Rotary Zimbabwe: Fall Update 2016 Matabeleland North Children’s Emergency Nutrition Project Races Ahead Highlights Keith (4th from right) meets with members of In May, 2016 Rtn Keith Holshausen from Wild4Life, Ministry of Health officials and Victoria Falls Morrisville Rotary Club, NC visited Victoria Matabeleland North Rotarians Falls and personally delivered supplies of Vita- Children’s Emergency Nutrition program races min A, donated from Vitamin Angels, suffi- forward cient to prevent childhood blindness from Kesari Dam Reconstruction, Vitamin A deficiency for a full year for the Clean Water and Irrigation Zimbabwean children aged 1-5 in Matabe- Project: Detailed Update and leland North. However, whilst meeting with pictures Rotary and health officials Keith learned that Matabeleland North Clinical the El Nino drought of 2015-16 (the worst in Southern Africa since 1895) had de- Partnership to fight stroyed the crops of the region and resulted in a devastating famine in Matabeleland preventable blindness; Vitamin A reaches clinics North Province. Families were resorting to eating every other day and children were being admitted with severe acute malnutrition into the area clinics and hospitals. With St Philips Nursing School complete their second eight months until the next harvest, significant loss of life was forecast amongst the chil- independent live online dren (always the most vulnerable group affected) unless they could receive supple- ATCN Training Course mental food through the dry season (Cont. Pg 2) (Advanced Trauma Care Nursing) held simultaneously online with the ATCN Course at the University of Detailed Update: Kesari Dam Reconstruction, Tennessee Medical Center Clean Water and Irrigation Project: The Kesari Project is underway and on schedule to be completed by the start of the next rainy season in December. Children’sIn this issue: Emergency 1,2,3 Nutrition Program Races Pete Edmeades (RC Bulawayo South) reports “John Forward and I met Ed Nando and Veli Nkomo on site on Wednesday Kesari Dam Reconstruction 5,6 afternoon. The core trench excavation was approx. 40% Clean water and Irrigation Project on schedule done and work Matabeleland North 8 was underway on Preventable Blindness the raising and Project extending the St Phillip’s Nursing School 10 and University of spillway (using Tennessee Trauma Division masonry collected by the local villagers.) In hold Sept 2016 ATCN Course addition, two areas had been cleared - one Acknowledgements 4,7, within the dam basin (quite small) and approx. 2 9,10 ha out of the dam basin, within about 500m of the wall. (cont. on Page 3) Matabeleland North Children’s Emergency Nutrition Project Races Ahead (cont. from Pg One) By the estimates of the WHO there were calculated to be 11000 children at extreme risk of severe acute malnutrition and the first reports of deaths from malnutrition were being received from the Matabeleland North area which has some 26000 children below the age of 12. After learning of the impending humanitarian disaster we reached out to ask for help from our many friends and donors. Through our good friend Diana Sufian we were put in contact with the Emergency Response Team of LDS Charities U.S. Bruce Muir and Jeff Foy, realizing the urgency of the situation quickly stepped forward and offered assistance to help the children through a major grant from LDS Charities, Australia. Without hesitation, the Rotary Club of Knoxville, and District Rotarians from Arkansas Rotary District 6170, Rotary Club of Morrisville, NC, Knoxville Rotarian Neil Coleman MD and The Zimbabwe Medical Project volunteered matching contributions. DG Sandy Whitehead and the board of our incredible partner Rotary Club of Bulawayo South agreed to help coordinate on the ground in Zimbabwe and Rotary Foundation of Knoxville has partnered to administer the funds. These matching contributions enabled us to increase to a total of 14151 children the number of affected children receiving supplemental food. This includes all of the most vulnerable children from 1-5 yrs old, all of the 3689 lactating mothers at the 17 clinics served and nine at-risk primary schools with children age five through twelve and to increase the effectiveness of the supplemental food by feeding five days a week. Shelley Lasker with ePap Zimbabwe continues to do phenomenal work with her husband David. In cooperation with the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Education for Matabeleland North they have organized distribution to nine Primary Schools of the area to the children through the daily school feeding program. District Medical Officer Dr Wisdom Kurauone, Kel Sheppey, Stephanie Stuart-Trinder, Forgie Wilson, Latelang Ndlovu and Jonathan Levine of Wild4Life stepped forward to help distribute food to the children under age 5 and the lactating mothers with children under age one at the 17 clinics identified as having children most at risk. The high calorie, high protein, vitamin enriched supplemental food chosen is called ePap. ePap has been used extensively