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September 30, 2007 • The Project has made progress this year - thanks to Rosemary Stasek we have gotten a cryogenic unit for the hospital and the doctors will be trained to use it so women can be treated for pre-cancerous lesions. Up until now women were told they would need a hysterectomy because this rather simple surgical procedure was not available.
Rosemary has also visited the hospital in Ghor province and interviewed the doctor for a "wish list". The usual types of medicines and supplies are needed and we are putting together sets of baby kits which will be given to new mothers. The idea is to get the word out that these kits are available in hopes more women will come to the hospital to have their babies. In many cases women experience problems and the decision to go to the hospital is made too late. We hope this will change this situation.
10 October 2006 • Don't
assume the lack of updates on this page imply lack of progress on my
part! The first news is the anesthesia machine was delivered to Rábia
Balkhi Hospital a few months ago. My dear friend, Rosemary Stasek, has
again pulled off a miracle to get it there.
Also, several shipments of medicine have been delivered to Rábia
Balkhi Hospital, Khair Khana and to a small clinic outside of Kabul.
By "shipments" I don't mean a shipping container, think more
along the lines of a bundle of medicine bought here in the U.S. and
taken to Afghanistan. But this is life-saving medicine and unavailable
in Kabul.
November 2005 • A
progress report is long overdue here. This past year I've had some trouble
maintaining my contacts in Afghanistan, hence there have been problems.
I have been able to send money with friends going to Kabul and with
these funds medicine was purchased for both Rábia Balkhi Hospital
and Khair Khana Hospital.
But in the last two weeks things have totally turned around!
Through the efforts of a new friend and colleague, Mina Walli, I've
been able to get the anesthesia machine, purchased over a year ago,
in the process of being delivered to Rábia Balkhi Hospital. The
problem had been both getting the proper paperwork done allowing for
the transport of the machine from Pakistan and getting someone to physically
do this. Things kept falling apart, but at least the machine and the
other surgical supplies were safe at a clinic in Peshawar.
I met Mina Walli a few months ago at a meeting of Bay Area groups working
to rebuild Afghanistan. She is going to build a school/health center
in her home province of Nangarhar. See her website: www.hopeofmother.org
Mina took a letter from me to the Minister of Public Health and met
with him. He knows of my project because he was the doctor who originally
got the price estimates for various anesthesia machines from medical
supply companies in Peshawar. (This was before he was appointed Minister
of Public Health - he was appointed to this position after the election.)
Once he received my letter he made the arrangements to get the machine
transported to Kabul.
Mina also delivered money to be used for the women and babies at Khair
Khana Hospital. I'll have more information this week as to what specifically
was purchased with these funds.
I now have a permanent contact within the Ministry of Public Health
to help me with these logistical problems. This has been a great help
to the project.
NEWS FLASH --- I am working this week
to help another grassroots project here in the Bay Area: The Ehsan Family
Project. This project has helped thousands of people in Jalalabad, Afghanistan
by means of micro-grants given to improve businesses.
See this link - kabulmaternity.org/ehsan/index.htm
- for a full description and a good story of how a grant helped one
family.
14 March 2005 •
Since the last entry continued donations have come in to the project.
The key piece of equipment purchased is a new anesthesia machine. Unfortunately,
it is still in Pakistan while I work out how to get it transported to
Rábia Balkhi Hospital in Kabul.
Additional medicines have been gotten to Rábia Balkhi, and another
smaller hospital called Khair Khana. In the past year I've found out
what medicines can be purchased in Kabul and what needs to be purchased
in the United States.
I have more people giving me assistance now, both here and in Afghanistan.
With so much additional support I hope to purchase the rest of the equipment
for the hospital within the next few months.
10 December 2003 • During
the past month hundreds of brochures have been handed out. Some individuals
have asked that their friends and family members donate to this project
for their birthday. This has shot up the thermometer to over the $7,000
mark.
This weekend there will be a special celebration at the Adobe Building
in Mountain View, California. This is sponsored by friends of the Rábia
Balkhi Hospital Project. More information can be found at www.kabulmaternity.org/invite.htm
. All are invited and please tell your family and friends too.
27 October 2003 •
This has been a busy month. First of all, the conference in New Jersy.
How can I describe it - informative, vital, inspiring? I haven't yet
found the right adjective that truly encapsulates what went on. The
venue itself was dramatic - the conference was held on the campus of
Stevens Institute, with the Hudson River and the New York skyline serving
as a backdrop to our discussions.
