Category: Call for Donations

Little Feet but big steps forward – International World Premature Day

One in ten babies worldwide is born prematurely. Less than 5% of them have access to neonatal intensive care, surfactant, ventilator support or incubator care.

Today, November 17, Haydom Hospital celebrates its tiny survivors and their parents on International World Prematurity Day. Wearing purple means showing responsibility and solidarity toward premature babies worldwide.

Haydom’s premature care unit was all decorated in purple today. There was a welcoming ceremony for the arriving parents and their ex-preemie babies, followed by lectures. Both babies and parents received small gifts, lemonade and cake from Haydom Hospital staff on their special day.

Everyone was celebrating life today.

By the way, a universally used simple non-electrical method of keeping premature babies warm, known all over the world, is kangaroo mother care – In this method, the premature baby lies skin to skin on its stomach on the parent’s bare chest wrapped only by a cloth. This prevents infections, increases the survival rate and stabilizes the body temperature of the newborn. For this we are still urgently looking for comfortable recliner chairs for the mothers in Haydom.

You can easily support this with your donation here.

Furthermore, we are still looking for funds for the purchase of:
1.) Foldable comfortable recliner deck chairs for the mothers during the kangaroo mother care (4 chairs for 50 Euro each)
2.) New Warmilus, non-electric infant warmers for newborns (100 Euro each)
3.) New Bubble CPAPs (500 euros for each device)

Let’s wear purple today and show color for Haydom’s premature and preemie babies worldwide.

Together we can go the distance

The sun is rising abough the Haydom Airstrip as the sports pistol is giving the kickoff starting signal for about 200 runners to start moving. The sky is burning in red colours, the soil underneath our feet is red and dusty. 200 participants from Haydom and beyond are running for a good cause. 21 km ahead of me and the newest spotify GOOD MOOD playlist in my ears I am managing my first kilometers. It felt like I was the only one running as the others of my group quickly moved out of my sight. But I kept going, passing sunflower fields, little mud houses and farms, akazia trees, cows and goats. Sometimes the road was flat and paved, sometimes it was uneven and I had to jump across deep holes in the ground. My lungs were burning on every little hill I had to climb up, I could feel the altitude but tried to keep breathing deep and slow, focussing my thoughts on the goal not to stop running.

Along the way on each and every intersection were people standing clapping hands and cheering, some of them were waving flags to indicate which direction to continue. On the difficult parts I remember some were even running alongside with me to keep me going. Moments of joy and pure happyness probably caused by a rush of endorphines running through my entire body alternated with moments of deep exhaustion in which I was really fighting hard wanting to just stop and sit down.

The moment I entered the airstrip again I had only one thought left, to reach the finish line. With my very last power and accompanied by a lot of applause and cheering people shouting my name I crossed the finish line after 2 hours and 11 minutes. I did it!! And not enough, even as fourth best in my category. A lot of hands pat me on my shoulder and congratulated. I felt more than happy I was able to represent our Haydom team that way. I am more than thankful for all of your support and good wishes that have carried me across that finish line. When I received my medal and even a price I could not hold back some tears of joy.

Running that distance was reminding me on the fight that our kids with Spina Bifida have to go through every single day and I am so proud on our little warriors and happy I could do that for them. Mr Giniki, Tansanian most famous long distance and Marathon athlete, also was present shaking hands with me as a symbol of his now further on support and cooperation for our children and parents in Haydom. I had to promise I keep on training and running for a good cause. I am truly willing to do. And who knows maybe I will soon even be running the next level. Thanks to each and everyone of you who donated for our children with Spina Bifida and Hydrocephalus in Haydom. The parents and kids after a successful week of education and recreation left with my personal promise that we will continue to keep walking that distance all together and we will see back in October this year.

A new road into a new life for Happyness

For the first time Happyness is smiling at us at eye level. So far, she has only spent her life from the ground. She has always had to look far up at the people around her. Everyday life has always taken place above her head. Carried by her mother, the young girl could never move independently. Yet she bears a beautiful name that could not better describe her character.

Happyness, translated as the cheerful one, has never lost her radiant smile despite all these circumstances. The girl was born with a spinal cord defect, spina bifida. She was never able to use her legs. The necessary physiotherapy was missing, so that her hip and also her legs as well as her spine stiffened at an early age.

The girl was never able to sit alone or to bend her hips, her legs are fixed in an unnatural cross posture and cannot be stretched. The girl can only lie flat on her stomach. During the day, the now 12 year old is carried around by her mother in a special sling.
And most of the day she lies in a corner on the floor of the domestic hut.

Surgical help comes too late for the little girl, as surgery at this advanced stage would be too risky for her.

