February 2011

Returning from a recent trip to Haiti, I reflect on both the Haitian resilience and the uphill battle that lies ahead. A year after the devastating earthquake that shattered so many lives and shook this already troubled country, it still is hard to look at the rubble, collapsed buildings and tent camps. The images of an area so totally and horrifically destroyed are difficult to see and describe, even a year later. 

As my aircraft approached Port Au Prince I felt a sudden sadness. My last trip to Haiti was before the earthquake, and I didn’t know if I was prepared for the devastation and the impact on people’s lives. As we filed into the immigration hall, however, a cheery Haitian band was playing. The Haitian spirit is alive and well, though the subsequent drive through town to the CBM office showed the first taste of the grimness of the situation.  

The earthquake itself killed about 230,000 people, left about 300,000 with disabling conditions and displaced millions. It decimated government agencies and services.  Then the cholera epidemic struck, which has killed more than 3,000 people and, more recently, the government elections were disputed and political riots erupted. It’s just one thing after another. 

I wonder when the Haitians will ever get a break. They’ve experienced much despair and destruction. The government, local and international organizations are trying hard to make progress, and CBM is supporting an incredible array of work. 

Despite the tragedies they have encountered, the Haitians are wonderful people with great spirits. There are thousands of local people working hard under stressful situations with little resources to do what they can to put their country back together and to help their fellow citizens. The local non-governmental organizations (NGOs), many of which were destroyed and had to rebuild themselves after the quake, have continued to provide services for children and adults with disabilities. 

The CBM-country coordinating office is doing a fantastic job providing support to partners on the ground and helping Haitians make great strides under difficult situations. CBM’s office in Haiti is staffed with an excellent team of individuals. It is, as always, a pleasure to meet the competent and caring people that make up our expatriate and local staff in our different offices around the world.   

Following the initial emergency response phase, CBM and its partners formulated a strategic plan for moving from the relief stage to development and working to make sure that plans and projects will lead toward good redevelopment in Haiti, specifically for people with disabilities. CBM’s focus turned to five core areas:  health care, inclusive education and child protection, advocacy and accessibility, Community Based Rehabilitation (CBR) and disaster preparedness. 

Out of the rubble, Haiti can become a better place than it was before the quake. We are helping that happen by working closely with numerous Haitian Disabled People Organizations (DPOs) and the State Secretariat for the Inclusion of Persons with Disabilities on an advocacy project to advise and ensure that rebuilding efforts are accessible to people with disabilities. For example, while in Haiti I attended an education workshop that brought together government officials, special education and regular education agencies, the Disabled People’s Federation, and other partners to map out a viable plan to ensure that children with disabilities go to school. 

CBM also is working directly with our partners to ensure that the needs of children and adults with disabilities are met through medical services, rehabilitation services, education and child friendly spaces in slums and tent camps. A year later, more than 1 million Haitians remain displaced as a result of the earthquake. 

Life was difficult in Haiti before the earthquake and it is more difficult now…many children lost one or both of their parents, people with disabilities are neglected then are often forgotten about, tens of thousands of people injured during the earthquake face a long road to recovery, and many have become disabled due to the lack of proper healthcare following their injuries. 

Returning to the United States from my recent trip to Haiti, I am still troubled by all that remains to be done. Millions are still displaced; more than 90 percent of the rubble still needs to be cleared, and basic services still need to be restored.  However, I am hopeful at the progress that has been made. I am hopeful of the  commitment of so many people and organizations to transform Haiti into an inclusive society--where all people have equal rights and are empowered to improve the lives of their families and communities, including people with disabilities.  

Together with our Haitian partners we are working hard. Your support and partnership is critical to the ongoing progress in Haiti and in other troubled areas around the world. 

CBM is committed to Haiti for the long-term. We have been in Haiti for more than 30 years, and we will be there for the years to come to support persons with disabilities, making sure their needs are met and ensuring their voices are heard in decision making about Haiti’s future. 

