FoCH is delighted to report that our numbers are growing. We have several very talented new Board members on board at the UK end and several more potential ones in the pipeline. We are holding a Social and Information event in July, to bring these different members together for strategic planning. The social aspect will be a Scottish/Zambian-style lunch so nshima-making practice is in order! Wish us luck and please send hints if you know how!
A major component of the Information session, Chaired by an expert International Development Consultant, will be a WhatsApp link with our Zambian Trustees, so they can inspire UK members on what has been achieved at Chitambo and how they can help.
We are also privileged to have had recent contact from a young lady who is from Chitambo and now lives in England. She is keen to join us and help to give back to her home community. This brings our Zambian Diaspora membership to 6, 5 of whom are from Central Province and 4 from Chitambo. They are a great asset and bridge between our cultures and communities.
Watch this space for photos from the event.
Friends of Chitambo SCIO: registered charity number SCO44337 Our primary aims are to support health projects, including the hospital, ambulance and nurse training school. However, we also hope to be able to provide some support to other community oranisations such as the orphanage, schools, and the church, where possible.
Wednesday, 11 July 2018
University of Zambia donation
Huge thanks to Lead Medical Librarians at the University of Zambia (UNZA), for a pile of Merck Statistical Manuals. What a generous gesture. These are much prized by Chitambo health staff and will make a real difference. As they say, with friends like these, Chitambo is blessed.
Done and dusted!
It's been quite a journey but thanks to mutual team working efforts and global health networks, the wheelchair gifted by FoCH Trustee Mr. Chola Mwelwa and transported to Zambia by Sheffield medical student, Yun Xin Koh, has arrived at Chitambo. It travelled along with FoCH's donation of requested office equipment which consists of a photocopier/scanner; associated toners; data projector; and wifi enablers. These were sourced in Lusaka by FoCH Trustee Mr. Consider Mudenda, who also intercepted the wheelchair at Lusaka airport and passed all the items to a driver for transport to Serenje, near Chitambo. From there, they were collected in the Chitambo Centenary ambulance (pictured) for the last lap to Chitambo.
Thank you to Chitambo colleagues for their nice thank you message:
This was a joint effort resulting from strategic planning at Chitambo Hospital, in February 2018. It's wonderful to see a plan coming together and our joint planning bearing fruits.
Thank you to Chitambo colleagues for their nice thank you message:
"It's done and dusted the equipments are in and thumbs up to FoCH for the timeless efforts, love and support they have been showing us since time immemorial."
This was a joint effort resulting from strategic planning at Chitambo Hospital, in February 2018. It's wonderful to see a plan coming together and our joint planning bearing fruits.
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| Yun Xin hands over the wheelchair to Consider at Lusaka airport |
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| Chitambo CMO, Dr. Mwamba, inspects the office equipment at Consider's home in Lusaka |
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| Data projector |
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| Photocopier/Scanner and other equipment |
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Wifi enablers
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Wednesday, 6 June 2018
2 fundraising talks
A HUGE thanks go to 2 speakers for their amazing support:
1. Mr. Callum Christie, author of 'Goodbye Colonialism, Farewell Feudalism' donated all proceeds from his recent talk to the Penicuik U3A club (book sales and donations) to Friends of Chitambo. He has also offered further support since. We thank you for your immense generosity Callum. It is making a difference.
Details of Callum's book:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Goodbye-Colonialism-Farewell-Feudalism-Barotseland/dp/1526202352
2. New Zealand medical doctor, Marion Taylor took timeout of her hectic European tour to speak on our behalf (Saturday 19th May 2018, St. James Church Hall, Penicuik, Scotland). Marion, author of 'Livingstone's Hospital, the story of Chitambo', talked on 'Dr. David Livingstone..an unlikely hero?'....the character of the man.
The talk was followed by a sumptuous afternoon tea and particular thank you to Friends of Chitambo (FoCH) Trustees, Margaret and Gillian, Marion M from St James congregation, and FoCH member, Ed, for helping with this. Thank you too, to St. James Church for hosting and supporting the event and to all those who participated and gave generously in support of Chitambo. THANK YOU, you really do make a difference.
We were particularly honoured to have 5 members of the Moffat family present at the event. They are direct descendants of Livingstone's wife Mary's family and it was their ancestor, Malcolm Moffat, who founded Chitambo Hospital in 1908. Fitting that they won all the raffle prizes including the basketwork tray from the roadside at Serenje!
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| Dr. Marion Taylor (R) with organising team |
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| Setting up for the tea |
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Books delivered
Mission accomplished! Medical textbooks requested by Chitambo Hospital colleagues have come full circle. In February 2018 some departments at Chitambo Hospital (laboratory and radiography) reported the need for books on Sonography and Parasitology. Friends of Chitambo purchased these from Health Books International in the UK. They were taken to Zambia by a contact from Vision Aid Zambia, transported to Chitambo by a member of the hospital team and are now in safekeeping of Matron. Thanks to all who helped to make this happen.
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| Book handover |
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| Books in Matron's safe keeping |
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| Monitoring and recording book usage |
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| Matron with books |
International Nurses Day (12th May 2018)
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| Chitambo students |
Solar power
Fantastic news! The new solar power installations are completed at Chitambo Hospital and its 2 remotest 'hard to reach' rural health clinics (Gibson and Chipundu).
At Chitambo Hospital, the panels have been placed on the roof of the hospital laboratory. They will provide vital backup during all too frequent power outages.
Sincerest thanks to Scottish Government for funding this life saving initiative and to First Aid Africa for driving it through in collaboration with our local FoCH Project Coordinator.....and of course the Chitambo team who proposed the need in the first place.
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| Panels on Chitambo Hospital lab roof |
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| Batteries |
National Health Week (7-11th May 2018)
The Chitambo Hospital team was out and about in the community promoting health and also setting a good example by participating in healthy activities themselves.
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| Chitambo health team setting good examples (See below too) |
Wheelchair sagas
Thanks to amazing teamwork and wonderful connections a wheelchair is on its way to Chitambo Hospital physiotherapy department.
Sheffield medical student and founder of the new charity MedAid Sheffield, Yun Xin Koh, left for Zambia on Saturday 1st June, with it in her extra baggage allowance. She is heading off on her Medical Elective in Zambia.
Top Sheffield eye surgeon/medical trainer, Dr Zanna Currie (who grew up at Chitambo) linked us with Yun Xin, who is her student.
Chitambo man/Friends of Chitambo (FoCH) Trustee, Mr Chola Mwelwa, lives in the Sheffield area, where he manages a Nursing Home. He obtained a batch of perfectly serviceable wheelchairs which would otherwise be scrapped, and saw the value of these for Chitambo.
Zambian FoCH Trustee, Mr Consider Mudenda, met Yun Xin's flight and collected the wheelchair from her, for onward transport to Chitambo, along with a consignment of office equipment donated by FoCH.
Yun Xin also gave us 4 recent copies of the British National Formularies (BNF), for donation to Chitambo. We hope to find a way of transporting these and more wheelchairs to Chitambo as soon as possible.
Thanks to all who have helped us to make a good start on this initiative and, in particular, to Mr. Chola Mwelwa who initiated this venture.
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| Mr. Chola Mwelwa, with his consignment of wheelchairs |
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| With Mwelwa family and friends |
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| Chola with medical student Yin Xin |
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| Yin Xin delivers the wheel chair to Consider Mudena at Lusaka airport |
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