Happyness has never been to school, but lying on her stomach she paints beautiful pictures of a world where she could play with other girls, go to school or learn a trade. For several years now, Happyness has been coming regularly to Haydom with her mother for follow-up care. Here the team takes care of her wounds and also her bladder function.

For a long time, our hands were tied and we lacked ideas on how to make her daily life easier and give her access to the world and education. A wheelchair seemed like a perfect solution, however Happyness cannot sit or be placed in a seated position without suffering severe pain.

Working with CCBRT, a local Tanzanian rehabilitation association, we put our heads together and designed a custom reclining wheelchair for Happyness to lie prone on. Haydom-Friends e.V. financed the production and purchase of the special wheelchair made of locally manufactured materials. The first test drive with her new wheelchair moved all of us, who had been desperately searching for a solution for this girl for so long, to tears. Happyness took the first “self-determined meters” into her new life. Again accompanied by a brave big smile on her face. We all hope now that this new freedom will also give her the opportunity to attend school.

Happyness story shows how important is especially your help, without which we could never have realized this. It shows that limits and obstacles should always motivate us to look for solutions instead of resigning ourselves to the seemingly impossible.

Happyness needs further financial support for school supplies and annual school fees. If you would like to help or contribute, please feel free to do so through the association’s donation account, subject: Happyness.

Thank you very much.

Support Our Local Campaign bringing Education and local Made facemasks

Haydom-Friends e.V. is supporting a local campaign bringing Education and local Made facemasks to remote villages in Tansania where people are especially vulnerable to COVID-19.

Patricia is a 10 year old girl who is paralysed from birth on, probably because of a spinal defect called spina bifida. Without the help of her mother she cannot move around. With your help we can sponsor her a local made wheelchair for 150 EURO that allows her to visit the local special school and gives her the freedom of mobility. 150 Euro that can change little Patricia´s life!

Donate for Patricia

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Donation Total: 5,00€

Bobby – Our local Hero in this Corona Pandemic

Bobby, a local Tansanian, packs each mask individual in plastic bags together with easy to understand instructions on how to stay safe in this Pandemic. For 5 Euros you can sponsor one mask to somebody in Tansania who could not afford it elsehow. For 20 Euros you can cover one whole family with enough masks and soap to stay protected. Bobby is visiting the families personal to show them how to wash hands and follow the instructions of wearing masks and keeping distance in crowded public places. Your Donation matters to many families in Tansania who need our help to stay safe in this CORONA Pandemic.

Donate here at www.haydom-friends.org.

Corona Rapid Aid – Masks for Tanzania

With the help of local tailors, Bobby creates local fabric made face masks. Each individual mask is packaged in a separate foil bag with an educational flyer. The flyer explains about washing hands, distance rules and the necessary hygiene rules when wearing the mask. Education against fear and uncertainty. Bobby personally brings the small Corona aid packages to the more remote villages. He explains to people how to protect themselves in times of the pandemic. He also explains why it is necessary to see a doctor and seek medical advice. With 5 euros per person and per small aid package, you can help support this initiative. Bring help and education to people in need.

Donate here at www.haydom-friends.org.

As the Pandemic is spreading

While the pandemic is inexorably spreading across all continental borders, especially those who already live at the border of their existence are suffering. Terrible conditions prevail in Tanzania. There are many new deaths every day, unclear whether through corona or simply because hospitals are currently avoided. Those who have a fever stay at home, and hospitals lack protective equipment, which is why patients with fever are often isolated without being seen. Fatal if dangerous malaria leads to death if left untreated. There is no lock-down. The markets and public transportation are full. There are no distance rules. The markets are the only source of income for many families in Tansania. There is no way of a 2 meter rule to keep the distance necessary.

Haydom-Friends e.V. local initiative brings local made facemasks and education on how to protect with hygiene measures to families in rural areas. With 5 Euros only you sponsor one facemask and a bag of soap for one person. Facemasks can be worn especially in crowded areas like market places and soap can be taken on the journey to keep hands clean. 5 Euros that can make a real difference. Please help us to continue education and provide protection to Tansanian families.

Donate here.

Rapid Response to reduce the Risc of Corona Outbreak in Haydom, Tansania

Our children with spina bifida and hydrocephalus rely on regular aftercare in the clinic for the supply of medication and catheters. This means that they have to use the overcrowded public transport to reach the hospital in order to receive treatment.

Haydom-Friends e.V. and partners CALL FOR ACTION to reduce the transmission rate of Corona among our children. We expressly ask for YOUR SUPPORT AND HELP !! For 10 EUROs you help to supply one family with local made facemasks and enough soap to stay safe during their travels and to keep their communities safe as well.

