 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| Bula Vinaka Friends of "Loloma,"
The Loloma Foundation team has just returned from our latest visit to Fiji. With each year and each trip, we are able to fine tune ourselves to better meet the needs of the Fijian people. Board member Linda Kwasny arrived in Fiji mid December to prepare for the team's arrival the 2nd week of January. While working with Elizabeth Clayton on customs clearance for the container and additional boxes The second week of January, our 20 foot container with over 6 tons of goods cleared customs thanks to Elizabeth Clayton and the Rotary Club of Suva. Dr. Lance Hendricks, Bob Sykes, Dawn Dickson, Cristina Magana, and Allison Batlin joined Linda in Suva at the home of Elizabeth Clayton, where she was kind enough to take all of us into her home, the container into her side yard, and the boxes into her empty warehouse. The first couple of days were spent unloading and sorting the container. Word quickly spread throughout Suva of the container's arrival. Elizabeth, a resident of Suva for nearly 20 years was our guide to prioritizing those in most need. A few of the agencies that were recipients are as follows: Retirement Homes
1. Samabula Old Peoples Home also called "The Home for the Abandoned," run by the Fijian government and sleeps approximately 80 people, received clothing, medication, walkers, medical supplies, and bedding. This facility is in need of anything and everything. Wheelchairs will be a priority on our next visit. They are also in dire need of new shower and bathroom facilities. Their current facilities are little more than an open trench and garden hose.
3. Home of Compassion for old people is run beautifully with the hard work evident in their facility. They received bedding, clothing, wheelchairs, shower chairs and medication. 4. Nazareth Home is a retirement home for nuns. They received clothing and bedding.
1. St. Christopher's Home has approximately 40 boys and girls. They received clothing and bedding. They also received St. Gabriel's school uniforms from Austin, Texas. 2. Treasure Home in Ba, a very remote area of Fiji, received clothing, baby formula, diapers, and medication. 3. Dilkusha Home for Orphans received bedding, clothing and medication. Here we also took individual Polaroid pictures of each of the children to keep as their own. We felt this gave them a record of themselves, a sense of personal history.
1. Homes of Hope for unwed mothers teaches women not only how to care for their children, but also trains them for the job market. They received clothing and school supplies. 2. Women's Crisis Center for battered women received medication and clothing. We were amazed at the vast amount of women that they care for. Family violence and spousal abuse is a problem that needs much more attention. The center received medicine, medical goods and clothing. 3.Spinal Cord Injury Center received medication, medical supplies and inner tubes and tires for their wheelchairs.
1. Early Intervention Center, a school for the handicapped received clothing, medical equipment, medical supplies, and learning items. 2. Waiketi Village Kindergarten and Nursery School run by nuns was to open a week after our arrival. Due to lack of funds, they had no school supplies at all. After much praying, they came to see us. We were able to meet all their needs and then some. They received school supplies, clothing, and medication. 3. St. Joseph the Worker Primary School is in a very remote and poverty stricken area. Many children cannot afford a simple pencil. The school has none to give. They received school supplies and clothing.
1. Prison Fellowship is a foundation that assists the mothers and families left behind when the father is sent to prison. This perhaps was the saddest of all our outreach. The women of Prison Fellowship selected 5 families for us to visit. Each family had a special care package of clothing prepared for them along with a Polaroid picture of the family to give to the father. We found families living in stark poverty. One woman was raising 4 children, one severely handicapped, another just a small baby. Another family was infested with scabies and again a handicapped child who is the result of meningitis. The mother stated she did not have the money to pay for the bus to get the child to the hospital for proper care. The last family, a mother of 4, had lost all hope. Her eyes looked empty of all life Individuals benefiting from The Loloma Foundation 1.Junior from St. Vincent de Paul received a wheelchair and hasn't missed a church event since. 2. Philip Tiko received a motorized wheelchair thanks to Mimi Greenberg of Pasadena California. He made a touching speech in church stating his prayers had been answered. Normally, it would take him hours to get a simple task done, now only minutes. 3. Sudji, our favorite patient at Samabula Old Folks home, was raised with the chickens and until this year spent his life tied to the corner of a ward. He now walks and eats normally. He understands simple statements and is trying to communicate. Elizabeth Clayton picks him up each day and with the help of an assistant, goes through a series of exercises to help develop his motor and communication skills. Sudji received new clothes and some educational items. Meds on Water The second week we flew on to the island of Koro. We became Meds on Water, as we chartered the Sea Hawk, a 52-foot sailing ship owned Rodgers and Jonathan Ford and skippered by Manoa Dugulele, www.seahawkfiji.com. We sailed around Koro and Gau islands and finally to Beqa island holding medical clinics and distributing medical goods. The crew of the Seahawk joined us in our passionate work and gave the Foundation a "Hard Cost Only" deal for the extensive charter. Koro Island
On Koro, for two days we held a clinic at Nasau Health Clinic. The head nurse, Lepani, cares for 2300 people. While there, we saw approximately 60 patients. Of the patients Dr. Lance Hendricks treated many had Fiji flu, one had congestive heart failure, another the long term effects of decompression sickness. The worst was at the end of the day, when a young boy was brought in suffering from a horse bite that went all the way through his leg. While Dr. Hendricks and Linda Kwasny saw patients, Dawn and Cristina made friends with the local children while passing out toothbrushes and giving each child a Polaroid picture.
