Licking Lassa Fever in Sierra Leone

Newsletter October 2008

Achievements Update:

  • Our current balance is £42,000 (as at 18th October 2008). An increase of £7000 since the last newsletter, and there is still money coming in all the time.
  • Where is the additional money from? Since the last newsletter in July, we have received money from the Gloag Foundation, jewellery recycling, Internet sites and SI clubs across the UK.
  • Jewellery – Prior to the last Regional Meeting, we had already raised £7k from the jewellery recycling. But the great news is that unwanted jewellery is still arriving, and Erene Grieve from SI Milford Haven has just advised us that a further £1000 is coming our way from the collection at our last Regional Meeting. So WELL DONE to everyone who is continuing to collect jewellery. We still believe that we can get more from this simple, but effective activity. So if you have not asked your family, friends, neighbours or colleagues yet, then please do.

Jeffery Sachs – Earth Institute.

We’ve been in touch with Jeffery Sachs’ team from the Earth Institute at Columbia University, New York about their Millennium Villages scheme, which is not dissimilar to our proposals. The Millennium Villages are based on a single powerful idea: impoverished villages can transform themselves and meet the Millennium Development Goals if they are empowered with proven, powerful, practical technologies. By investing in health, food production, education, access to clean water, and essential infrastructure, these community-led interventions will enable impoverished villages to escape extreme poverty, something that currently confines over 1 billion people worldwide. Each of the 12 clusters of villages is located in a distinct agro-ecological zone-arid or humid, highland or lowland, grain producing or pastoral-to reflect the range of farming, water, disease, and infrastructure challenges facing the continent and to show how tailored strategies can overcome each one of them. They exist in Senegal, Mali, Ghana, Nigeria (2), Uganda, Rwanda, Malawi, Tanzania, Kenya (2), Ethiopia at the moment. They are not in SL but would like to maintain contact.

Sierra Leone Red Cross Society meet with Kay Richmond. Kay has met with the Secretary General of the Sierra Leone Red Cross Society, Emmanuel Tommy, and they are keen to work with us. They are undertaking a review of the Community Based Health Programme (CBHP) with the British Red Cross (BRCS) and the Swedish Red Cross Societies (SRCS) at present, with the results due in November, and a Lassa Fever programme will be part of this in 2009. The BRCS has agreed to help with our project – overview/supervision of the CBHP and fund transfers – in partnership with us now that the International Federation of the Red Cross/Red Crescent is no longer in Sierra Leone.

Peace Poems. Regional President Anne’s’ poem competition reached its conclusion on the 21st September when the prize giving event was held at the Temple of Peace in Cardiff. The majority of prize winners attended along with their teachers and/or parents.  They were all pleased to receive a copy of the book and a gift token. One of the judges, Mererid Hopwood was in attendance and spoke beautifully and eloquently about why each poem was chosen. We have produced 500 copies of the Peace Poems book for sale, with all proceeds going to LLF. The costs involved in producing the book were all kindly donated so a sincere THANK YOU to our judges – Mererid Hopwood and Iwan Llwyd Williams, our designer – Andy Dark, our printer – Christian Hartley and our welsh advisor Eirlys Pritchard Jones. A big THANK YOU should also go to Cathy Grove (SI Cardiff) who managed this project and ensured that it did happen. Details of this event appeared in the South Wales Echo before the event at the Temple of Peace and a further article was sent to the Western Mail and South Wales Echo after the event.

SI Milford Haven – Sponsored Slim. Club Members have raised a £1000 and 16 people have lost 13 stone in weight. Well Done to all of them and won’t they look slim in Barbados!
SI Aberdare – Mile of Pennies. Club members ran a collection of pennies and will continue doing so at their charity lunch in November. Their aim is to collect a mile of pennies! We are told that 15 pennies=1 foot so 1 mile of pennies= £792 (79,200 pennies)
Sponsored Walk – Cherry Wright, President Elect of SI Cardiff,  will be walking to Everest base camp from the 26th March to the 12 April 2009. She will be raising money for Licking Lassa Fever and you can sponsor Cherry by visiting www.everyclick.co.uk or www.PayPal.co.uk – links from our web site. What a tremendous effort she is making for our cause – Please do sponsor her and get your friends and colleagues to do the same!

Sponsorship and Grants:

  • Gloag Foundation – We have received a £1000 from the Gloag Foundation founded by Ann Gloag, a founder of Stagecoach.
  • Fashion Show – organised by Soroptimist International of Neath, Port Talbot and Swansea – for a report and photos see our web site. Two-hundred women attended and £1000 raised will be coming to LLF.
  • Goods for sale on Ebay – as mentioned at the Champions Meetings in May and September, we are selling good quality clothes on Ebay with all monies from the goods sold going to our LLF fund. Please bring your good quality clothes (such as Windsmoor, Elvi, Jaegar, Per Una) to future Regional Meetings. Please note that any items received which we do not feel able to sell on Ebay will be sent to a local charity shop.

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