Where We Work
Poland has seen great changes in the last ten years. The market economy is really happening, but unemployment and high prices are a great problem. The country is pinning great hopes on entering the EU. Hospital budgets have been reduced each year and most patients buy their medicines. Many can hardly afford to do this as basic living takes most of their salary. In 1994 we registered a branch of our charity and opened a charity shop for a time in Warsaw in the grounds of the Wolski Hospital. The profit from this shop funded the breast clinic which started with the donation mammography machines by Jacob’s Well. We have been aiming to help them to help themselves with such self-funding projects. In recent years we have responded to floods with food and clothes and distributed clothing and bedding to the poor through the Polish Charity S.O.S.
Romania came second when in 1987 during Ceaucescu’s era we helped several hospitals but we had many problems and by the end of 1988 we backed out as it was too dangerous to continue. Christmas Eve, 1989 found us helping the Red Cross to fill the first plane of emergency aid for Bucharest. The revolution had happened. In March 1990 we sent supplies to a 450 bedded hospital for handicapped children in Siret on the Ukraine border. When Anneka Rice took up the challenge to do up this hospital many hearts in Britain were touched by the plight of these children. By this time we had decided that the greatest need was people to give some individual attention, love and care to these children. They escaped their cots to play for a precious half hour each day and the kids loved the attention of gap year and other volunteers. Follow this link to find out about volunteering opportunities in Romania.
Siret: The Day Centre and Rehab: The large Neuropsychiatric Hospital for handicapped children closed in 2001. The children under 18 were dispersed to small units in their home counties. Those over 18 who had been unable to achieve independence were placed in the dismal former town boys’ orphanage. Jacob’s Well has built a Rehabilitation Centre which is now the home for 8 of the older boys & 4 girls from the former hospital. We aim to teach them to care for themselves and to provide living and occupational skills. Jacob’s Well is continuing to run day centres for handicapped children and young adults in both Siret and Gremesti as there is no state provision. The Rehab is now funded by 3 Romanian charity shops which provide good cheap clothing and a service to the community. Medical aid is still needed and distributed locally in Northern Romania.
Afghanistan: There have been many changes over the last 11 years as the communist government was replaced by the Mujahadeen, then the Taliban, and then the interim government. Repeated conflict has led to the destruction of large areas in Kabul and loss of nearly all economic activity. In recent years the situation has been worsened by severe drought adding to the internally displaced people resulting from conflict. Since 1989 Jacob’s Well has worked with the Afghan Red Crescent Society who assist in the distribution of medical supplies to the hospitals and clinics of Kabul and the provinces. Refugees from Iran and Pakistan are now returning, often to find high prices in Kabul and their own villages destroyed.. Afghanistan is our most expensive destination and the containers are never returned and have to be replaced. It is the most difficult logistically, but without doubt has the greatest needs. The hospitals in Kabul are still largely without supplies despite promises of generous help from around the world. Even now, for the women and the children, there are many difficulties. Many of them are dependent on handouts. Jacob’s Well has been sending regular medical supplies with some food, clothing and other necessities even during the Taliban era. In February 2002 Jacob’s Well took over the Mother and Child Clinic previously run by Halo Trust. It is established in a poor heavily populated suburb of Kabul called Taimani. It is run by qualified Afghan staff and equipped with a scanner for antenatal work.
Pakistan: In 2002 we were approached by the Director of the Lady Dufferin Hospital in Karachi for help in fitting out their large new wing. This charitable obstetrics and gynaecology hospital was originally founded by the wife of a British ambassador in the 19th century when the city was small. It now has a population of 12 million. The contents of 2 full containers have only sparsely furnished the ground floor and much more is requested. Previously we have supplied 2 other hospitals in Karachi and one in Gilgit. Problems and delays in transiting Karachi Port with supplies for Afghanistan and Pakistan make this part of Asia particularly difficult to supply.
Bulgaria: For the institutions housing the elderly, disabled and mentally ill the situation is still bad. The incidence of tuberculosis has soared, particularly in the prisons, and the cost of effective treatment is prohibitive. Jacob’s Well is continuing to send containers of humanitarian aid through the International Aid Agency and the Red Cross over a wide area. It is also planned to soon register a branch.
Ukraine: In 1991 we made our first contacts in Lviv. A year later we were welcomed to Kiev and visited 5 hospitals linked with the nuclear medicine department and saw many children with leukaemia and the problems left by the Chernobyl disaster. We visited the tiny research laboratory where cell culture and effects of radiation were being studied with much enthusiasm, despite minimal resources by Dr Nadja Bilko. In 1999 the President of the Ukraine opened a beautiful new hospital and research centre. But it desperately needs materials and medicines. Often there is not even enough money to pay the tiny wages. We have also sent some supplies to Yalta & Odessa. In 2002 Dr Bilko succeeded in registering our branch after several years overcoming bureaucracy. This should enable us to increase the desperately needed supplies.
Unloading equipment in Afghanistan
The Tahya Maskan ARCS Hospital, Kabul
Meagre Supplies in Tahya Maskan Pharmacy
A beautiful new church called Jacob’s Well - in Romanian “ Fintana lui Iacov”