Volset Uganda: Memorial for Deen

Japan fundraiser Vancouver: April 28th ..

'Hands up for Africa' welcomed as new RC Canada member project

A big welcome to the wonderful 'Hands up for Africa Group' and their projects in Kenya. The projects are in a education, clean water, agriculture and orphanage in an impoverished  community S.W. of Nairobi. (Kadjiado) Hands up for Africa and Rose Charities are natural partners as both focus on ground level cost effective help to communities with zero administration costs.   Hands up for Africa, join an expanding Rose Charities African group of member projects, currently including sites in Uganda, Rwanda, Madagascar, Zambia  and Kenya.

CanCham grants Rose Charities Vietnam $15,000 to continue work in Hue

CanCham - the Canadian Chamber of Commerce in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam has generously granted Rose Charities Vietnam $15000 to continue its work in Hue.(images) . Rose Vietnam has established a school for blind adults in Hue with braille computers and a micro-enterprise (commercial laundry) to help fund it. Rose Vietnam also supports mobile cataract surgeries in rural areas,education, scholarships for poor students and food and other basic necessities to orphanage.
Rose Charities Vietnam is very grateful for the donation which will be utilizes, in the usual Rose way, without administration costs. 

Mannequins Haiti...

Kind words from Haiti... 

"  I just wanted to share a picture with you that I thought you may like.  I paid a short visit to Mme Nazaire last week to drop off some articles for her.  She was most delighted to show me the donations from Rose Charities that had arrived at the school and of which they were busily inventorying and unpacking.  She was so thrilled with the mannequins and in fact had already used some of them in her classes.  She went to one of the boxes and opened it up to show me one of them.  Attached is a picture of her showing "off" the mannequin.  I also saw a number of french text books in another box...what a boon that is to have them in French. I know Mme Nazaire gets offered a lot of nursing books but most of them are older versions and also in English.  Hopefully this little feedback will give you encouragement to keep up with your efforts.  Sometimes change takes a long time, but little by little it comes about.  Your contributions to the school will certainly help that change take place." 

Warm regards,

Director Haiti Operations

Village of Hope - Lazarus Project

www.villageofhopehaiti.org

Blog from Jess (Volunteer Rose Charities Feb 2011)

Cambodia

During a brief study abroad in 2005, I toured a clinic operated by RoseCharities in Phnom Penh and was impressed by the efficiency and dedication of the medical workers there. In fact, this was the clinic that first sparked my interest in becoming a doctor. It was one of the few NGOs my class visited that offered both immediate and long-term relief to people struggling through the effects of poverty: immediate relief through life-saving medical procedures that would have been otherwise impossible for the clinic's patients, and long-term benefits through community outreach programs and an emphasis on improving the quality of life in Cambodia.

Even in the few short weeks we spent in Cambodia studying aid organizations, it was easy to become discouraged by the waste, and sometimes obvious corruption, that plagued well-intentioned charities, but the Rose Clinic seemed to stretch every dollar it received. As I saw firsthand in 2005, a $20 donation to RoseCharities can restore a person's sight, and $50 can repair a cleft palate or give a child the ability to walk. For more information on how to donate to RoseCharities, please see http://www.rosecharities.info/donate.htm.

The organization's efficiency can be traced to its formation, as outlined on the RoseCharities homepage:

"Founded by aid workers who were disillusioned by the waste and bureaucracy often seen in international aid, we started in Cambodia in 1998. The aim was to deliver effective, sustainable programmes directly to those in need, with minimal bureaucracy, and with transparency at every stage....We are run by volunteers, so administration costs are kept to a bare minimum, with 98% of donations going directly to support our work."

- RoseCharities
http://www.rosecharities.info/

I contacted Rose last October and asked if they'd be willing to take us in for a few weeks as volunteers, and they graciously agreed. Since then, Bill and Jan Johnston have been bending over backwards to find opportunities to put our random interests and talents to work. We started last Wednesday with a short tour of the gynecology ward in the Chey Chumnas General Hospital in Takmao, the hospital where Rose Cambodia is based. That afternoon we helped enter patient files into the computer (data entry is a rare example of a skill that Danielle and I both possess).

Thursday we traveled to the countryside with Sokny, the physical therapist on staff at the Rose office, to work with a woman who had laid in bed for 30 years after a debilitating bout with encephalitis (for more info visit the Rose Rehab page: http://www.rosecambodia.org/?page_id=12). The physical therapists at Rose have been working with her to help her gain the strength to sit up, and in order to get her hands moving Danielle brought a bunch of art supplies. We made simple shapes for her to paint in, and Danielle taught her a few strokes. Danielle and I were so absorbed in watching her work that it took a while to notice the dozen or so kids from the village in a semicircle around her, jealously watching her paint. It was a great visit. As we left, Danielle hung some of her paintings next to her bed with ribbon.