 By: Karen Heinicke-Mostch, Director of International Programs for CBM-US

January 2011

Over Christmas, I was blessed to be able to spend time with my children and grandchildren, time that is invaluable to me especially in today’s increasingly hectic world. I was also able to indulge in one of my favorite past times—basketball. As anyone who knows me can tell you, I am an avid basketball fan. Perhaps it stems from my Kentucky roots. Having come from a state where college basketball rivalries are the number-one topic of conversation, I naturally have a love of the sport. And though basketball is entertaining to watch, the sport also provides some valuable lessons on leadership and teamwork—lessons that are applicable in the larger world around us. The late great UCLA basketball coach John Wooden once said, “The true test of a man’s character is what he does when no one is watching.” I can’t help but think that this statement is especially true of CBM’s (Christian Blind Mission) outreach to the most vulnerable group in the world—people with disabilities living in dire poverty—especially our work in Haiti.

            For more than 100 years, CBM has changed the lives of people with disabilities in the poorest countries of the world because of our donors’ belief in us and our mission. Despite the ever fluctuating economy, our donors have continued to unselfishly extend their generosity and compassion. Because of this, 10 million people have received sight-restoring cataract surgery with millions more—mothers, fathers, children, grandchildren—directly benefitting. Families living in 99 countries worldwide have been given a chance to start a business, to grow, sell and store food, to keep their children safe from disease and malnutrition (and the disability that they bring). And, in one year of service alone, CBM donors make it possible for millions of people to walk, see, hear, or live full, productive lives. That’s pretty incredible, isn’t it?

Yet in addition to these services, CBM donors have also extended their support to help people with disabilities in the wake of devastating natural disasters like last year’s earthquake in Haiti and flooding in Pakistan. Since the earthquake struck in January of 2010, CBM and its partners have worked to not just rebuild Haiti, but to continue making it a stronger, more sustainable society where people with disabilities are fully included. We’ve assisted more than 63,000 survivors, many of whom suffered debilitating injuries that could have led to life-long disabilities if not for the intervention of CBM Haiti staff. With our partners, we’ve faced enormous challenges including the overall lack of infrastructure, political instability, the cholera outbreak, and the riots after the recent elections. But despite these challenges, CBM remains committed, just as it has for over 30 years, to building capacity and long-term sustainability in Haiti.

            That’s where I find Wooden’s quote so profound in relation to CBM’s work. Long after the cameras have gone, we remain in Haiti, quietly determined to ensure that people with disabilities receive the support they need. Even though there has been some recent criticism from the international community and from locals in Haiti that non-profit organizations have been slow to spend money to help, CBM is committed to wise investment. We do not spend our donors’ contributions unless we are confident that the funds are going toward a project with measurable impact and long-term benefits. From building a school for children with disabilities to lessening the spread of cholera in Haiti, every life we touch is possible because of our donors’ generosity.

            As we look toward the new year ahead, my promise to our donors is that CBM will remain a vigilant steward of your trust. We will continually evaluate our projects to ensure that they are making the greatest impact for those people most in need. Thank you for the lives you’ve touched. I look forward to what we will accomplish together in 2011.

May you experience God’s richest blessings.  

December 2010

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16)

December marks a wondrous time on our Christian calendar: the celebration of the birth of our savior Jesus Christ. It’s a time when we reflect upon God’s greatest gift to us, and we symbolically honor this gift by sharing presents with those we love.

I don’t know about you, but in recent years, I’ve become overwhelmed with Christmas gift-giving. It seems that each year, retailers begin advertising Christmas specials even earlier than the year before. Everywhere you go, retailers proclaim that they have the biggest, best gift. It just seems that somewhere along the way, we’ve forgotten why we really celebrate Christmas in the first place.

That’s why this year, I’m determined to honor the real meaning of Christmas and the spirit of selfless giving. And, I’d like to ask you to do the same by making a gift  to CBM.

Believe me, I know that you, too, are receiving pleas for help from a variety of organizations in need. And while they are all worthy causes, I truly believe that the needs of those CBM serves are the greatest. You see CBM reaches out to the poorest of the poor around the world—people with disabilities living in developing countries. These folks are society’s forgotten. They have limited—and most often—no access to the basic necessities of life including adequate healthcare, livelihood, or education. Sadly, many also struggle to find enough food to eat. For these people, help is nowhere to be found. There are no social service programs. No free clinics or food banks. They live each day on the edge of survival.

