Organization for Development of the Indigenous Maya (ODIM)
(website link in Left column of this blog)
We are a small group of volunteers and paid local staff working at the grassroots level in the villages of San Juan La Laguna, San Pablo La Laguna, and surrounding rural areas on the shores of Lake Atitlan. We have been working in these villages since 2005 with the recovery effort after the devastation of Hurricaine Stan. Since 2005 our programs have evolved from disaster recovery to programs focused on education and health. Through meeting the root causes and necessities of education and health, people in the villages can strive for a positive future for themselves and their children.
ODIM volunteers also host various VIM teams who come to Guatemala to serve. Medical teams can conduct temporary clinics in the rural area around Lake Atitlan. Or please contact us about how your non-medical work team can help us build or refurbish our clinic, schools or other needed facilities around our village. Thank you for your interest in our mission. Please contact us if you would like more information on what we do or how you can help.
Red Bird Clinic, a health ministry of the United Methodist Church, is seeking a full time Registered Nurse and a full time primary care Nurse Practitioner, or a primary care Physician Assistant for its outpatient clinic near Beverly, Kentucky. Located in the heart of Appalachia in the Daniel Boone National Forest, Red Bird Clinic has been providing care within a Christian environment for almost 100 years. Duties for the nurse include daily patient care as well as assistance with health education programs, policy review, care plans, immunization, & other clinical tasks. Duties for the NP or PA Candidates include diagnosing/prescribing for patients in the clinic, a few home visits, and some health education responsibilities (a Physician Assistant provides appropriate care under the direction of a physician.)must have or be license-eligible in Kentucky. Salary plus housing (with utilities), health insurance, and other benefits provided. For more information, contact:
Medical personnel are needed for a UMVIM trip to Honduras Feb. 6 - 19, 2010. Two nurses have signed up but at least two medical doctors and any other health care professionals are needed to staff a clinic in Danli, Honduras. Cost of the trip is $1425 from Des Moines but air arrangements can be adjusted as necessary. Sign up is immediate. The orientation is 10/31 but will work with anyone who might be interested in helping a rural area to have health care that is not generally available in the community. If intersted, please contact:
Beverly Nolte 5221 Village Run Ave. #604 Des Moines IA 50317 515 266 4186 home
The attached message comes via Our Family Adoptions, which is the UMC-affiliated adoption agency with Jamaa Letu orphanage in Congo. (the one we have worked with for years in PNW conference). It highlights efforts to raise awareness for peace with justice in the DRC. If you can share any of it with your UMVIM network, that would be awesome.
We just returned from there in September, looking at a new site for medical teams in partnership with the UMCOR Hospital Revitalization program. We'll be leading a medical team back in spring 2010.Our goal is to take folks who will commit to returning with a team from their region at a later date. But we are limited to 10 participants. If you have one (medical) person from your jurisdiction that might be interested in joining us (with the full intent of returning with a team in the future) please let us know. This person must have international experience, as the conditions are harsh. We currently have one or two spaces remaining. Thanks
Kurt and Jan Kaiser Retired UMVIM,WJ coordinators 208-263-4094 love2trvl@imbris.com
RE: Breaking the Silence -- Congo Week 2009 October 18th-25th The second annual Congo Week was started in 2008 to raise awareness of the chain of relationships causing the longstanding violent conflict in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Wars in DRC have killed over 5.4 million people in the last decade, making it the deadliest conflict since WWII. It is a global embarrassment that most of these deaths were not caused by direct violence, but result from a lack of access to clean water and simple sanitation. Throughout eastern DRC, a confusing list of armed rebel groups vie for control of portions the landscape. Each commit horrific atrocities against civilians in campaigns of terror. They gang-rape women, children and men. They burn villages. They force children to kill their own parents, then enslave the children, using girls for sex, and boys as soldiers and slave laborers. Control of the region is the goal for these groups simply because it is profitable.
