February 7th, 2012: For the latest on the CAP projects see the CAP blog...

Contents:

• What is CAP?
• Giving to CAP

The Projects:

• Current Projects, 2010
• Projects from 2009
• The Original Projects
  • ROPE the Romanian Old People's Enterprise
  • CAKE the Crieff African Kid's Enterprise
• A history - or why we did this

2010 projects

Details		Amount Proposed, GBP
Egypt	Enlargement of a school for children of Sudanese refugees in Cairo.	3,000
Egypt	A 'Good Samaritan' fund to be administered by Llew Edwards to help with poor Egyptian families.	1,000
Pakistan	Medical equipment for the only clinic for deaf children in Kashmir – operated by the Kashmir Deaf Children’s Trust (KADECT)	1,500
Albania	Remodelling of an additional rural state school in Albania - with much of the work being undertaken by volunteers. The operation will be superintended by the experienced ADRA -Albania charity.	4,000
Lesotho	Because the Crieff African Kids Enterprise (CAKE) is making such a huge difference in the lives of impoverished children, it is suggested that we continue to support this important programme.	2,500 (plus 3,195*)
	TOTAL	12,000

* brought forward from the 2009 income.

If our previous experience is a guide we will comfortably exceed this target. We have the agreed £8,000 from church funds and the rest will be donated (note the use of the word 'will'!)

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2009 projects

Details		Amount Given, GBP
Kenya	Equipment for Meru Hospital (coordinated by Dr Andrew Martin)	500
Kenya	Community Services programme following civil unrest after the elections.	1,026
Albania	Contribution towards the restoration of a village school at Rovel.	7,000
Romania	Balance of funds brought forward from 2008 for the enhancement of a Care Home for the Aged at Chesau (aka the ROPE project)	1,o00
Lesotho	Continuation of project to assist scores of AIDS orphans (the (CAKE project). Amount transferred during 2009:	8,055
	Amount carried forward to 2010 for CAKE:	3,195
	TOTAL	20,776

From CAP chairman, John Arthur: On behalf of the CAP committee I would like to thank you most heartily for the way in which you helped in achieving our goals for 2009, when an amazing sum of £ 20,776 was raised. This was almost £ 8,000 in excess of the budget – which is even more commendable considering the impact of the recession.

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the rope project

The 'Romanian Old People's Enterprise'

Some of the text below is taken from the original Proposal in 2006.

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1. SUMMARY

The ROPE project will help to answer the needs of the elderly and sick in the village of Chesau, Romania, who are not able to care for themselves. These people often have no family to care for them, have very little pension, or no pension at all. Instead of living in farm barns or on the streets, they will be provided with a comfortable home with all their needs cared for.

We are proposing providing a Crieff Aid Projects grant to this Home to cover the salaries of on or two qualified nurses, some running cots and some infrastructure costs. The grant will consist of

• GBP 4000 from Church funds.
• Any donations given specifically for this rope project.
• Half of any donations given to the general CAP fund (the other half going to the cake project.

Section 3 gives a breakdown of the proposed spending.

2. BACKGROUND AND PROBLEM ANALYSIS

Chesau is a small village in Transylvania, Romania. Transylvania was part of Hungary until after the First World War when it was annexed to Romania. During the Second World War it again became part of Hungary for a while. The majority of the population in this area is Hungarian and follows the Hungarian traditions and speaks the native tongue, as well as the Romanian language.

In general, the whole country of Romania is very poor by European standards. Pensioners are particularly hard hit. The majority get a very small pension or no pension at all. Old people have to depend on their families and/or friends to help them with food. If an old person has no friends or family, then he/she is in great difficulty when it comes to the time that care is needed. There are very few nursing homes and those that do exist have enormous waiting lists. Medicine costs money, as does hospital treatment. There is a lot of work done for children throughout all these poor countries but the old and sick are very neglected. They do not arouse much emotion in donors and so charities always present a project for children so that they can obtain funds. However, old people still need love and care and that is in short supply. They have had a very difficult life living through the traumas of communism and in their old age they deserve a little comfort and love.

NEEDS IDENTIFIED

The above explains the needs of the elderly. However, the carers for these elderly people have problems in providing this necessary care. The main difficulty with running homes for the elderly is finance. Many of the old people do not have money to pay for their fees, yet they need suitable accommodation and care. How does one pay for a suitable building, equip it and then find money to pay for food, medical supplies, utility bills, and so on? It takes several years of support before a Home can be self-supporting.