in Africa for supplemental feeding. It is supplied as a porridge to the children and is simply mixed with water prior to eating. Basil Kransdorff, a Paul Harris and Ashoka Fellow, Johannesburg, South Africa was responsible for the initial formulation of ePap. Read more here: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3559581/ The first 33 tons of ePAP (delivered by road from Klerksdorp, South Africa ) is being transferred to trucks for transport to the Hwange schools and clinics Shelley Lasker reports on October 14 : “the e’Pap has hit the ground in Hwange! “There are two trucks completing the delivery of e’Pap to 17 clinics and 9 schools as I write to you and I thought you might enjoy some photos. We have two teams on the ground delivering to 17 clinics and 9 schools. For the clinics the teams who are training the clinic staff in storing, controlling stock and preparing e’Pap as well as how to fill in the data capture forms. David and I will personally visit all of the schools and a selection of clinics next week, starting on 17 October to check all is well at the institutions who will have received their consignment of e’Pap. On Monday afternoon I will be running a workshop at Lwendulu School for primary school headmasters and teachers in charge of feeding the children at the affected schools . On Wednesday 19 October at 9am we are doing the official launch of the programme at the schools and we have already invited the various officials from Ministries of Health, Social Welfare and Education. This will take place at Lwendulu School as well. We have invited the children, teachers, School Development Associations and any officials the heads of schools deem fitting to be present at the initial launch of the school lunches at each school. “ Delivery to schools . Our grateful thanks to these Individuals and Organizations that jumped forward to help in the Children’s Emergency Nutrition Project in Zimbabwe… Bruce Muir and Jeff Foy of LDS Emergency Response and LDS Chari- Salt Lake City UT Bruce Muir, Jeff Foy ties Australia for stepping forward and offering to help in the emergency. Sydney Australia Ian Duddy LDS Charities Australia Los Angeles CA Diana Sufian Thanks to Allen Pannell, Townes Osborn and Jennifer Sepa- niak, Bob Marquis, the Rotary Foundation of Knoxville and the Knoxville TN Townes Osborn members of the Rotary Club of Knoxville for their indefatigable Allen Pannell help, encouragement and partnership in Zimbabwe Bob Marquis Neil Coleman Jennifer Sepaniak Many thanks again to our Rotary District 6170 Elaine Mcculloch partners who have again partnered to help the children in Zimbabwe Rotary District 6170 Allen Morgan Pam Gibson Dennis Cooper Thanks to the US and Zimbabwe based staff of Wild4Life for their hard work Joi Burton and devotion to the people of the Matabeleland North Province Ian Cosh Lake Valley Community Church Dr. Dru Dodson Cary, NC The Morrisville Rotary Club and Keith Holshausen Su and Keith Holshausen without whom this project would not have been initiat- Wild4Life ed San Francisco: Stephanie Stuart-Trinder, Kel Sheppey, Dr Neil Coleman MD for his generous individual contribution. Neil has Boston: Jon Levine, participated not only in this project and the St Philips Nursing School but Hwange: Latelang Ndlovu, Forgie Wilson also personally provided the first direct live Pathology lectures from the USA MOH Mat North: to a Zimbabwe Medical School class via live video conferencing from Knox- Dr Wisdom Kurauone,MBChB ville to Bulawayo Zimbabwe Bulawayo Rotary Club of Bulawayo South Alvord Mabena, Sandy David, Ashley, Deborah and the staff at FTB Northshore for Whitehead, Jean Whiley, John Sullivan, Jackson going out of their way to help in the financial execution of the Children’s Munye, Shep Ndlovu, Denis Paul, Roger Russell, Emergency Nutrition Project. Lesley Williams, Priscil-la Mabena, Dingi Dhlamini, Piet te Velde, Ange-lina Phiri , Brian Meikle, Buhle Francis, Busani Bafana, Delay Dube, Everson Ndlovu, Mercy Moyo, Mpumelelo Mkhwananzi, Paul McCay, Peter Edmeades, Richard Arrowsmith, Rose Moyo, Terry Mafu, Thandi Takawira, and Chiku Mulinde, Joel Tshu- ma, Monica Chanduru ZMP Board Members: Dr Noma Ndiweni PhD Amy Madigan JD Dr Mark Dixon FRCP Dave Coltart JD Kesari Dam Reconstruction, Clean Water and Irrigation Project Update Fall 2016 Kesari Dam Reconstruction, Clean Water and Irrigation Project on schedule for completion before the rains Background: The US Rotary Clubs of Knoxville, Morristown Noon, Rogersville, Morristown Breakfast, Jefferson City and our Zimbabwe partner club, Bulawayo South have partnered with Rotary Districts 6780 and 6170 (East Tennessee and Arkansas) and the Rotary Foundation along with individual private donors from Knoxville and the Zimbabwe Medical Project to fund a Global Grant project with the aim of alleviating the effects of cyclical crushing water shortages in Southern Zimbabwe. These shortages have been magnified with the El Nino responsible for the current worst drought in living memory in Southern Africa.