On the way back to the office, we stopped to visit a woman who had been badly burned on her legs by gasoline, and the physical therapists changed a bandage for her. Apparently a skin graft had failed to take, so there was still a gaping wound behind her left knee months after the accident. While we were visiting her, her neighbors brought another potential patient to see the therapists and placed him on the bed next to her. The man had been in a motorcycle accident and could no longer move the left side of his arm. The physical therapists assessed him and made an appointment to see him later at the clinic.

As we were about to leave, the neighbors convinced the therapists to see a woman next door who was having trouble walking. While the physical therapists did their thing, Danielle and I hung back and smiled shyly at some very friendly older women, who seemed to be staring at us. One of them started talking, half at us and half at the women around her. She then started wiping at her nose, as if to inform me that I powdered sugar on the end of mine, so I self-consciously started doing the same but she just laughed. One of the therapists translated, "She wants your nose." This seemed hysterical at the time, so Danielle and I giggled about it for a while.

After the therapists had finished their work we got back in the tuk tuk, but before we could go there was some kind of commotion. The lady who couldn't stop looking at my nose jumped into the tuk tuk and handed us each a coconut and a straw. We very gratefully accepted and drove off.


We made one last stop to see a beautiful young girl who was working with the therapists to build the strength in her arms and legs, and then we took a holiday all weekend (2 working days is long enough...)

Today Bill gave us a tour of the Rose Eye Clinic just outside Phnom Penh in the morning, and Danielle and I returned in the afternoon to observe glaucoma surgeries. We watched for 2 and a half hours as nearly a dozen patients underwent the 20-30 minute procedure. It was one of the most amazing things I've ever seen.

I may move to Cambodia when I'm a doctor just so I can operate in flip flops

More to come on what we've been doing with our play time in this wonderful country.

Posted by Jess at 2/21/2011

Microcredit / Microfinance success stories Rose Charities Sri Lanka

The Success Stories of Micro Credit Members


Rose Charities Sri Lanka(click)

So far, since April
of 2007, the running of Micro Finance by RCSL made a significant change in
lives of many people from various villages in Ampara district. With about 14000
members in which more than 1200 members benefitted from 1^st, 2^nd
and 3^rd loans to improve their livelihoods. A few of their success
stories have been captured by the MF Field Staff during their field visits.
Following are selected extracts from their stories (in their own words) which
are worth mentioning.

Ø 
Ms. Arunthavarajan Thaveshwary (Membership #
734) who is a resident of Natpiddimunai 02 in her note to the CEO,

“Sir, I wish to express my sincere thanks to you for
considering and helping for the improvement of my livelihood. After I lost my
husband in 2007, with three of my kids, I have great difficulty in growing up
my children without any source of income. With the sum of Rs. 25,000 as my 1^st
loan, I started my small scale business of selling rice. This has been
supporting me to cover my children’s study as well as the smooth running of our
family. After I finished my loan in six months, I got my second loan worth of
Rs. 25,000 again which is going to help me to develop my business and life even
more. When my income goes high my kids and I can use that to cover my
additional expenses as the other regular families.”

Ø 
Mr. Baskaran Saroja (Membership # 467) of
Natpiddimunai writes,

“………….. From my younger age I have been a weaver. I started
my job as weaving for day salary in a weaving factory in Maruthamunai. With the
first loan from Rose Charities micro finance department, I purchased a thread
wheel and necessary threads to start my own business. With this I prepared
thread wheels and sold this to weaving companies. This gave me only a small
income. Then I purchased a weaving machine with the second loan borrowed from
Rose Charities and started my own weaving business at my home. The income from
this home based business is enough for the running of my family and to pay back
the loans. My children are getting a
good education which was possible because of the development in my income.”

Ø 
Ms. Punniyamoorthy Puspanjali (Membership # 67)
of Karaitivu who is a children club member says,

“Sir, I study in grade 10.

The details of my family is as follow;

Name	Relationship	Age	Education Qualification	Date of Birth	Occupation
P. Punniyamoorthy	Father	48	O/L	06.01.1962	Labourer
M. Nesamma	Mother	50	O/L	05.07.1960	Snacks Business
P. Kojina	Daughter	17	A/L	05.08.1993	Student
P. Puvithra	Daughter	15	Grade 10	20.05.1996	Student
P. Pushpanjali	Daughter	15	Grade 10	20.05.1996	Student

I received my membership book on 22.11.2010 after I joined
as a member in this organization in May, 2010. During this period, I saved some
money in the till box which was given to me by this organization and still
saving.

