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Oxfam

Wednesday, December 3rd, 2008

www.oxfam.org.nz

What do they do?

Oxfam is a Humanitarian organisation is dedicated to finding lasting solutions to poverty and injustice. Oxfam New Zealand was formed in1991, and has now developed an international reputation for its development work in the Pacific and East Asia, its focus on practical solutions to the emerging crisis in water and sanitation and its campaigning for rights.

How can I get involved?

Become an Oxfam campaigner - Campaign activities can range from spending two minutes on an email action through to fronting up to politicians to ask questions about their policies on aid, trade and debt.
Trailwalker Challenge - raise $2000 to help to overcome poverty and injustice by tackling 100km of tough NZ terrain
The Amazing Race - race other teams through Cambodia, Vietnam and Thailand to raise money for Oxfam projects
Oxjam - a month of music with a message. NZ artists busk and throw concerts to raise awareness about Oxfam’s work. They are always looking for volunteers, organisers and fresh ideas and content.
‘Good Books’ and gifts – Buy your books at the online store, and all profits go to Oxfam projects. You can also buy gifts for your friends and family that directly benefit poor communities.
Send them stamps – Yup, Oxfam will sort through your old stamps and sell them to collectors!
Volunteer – Oxfam are always on the lookout for help with their programmes.
Donate to Oxfam
Read a Publication – Oxfam produce high quality, up-to-date publications on Poverty and Development issues around the world. Expand your mind and read one today!

Tags: advocacy, aid, capacity building, challenge, children and young people, community development, development, disaster management, fundraise, human rights, internship, poverty, programme / project management, publications, resolution, rural development, trade, travel, volunteer, water and sanitation, women
Posted in Take Action, The Action Exchange | No Comments »

Amnesty International

Wednesday, December 3rd, 2008

www.amnesty.org.nz

What do they do?

Amnesty International is a global movement of over 2.2 million people in more than 150 countries who contribute their time, money and expertise to the promotion of human rights and international campaigning against some of the most serious violations, including imprisonment for beliefs or identity, torture and killings.

How can I get involved?

Join a group (or start one) – There are Amnesty International groups in schools, universities, and youth groups. These groups campaign on all aspects of Amnesty’s work. They usually meet weekly or fortnightly to write letters, sign petitions or take action on the Amnesty website on behalf of these individuals and communities at risk. They also organize awareness raising events within their school and community in support of Amnesty’s work, and take part in the Freedom Challenge, an annual team campaigning challenge in August (see www.freedomchallenge.org.nz for more details). Young people involved with Amnesty are consistently are rewarded with prolific media coverage for their awareness-raising in schools and the community.

Volunteer – Instead of, or in addition to, being part of a group, you can volunteer around the country, often spending time in the classroom, aiding social studies departments in their education of human rights. You can even spend time volunteering in the Amnesty Auckland office.

Apply for an internship – Amnesty’s Internship Program was established with the aim of enabling students to undertake a period of work experience with Amnesty International. It is an awesome opportunity to get involved in everything Amnesty does, and get some valuable experience. The Auckland office has its own Youth internship position.

Attend an Event – Amnesty groups run events around the country all the time, like games nights and keynote speakers. See the Amnesty website for more details.

Read a Publication – Amnesty produce high quality, up-to-date publications on Human Rights issues around the world. Expand your mind and read one today!

Sign an appeal for Action – The Amnesty website has an up-to-date list of current appeals that you can contribute to.

Tags: challenge, children, conflict, crime, events, group, human rights, indigenous, internship, peace, publications, refugees, war, women
Posted in Take Action, The Action Exchange | No Comments »

Weekend in Nha Trang

Monday, November 21st, 2005

Alex Dalzell, who is in his final year at Otago Medical School, Wellington, has recently returned from a six week placement at a hospital in Qui Nhon, Vietnam. He shares some of his experiences with us.

alexrides By 4pm I was on a train, meandering slowly the 230km to Nha Trang. Nha Trang is a big beach town that is a bit of a tourist destination. Lots of backpackers, restaurants and dive operators. After 3 straight weekends in Qui Nhon I was more than happy to lap up being a tourist.

It’s Monday lunchtime and I have just arrived back in Qui Nhon after a cruisy trip through the rice paddies on the train. Last week was OK - my final week in orthopaedics. Some really short days which started late and finished early, but also some interesting theatre cases.

Christ, I am hyperaware on my bike on the roads here. There are just so many nasty things that motorbikes can do to you. Also I found out what a sword can do when used against a German speaking Vietnamese man while drunk and fighting.

