Recognizing the need for change is not always easy and
implementing change can seem an impossible task. |
Neonatal resuscitation
training for midwives and nurses in Northern Iraq
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Amid the chaos of the busy maternity ward, Fatimah swaddled up
the latest citizen of
Iraq
and set him in the corner on the countertop. Something out of
the ordinary caught her eye when she turned around to assist in
the next birth. One of her coworkers was using a skill she
learned in a Millennium nurse/midwife training program. With
encouraging words, the nurse gently began instructing the
birthing mother how to breathe between pushes.
Soon more nurses observed this unusual behavior, and saw the
positive impact it had on the birthing mother. It was a
teaching moment, just one of many brought on by our training
programs for nurses and midwives in Iraq.
Attitudes are changing toward maternal health care as newer,
safer techniques are learned and implemented with kindness by
caregivers who want to make a difference. As a result many
midwives and nurses are sensing a new motivation and pride in
their work. |
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CEO's Letter: Expanding the Vision
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For the past seven years, Millennium has been privileged to work
with Central Asian Free Exchange (CAFE), one of the largest
charitable organizations operating in Uzbekistan and one that
shares our vision and purpose. We are pleased to report that
at the close of 2004 Millennium merged with CAFE, a move that
will strengthen our capabilities and operations.
CAFE has had a presence in Uzbekistan since the fall of the
Soviet Union and now has offices and development centers in 9 of
the country’s 13 regions. CAFE also has one office in northern
Afghanistan, which was opened shortly after the fall of the
Taliban.
After years of partnering with CAFE on different projects, the
merger seems to be a natural progression. Our annual
International Teachers Program and the Journey with an Afghan
School Project are two of our larger and very successful joint
efforts. In working together we have found that while we have
similar approaches to relief and development, we each bring
unique strengths to the new organization that will benefit our
workers in Central Asia and in other developing countries.
Both CAFE and Millennium teams have enthusiastically embraced
the combining of our visions and our efforts. Our newly
augmented presence in Central Asia positions us well to serve
more effectively in this turbulent part of the world. |
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