This Christmas, you have the wonderful chance to make a remarkable difference for the millions of people with disabilities living in crushing poverty. Now, you can ensure that they have the opportunity to be fully included in society. That a single mother receives a micro-credit loan to start a business to support her child with a disability. That a child’s future isn’t over simply because of a broken leg.

I’d like to share Shibre’s story with you because it illustrates just how vital your gifts to CBM really are. Shibre, 8, lives in Adama, Ethiopia. Like children everywhere, she loved to use her imagination to explore and discover. Her favorite activity was climbing trees and rocks. But in the poorest parts of the world, a child’s imagination can also mean disaster.

When she was just three, Shibre slipped and fell, wedging her foot between two rocks. In a split second, her tiny leg cracked below the knee and the bone splintered through her skin.

Though her grandmother, Bissa, wanted to help her, with no money, she did the unthinkable: nothing.

That’s how quickly a life can change. A simple childhood accident can lead to a lifetime of disability and poverty.

Shibre never received any treatment for her injury, and her wounds “healed” to leave her leg horribly deformed. The girl who once enjoyed the freedom of playing and running around was now forced to crawl on her hands and knees. She wasn’t able to go to school. Children in her village cruelly taunted her.

Desperate to help, Bissa sold everything she could to pay for treatment, but it seemed no one could help…until CBM. Workers found Shibre on a routine outreach visit, and she was referred to a specialist hospital where she had surgery. Shibre received in-home therapy and is now in school again. With education, she has a real chance to escape poverty.

Though Shibre is grateful for CBM’s help, it’s Bissa who is overwhelmingly thankful for CBM’s priceless gift. Elated, she told us, “I am happy and joyful. I can say that you are my granddaughter’s savior.”

This is the impact your gift this Christmas can have. Just as God gave us the greatest gift through Jesus, I pray that you’ll give a child like Shibre the greatest gift: new life.

May you and yours experience God’s richest blessings this Christmas season, and best wishes for a joyous new year.

 

In Christ,

 

Loretta Dodgen
Chairman of the Board, CBM-US

 

November 2010

This month, all of us at CBM continue to celebrate a remarkable milestone: the performance of the 10 millionth CBM-supported cataract surgery, an unprecedented accomplishment. On October 28, at a hospital in Moshi, Tanzania, Joyce Kayaa symbolically became the 10 millionth person to undergo the 20 minute operation, an operation that would undo heartache and sacrifice.

Watch our video about Elysee's cataract surgery in the Congo

Since our first cataract-surgery in Afghanistan more than 40 years ago, we have emerged as a world leader in the global fight to end preventable blindness. But the harsh fact is that there are approximately 18 million people worldwide who are blind from cataracts, the leading cause of low vision and blindness. And, each year, more than a million more go blind due to cataracts. This leads to devastating economic and quality of life effects on people who are already living in extreme poverty. Their chances of physical survival drastically spiral downward. In fact, in the developing world, more than half of the children who go blind will die within two years, according to the World Health Organization.

That’s why CBM’s goal is to reduce curable blindness even further. Yet our focus isn’t just on numbers but on each and every person whose fate we can change. People like Joyce.

One of Ten Million

Nine months ago, Joyce’s quality of life began to suffer as her vision grew increasingly worse. Each day, she became more dependent upon the help of family members. Before long, she could no longer dress herself or read from her Bible. Taking care of the livestock she owned was not only difficult, it was dangerous. When she accidentally injured a cow with a knife she couldn’t see hidden in the grass, it became clear that Joyce needed full-time assistance.

Though her family stepped in to help, they did so at a high cost. Her son gave up his training to become a gardener, and her niece quit her job. This loss of income stressed the family’s finances.

Yet just when Joyce had almost given up hope, she was screened by CBM health-workers who gave her incredible news: she had cataracts, and there was a simple surgery that would restore her sight.