During our stay on Koro David Miller of Dere Bay Resort, www.derebayresort.com, made his staff, vehicles, drivers and other resources available to the Foundation at no charge. Gau Island
That evening we sailed on to our next clinic. We anchored in the bay of the Nukuyaweni Outpost Resort www.bayofangels.com. The next morning we arrived at Waikama Village where we saw 60 patients. Cristina was wonderful with the children passing out toothbrushes while Linda assisted Dr. Hendricks with patients. Ana was the village nurse with no supplies at all. It was here that we saw cases of severe skin cancer on the faces of two women. Also seen were a stroke patient, a woman with a huge salivary gland tumor, a man having seizures due to epilepsy, Fiji flu, a perforated ear drum, many cases of emphysema, a young man who had severed the tendons of his left forearm through a cane knife injury, and even more scabies. In the afternoon we placed 10 ibuprofen tablets (for joint pains) in each of a number of small brown envelopes then wrote on the outside the name of each family in the village. As we called out the names for each family to come forward to claim their ibuprofen, you would have thought we were at the Oscars, so great was the excitement. That night Dr. Hendricks returned to the boat exhausted. Lights were out by 9:00, but turned back on at 10:30, when there was banging on the outside of the boat. The Doctor was needed for an emergency cane knife cut when they couldn't stop the bleeding. Lance was in for a 15 minute, pitch black, fast open boat ride through the shallow reefs to reach his patient. At 1:30 in the morning, he was finally able to rest. However, at 5:30 the same morning, anchor was raised and engine were started for our 12 hour sail to Beqa. Lance was behind the helm! Beqa Island The final week of our adventure was spent on Beqa Island at the beautiful Lalati Resort, www.lalati-fiji.com, as guests of the owners, Clint and Jayne Carlson. Their It was here that we rotated and restocked the medication in the Lalati Health Clinic. Dr. Hendricks again saw patients with boils and scabies, sutured more cane knife injuries and treated the usual assortment of ailments. The clinic is thriving with Jayne manning the helm when no doctors are available. Thanks to Dr. Hendricks and the hospitality of the Carlson's, visiting doctors from Scripps Health in San Diego who teach for two weeks at a time at Fiji School of Medicine spend weekends at Lalati Resort working in the clinic. Rummage Sales
Next Shipment We will return in July 2004 with another container of medication and medical goods. Items most needed are wheelchairs, Band-Aids, ibuprofen, and Neosporin. Everywhere, this was needed. Our container with relief goods, school supplies, medical supplies, and medication will go out once again in November 2004. We would also like to extend a special thanks to all of our families who took care of home and children while we made this terrific journey. While in Suva during an appointment with the Ambassador from the US, we asked how we could better accomplish our goals. He looked at us surprised and answered that we obviously were doing it right as all was being done where others had failed, then thanked us again for making a difference. Vinaka Vaka Levu,
The Loloma Foundation gives special thanks go to the following people for their assistance and support: 1. Jim Wimberly and Jeff Cox with Southwest Airlines for financial and shipping support. 2. Richard Saroyan for being our sponsor and special angel 3. Elizabeth Clayton and the Suva Rotary Club for clearing the container and giving us a home in Suva 4. Clint and Jayne Carlson of Lalati Resort for hosting us at their lovely resort and maintaining the Lalati Clinic. 5. Rodgers and Jonathan Ford whose sailboat, The Sea Hawk, became the Floating Meds on Water for a week around Koro and Gau and Beqa Islands. 6. David and Elsa Miller for providing transportation on Koro along with hosting our stay at Dere Bay. David and Elsa provided tremendous support for all that we did on Koro. 7. Robin Collingwood of Sun Air who moved medical boxes to Nadi, Taveuni and Ba medical center. 8. Michael Prasad of CPD for moving many boxes of supplies from Suva to Taveuni. 9. Dan Costello of Beachcomber Cruises for moving goods from Suva to Vanua Levu. 10. Bob Mathieu of Triple B Consolidators for packing and shipping the container 11, Richard Yamashita of Air Pacific 12. Barb Sellers for all her hard work in collecting medical supplies 13. Lesie Worsley and Richard for medication donated through Cardinal Health. 