3. THE PROJECT

The Home in Chesau was started 2 years ago by the Horvath family, consisting of father, mother, two sons and a daughter-in-law. They currently have 23 residents (update: as of August 2007 there are some 40 residents ) and are expanding as quickly as their resources permit.

The mother does all the cooking - 3 meals per day for 30 people. She has no help. The daughter-in-law cares for the residents along with 3 carers. The men folk are involved in the building of the property and all the maintenance, and everything else that needs to be done. The Home currently cares for 23 people, and as soon as a room is completed it is immediately occupied. There is still a waiting list. None of the Horvath family takes a salary as such, rather they live a subsistence living along with the residents of the Home.

This Chesau Home is in need of support. The family sold a lot of their belongings to start the Home. They have had to borrow money to help with the construction costs. They need equipment and furnishings for the rooms in the process of being built - e.g. lounge, dining room, kitchen, more bedrooms for residents. They also need a reliable vehicle.

(NOTE: the 2006 funds referred to in this original proposal have been spent as outlined in the 'ROPE Financial Statement for 2006'.)

CAP have no desire to micro-manage the Home - we see our roles as providing an easily verifiable project to our funders (ie Crieff Church), and removing major expenses from our fundees.

WHY DO WE HAVE CONFIDENCE IN THIS FAMILY?

References have been received for the Horvath family. The 2-year history of the Home proves their dedication to their cause. They have willingly sacrificed money and time. They have worked many years in the Cluj Home and made no secret of the fact that one day they would like to run a Home of their own. There exists an excellent relationship between the Cluj personnel and the Horvath family. The doctor that works voluntarily in Cluj also visits the Chesau residents once a week on a voluntary basis. The Horvath's decision to run a Home was not a spur of the moment un-thought out action.

MONITORING

Mrs Margit Szalos-Farkas who is known to many members in Crieff is willing to monitor the project. Monitoring will be done in accordance with CAP's wishes on advice from those in Crieff who know the situation.

RISK ASSESSMENT

We do not envisage any risks with this project, as a reliable person in Romania will monitor it. Two people from Crieff regularly visit Romania and would be able to take out funding, thus saving bank charges, and check everything is working as planned. Government instability in the future in any of these countries is something over which we have no control.

SUSTAINABILITY

It is envisaged that in a few years' time this Home will be self-supporting as they take in more patients who are able to pay fees and the construction work is completed.

4. CONCLUSION

That the Crieff Adventist Church, via the CAP fund, undertake to provide a minimum grant of GBP4000 pa for period of three years to be allocated by the OVC Project.

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the cake project

The 'Crieff African Kids Enterprise'

The text below is taken from the original Proposal in 2006.

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1. SUMMARY

The CAKE project will help to provide assistance to the existing Orphans and Vulnerable Children (OVC) project at Maluti Adventist Hospital in Lesotho, a land-locked country surrounded by South Africa.

We are providing a Crieff Aid Projects (CAP) grant to the OVC Project to cover basic food and education for a number of children and/or a salary and travel costs for a worker to help in documenting the local needs. The grant will consist of

• GBP 4000 from Church funds.
• Any donations given specifically for this cake project.
• Half of any donations given to the general CAP fund (the other half going to the rope project.

Section 3 gives a breakdown of the proposed spending.

2. BACKGROUND AND PROBLEM ANALYSIS

Maluti Adventist Hospital (MAH) was established in 1951 near the border of a small, land locked, independent country within South Africa. Today this country is known as Lesotho. MAH is the second busiest hospital in the country, and is the hospital of choice (because of the Christian care available) for much of the population of this mountainous region. Its primary purpose is to provide health care to the approximately 100,000 people in the local area (one of the 9 Health Service Areas (HSA) of Lesotho). This is a sprawling hilly/mountainous area with many small settlements and larger villages. The roads are rough and hard on vehicles, and the people are mostly subsistence farmers, sowing small crops and keeping small herds of cattle, sheep and goats. Poverty is the norm.

NEEDS IDENTIFIED

Life in Lesotho has always been hard but AIDS has made everything far more difficult - and no family is unaffected by it. The extended family where children grew up as one big happy family, mothered by several aunts as well as mother, and grandparents could relax in the sun knowing they were cared for by their children, is a thing of the past. Instead, elderly parents bury their children and are left to take care of their offspring, or the eldest children suddenly find themselves the head of the household with all the responsibility of adulthood and very few of the skills and resources. There are an estimated 4700 orphans in the area served by MAH. About 600 live in close proximity to the hospital, the others are scattered throughout the wider area. This is a huge and tragic problem.