Today, Joyce is recovering and looking forward to doing the things she once loved, especially reading from her Bible. What’s more, her son can continue his training, and her niece can return to work. They too have benefited from Joyce’s surgery.

When I think about Joyce and the millions more whose lives have been transformed, I am so thankful for the CBM donors who have made this remarkable milestone possible. Currently, CBM supports about 200 eye hospitals and eye departments worldwide. Because of our intervention—made possible by the generosity of our faithful donors—a blind person can see again every minute. This is truly something to be proud of!

With a gift of $35, you can give the gift of sight to someone with cataracts. Yet beyond surgery, your gift provides so much more. In fact, of the 10 million surgeries we’ve performed through the years, there are millions more whose lives have been dramatically improved.

I hope that you will take a moment now and join us in our continuing efforts to bring sight and renewed life to the millions of people suffering from preventable blindness. Together, we can make a profound difference.

October 2010

Countdown to 10 Million Now Seeing, Hoping, and Dreaming

By Ron Nabors, CEO, CBM-US  

As I write to you this month, I’d like to ask that you join with us as we prepare to celebrate a remarkable milestone: the performance of the 10 millionth CBM-supported cataract surgery! Made possible by the generous ongoing support of CBM donors, this is an unprecedented accomplishment by any other organization in the world.

Together with our CBM partners around the world, we’re keeping a close watch as we move ever closer to the 10 millionth surgery. In fact, the more than 675,000 surgeries we performed last year  combined with those we’ve performed already in 2010 have put us right on track to reach 10 million by the end of October.

Since the first CBM-supported cataract surgery in Afghanistan in 1966, we have become a leader in the global fight to end preventable blindness. What’s even more amazing is that this fight, which helps millions of people around the world who are blind from cataracts, begins with as little as $35—the average cost of a cataract surgery for an adult in the developing world. Surgery for children with cataracts may cost as much as $200 due to general anesthesia needs. Yet the impact this surgery has is truly priceless.

Each year, more than a million people will go blind as the result of cataracts. For people who are already living in extreme poverty, cataracts drastically affect their quality of life. Now, these people who are on the edge of survival, face the loss of education, the ability to support themselves, and lack of acceptance within their communities. What’s more, their life expectancy drops substantially.

Bahati, a little boy in Tanzania, could have been just another statistic if not for CBM’s help.

His mother, Evelyn, first noticed that he had a problem when he began spending much of his time in the shade. Whenever Bahati went out into the sunlight, he had difficulty seeing. It was only when he started attending school, however, that Evelyn learned the terrible truth: Bahati was almost completely blind.

Often, he would return home from school covered in cuts from thorn bushes because he couldn’t see well enough to walk by himself. Soon, he was forced to quit school entirely. To make matters worse, Bahati couldn’t see well enough to help his family in the fields either. Once, he even threatened their meager livelihood when he cut the good maize, having mistaken it for weeds.

Thankfully, Evelyn heard about a small health station close to her village. The clinic referred Bahati to the CBM-supported Comprehensive Community Based Rehabilitation in Tanzania (CCBRT) hospital in Dar es Salaam. CCBRT arranged for Bahati and his mother to travel to the hospital where he would have sight-restoring cataract surgery.

Today, Bahati’s life has been completely transformed. Evelyn tells us, “Bahati is behaving much differently now. He’s much happier playing. Now, he can go back to school and can help out in the fields.”

CBM-supported surgery freed Bahati from a lifetime of hardship and provided him with the opportunity to achieve an education. This is one vitally important step in helping Bahati, his village, and his country break the poverty/disability cycle. Poverty and disability are intrinsic in the developing world. People with disabilities and their families are more likely to live in extreme poverty. Likewise, people who live in poverty are much more likely to become disabled.

That’s why I’d like you to know that your gift does more than restore vision. It actually restores lives and helps to break the devastating cycle of disability and poverty.

On behalf of Bahati, the almost 10 million people who’ve received sight-restoring cataract surgery, and the millions more whose lives have been changed for the better as a result, I’d like to ask you to Join CBM  (www.cbmus.org)in counting down to this remarkable milestone and in the fight against preventable blindness.

In the developing world, more than

half the children who go blind will

die within two years.

