World Vision
Visit the World Vision site at
http://www.wvi.org/ USA or
http://www.worldvision.org.au/ Australia.
“What is a World Vision Club?
My curiosity was aroused in 1976 when I first saw the article in a World Vision magazine. It was then an exciting new concept – a club for women who were concerned about suffering and injustice in the world and wanted to do something about it. Members were to work together to raise funds for World Vision Development Aid projects while seeking to learn more about world issues and to speak out against injustice.
When I wrote for information about the Clubs, I was advised that there were then no clubs in my area, and was sent a list of suggestions on how to start a club.
Me!! Start a club? No way!”
This is how I began my speech at Toastmasters, telling about my involvement with World Vision Clubs.
You can read my story of our World Vision Club’s hilarious beginning in 20 years with World Vision.
Since then I have had many years of fun and fulfilment and formed deep and lasting friendships with others who share the same vision.
There may be a World Vision Club or Action Group near you – if not, why not start one!
World Vision ClubsBy becoming a World Vision Club member you can….
- Be part of a network of caring people.
- Do something positive towards a world that no longer tolerates poverty.
- Give the gift of your time to make a real contribution to the lives of the poor.
- Meet new friends who share the same compassion and world concerns as you.
- Attend special Club functions and meet with field workers and staff from overseas.
- Together we’re making real changes to the lives of needy families.
World Vision Club Aims
As members of a World Vision International Club we shall:
- Recognise that we are all valued in God’s sight – it will be our first aim to help people to preserve the beauty and dignity of all human life.
- Work to support and raise money for community development, sponsorship and special women’s programmes through World Vision.
- Educate ourselves to understand the issues relating to poverty and suffering in the world, so that we can find solutions.
- Through our understanding, strive to become leading voices within our community for a better world.
World Vision Club ProjectsThese are the projects our clubs have been supporting.
(Information is from WV Club Posters)
Street Girls Project in Dhaka, Bangladesh
Being born a girl in the intense poverty of Bangladesh is often a tragedy. Girl-children are seen as economic and social burdens. Thousands of girls are abandoned and many end up living on the streets.
Up to 250 street girls are being assisted on a regular basis through the Dhaka Project drop-in centre.
In a safe environment the girls are offered educational programs and skills training to help lift them out of poverty. The centre also promotes education and provides cooking and washing facilities.
Street Children in Yangon Myanmar (Burma)
Lan Paw Kale Street Children’s Project is a drop-in centre and hostel, actively involved with Street Children to address their specific needs.
The average daily attendance is 60 per day, with more than 200 registered. Children are provided with:
* An environment of love, trust and acceptance.
* Medical services, nutritional health, and a place to play.
* Literacy classes, social skills and education.
* Contact with families, with staff support.
In 1998 a skills training component was added to the project. To date they have produced T-shirts, greeting cards, bracelets, etc and it has become a popular program amongst the children.
Fistula Hospital – Ethiopia
Through surgery the Fistula Hospital is providing hope to women by repairing childbirth injuries which have left them incontinent and humiliated. Fistulas result from obstructed labour when medical help is unavailable. In remote of areas Africa a hospital can be up to four days journey by foot. The hospital operates on over 1,000 patients a year.
The Fistula Hospital also trains 150 to 200 Ethiopian nurses and health workers each year and is a centre for studying fistula surgery for doctors through Africa and other parts of the world.
More about the Fistula Hospital at http://www.ethiopiaid.org.uk/fistula.htm
Safe Motherhood Project – Ethiopia
Traditional practices, such as female circumcision, which are harmful to women and children are still practiced and massaging the uterus. Many girls are married before they are 15 years of age.
These all contribute to a high rate of mortality amongst mothers and babies. Permanent disabilities also result, such as fistulas and infertility. About one thousand Ethiopian women develop fistula caused by obstructed labour every year. This results in continuously leaking urine, and sometimes faeces. Women become social outcasts and are usually abandoned by their husbands and families.
This new project requires:
- Community labour, construction materials, medical equipment.
- Delivery rooms require equipment, medicines and beds.
- Training for nurses and doctors.
- Establishment of drama groups to educate primary and high school children in areas of maternal healthcare and gender issues.
Kanzokea Dispensary in Makueni, Kenya
The dispensary serves a community of 6,0000 people and its focus is both preventative and curative.
Because of poverty, eating habits are very poor; children are under nourished and weak. Malaria, diarrhoea, intestinal worms and other water borne diseases are prevalent due to low accessibility to clean drinking water.
No ambulance is available. Sick patients travel two and a half hours on dirt roads to the nearest hospital.
The Kanzokea Dispensary aims are:
- To reduce the infant mortality rate
- Improve maternal child health care services
- Reduce the high birth rate through the introduction of Family Planning practices
- Provide pre natal care
- Immunization awareness
- Reduce the incidence of disease and improve health amongst 60000 people in the Kanzokea Community.
University Girls Scholarship – Bangladesh
In countries like Bangladesh, girls are seen as economic and social burdens. They receive less food, medical care, education and less freedom to develop.
How World Vision is helping…
Scholarships for degree courses are being awarded to female students from poor rural families who have the potential and desire for education. This rare opportunity to study and realise their dreams gives young women the opportunity, as professionals, to play vital roles in the development of their communities. At present approx. 75 girls are continuing their higher studies.
Papunya Aboriginal Community – Alice Springs NT
Did you know:
Indigenous Australians
- Have the highest rate of rheumatic fever in the world.
- Are likely to die 15-25 years earlier than non-indigenous Australians.
- Are the only group of people in the world, outside of famine and war zones, where life expectancy has not improved in the last 15 years.
- Have a higher unemployment rate than non-indigenous Australians.
- Have a higher infant mortality rate than non-indigenous Australians.
From simple infections, paralysis and rheumatic heart diseases can result, and are a significant cause of death in the community. The Skin Care Clinic at the school operates once a week – the aim of these clinics is to prevent such diseases from ever occurring.
Diabetes is also one of the most significant co-factors in cardiovascular and kidney diseases amongst indigenous Australians, Diabetes is both preventable and controllable through a healthy diet.
But healthy food is not always affordable or available, nor is access to refrigeration and clean water. World Vision’s Preventative health Program is addressing these problems, and to ensure the projects long term sustainability, local indigenous people are being trained in health and nutrition.
This Papunya project aims to:
- Support the Heart Foundation in raising funds for the ongoing Nutrition and Diabetes project.
- Maintain promotion of Walkabout Productions, the sale of indigenous art to raise funds for Diabetes prevention.
- Maintain the Preventative Health Program; promote healthy eating, and education in nutrition and basic health care.
Bamboo Shoot Project, Phnom Penh, Cambodia
The centre began in February 1993 in response to the social needs of children who were homeless and abandoned and struggling to survive. The focus is on reconciling children with their families or alternately, providing long term foster care. The centre also provides education, skills training, employment, sporting and craft and traditional dancing activities.
The centre’s development is set against a backdrop of poverty, family separation, domestic violence, HIV infection, sexual exploitation, and hazardous child labour. Children represent the future fo Cambodia with more than 56% of the country’s population under 19 years of age – “the hope of tomorrow the casualities of today.”