"With a per capita income of US$ 520 in 2000, Lesotho is among the 49 Least Developed Countries and is ranked 91st on the UNDP Human Poverty Index Scale. Lesotho has scarce natural resources and is dependent on South Africa for employment opportunities. With a population of 2.2 million and 320,000 of its adults estimated to be living with HIV, the country is facing a national meltdown. The pandemic is reversing the progress made in human development and poverty alleviation over the past decades and threatening the productive sectors of the economy, delivery of social services and the entire social fabric. The orphan population is estimated at one-third of the children under 14 years (ranging from 73,000 to 100,000 according to sources). The recent scrapping of the textile quota system has exposed national producers to Asian competition and worsened the economic situation."
World Health Organisation ~ http://www.who.int/hac/crises/lso/en/

The Hospital has been looking after an increasing number of orphans and other vulnerable children as the AIDS pandemic worsened. Recently they have set up a formal OVC project. The objectives of this OVC project have been clearly stated by the organisers:

1. To provide life's basics for OVCs, i.e. food, shelter, clothing, medical care and social support.
2. To provide assessments and data to support the above.
3. To work with existing carers, e.g. relatives, NGOs already involved in the MAH HAS, church and village support groups.
4. To provide shelters for orphaned and abandoned babies and toddlers where no other alternative exists.
5. To help the OVCs to help themselves through agricultural programmes, crafts, wood chopping and sale, etc.
6. To provide a study and service centre near the hospital as a place where those OVCs of high school age can study after school, learn skills, have recreation, and receive counselling as needed.

They emphasise the importance of keeping the OVCs in their local communities. Where possible it is always preferable to provide assistance in-situ because of the way in which local land ownership works in the tribal system.

3. THE PROJECT

The OVC Project has recently been 'spun off' from the main work of the Maluti Adventist Hospital and has just taken on a fund-raiser with specific responsibility for the OVCs. They clearly expressed two wishes to us.

• To fund a salary and transport costs for a local worker to travel the area and assess the needs. The people of Lesotho are a strong, independent people (see Lyn Hurlow's letter, Section 5) and it is often difficult to assess the scale of a person's need and a full time worker would assist greatly in this essential task.
• Simple food and education for as many children as possible.

We propose that CAP grant the sum of GBP4000pa to fund a salary and travel expenses for a needs-assessment worker and/or food and education for a number of children. We would take guidance on which requirement is the most urgent from the OVC Project as and when funds become available.

As with all AIDS related work in Africa the OVC Project is a financial black hole. The amount of money required to fully fund the feeding, education and health of the orphans is much greater than anything the Crieff Adventist Church can muster. However the imperative to try remains with us. The OVC Project has been up and running for some time in an informal capacity but the scale of the problem has overwhelmed them - hence the creation of a formal OVC department within the Hospital. They know the needs much better than we can ever hope to so we must accept their decision as to the best way to spend the money.

WHY DO WE HAVE CONFIDENCE IN THE OVC PROJECT?

The Director of the Maluti Adventist Hospital, Dr Wil Hurlow, is known personally to a number of people in our church. His wife, Lyn, has been involved with the informal and formal OVC project. The fundraiser, Heather Tredoux, is again known personally to a number of Crieff members and prior to taking up this post was involved in the South African VOP for many years. The Hospital has been serving the local community for over 50 years.

In addition the MAH has received help in the past from various 'blue chip' funders such as the Alumni Association of the School of Medicine at Loma Linda University, Save the Children (UK), Bristol Myers, Ireland Aid and the World Food Program .

MONITORING

Lyn Hurlow and Heater Tredoux would provide feedback and reporting to us. Monitoring will be done in accordance with CAP's wishes.

RISK ASSESSMENT

Lesotho is a relatively stable country politically. It is fully surrounded by South Africa, a stable country with good transport and financial links with the West. By African standards it will be easy to reliably get funds to the hospital.

SUSTAINABILITY

The AIDS pandemic is destroying Africa. There is currently no prospect of this project ever becoming self-supporting and it would be foolish to expect otherwise. As Lyn Hurlow eloquently put it "I don't think anybody was prepared for the impact AIDS has had on societies in Africa, and now its a bit like standing in a flooded river trying to grab at people as they go rushing past. But at the same time we do believe the tide can be stemmed, and people are being helped."

FUTURE OPTIONS

Basic funding will always be required and they could use any amount of money we could raise. We have not explored the possibility of sending out a group of workers to assist in building etc.

4. CONCLUSION

That the Crieff Adventist Church, via the CAP fund, undertake to provide a minimum grant of GBP4000 pa for period of three years to be allocated by the OVC Project.

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