Charity Gift Success Stories from World Vision Must Have Gifts
Lydia's story: the life saving gift of a mosquito net
Every gift really does make a difference. Hear it from Lydia, a mother from Zambia who lost her three year old daughter to malaria. Thanks to mosquito nets provided by gifts like yours, she now sleeps soundly, knowing her family is protected from this killer disease. Since October 2010, supporters like you have purchased thousands of life saving mosquito nets for families who couldn't otherwise afford them.
25th April is World Malaria Day
All over the world, people are coming together to help elimate this preventable disease that kills one child every 30 seconds*. Want to do get involved? Just £6 buys a Mosquito Net for a family at risk of malaria, protecting them from the mosquito bites that carry the disease.
Shop for a Mosquito Net
*Source: UNICEF, 2012 (ww.unicef.org.uk)
Laying a better future for families, Sudan and South Sudan
Many villages across Sudan and South Sudan have been devastated by decades of conflict, leaving villages without trade networks or livelihood opportunities. As part of the recovery process, World Vision has provided chickens, training and veterinary support to hundreds of families across the region.For many people living here, a successful chicken farm is one of the best gifts they can receive. Not only do they provide vital nutrition with their eggs and meat, they’re also a great way to earn vital income by selling surplus eggs at local markets.
Farha Mohammed Abdella, from a neighbouring village said “The money earned from selling my eggs has enabled me to buy milk and sugar for my four children.”
When families depend on their livestock for a living, veterinary support can be a lifeline. World Vision provides training to chicken farmers, teaching them how to treat simple poultry diseases and other aspects of managing the chickens. This helps them to be selfsufficient in the longer term. In North Sudan, kits and bicycles are supplied to ‘paravets’, equipping them to serve communities by keeping farm animals healthy and productive.
Gifts for Sudan and South Sudan
Manzil Drop-in centre, Pakistan
Up to 19 million children are suspected to be working full-time in Pakistan, often as scrap collectors, domestic workers or beggars in order to earn a small amount of money to contribute to their meagre household income. These street children often start working as young as three and are highly vulnerable to abuse and exploitation. Families living in poverty are faced with impossible choices about their children’s futures: it is a choice between education or having enough food to eat.
The Manzil Drop-in Centre offers an informal bridge into education for working children. They have sessions in health and hygiene, classroom learning, counselling and recreation time, so children can forge a new future. The centres also provide a break from their difficult world and a chance to reclaim their childhood. Psychologists work with the children to help them to express their feelings and think positively about their future.
10-year-old Zahida is one of the many children who attended classes at the centre. She is now ready to return to school and hopes to help other street children when she grows up “I want to be like my teachers at Manzil. I will be a good teacher and treat my students kindly.”
Emergency response, Global emergencies
In August 2010 floods swept Pakistan hitting more than 20 million people, carrying away loved ones and belongings. The resulting unhygienic conditions and lack of medical care threatened the lives of many more. Aman was one of the lucky infants who survived. Being born into a disaster made her future uncertain, but immediate life-saving treatment from the World Vision medical team gave her a second chance.
“It was impossible to feed or help Aman…she would have died if the World Vision centre was not there to help us”, says her mother Shanaz.
World Vision has the only stabilisation centre in the region that treats children with severe malnutrition. They provide emergency food supplies and run kitchens where children receive therapeutic food and safe drinking water. The centres also provide psychosocial support to mothers and child-friendly spaces for the children where they feel safe and simply play. This helps them to recover from the trauma and begin to rebuild their lives. In the past year, World Vision has reached an estimated 1.5 million people with food distribution, clean water, hygiene kits, blankets and shelter across three of Pakistan’s four provinces.
Improved health for children and mothers, Myanmar
Highly infectious diseases such as tuberculosis (TB ) are very common in the struggling villages of Myanmar. In the Mui Zawl village, one in five children suffers from TB . Already weakened by malnutrition, many people can’t make or afford the 12-mile journey to their nearest TB medication centre.Six members of 38-year-old Daw Mar Gari’s family were diagnosed with TB . Unable to afford medicines for the whole family, she was faced with the unimaginable decision of choosing which of her children to save. World Vision heard about their desperate situation and brought food and tonics to give each of the children the strength and medication to survive. Not all families are so lucky. World Vision has built a health clinic and provides health education and awareness training, to equip communities to spot the symptoms of these diseases and protect themselves. An immunisation programme, the full six-month treatment needed to clear TB and a labour room where birth attendants can bring children safely into the world have all been provided.Since World Vision health clinics have started, child deaths and disease rates have decreased significantly. “It’s truly a blessing for the community” says 36-year-old Hwan Kam.