- World Health Organization.

  

                            

 

September 2010

Brian Hatchell, CBM’s Emergency Communications Coordinator, recently spent time in Pakistan in the wake of last month’s devastating monsoon floods. Here is an account of his travels.

As I sit in the comfort of my own home, all I can think about are the people in Pakistan who lost theirs. I met so many people on my trip: young, old, male, female, rich, poor. And they all have one thing in common—they lost everything to the floods.

Mother Nature doesn’t discriminate. But neither does the spirit of survival.

Everyone I met, from the four-year-old boy who lost his father, to the 50-year-old man who lost his saw mill, to the widow who doesn’t know where she will live once the waters recede. All they want is a chance. A chance to return home, a chance to rebuild their lives, a chance to regain their independence.

It’s easy to be overwhelmed by the size of a disaster affecting more than 20 million people. But when you look at it as one family at a time, it seems more manageable. You feel like you are actually making a difference in the lives of survivors.

In one particularly hard-hit area in a village north-east of Peshawar, we visited a mother/child health clinic run by the Diocese of Peshawar, one of the eight dioceses of the Church of Pakistan and one of CBM’s local partners. Though the clinic was very basic, the health care being provided was truly life saving. The doctors see about 30 to 40 patients a day, and most of them have skin disease, tuberculosis, diarrhea, gastro-intestinal illnesses and even some cases of cholera and malnutrition. The staff working in the clinic were truly dedicated. Many of them had lost their homes in the flood, but continued to come to work to help those less fortunate.

I met one woman, Laviza, is who 35 years old and married with 6 children between the ages of 6 and 20. She is blind in one eye. When the floods came in the early hours of the morning, she awoke to the sounds of screaming. When she and her husband jumped out of bed, there was already water on the floor of their house. Because she could not see well in the darkness, she could do little to help. Terrified, she could only depend upon her husband to take their children to safety.

The next morning, the family traveled to a Diocese relief camp where they were given life-saving supplies of food, water, shelter and medical care. Yet after a month, the family desperately wanted to return home. What they saw when they returned was devastating. All of their belongings had washed away, the foundation had shifted, and all of the walls had large cracks. However, the family decided to stay there. “It is our home, where else could we go?” Laviza said. With no money to rent a house or repair the damages, Laviza and her family literally had nowhere else to turn. Despite having lost everything, Laviza told us that she feels incredibly blessed. No one in the family was injured, and the Diocese has been a tremendous help. They’ve been given basic clothing, household items, and cooking supplies. The Diocese hopes to help them repair their house or rebuild if they can raise the funds needed.

In our travels throughout Pakistan, everywhere you looked was water. Under this water were some of the best crop lands in all of Pakistan. In its wake, the water spared no one, rich or poor. Natural disasters devastate everyone.

By nature, all of us are grateful for assistance when we need it, but the basic human instinct is to make one’s way in this world. The residents of Pakistan are no different. Their will to survive and start over is strong.

When I arrived in Pakistan and saw the magnitude of the floods, I honestly thought, “How will Pakistan ever recover from this?” But the more people I met, the more stories of hope and courage I heard. The country, and its people, will recover, rebuild, and be better for it.

If you’d like to help, please give now.

 

 

 

 

 

Some officials in Pakistan say that the economy has been so badly damaged they worry even micro-enterprise projects won’t be able to help as no one has any money to purchase goods. For now, they may have to go back to the barter system while people try to get back on their feet and reintroduce money at a later date.

 

September 2010

Brian Hatchell, CBM’s Emergency Communications Coordinator, recently spent time in Pakistan in the wake of last month’s devastating monsoon floods. Here is an account of his travels.

As I sit in the comfort of my own home, all I can think about are the people in Pakistan who lost theirs. I met so many people on my trip: young, old, male, female, rich, poor. And they all have one thing in common—they lost everything to the floods.

Mother Nature doesn’t discriminate. But neither does the spirit of survival.

Everyone I met, from the four-year-old boy who lost his father, to the 50-year-old man who lost his saw mill, to the widow who doesn’t know where she will live once the waters recede. All they want is a chance. A chance to return home, a chance to rebuild their lives, a chance to regain their independence.