Eastern Congo contains huge quantities of ores of precious metals: cassiterite (tin), columbite-tantalite (coltan),and others. In particular, coltan is used to make the tiny tantalum capacitors that go into electronic devices such as cellphones, laptop computers, video games and DVD players.“Artisanal miners”, enslaved by the rebel forces, dig raw ore from the earth by hand, and 150-lb. loads are smuggled by porters across poorly-guarded borders into the neighboring countries of Uganda, Burundi and Rwanda. From there, materials are shipped to other countries for refinement, production and final assembly. Western and European mining companies claim they do not source coltan from Congo, but the ore changes hands so many times throughout the manufacturing process that it is impossible to identify the metal’s true origin. Final manufacturers have plausible deniability, but one statistical analysis concluded it was impossible for Sony to have manufactured all its Playstation units without using Congolese coltan. Ex-British Parliament Member Oona King observed, "Kids in Congo were being sent down mines to die so that kids in Europe and America could kill imaginary aliens in their living rooms.” Every time you upgrade your cellphone, every time you buy a new laptop, you are contributing to the crisis in Congo. Congo Week (www.congoweek.com) is an effort to raise global awareness of the African War, and to bring daylight to its true causes. On Wednesday, October 21st 2009, from 12 to 1PM worldwide, the organization is promoting a “Cell-Out”; a voluntary boycott of cellphone use. Our Family Adoptions www.ourfamilyadoptions.org Here are some simple actions that can turn the power of these electronics to good: Educate yourself: - War, Murder, Rape… All For Your Cellphone. http://www.alternet.org/story/41477/ - Coltan http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coltan - The War the World Ignores http://www.sundayindependent.co.za/index.php?fArticleId=3245293 Raise Awareness. - Put links to Congo Week on your blogs - Write blog entries about coltan and mining in DRC Action.- Don’t buy that new cellphone. Use the old one until it breaks. - Recycle your old cellphone. Where? At your Zoo! - Recycle all your old electronic devices. - Write your senator to support SB 891: the Congo Conflict Minerals Act of 2009; http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=s111-891 - Participate in Congo Week events in your community. - Turn your cellphone off, but change your voicemail message to explain why
One of the significant recent breakthroughs in the management of falciparum malaria has been the use of the drug artemisinin as first line therapy for this potentially fatal disease. Artemisinin is derived from sweet wormwood, a plant that has been used by the Chinese to treat malaria for more than 500 years. Artemisinin acts more quickly than other antimalarials, but has a tendency for late recurrences, and requires the combination with another agent, usually lumifantrine, to be optimally effective. This combination of artemisinin and lumifantrine is currently marketed as Coartem, which has rapidly become the worldwide treatment of choice for falciparum malaria. Large plots of land, particularly in Africa have been given over to the cultivation of sweet wormwood, and small startup pharmaceutical companies in Africa and Asia are busy refining artemisinin compounds. Although there have been periodic shortages in the past, synthetic artemisinin has been developed, and should be available in 2010. The oral form is currently recommended only for moderate or uncomplicated falciparum malaria. Rectal and intravenous forms are available which compare favorably with intravenous quinine, the current standard for the treatment of severe, complicated malaria. Several problems with artemisinin therapy have arisen recently. 1. Lack of product uniformity. It is estimated that up to 50% of artemisinin for sale in the private sector in Africa and SE Asia is substandard, and much is counterfeit. 2. Inadequate dosage. Even though relatively inexpensive in developing countries, the cost of a three day course is often far beyond the reach of many of the poor. Treatment with a single tablet is common, and is often not given in combination with another agent. This results in a high rate of recurrence, and a high risk of developing resistance. 3. Lack of availability in the US. Returning travelers with falciparum malaria were unable to obtain the drug. Fortunately in April 2009, the FDA approved the use of artemisinin combination therapy (ACT) for uncomplicated malaria. Unfortunately, it is quite expensive, $105 for a three-day course. 4. Resistance. Falciparum that is resistant to artemisinin has appeared in SE Asia, on the border between Cambodia and Thailand. Experts feel that this is a harbinger of the development of more widespread resistance in other parts of the world. Artemisinin is an important new weapon in the war against malaria. However, we need to be aware that in spite of intensive (and expensive) efforts to control malaria, we are not there yet. Hopefully the efforts to produce an effective vaccine will bear fruit. Meanwhile we need to support continued research, and an all out effort to contain this complicated devastating disease. Ref: Campbell, C.C. Malaria Control----Addressing Challenges to Ambitious Goals. NEJM 361: 522-24, 2009 Roger Boe MD
This video tells the story of how Interplast sponosors a burn treatment program in Zambia. Definitely worth viewing, especially for surgical teams doing plastic surgery.
During this time of year in the U.S., we observe "National Depression Screening Day" to identify those among us who may be suffering torment in silence. It is also appropriate that as health volunteers we look beyond treating observable community and physical conditions to the signs of mental illness that often go untreated in the global communities where se serve. Please watch this short video clip from WHO and consider ways that your volunteer service can address some of the needs of millions suffering from some type of mental illness.
Click here to make a secure donation to the GBGM-UMC online donation system and indicate project #982832. Your gift supports health volunteers, with supplies, training and provides oversight of this blog.
I serve as the Blog Consultant for the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries and as Health Consultant for Volunteers in Mission within the North Central Jurisdiction of the United Methodist Church. I hold a masters nursing degree and am retired from other full-time work.