My situation before I joined at this organization

1.  
I
was at home without savings and membership.

2.  
No
connection or ability of reading.

3.  
No
interest in sports.

4.  
No
good friendships.

My Situation after I joined at this
organization

1.  
Got
membership in children club. I am interested in saving in the membership book
and till which was given by Rose charities

2.  
Joined
in our children club library and barrow books and expand my knowledge.

3.  
We
are given basketball training at six o’ clock in the morning on Saturdays and
Sundays I regularly attend at this training.

4.  
Now
I feel very happy as I have got friendships in other areas.

I expect Rose Charities to provide supports in the
following;

1.  
Supports
for educational activities.

2.  
Supports
for educational Materials.

3.  
Financial
assistance for studies.

4.  
Small
loans.

5.  

One
day trip.

6.  
Competitions
in educational and sports between clubs.

7.  
Evening
classes.

My mother has also joined as a member in this organization
and she was given Rs 15,000 as the first loan. She was unemployed before she
joined at this organization. At present, she does a small snack business
(mixture making) with the loan they gave. Through this income my elder sister
gets education in A/L Math stream and I studied in grade 10. This small income
is not only very helpful to the education of ours, but also settles the loan
without any difficulties.”

She finished her saying with an
end note,

“I hope it will be very supportive if you take steps to
issues the second loan please in order to improve our life and develop our
educational activities.”

Ø 
Ms.K. Thanaledchumi (Membership # 554) of
Kalmunai 01, in her story,

“…………….. I had two
sons and two daughters. My husband and two sons were kidnapped by unknown and
unidentified men in 1990. After this incident, my daughters and I struggled to
run our day to day living. With some home based businesses such as chicken
farming, tailoring and rental I managed to get a small income for the family.
When Tsunami came, we had lost our house, business and everything in our hold.
Later I slowly restarted my rental business with 25 plastic chairs with the
help of my daughters. After my daughter and I have joined in the women
committee of Rose Charities, we got a loan to develop our business. The number
of chairs was increased by 75. We have bought a sewing machine, 500 porcelain
plates, 100 drinking cups and 2 tents with the second loan from Rose micro
finance. The rental and tailoring business of ours have developed tremendously.
Not only the above mentioned but also we have bought chicken and rabbits for
our poultry business. Unfortunately we have lost our poultry farm with the
recent flooding and the business is also dull this month. But I have gained a
monthly income of Rs4840.00.”

Ø 
Ms. K. Chandramathy, (Membership # 722) of
Vammiyadi Road, Natpiddimunai 02 states,

“……… I have been a micro credit member since 16^th
may 2009. I have two sons and two daughters and my husband is a labourer. The
earning of my husband is not enough to cover the expenses of ours. So, I put
forward my difficulties to the committee of the organization. And then,
considering my difficulties I was given the 1^st loan worth of Rs.
25,000 in order to do some business such as selling rice. This was very helpful
to my family in many ways and then I got my second loan worth of Rs. 30,000,
now I can manage in running my family without any difficulties. So, I wish to
render my sincere thanks to Rose Charities-Sri lanka.”

Ø 
P. Pushparani, (Membership # 346) of
Natpiddimunai 03 writes in a letter of hers

“Dear Sir, I joined
as a member in Rose Charities, Kalmunai on 1.12.2008. My husband is a labourer.
I have 05 children (4 girls and 1 boy).I looked after my family including my
mother and sister. I had a poultry farm from which I had managed to run my
family and the family of my dependents.

In 2008, I took the first loan Rs. 20,000 with that I
bought chicken for my farm. This helped me to manage a monthly income.

After repaying the first loan and I have applied for second
loan. I received Rs. 30,000 as second loan on 25^th September, 2010
this helped me to repair and renovate the poultry hut (20’x10’). Then I bought
70 chickens and sold them fowls after three months and got a good income. I
have to thank our CEO of Rose Charities Mr. Anthony Richard for assisting for
my income generation through giving micro credit loans.

When the disaster struck in January 2011 in the form of
heavy rain and flood, the hut got damaged. My husband also lost his labourer
job due to heavy rain. Anyway, I am able to manage my family and look after my
children’s education with the help of my little saving from the income which
was made possible with the help of Rose micro credit. I hope I will be able to
rebuild my family income again and again with the help of rose Charities and
the guidance of our CEO Mr. Anthony Richard. Now I have the confident of
running my life in the event of any disaster situations.”

Ø 

Mr. S.T.Tharmaratnam (Membership # 290) who is a
resident of Pandiruppu, writes his success story as follows,

“I am 58 years old
with a family of my wife and three sons. My monthly income is around
Rs.6000.00. before I have received benefits from Rose Charities, I had a small
shop of provisions. This shop was broken in to and everything was stolen.
Because of this happening in April, 2004, I had struggled to get my family life
forward. I did not even know how I can get out of this situation. I borrowed
loans with higher interest rates from individuals to regain and restart my
business. When I heard about the services provided by Rose Charities to the
community in our area, I went to their office and got advice on savings and
micro credit programs to develop the business. I thought this would be a good
investment for my slowly developing business. The two loans I have received
from Rose Charities helped to enhance my business effectively with the help of
my wife and kids.”

