Blog
15 February 2018
Mercy Ships is an international organisation that operates the largest charity-run hospital ship in the world. This incredible ship is crewed by volunteers who provide free surgery and medical care to some of the poorest people in the world.
Did you know that two out of three people in world cannot get safe, affordable surgery when they need it? Something we take for granted in the UK simply isn’t an option to vast swathes of the world’s population. Here is a story about how Mercy Ships transformed one family’s life in Africa.
“When I gave birth to Dorkas, she was a healthy baby,” says her mother, Nicole. But soon she realised that her daughter was constantly squinting.
Then, three years later, Nicole had a second daughter, Anna. “I couldn’t believe it,” says Nicole. “Her vision was even worse than her sister’s.” To have not one, but two, children who could not see weighed heavily on Nicole, who was raising her children alone. “Was this because of some sin I have committed?” she wondered. “Is it a curse?” In reality, the little girls’ condition was genetic.
Dorkas and Anna were just two of the 320,000 blind children in subSaharan Africa. Most of these children would be able to see if they had access to modern medicine.
Nicole didn’t know that her children’s condition could be cured, but she sought help anyway. She took her daughters to the national hospital in Togo. An ophthalmologist examined the girls and quickly diagnosed their condition as cataracts. But there was no surgeon to help them.
“We waited and waited and waited,” says Nicole. Nothing ever came of it.Then Nicole heard that Mercy Ships hospital ship, the Africa Mercy, was close by, and they could treat children’s cataracts.
“I went hopefully to them,” she says, making the trip from Togo to neighbouring Benin. It was worth all the effort. Nicole left the patient screening site with yellow cards – the signal that her daughters were scheduled for free surgeries.
“It was then that I started to believe,” says Nicole. “But I was still praying and wondering if they would really be able to see after the operation. I was not yet confident.”
Anna and Dorkas were operated on in the same morning. Six-year-old Dorkas came through fine, but Nicole was far more worried about her younger daughter, two-year-old Anna, because her vision had been much worse.
After Anna’s surgery, volunteer eye surgeon Dr Bob Burlingame went to the wards looking for Nicole, who had stepped out.
“I asked the translator to tell her that everything went very, very well, and that I expected Anna to see much, much better,” he says. The translator left the room, and only seconds later Dr Bob heard Nicole shout from the other end of the hall, “Praise God! Praise God! Mercy has saved my baby’s sight.”
And she came running down the hall, shouting and praising God.
Donate for Mercy Ships UK HERE.
09.02.2018
As Remus Horse Sanctuary, in Essex, enters its 35th anniversary year, founder Sue Burton looks back at 2017. The charity was founded in 1983 and is now home to more horses than ever before due to the horse welfare crisis in the UK and the many animals caught up in its icy grip. Presently Remus gives sanctuary to 82 horses and ponies, nine donkeys and Jess, the mule.
Sue said: “The year 2017 saw the usual ups and downs of life at the charity – the ups were definitely watching the rescued animals come in to the sanctuary and recover from their trauma and, of course, the visit from HRH The Countess of Wessex in June was a highlight for all of us; while the downs had to be the break-in and the loss of friends, both two and four legged.”
The break-in occurred in November when, already strapped for cash and heading into the hard winter months, vandals broke in to the premises at Little Farm, Buttsbury, near Ingatestone stealing more than £1,000 in cash and creating significant damage to the charity’s offices and equipment – which required thousands of pounds to repair and rebuild.
Remus Horse Sanctuary is funded totally by public donations and its own fundraising and event activities. Details of the Kids’ Pony Days and Open Days for 2018 can already be found on the website at www.remussanctuary.org and special events for the 35th anniversary year will be announced in due course. The Countess, who joined the charity as a Patron in 2013, visited the sanctuary on June 29, 2017, for a tour of the facilities and to learn more about issues such as tethering, cruelty and neglect, indiscriminate breeding and abandonment, and elderly horses – all of which continue to escalate around the UK.
The sanctuary continues to rescue horses and ponies from across Southern England, who are victims of physical and mental abuse, be it as a result of ignorance or malicious intent.
Sue also works alongside other like-minded organisations to inform and update on rescue operations and on the particular care required for elderly horses – of which the charity is a specialist.
“The sanctuary just couldn’t survive without the help, support, generosity and loyalty of the staff, volunteers and supporters”, said Sue, but still it’s incredibly tough to continue year on year. “I implore anyone who loves animals to get in touch and help us out.”
The sanctuary provides a safe environment for these animals that have been victims of physical and mental abuse, whether because of ignorance or malicious intent.
For further information, visit www.remussanctuary.org.
You can support the Remus Horse Sanctuary by donating unwanted clothing via www.icollectclothes.co.uk or booking a collection by calling 0344 879 4417
By South London Press
02 February 2018
We spend our lives buying clothes. Trooping up and down the high street, browsing the internet and reading fashion magazines, asking advice from friends and loved ones.
But one day that beloved fedora hat you bought in Crete or the retro orange jumper you wore every day at University doesn’t quite fit anymore. They pile up in the closet in retirement just to remind us of happy moments.
It is hard to part with these treasured relics but it would be easier if we knew they were going to bring happiness to others. Chucking away discarded clothes is such a waste. We are all used to the charity bags that get delivered to our doors. But the problem is they always come when they are least wanted and it just adds plastic bags to the pile of waste. If only there was an easy and ethical way to get rid of your excess clothes.
Well now there is. iCollectClothes is a bespoke pick-up service which takes your clothes from you on demand, sells them on and then delivers the cash to a charity of your choice.
Simply go online to www.icollectclothes.co.uk, chose from a selection of charities you would like to donate to, chose a time for your clothes to be collected. That’s it – your good deed for the day is done. The iCollectClothes team will take care of the rest.
A simple idea, but the best ideas usually are the simplest. They pick up from any location across London no matter how big or small the bag of clothes is. Helping the environment is a key part of their business. They want to cut down on wasted plastic bags, unnecessary driving time and, of course, wasted clothes.
They have been reviewed online by more than 400 people with 97 per cent of them giving their approval for the service.
iCollectClothes have been helping people with their leftover clothes
for a year now and they have raised more than £23,000.
The iCollectClothes team will make good use of your unwanted clothes and the cash goes to charity
By South London Press/Greenwich Mercury, 02.02.2018