It’s easy to be overwhelmed by the size of a disaster affecting more than 20 million people. But when you look at it as one family at a time, it seems more manageable. You feel like you are actually making a difference in the lives of survivors.

In one particularly hard-hit area in a village north-east of Peshawar, we visited a mother/child health clinic run by the Diocese of Peshawar, one of the eight dioceses of the Church of Pakistan and one of CBM’s local partners. Though the clinic was very basic, the health care being provided was truly life saving. The doctors see about 30 to 40 patients a day, and most of them have skin disease, tuberculosis, diarrhea, gastro-intestinal illnesses and even some cases of cholera and malnutrition. The staff working in the clinic were truly dedicated. Many of them had lost their homes in the flood, but continued to come to work to help those less fortunate.

I met one woman, Laviza, is who 35 years old and married with 6 children between the ages of 6 and 20. She is blind in one eye. When the floods came in the early hours of the morning, she awoke to the sounds of screaming. When she and her husband jumped out of bed, there was already water on the floor of their house. Because she could not see well in the darkness, she could do little to help. Terrified, she could only depend upon her husband to take their children to safety.

The next morning, the family traveled to a Diocese relief camp where they were given life-saving supplies of food, water, shelter and medical care. Yet after a month, the family desperately wanted to return home. What they saw when they returned was devastating. All of their belongings had washed away, the foundation had shifted, and all of the walls had large cracks. However, the family decided to stay there. “It is our home, where else could we go?” Laviza said. With no money to rent a house or repair the damages, Laviza and her family literally had nowhere else to turn. Despite having lost everything, Laviza told us that she feels incredibly blessed. No one in the family was injured, and the Diocese has been a tremendous help. They’ve been given basic clothing, household items, and cooking supplies. The Diocese hopes to help them repair their house or rebuild if they can raise the funds needed.

In our travels throughout Pakistan, everywhere you looked was water. Under this water were some of the best crop lands in all of Pakistan. In its wake, the water spared no one, rich or poor. Natural disasters devastate everyone.

By nature, all of us are grateful for assistance when we need it, but the basic human instinct is to make one’s way in this world. The residents of Pakistan are no different. Their will to survive and start over is strong.

When I arrived in Pakistan and saw the magnitude of the floods, I honestly thought, “How will Pakistan ever recover from this?” But the more people I met, the more stories of hope and courage I heard. The country, and its people, will recover, rebuild, and be better for it.

If you’d like to help, please give now. 

 

 

 

Some officials in Pakistan say that the economy has been so badly damaged they worry even micro-enterprise projects won’t be able to help as no one has any money to purchase goods. For now, they may have to go back to the barter system while people try to get back on their feet and reintroduce money at a later date.

 

August 2010

In July, CBM’s Monitoring and Evaluation Officer, Ijeoma Obidegwu, traveled to Vienna for the 18^th Annual International HIV/AIDS Conference and to attend the Disability Networking Space. The space was designed to highlight the devastating impact of HIV on persons with disabilities around the world and the need for the inclusion of persons with disabilities in all HIV outreach efforts. She spent time helping Specioza Mwankina, an HIV-positive Tanzanian woman who also has a disability, present her story to the international community. Specioza formed the Network for Disabled People Living with HIV/AIDS (NEDIPHA+) and is now a powerful advocate for HIV/AIDS education for people with disabilities. Her organization has benefited from CBM’s services through a joint partnership with the CBM-supported Comprehensive Community Based Rehabilitation in Tanzania (CCBRT). She sat on a panel discussion focused on AIDS and Disability at the country level with government representatives and academics to share her personal story.

Here, in her words, is Specioza’s story…

 

My name is Specioza Joseph Mwankina, and I am an HIV-positive physically disabled Tanzanian woman and a rape survivor. I have been living with HIV since 2003. When I was two years old, I became very sick, and my mother thought I had malaria. She took me to the hospital and I received two injections. After receiving these injections, I was not able to crawl or sit properly. At twenty-four, I went to Kenya to get an operation on my right leg. The doctor told me that I had polio when I was younger and that, not malaria, was the cause of my disability.

