Mother's Day 2014

Happy Mother's Day!

"I remember my mother’s prayers and they have always followed me. They have clung to me all my life.” — Abraham Lincoln

  

 “A mother is the truest friend we have, when trials heavy and sudden fall upon us; when adversity takes the place of prosperity; when friends desert us; when trouble thickens around us, still will she cling to us, and endeavor by her kind precepts and counsels to dissipate the clouds of darkness, and cause peace to return to our hearts.” ― Washington Irving

“Youth fades; love droops; the leaves of friendship fall; A mother’s secret hope outlives them all.”

~ Oliver Wendell Holmes

“I’m a mother,” said her mother, in her foodless flat where the dust did not dare to settle, “and I know what I know.”

~ Neil Gaiman

“If I was damned of body and soul,

I know whose prayers would make me whole,

Mother o’ mine, O mother o’mine.”

~ Rudyard Kipling

“My mother... she is beautiful, softened at the edges and tempered with a spine of steel. I want to grow old and be like her.” ― Jodi Picoult

"Whatever else is unsure in this stinking dunghill of a world a mother's love is not." - James Joyce

"Mother is the name for God in the lips and hearts of little children." - William Makepeace Thackeray

A mother's arms are made of tenderness and children sleep soundly in them. - Victor Hugo

All that I am or ever hope to be, I owe to my angel Mother.
- Abraham Lincoln

The moment a child is born, the mother is also born. She never existed before. The woman existed, but the mother, never. A mother is something absolutely new.
- Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh

My mother had a slender, small body, but a large heart - a heart so large that everybody's joys found welcome in it, and hospitable accommodation.- Mark Twain

Of all the rights of women, the greatest is to be a mother.- Lin Yutang

The mother is everything - she is our consolation in sorrow, our hope in misery, and our strength in weakness. She is the source of love, mercy, sympathy, and forgiveness. He who loses his mother loses a pure soul who blesses and guards him constantly.- Kahlil Gibran

When I stopped seeing my mother with the eyes of a child, I saw the woman who helped me give birth to myself.- Nancy Friday

Who ran to help me when I fell,
And would some pretty story tell,
Or kiss the place to make it well?
My mother.- Ann Taylor

Wanted: Medical Director for Lalmba Ethiopia

"Calling all Global Health Professionals" 

Ready for the personal and professional adventure of a lifetime?

We are currently looking for a physician, physician assistant or nurse practitioner to serve as medical director for our rural health clinic in Chiri, Ethiopia.   

Chiri is such a beautiful place.  After a challenging day seeing patients with illnesses you have never seen before, you will be rewarded with a magnificent sunset on your house on the hill overlooking the Ethiopian highland rainforest.  

 

This could be you!

Read our job announcement below:

Health Center Medical Director

Chiri, Ethiopia

Lalmba Association is a small, Colorado-based NGO that operates a Health Center, Public Health, community development and orphan care programs in a remote area of the Ethiopian highlands.  We are looking for a volunteer Medical Director who will oversee the Health Center operations for a period of 1-2 years beginning in summer 2014.

Lalmba pays no salary but covers all expenses related to travel to/from Ethiopia, and working and living in Ethiopia (visas, immunizations, airfare, room and board, medical & life insurance).  We will only consider candidates currently located and licensed in the U.S., South America, Canada or Europe.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES:  The Medical Director will provide the leadership over Lalmba’s Ethiopian medical programs, including the health center and 15-bed inpatient ward, provide medical oversight to the Public Health programs and staff, and will supervise and provide medical training to local medical professionals.

QUALIFICATIONS:  Qualified candidates are Physicians, Nurse Practitioners or Physician Assistants who have a desire to serve the poor.  A current medical license to practice in the U.S., South America, Canada or Europe is absolutely required.  Must be willing to make a 1 to 2 year commitment and work in a very rural location.  No special training on tropical disease is necessary.   