In his finishing statement Mr. Tharmaratnam states,

“…….. I see this
organization as my guardian angel that came for my rescue and lifted the status
of my family to a better position. I am very proud to see the way the staff and
officers of Rose Charities felicitate their customers and the public. At
present I have more than 200 daily customers and more than 1000 occasional
customers with my store which increases my income.”

Mr. Tharmaratnam in his post script, proudly says,

“I sell provisions
for cheap and standard prices as a service which I have learned from Rose
Charities. Because of this my customers are not only from Pandiruppu but also
from other surrounding villages. The relief efforts of Rose Charities must be
praised by all of us where they have provided food and non food items worth of
Rs.2600.00”

Ø 
Ms. P. Thamilselvi, (Membership # 303) of
Natpiddimuai 03 tells us,

“…. I always remember Rose Charities Help and precious
advises and guidance of Mr.Anthony Richard.”

She continuous,

“…… I Thamilselvi from Natpiddimunai 03, I have started our
carpentry works with the first loan of Rs. 30,000 from Rose Charities, Sri
Lanka. Now I receive a monthly profit of Rs. 7,000 and paid Rs. 5,000 on
monthly installment for my loan. I settled my loan in 6months and I had a
little saving for my home expenses. Then I received a second loan of Rs. 40,000
and continue our carpentry works. With this, I had good income and savings.

Unexpectedly, my mother-in-law had diagnosed with Cancer.
We took her to Colombo Hospital and spent a lot of money. We spent more than
one hundred thousand. We found very difficult to settle the expenses for her
treatment. We were unable to restart our carpentry works due to money problems.
I explained all my difficulties to Mr. Anthony Richard CEO, Rose Charities Sri
Lanka and requested a help to restart our carpentry works. So, he gave us a
loan to restart our carpentry works.

This helped us to restart our carpentry works and able to
receive a good income within a short period of time. Now I have settled my
entire loan and looking after my children’s Education as advised by our CEO
Anthony Sir.”

Ø 

Ms. Anpumani Rajani, (Membership # 686) who
resides in Natpiddimunai 02 in her progress report she praises the activities
of RCSL,

“…………… I have 3 children, my husband is a labourer. All my
children are attending school. I am someone who is interested in Social
services myself. I joined Rose Charities, Sri Lanka on 15.03.2009 as a member
in the Micro Finance and doing social services with women committee since Rose
Charities is a non government Organization working for the development of
education and livelihood activities for vulnerable people in Ampara District.

I wish to mention
some of the activities of Rose Charities such as, Children Club, Vocational
trainings and Women club through which economic and social developments are
possible for our communities. Special care is taken for Tsunami affected and
war effected women. Recently Rose Charities did some relief activities victims
affected by flood.”

Then she tells us about her living,

“I took a loan from Rose Charities Micro Credit unit and
started poultry farming. I had good income and I saved little money. I helped
my husband from my savings for his self employment. I was also affected by
recent flood. But, I am able to manage my family with my savings. I have
settled my loan and with my husband, started a business of selling tea leaves.
With Rose Charities Education programs, the education of my children is
progressing. I am helping my sisters children‘s higher education to complete
A/L exam.”

As a closing note she says,

“……. The activities of Rose Charities Sri Lanka which help
the members to start self employment and income generation activities that
eradicate poverty in our women committee is worth mentioning. I will cooperate
with Rose Charities for the future social development activities.”

Ø 

Ms. Kannagi who is a member from Veeramunai
village (Memebrsip #1560) in her note says,

“I am a widow with four children ages from 15 to 3. My
husband had passed away of heart attack. My family at this time stays below
poverty line. I have come to know about the Rose Organization when I was
searching for help to improve the livelihood of my family. Rose micro credit
taught me how to save for the first time in my life. The turning point of my
life started with the 1^st loan from this organization, which helped
me to start a home based textile business. With the income from this only I was
able to send my kids to schools.”

Ø 
Ms. T. Tharshini (Membership # 344) of
Natpiddimunai 03, Kalmunai says;

“……………. I would like to mention that I, with the help of
the loans from Rose Micro Credit, I have developed my small business and earn
much to look after my children without any hardships even though I lost my
husband 2 years ago. I have been a member in this organization (Rose Charities
Srilanka) since 2008. I got Rs.20, 000 as my 1^st loan after three
months of saving. And then I was given Rs.30, 000 as my second loan in 2010.
go. Hence I wish to express my sincere thanks and gratitude to Rose Charities
Sri lanka and its staff. And providing me a 3^rd loan please might
change my life even better.”