I came home to recover from my surgery, and I had very little physical mobility. It was during that time that I was raped by a family friend. I did not alert the authorities. In 2001, I started noticing that I would get bouts of malaria before and after my period. In 2002, I found out that I had fibroids and needed to get an operation to have them removed. In 2003, I scheduled an operation to have them removed. During this time I was working for a telecom company selling phone cards and other services. Before getting the operation, I went with a co-worker to a VCT clinic to get an HIV test. It was there I discovered I was HIV positive.

I found out later that I was infected through the family friend who raped me.

I disclosed my status to a fellow staff member. The staff member disclosed my status to other staff members without my permission. Within a short time, a lot of people in my workplace knew that I was HIV positive because they started mocking me and saying that people who are HIV positive need to be excluded from other people and be kept in their own separate place. I was not allowed to touch papers from other people’s desk. Often, I was suspended from work without pay without much notice.

With this type of stigmatization, I resigned from working in the telecom company to work as a full-time staff member with a Disabled Person Organization (DPO) because I thought I would get love and peace by working with my fellow disabled people. But when the director of this other organization realized that I was HIV positive, he started discriminating against me. He took all my working files out of my office. He started outsourcing my work to other people within the organization. Then I was idle once again. This situation went on for six months, and I fell in and out of various illnesses.

I was given sick leave, but by the third month I was terminated on medical grounds. They promised to give me a small amount of money to start a small business upon my recovery. However, they did not fulfill their promise nor was I given any severance pay. I wanted to commit suicide, but my parents helped me pull through. My younger sister came to live with me to offer care and support.

After I left the DPO, I joined Mbagala Positive club, but there was no person with a disability who was a member. I started searching, and I met three people who are HIV positive. I encouraged these individuals to join the Mbagala Positive Club.

With these three people, I started the Network for Disabled People Living with HIV/AIDS (NEDIPHA+).  The goal of this organization is to mobilize disabled persons to use counseling and testing services and to provide HIV awareness to people with disabilities. I am still continuing with my role as community worker and creating awareness in schools, offices and in public places about the prevention of HIV transmission as well as the care and support needed to address stigma and discrimination through radio and television ads. I am also working to create awareness about HIV/AIDS and disability.

Through my work as a community advocate, I was involved as a researcher on a document put together by the Tanzania Commission on HIV/AIDS called “The Forgotten,” which provided an analysis of HIV and Disability in Tanzania. This research provided the basis for a project implemented by CBM-US and the Comprehensive Community Based Rehabilitation in Tanzania (CCBRT) called “Making HIV/AIDS Strategies Inclusive of People with Disabilities in Tanzania.” Our organization collaborates with this project by receiving referrals of HIV positive individuals and by using the education materials developed by them. Most recently, CBM-US and CCBRT sponsored my participation in the 18^th Annual International HIV/AIDS Conference in Vienna where I provided a Tanzanian perspective on AIDS and Disabilities.

Thank you,

Specioza Joseph Mwankina

 

July 2010

Every year, CBM compiles a comprehensive report of achievements from the previous 12 months. This year, as I read through this lengthy document, I could not help but be immensely proud of our work. In light of last year’s recession and financial uncertainty, we were challenged with the seemingly insurmountable task of providing critical services to more than 23.7 million people—a substantial increase from 2008. Yet despite the bad economic times facing our country last year, which resulted in lower income for CBM, we did not have to make the difficult decision to stop funding critical projects in the developing world. This was truly an amazing accomplishment—an accomplishment made possible through the ongoing generous support of investors like you, coupled with a short-term reduction in some of our own key infrastructure expenses, such as not filling open staff positions. Among our many successes in 2009 are:

· +920,000 eye operations were performed.

· +380,000 people received Vitamin A tablets.

· +1.1 million eyeglasses were dispensed.

· +165,000 people were enrolled in empowerment activities including self-help groups

· +64,000 children were enrolled in education programs.

· +675,000 people have had their sight restored through a cataract operation.

· +480,000 received medical treatment for hearing problems.