TO APPLY:   For more information, go to www.lalmba.org or call 303-485-1810.  If you are a Physician, NP or PA currently located and licensed in the U.S., Canada, South America or Europe and would like to apply, please fill out the application form on our Volunteer page: http://www.lalmba.org/volunteer_form.html

MISSION STATEMENT Lalmba provides medical, educational and relief services to the people of Africa through self-help programs which teach and train the people we serve to care for their own needs as much as possible, and provide them resources not usually available in Africa. We have a special love for orphan children whom we see, not as a burden, but as part of a brilliant future for Africa.

BEYOND RCAR: A Success Story

by Annet Bakker-Brouwer

As a volunteer from the Netherlands, I have been living for seven months in Matoso, Kenya. My husband, Boudewijn Bakker, is Medical Director of Lalmba Kenya. I contribute to Lalmba in multiple roles and I am here to serve the LUO-people of this district who have such a hard life. As a psychologist,  I am always anxious to know what the results are of supporting so many children during the 30+ years that Lalmba has been involved in Kenya.  What has happened to these kids? What kind of jobs do they have? How were Lalmba services able to help them when they were in a very vulnerable situation, at such a young age?

During a recent visit to the Matoso Academy Complex, I met a teacher who was helped by Lalmba's RCAR program. His name is Erick. With the money you as donors gave, he was able to attend school. I am very moved by his story; you can read it below:

Erick, a very intelligent man of 25, starts by thanking Lalmba donors for getting the opportunity to go to school.

Erick stands close to his father's knee for a rare family portait.

When he was 3 years old, the youngest of 8 children, his father died. There was no money in the family for school after the 5^th grade.  He really wanted to attend school, so he started to earn money at the beach of Lake Victoria in Matoso by pulling nets and collecting the fish the fishermen had caught that night.  It was not enough…. as a 10 year old he went to the office of Lalmba in Matoso and asked for help. The leaders of RCAR visited his home and school to assess his needs and to see his examination results. The need was obvious, and because he was one of the best students in his class, Lalmba took him into their program by paying his school fees, books and uniforms. After receiving high grades on his exams in primary school, he was motivated to continue his education. Both his grades and his drive to continue his studies qualified him for a Lalmba scholarship to attend secondary school (high school.)

Erick's graduation photo from the
University of Nairobi

After completing high school, again near the top of his class, Erick's academic dreams continued -- he wanted to attend college in Nairobi.  (The RCAR program supports students only up to secondary school.)  He started to earn some money, and his family also helped him by selling some of the family cows. Eventually they saved enough so he could start his first year of college! But, it was still not enough to continue. So, he organised a fundraising party, inviting more than 200 people. This is common in Kenya when you have money problems; it's the third world version of Kickstarter. The visitors paid for a nice evening with music, drinks and some food. From this, he received enough money to pay for second year of college.  And then he did it again for the third year. For his last year of college and for his exams he took a student loan from the university, which he still needs to repay.

In July 2013, 25 years old, Erick graduated with high marks with a teaching degree in Mathematics, Science, English end Social Studies. And . . . now he's back in Matoso working as a teacher at the Matoso Academy Complex, a private Primary School in Matoso.

Erick, giving a math lesson to 6th graders

Erick is very happy to be a teacher and to be able to live and work in the community of his family.  He would like to thank the donors of Lalmba for the opportunity to attend Primary and Secondary school. Now, it's his turn to take care of his extended family. His salary is low - teachers the world over are underpaid, especially in Kenya. He also needs to repay his student loan. But once his debts are paid, and only then, he believes, will he be able to marry and raise a family. These are the burdens of modern man in Kenya, and in spite of them, he remains happy and grateful for all the support he has received. Now, in his own way, it's his turn to support Lalmba---by teaching RCAR orphans just like him how to succeed in spite of many obstacles.  "Thank you to my friends who support Lalmba!"

Erick with his 6th grade class.

Erick (second from left) with his colleagues at the Matoso Academy Primary School