Lessons from Zambia
Two weeks ago I was in Lusaka, Zambia. I spent one day seeing families through our Community Based Rehabilitation program (CBR). This is a program where community workers go into the communities, find people (most of them children) with disabilities, refer them for medical assistance, design a rehabilitation plan, and work with the families and communities to provide on-going support.
Read moreHope and Healing – new web site!
If you got to my blog today from the Hope and Healing web site you will have noticed our new look. I am excited to see our new site – we hope it is even easier to use to get information about our work than the old one. Take some time to explore – even if you knew a...
Read moreHurricane Tomas – finally Haiti gets a break!
Finally – some relatively good news from Haiti. We heard last night from our staff in Port au Prince. Although it rained hard and for several days, it could have been worse. Some areas did have small mud slides but they were contained and our staff did not report any deaths. Our partner hospitals also did not report a...
Read moreWaiting in Port au Prince
We are waiting to hear how Haiti is faring during the hurricane. Our staff there have reported heavy rain for two days, but the fears are that the worst is yet to come. I cannot imagine living in a tent – or under a tarp – and waiting for a hurricane to hit. There are still 1.4 million people...
Read moreReduction in the number of people who are blind!
We are on our way! In 1999 Hope and Healing together with the World Health Organization (WHO) and three other organizations (SightSavers, Orbis, and Helen Keller) launched a program to reduce blindness. The program was called VISION 2020. The number of people blind in the world in 1999 was 50 million, and the objective was to reduce that to...
Read moreCIDA project in Ethiopia announced
Today Member of Parliament for Oak Ridges – Markham, Paul Calandra came to our office to announce, on behalf of Minister of CIDA Bev Oda, that the Canadian government was partnering with Hope and Healing for disability work in Ethiopia. What does this mean? It means a few things: As much poverty as there is in Ethiopia – we...
Read moreThe miners in Chile
I caught a glimpse of the miners in Chile being brought to the surface. What an amazing story. This is a story of hope restored, perseverance and strength. Indeed the camp where family members of the trapped miners have been staying has been named “Camp Hope”. The BBC this morning reported that at this camp Hope there have been prayer...
Read moreWorld Sight Day – what?
I am not a sentimental guy – you can confirm that with my wife! That is why I don’t do flips over designated days like “World Sight Day” to be held on October 14 this year. Don’t get me wrong – I think that work to prevent blindness, address low vision, and provide devices for people with blindness to be...
Read more$33 for a miracle or $55,000 for dinner?
We live in a very strange world. I heard on the radio a story from Dallas, where one of the Dallas Cowboy Football team took the whole team to dinner and paid $55,000. The radio announcers thought it was funny. One asked what the tip would have been. I didn’t see the humour – I had to think of...
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