Several cabinet ministers from Afghanistan were present: the Minister
of Public Works, Minister of Higher Education, Minister of Transportation
and the Minister of Diaspora (this office provides encouragement and
assistance to Afghans returning to their country). Each minister gave
a presentation, and there were many others. To paraphrase one speaker
- the job of rebuilding Afghanistan is colossal; there is no template
to follow. No other country in modern history has had to rebuild after
such total devastation.
In spite of these factors, the members of the Society
of Afghan Engineers (co-sponsors of the conference) remain entirely
positive and extremely responsible in their approach to the situation.
I found this to be inspiring, that in spite of all, each of these individuals,
and to some degree - all of us - need to rise to the occasion in order
to salvage this country.
A summary of some of the key presentations is included
here: conf2.htm
Also, the Mountain View Voice ran an article
about Rábia Balkhi Hospital and my project in the October 3rd
edition. This gives a good overview of conditions at the hospital and
has drawn a good response from Mountain View readers. See a copy here
: voice.htm •[82K
file]
This article is in addition to the large photo of my earnest •face
carried in the San Jose Mercury News,
see a copy here: mercury.htm••
[82K jpg file].
1 October 2003 •
We have reached over $5,000 in donations for the hospital! Many thanks
to all who have contributed, this project belongs to all of you. A large
photograph of yours truly was featured in the Sunday edition of the
San Jose Mercury. This will be added here shortly. There will be another
story about the Rábia Balkhi Hospital Project in another peninsula
paper this week.
I, however, will be in New Jersey this weekend attending an international
conference co-sponsored by the Society of Afghan Engineers. Important
officials from Afghanistan will be there, including the Minister of
Public Health, and U.S. government officials responsible for policy
issues relating to Afghanistan. I will update this site with the results
of this meeting. For more information about it go to http://www.afghan-engineers.org
and click on "Society of Afghan Engineers Conference 2003".
19 September 2003 •
The fund is now over $4,000 - all because of the generosity of so many
individuals. With the internet it's possible to reach around the world.
Those of you who cannot help with donations can help by sending this
website address to all your friends. And theycan tell their friends,
and they can tell their friends and so on, and so on. Okay, if you know
what commercial that's from we're in the same age bracket.
10 September 2003 • We have broken
the $3,000 mark. There are dots showing up all over the map. I've been
to both the Palo Alto Farmer's Market and the Mountain View Farmer's
Market and plan to go to others all over the Bay Area.
I must confess, I spent a few late nights reading one of the best novels
I've read in a long time, The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini.
I heard Dr. Hosseini read from his book at the Mountain View Library.
This story is set in Kabul. Do you know that wonderful experience when
you are reading a story that paints such vivid pictures you don't want
the story to end? This is such a story, and I recommend it to everyone.
It also gives one a heartrending familiarity of the history of Afghanistan.
Visit the website at
http://www.khaledhosseini.com It has great photos of Afghanistan.
12 August 2003 •
I've been consulting with some people who have been at Rábia
Balkhi Hospital recently and gotten a more complete list of items the
hospital needs. These are things one takes for granted in a hospital:
alchohol swabs, IV poles, rubber bands used to draw blood, suction bulbs
for newborns. These are now added to the list of items needed, and I
may send an early shipment of these things since they are less expensive
than the large surgical equipment.
29 July 2003 •
The response to my great enthusiasm was
the great stillness, which descended upon the site and my home. But
that was broken today with the first donation! Allright! I updated the
thermometer and added a dot to the map. It is significant only to me
that the first donation is from my best friend and a very dear person.
I have mailed out hundreds of brochures to friends.
I'll keep you posted on new developments. Keep those cards and letters
coming in. Don't forget the checks.
I handed out brochures at the San Francisco Marathon
- hope those of you who received one have checked this out and spread
the word.
19 July 2003 •
•If
you're reading this the website is done and the brochures have been
distributed to all my family and friends. So, like a stone dropped in
water, I plan for news of this project to spread to lots of people and
we can all do something about this situation at Rábia Balkhi
Hospital.
While
it may not seem like much, having the website done and the brochures
sent out means this project is launched and that's the first major step.
This has taken a lot of work. If you've ever made a website you know
what I mean.
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