 

 

Corona – The Invisible Thread

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Donation Total: 10,00€

We have been experiencing what it means when an entire world is in a state of emergency for several weeks. The invisible enemy named Corona threatens us all equally, making no ethnic, cultural or existential differences. We experience what it feels like to wake up in the morning accompanied by fear and uncertainty about our own health, that of our loved ones, and the fear. Suddenly the foundation of our existence, which we take for granted, is crumbling. We feel locked up in our home office, uncertain when we will be allowed to leave our temporary social prison.

But let’s raise our eyes from our laptops and conference calls and focus them on the rest of the world out there, on the countries in which deprivation of liberty and existential fear become a companion every day. What damage is caused by such a virus in a society in which people have to travel hundreds of kilometers to the nearest hospital, in overcrowded buses and shared taxis. A large part of the population cannot afford to visit a doctor or even inpatient treatment in a clinic without insurance cover. Physical and social distancing in countries such as Tanzania unthinkable. In a society in which each individual relies on the support of a village community, or the daily business on the market place. Many families have no access to clean water or money for soap and daily hand hygiene. Not being able to travel to the market on the bus would destroy even the smallest income and drive families into starvation. A statistical assessment of the infection rate of the population cannot be made because tests are not widely available and are also expensive.

It is all the more important to have good information about hygiene and restrictions on contacts.

Our children with spina bifida and hydrocephalus rely on regular aftercare in the clinic for the supply of medication and catheters. However, this means that they have to use the overcrowded means of transport with their parents and are therefore at great risk.

Haydom-Friends e.V. and its partners calls for a comprehensive information campaign on measures to reduce the transmission rate of Corona. We need YOUR HELP and SUPPORT!! Facemasks are tailored and done by tailors in the village and distributed together with soap to children with Spina Bifida and their parents. For 10 euros they support this measure and cover travel expenses as well as costs for Facemasks and soap for a family.

Of course, these measures only work in conjunction with information about restrictions on personal contacts and the distance to other people in public places.

The first Corona preventive care packages have already been distributed to families in Haydom.

With only 10 euros you help us to reduce the spread and transmission of corona and help protect our children with spina bifida and hydrocephalus and their families.

Show solidarity in these special and difficult times. Cohesion and mutual support is important. We can and will only do this together. Help us in this fight together.

One team – one world – one fight. One victory over Corona!

 

4 steps to slow down Transmission of Corona Virus

It is just that simple to save lifes. Please show Responsibility. Support our work with your donation!

Corona – The Invisible Thread

€
Select Payment Method
Personal Info

Donation Total: 10,00€

We have been experiencing what it means when an entire world is in a state of emergency for several weeks. The invisible enemy named Corona threatens us all equally, making no ethnic, cultural or existential differences. We experience what it feels like to wake up in the morning accompanied by fear and uncertainty about our own health, that of our loved ones, and the fear. Suddenly the foundation of our existence, which we take for granted, is crumbling. We feel locked up in our home office, uncertain when we will be allowed to leave our temporary social prison.

But let’s raise our eyes from our laptops and conference calls and focus them on the rest of the world out there, on the countries in which deprivation of liberty and existential fear become a companion every day. What damage is caused by such a virus in a society in which people have to travel hundreds of kilometers to the nearest hospital, in overcrowded buses and shared taxis. A large part of the population cannot afford to visit a doctor or even inpatient treatment in a clinic without insurance cover. Physical and social distancing in countries such as Tanzania unthinkable. In a society in which each individual relies on the support of a village community, or the daily business on the market place. Many families have no access to clean water or money for soap and daily hand hygiene. Not being able to travel to the market on the bus would destroy even the smallest income and drive families into starvation. A statistical assessment of the infection rate of the population cannot be made because tests are not widely available and are also expensive.

It is all the more important to have good information about hygiene and restrictions on contacts.

Our children with spina bifida and hydrocephalus rely on regular aftercare in the clinic for the supply of medication and catheters. However, this means that they have to use the overcrowded means of transport with their parents and are therefore at great risk.

Haydom-Friends e.V. and its partners calls for a comprehensive information campaign on measures to reduce the transmission rate of Corona. We need YOUR HELP and SUPPORT!! Facemasks are tailored and done by tailors in the village and distributed together with soap to children with Spina Bifida and their parents. For 10 euros they support this measure and cover travel expenses as well as costs for Facemasks and soap for a family.

Of course, these measures only work in conjunction with information about restrictions on personal contacts and the distance to other people in public places.

The first Corona preventive care packages have already been distributed to families in Haydom.

With only 10 euros you help us to reduce the spread and transmission of corona and help protect our children with spina bifida and hydrocephalus and their families.

Show solidarity in these special and difficult times. Cohesion and mutual support is important. We can and will only do this together. Help us in this fight together.

One team – one world – one fight. One victory over Corona!