Summer Newsletter 2008
Let’s start with some good news! It was just after Christmas when we finally moved our two Pakistan earthquake disaster aid containers out of Port Qasim. Just as the first one left, however, Pakistan was thrown into chaos with the death of Benazir Bhutto and Karachi was in turmoil. Buses, cars and trucks were being set on fire and it was several days before we heard that the truck had been safely delivered to the army warehouse in Rawalpindi. Our friend, Hassan was present at the unloading and the second one followed only a few days after. Most of the contents had made it safely but the roof of the second container was damaged at one end and rainwater had damaged some of the supplies. The army were going to get the medicines checked for quality before distribution and we hope that they will have managed to distribute them by now.
At the end of March Peter and I had planned our usual spring visit to Pakistan and Afghanistan but this year, for the first time ever in 20 years we were refused Afghan visas. Perhaps the Afghans are not too happy with the British presence in their country! We were fortunate to be able to visit our friends in Peshawar who arranged for us a visit to Balakot at the epicentre of the devastating earthquake. Many temporary houses have now been erected to give the population some shelter. The government are not allowing the people to rebuild their homes in Balakot and they are planning a new town in a safer area. We visited a small hospital, newly built, but without any patients, and the site where the international charity World Vision planned to build a new school, Their supplies were stuck in the Pindi warehouse of the army who are in charge of all earthquake relief like ours. It is impossible to miss the many small new roadside graves, a reminder of the many who lost their lives at this time.
Back in Karachi we paid a memorable visit to a Christian Basti where many of the poor had built small mud houses. Most had only one room to house the whole family and the small alley between the houses was swarming with children. They rarely had any English visitors and we caused a riot. We were visiting the family of a man who had Parkinson’s disease and could no longer work. Jacob’s Well has supplied him with his medication as the family had no chance to afford the medicines. He had brought up his 4 sons and 4 daughters in this one roomed house which had a little sleeping place on the roof. The father could not afford school fees for all the children and the girls are always last to be educated. It is almost impossible to break out of this poverty. Disease, especially TB, is rife and has affected this family. When I told them that we lived near a big river and the sea they laughed and told us they also lived very near a river, a big open sewer that runs through the middle of the Basti.
At Easter time we managed to send another container of mostly medical supplies to Moldova. We had a gift of 16 new hospital beds and we knew that Moldova needed these. Again our driver Titi managed to get through customs with very little difficulty and the load was happily received by the charity ORA for distribution with the help of the Ministry of Health.
In Romania our leaders, Titi and Brindusa, are about to have a very busy summer as we start to build a terrace of four small houses and in July a school. The Dutch have undertaken to build the school but the housing new build is ours. Our biggest need now is for funds to complete the building this year before the winter sets in. Costs of materials and wages of builders have increased a lot. Many Romanian builders are working abroad to earn much larger wages than they can at home. Please pray for this project that will provide housing for our Rehab young people who now work and have earned their right to independence. They are dreaming about their weddings and we hope we can help these dreams come true.
In the first week of May our second container to Ghana arrived safely at Lawra. The Catholics of St John’s church in Beverley first asked us to help Sister Justina, a nun in the convent at Lawra in NW Ghana, about four years ago. We arranged street collections to help her to feed and care for outcast girls and to deepen the well at the convent as it tended to run dry in the droughts. Last October we visited Lawra and the nuns asked us to help their school. They told us about the poverty and malnutrition of many of the families in this area and they asked us for help with food, educational materials and if possible sports gear for football and volleyball. Publicity in the local newspapers and on BBC Look North TV proved very fruitful.
The 24' long goal posts were a bit of a problem to collect! However we managed it and Jacob’s Well should now have its first ever 5-a-side football team as we were donated a set of strips with “thejacobs well.org” on the front! We are looking forward to seeing the Lawra United versus Jacob’s Well match when we next visit! The schools are very crowded with 80 children to a class sometimes and they have very little other than a blackboard and chalk to work with. The Lawra Hospital received our medical supplies gladly and we are very thankful for their safe delivery.
Back home the work goes on endlessly. Parcels arrive every day with more supplies of medicines, medical equipment and especially colostomy bags and we are thankful to our donors and to the many volunteers who help us to sort, list and pack them ready for dispatch and to those who help us to raise funding in our two charity shops, car boot and book sales.
On April 23rd Peter and I were invited to the opening of the new Polish Consulate at the University of Hull. The Ambassador presented us with the Gold Cross of Merit of the Polish Republic awarded by the President. The awards were for the work that Jacob’s Well had done in Poland during the last 26 years and we were very proud to receive them. God has indeed blessed our work and we pray that he will be with us every step of the way.
Beryl Beynon, Medical Director
Excited Children in a Basti Alley
Ironing Ghana Style With Hot Ashes!