14. Americare for medication donated 15. Medisend for medical equipment donated 16. People's Pharmacy, Austin, Texas for medication donated 17. Mike and Stacy with Walmart in Austin for their very generous and hard work in collecting and donating goods for Fiji. 18. Richard Wood, Austin, with Next to New for used women's clothing 19. Second Looks, Austin, for donating men's used clothing 20. Between Friends, Austin, for donating children's clothing 21. Pumpkin Patch, Austin, for donating children's clothing 22. The Scholl family 23. Dr. Adkin and his nurses for medication donated 24. Dr. James Smith for medication sent 25. Southwest Airlines, Austin for sponsoring the clothing drive 26. Doug and Candice Perry for financial support and shipping assistance in Los Angeles 27. Steve Polydoros for shipping assistance in Los Angeles 28. Steve Leff for shipping assistance in Los Angeles 29. Bob Brammer of Brammer Media www.brammermedia.net for web support and shipping support in Los Angeles 30. Carter Trigg of CTV Productions www.ctvproductions.com for video equipment rental donation. 31. Cristina Magana and Dawn Dickson for giving up their much deserved vacation time in exchange for exhaustive service for Loloma 32. Carolyn Kohls, Roger and Kimberly Mauermann, and Gustafson R&D Center for their clothing drive 33 Pamela Coker, San Diego, for financial support 34. St. Gabriel's School and Jennifer Bengali for school supplies and clothing. |
coming with us in January, Linda was also able to find time to visit Taveuni Island to distribute much needed medication to both Vuna and Bouma Health Centers. Combined, the two health centers serve a population of approximately 6,700.
2. Father Law Home for the Elderly sleeps approximately 50 people. It is run by Catholic nuns and has needs for all the basics for human dignity. They received bedding, clothing, medical equipment and medications.
Schools
2. Bayly's Trust is a food and clothing bank and health clinic for the indigent. They received clothing and medication.
The last afternoon on Koro, we held a special clinic at Dere Bay, as we were told many people could not make it to the other side of the island to the heath clinic, as it was cost prohibitive. We expected 20 or 30 patients. Upon arrival at the pavilion over 50 potential patients greeted us. All medication for the clinic was brought from the boat by dingy. Dr. Hendricks saw a patient with high fever due to a possible GI parasite, two patients with huge boils, one under the armpit and one on the finger which was highly infected. Dr. Hendricks also saw a stroke victim, Fiji flu, middle ear infections, asthma, emphysema, hypertension, diabetes, low back problems, and numerous cases of scabies. Again, toothbrushes were passed out to all children. 
On the following day, we sailed to Gau Island and dropped anchor in the bay of Qarani. Thinking we had the afternoon off, we enjoyed the local children who came out to greet us on homemade bamboo boats. It was only after Dr. Hendricks went over to the Qarani Health Clinic to set it up for the next day, did he discover 3 villages waiting to be seen by our famous doctor. So great was the news of Dr. Hendricks coming, it was advertised on the local radio service. The health clinic at Qarani serves 943 patients. In two days time, 
Dr. Hendricks saw approx. 60 patients. He was assisted by Akanisa Wati, the head and very capable nurse of the clinic and Sova the second nurse. In Qarani, Dr. Hendricks saw and treated scabies, an amputated foot which was healing but had become very infected, another stroke victim, a child with a two inch growth under his arm which Dr. Hendricks removed, severe eye infection, chronic bronchitis, chronic sinusitis, and a woman with an infected foot due to stepping on a nail and left untreated. Dr. Hendricks put her on IV antibiotics, anesthetized the foot with a regional anesthesia block and incised and drained the infected foot.
hospitality and commitment to the people of Fiji is boundless.
We held two rummage sales on Beqa. One was held at the Rakua RaviRavi School the day before school started. All items were sold for 50 cents to $1.50 Fijian (25 to 75 cents US) Those without money could do a job in the school to earn shopping credit. A total of $2200 was raised and will go towards a commercial stove for the now complete dining hall. One dorm is complete with the other yet to be started. 
The other sale was held at Lalati Village over two days in their new church. $3200 Fijian was raised and when deposited in a government account will be tripled under a program called "The Rural Scheme". The money will go towards a water catchment system which will allow all homes in the village to have fresh running water. This is a huge step for Lalati Village, once the poorest of the villages on Beqa, now the most fortunate.
 |