I was going mental by the end of the week waiting for my VISA, getting daily updates that basically said, “We are still waiting for X, we might be able to issue the VISA by tomorrow”. Finally by Friday morning I still hadn’t got it and I had been planning to head down to Nha Trang that night.

I was starting to lose the plot a bit and become a rather dark and brooding young man. At 2.30 we got the call from the immigration office and it was all go. I was racing around, going to the bank and throwing stuff in a bag and catching a cab out the railway station.

By 4pm I was on a train, meandering slowly the 230km to Nha Trang. Nha Trang is a big beach town that is a bit of a tourist destination. Lots of backpackers, restaurants and dive operators. After 3 straight weekends in Qui Nhon I was more than happy to lap up being a tourist.

The dive store that I had e-mailed is open late at night and has a bar attached to it. Sounds like a good safe group to go with huh? Over a couple of beers on Friday night I sorted out my trip for the Saturday.

The rain meant the visibility wasn’t stunning - in fact it was about what I would expect on an average dive in the sounds. Enough to see some good coral formations and various tropical fish.

The rest of Saturday was spent sleeping and exploring the city a bit - I got caught in some serious tropical downpours and retreated into a few cafes for coffees on the way to escape the rain. One of the good things about Nha Trang was the different nationalities of food - basically in Qui Nhon I have been eating a lot of noodles and rice with occasional Western food at Barbara’s. I was craving some different flavours and I had some really good pizza one night and some amazing chicken enchiladas. I also had some big juicy prawns that lots of the restaurants have - you can also have them cooked in front of you by vendors on the street.
hotepalex
On Sunday I did a bit of exploring of some lonely planet recommended sights - a big 24 metre tall Buddha on a hill, some really old Cham towers from about 700ad. Cham being a bunch of folk lurking about Vietnam before the ethnic Vietnamese knocked them about a bit. Good to explore and click off a few photos anyway…………

Tags: health, internship, medicine, Vietnam
Posted in Aid & Development, Articles, Your Stories | No Comments »

First day in theatre

Friday, October 14th, 2005

I had my first day at the hospital - fairly bureaucratic as expected. But I think that with the schmarmy letter that I just tapped out it should mean that things are fine from here on. Apparently I needed separate letters from the powers that be to allow me admission into the ICU and theatres. But otherwise the ward provides many motorbike victims, they all have x -rays that you just look at and wince.
dr.alex
I have been in theatre all day today. There was this poor farmer who came in after stepping on a mine this morning while widening his paddock for his farm. Bloody American war leftover still active, 30-40 years on. Another guy had a broken femur that we fixed up. In Welly there just weren’t that many broken femurs - over here everyone rides around on their motorbikes and the crashes are a mess. Helmets are discouraged in the cities as they impede the vision at the peripheries. So that’s a good system huh?

Currently the caesarean rate in Province hospital rumoured to be between is between 50 and 70%. Whenever I am in theatre there is a baby entering the world just a couple of metres away - they have two surgical cases going simultaneously in the theatres here. The personal space and touching laws are very different. There is no male-female touching in public - except when holding onto each other on a motorbike - the young couples motorbike a lot. There is plenty of girl on girl and man touch though. It is normal to walk with an arm around a friend when on the street. Also there is much thigh stroking when talking to each other or to emphasise a point. When I come back to NZ I will be drinking beer with ice and touching everyone all the time. I think I will have to have a diamante suit made while I am here to go with this new attitude.

I spent the morning drinking iced coffee again with the doctors and then after a bit of a ward round (read,look at wounds and poke at legs) we just sat around and talked orthopaedics and then some political discussion. Apparently the senior consultants at the hospital have a salary of $70 US dollars a month (one million dong). Not a lot considering the ATM just let me get out 2 million.

It’s my common mistake - people say ” How….are you?” to which I answer “I am fine today thank you. How is your day today?” This gets very confused looks. The Vietnamese don’t care how I am, what they really want to know before names etc. is how old I am. I have also been asked “how odd are you?” I decided not to tell them how odd I am because I need to stay here for another 3 weeks or so.

Yesterday I spent most of the day in theatre doing some skin grafting. There is a burns ward managed by the orthopaedic doctors (it’s a plastics specialty in NZ - no plastics here though). There are a couple of guys with horrific electrical burns which are needing a lot of surgery. One of the guys has had to have the arm that touched the wire amputated and his feet are burnt pretty badly where the current left his body. It’s pretty similar to NZ as far as the jigsaw puzzle of skin grafting goes - shave it off here and fit it across the biggest area of exposed viable flesh.

Tags: aid, internship, medicine, mines, Vietnam, war
Posted in Aid & Development, Articles, Culture & Society, Your Stories | No Comments »