Highlights

Handing Over the District Health Office in Bagh, Pakistan

In the wake of the 2005 Kashmir earthquake, where an estimated 8,000 people lost their lives and another 83,000 lost their homes, many of the health facilities in the major town of Bagh were destroyed. In addition to sending a team of medical and logistics volunteers immediately after the earthquake, MERCY Malaysia undertook to provide new health facilities for the estimated 400,000 people living in the Bagh District.

Reconstruction of the District Health Office (DHO), which incorporated anti-seismic features, began on February 2009. Facilities at the centre include a Maternal and Child Healthcare section, as well as a warehouse to store supplies. The DHO is strategically located in the heart of the town and offers Outpatient Department (OPD) services for the locals.

The health centre was completed in December 2009 at a cost of almost RM2.5 million. In March this year MERCY Malaysia handed over the management of the District Health Office (DHO) to the local community.

MERCY Malaysia’s involvement in Bagh is an example of our commitment to providing long term, sustainable solutions to disaster affected communities.

Generous Donations

The following organizations have generously made cheque presentations (between January and April) to support MERCY Malaysia’s work this year:

MERCY Malaysia’s General Fund

Offshore Works Sdn Bhd
Malaysia Airlines Retirees Association

Haiti Relief Fund

Yayasan JUSCO Malaysia
AEON Co. (M) Bhd
Alliance Bank (M) Sdn Bhd
KPMG
Soka Gakkai Malaysia
UITM Dungun, Terengganu
Assunta Alumni donated

Chile Earthquake Fund

Yayasan JUSCO Malaysia

Volunteers Proving Themselves

MERCY Malaysia provides training to volunteers to introduce them to MERCY Malaysia and our work. There are two main workshops available – the Volunteer Induction Programme (VIP) and the Basic Mission Training (BMT).

The latest VIP was held in April 2010 and had 50 participants. It was a half day induction programme for new volunteers. It provides a brief introduction to the humanitarian aid and relief programmes which MERCY Malaysia conducts and also the values that underpin our work.

The first BMT of 2010 was held at Ulu Kinta, Perak in May. The 28 participants were put through their paces to make sure they are ready, physically and mentally, to be deployed as front-liners to any MERCY Malaysia’s medical and humanitarian relief mission during the emergency phase and to face any challenges during the mission.

There are more VIP and BMT workshops scheduled for later in the year. We will give you more details closer to the time. If you are interested in attending please watch out for more news in future editions of this newsletter.

Merlin joins MERCY Malaysia’s Continuous Humanitarian Education initiative

MERCY Malaysia has started weekly sessions amongst staff to promote knowledge-sharing on humanitarian issues and the projects we are working on. In April we were fortunate to have the opportunity to learn about the different ways one of our partner organisations approaches and manages its donors. Ms Vafa Taghavi, Programmes Funding Coordinator at Merlin, a UK based medical relief NGO generously gave her time to share with us information on different types of funding sources, donors relationship and engagement as well as some proposal writing tips.

It was an extremely informative session and we are grateful to Vafa for her time and effort.