· +17,000 hearing aids were distributed.

· +96,000 people received support through CBM’s Community Mental Health programs.

· +66,000 people benefited from vocational training and employment programs.

· +2,600 doctors and more than 3,100 nurses/assistants received critical medical training.

· +16,000 teachers learned how to fully include children with disabilities in the classroom.

When we look at these statistics, we must not forget that behind these numbers are real people—men, women, and children who desperately need our help. Children like Hans.

Tucked deep inside the vast slums of northern Lima, Peru, amid endless rows of ramshackle houses, filth and trash, Hans lives with his family. Born with Cerebral Palsy, or CP, a group of chronic conditions affecting body movement, muscle coordination, and often mental capacity, Hans spent most of his days in isolation, lying in a simple plastic tub watching.

Having a child with a disability makes life for families already existing in extreme conditions of poverty even more difficult. With few resources, Hans’ parents did not know what to do to help him. The harsh truth is that people living with disabilities in the poorest countries of the world have little access to rehabilitation and other services. In fact, 98 percent of children with disabilities in the developing world do not attend school. The mortality rate for these children under the age of 5—like Hans—is as high as 80 percent.

Yet in just a short amount of time, Hans’ life has completely transformed. One of CBM’s Community Based Rehabilitation (CBR) workers found him and began at-home physical therapy sessions. She enrolled him in a local preschool, and with the assistance of a special chair provided by CBM, Hans now sits upright at the table with the other school children. This child, who could once do little more than lie on the floor, now is considered the brightest in his class.

Hans is one of the more than 23 million people with disabilities annually whose lives have been changed for the better thanks to the generous gifts of CBM supporters. I’d like to ask you to take a few moments to review what we accomplished this year (LINK). Here, you’ll find other inspiring stories and view real evidence of the monumental impact your investment with CBM can make.

 

 

June 2010

Ron Nabors, CEO of CBM-US, recently was invited to speak at the Global Health and Innovation Summit, a conference with more than 2,000 attendees from 55 countries, held at Yale University. He presented on the subject “Sustainable Development of Persons with Disabilities Living in the Poorest Countries of the World.”

It was an honor to be a guest speaker at the Global Health and Innovation Summit this past spring. CBM’s inclusion on the agenda of this conference with such a wide-reaching audience was a significant step in our efforts to build an inclusive society by addressing the relationship between poverty and disability.

The World Bank (2002) estimates that one in six people living on less than a $1 a day has a disability. A disabled person is more likely to be poor due to lack of access to health care, education, livelihood and other opportunities. In turn, people living in abject poverty are more likely to develop disabilities as the result of lack of access to adequate sanitation, nutrition, health care and other vital resources.  It’s a Catch 22, and you can’t separate the two. Poverty can never be fully addressed until we address disability.

Providing disabled people with access to services is a major key to breaking this seemingly never-ending cycle of poverty and disability. Addressing poverty as a cause and consequence of disability is fundamental to CBM’s mission. Together with its global network of partners, CBM works to make comprehensive healthcare, education, and rehabilitation services available and accessible to people with disabilities in the poorest areas of the world.

I’m reminded of a clinic I visited in Zimbabwe several years ago. Each day, patients would line up to receive treatment. Yet at the end of each day, there sat a group of people, waiting, but never able to see a doctor. This particular clinic sat atop wooden stilts, and patients had to climb a steep set of stairs. For people with physical disabilities, this was an impossible task. Being unable to climb the stairs meant that they had no access to critical healthcare services. They were simply left out—forgotten.

Because disability is a topic that is often “forgotten” or hidden away, CBM recognizes it as a basic human rights issue. CBM advocates for the inclusion of disabled people into their societies. That’s why CBM is committed to empowering persons with disabilities to have a voice in all areas of society, especially in government. In addition to helping persons with disabilities become involved in their local governments, the legal framework provided by the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (2008), allows CBM and other international partners to ensure that disability remains on the international development agenda as well.

As we strive to build an inclusive society, we must continue our multi-pronged approach to providing access for people with disabilities. By doing so, we can begin to break the debilitating cycle of poverty and disability.